Jamesian Philosophy Refreshed

Isaac Asimov once defined life as a localized preservation of low entropy with the assistance of enzymes. If we as a species are going to seek out other life forms we're going to have to expand the "enzyme" part of the definition a bit. Enzymes are proteins that serve as chemical catalysts. Let's not assume that the mechanisms for life on Mars or Saturn's moon are the same as the mechanisms with which our biochemists are familiar. Thus, I propose that for the our purposes we could understand life to be the localized preservation of low entropy through sustained chemical catalysts. Science fiction aficionados are of course familiar with speculations that silicon would work, as an alternative to carbon, as a means by which phenomena worth considering life could be sustained. Silicon based life would require catalysts that would not be proteins, i.e. not enzymes. Heck, there was an episode of the (original) Star Trek devoted to this precise point, and the spe...

Occidental Petroleum has a fascinating corporate history. It is not at the top rank of oil companies -- it is for example now only the 9th largest petroleum producer in Texas. But it once served as the corporate vessel of the late Armand Hammer and it has seen more than its share of drama. Hammer ran the company from 1957 until his death in 1990. The latest drama with regard to Oxy happens to involve a contemporary businessman who is nearly as notorious as was Hammer in his prime: Warren Buffett, via Buffett's corporate vessel, Berkshire Hathaway. Until the coronavirus started freezing everything up, Occidental was in the midst of the acquisition of a smaller petroleum company, Anadarko. Berkshire was financing that transaction. As part of this deal, Berkshire received a lot of warrants (in effect stock options -- there is a distinction between warrants and options but not one pertinent just now).  So, Berkshire receive these stock options, yet they are nearly worthless as...

Buddhists believe in the following two propositions although, to non-Buddhists, they seem an odd fit. 1) I have no self or soul, no substantial thing that is "I" or "Me," and the idea that there is an I is an illusion. 2) I'll probably be reincarnated. The obvious response to this conjunction has to be: if there is no you, that what or who is to be reincarnated when "you" are? The Buddhist response, as I understand it, is that the illusion of me is a distinctive one, and this this illusion that there is a substantive me is what is reincarnated. A guest lecturer at a college course I took way back in the 1970s explained it this way. I may hold a lit match in my hand and transfer the flame from that match to something else -- another match, let us say. At SOME point both matches may be lit. Right after that, I may blow out the older match. It certainly appears that something substantial, a thing, the flame, moved from one match to the oth...

I recently read a tweet from a distinguished and academically credentialed philosopher, asking what it would be like to be a thermometer. Specifically, do thermometers have favorite temperatures? Do they ever think about anything other than temperatures? etc. The question was meant as a deliberately provocative way of opening a discussion of panpsychism, the idea that all matter is in some extended sense conscious. But I gave our philosopher a rather smart-ass reply. I said that being a thermometer would be a lot like being a barometer. If you can take the heat, you can take the pressure. Thrown your shoe at the screen. It's your screen, not mine, (and not its own) and it almost certainly won't feel pain.

There has been a lot of social media chatter about the sale of seeds in recent days.... https://twitter.com/jamie2181/status/1249516143502450691 As that tweet illustrates, a lot of people believe that either the federal government or a lot of state governments have made the sale of seeds illegal. That is not accurate, though it isn't entirely false. Agriculture is an essential business, and of course farms buy seeds. In a more urban/suburban setting, hardware stores are generally considered essential businesses, and they are allowed to sell seeds too, along with other gardening equipment. And Amazon will mail you seeds if you like.  https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=seeds+gardening So: what is the controversy? Stand alone greenhouses are NOT considered essential businesses in many states. They have been closed down. If that had been your avenue for buying the seeds for your backyard (or balcony) garden, you may well be ti...

A famous German-language book on philosophy first published in 1929 has finally been translated into English.  The work is Helmuth Plessner's LEVELS OF ORGANIC LIFE AND THE HUMAN. For Plessner what is critical to grasp about life, the sine qua non of the living, is that every organism has a self-positioning boundary. There is the organism on the one hand, there is the environment on the other. Further, the organism itself is largely responsible for where that boundary is. Animals move about more than plants of course, but the difference is of degree rather than kind, and all organisms grow. The outer boundary itself may be defined as that which is neither living nor non-living (the outer layer of our skin consists of dead cells), this making it a liminal zone. There is movement both outward and inward. The liminal zone moves outward as an organism grows, there is movement inward in the process of digestion. In Plessner's words, "It is these two moments togethe...

Thoughts on my Next Christmas Card. There is a classic German-language Christmas hymn that likens the glory of Christ to the light of "more than a thousand suns." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgenstern_der_finstern_Nacht It seems such an oddly science-fictional image to use in such a devout context. I picture a character in an Asimov novel using the line as an interjection. "By the light of a thousand suns! is her skin green???" The hymn was composed in 1657. I love the era. I know this is only April, but it is never too early. There is no such sin as gluttony when it comes to 'food for thought.' (And yes, I know about Linkin Park. Don't care.)

John Randolph (JR) Lucas, pictured here, received his philosophical education at Oxford University in the 1950s. He was a student of R.M Hare, a central figure in mid 20th century debates over meta-ethics. Lucas never took to meta-ethics himself, though. His interests were in applied (business) ethics, the philosophy of mathematics, and the philosophy of mind. Probably the one contribution of Lucas' that will still draw the attention of the historians of philosophy in another century is his invocation of Godel's incompleteness theorem in the course of arguments about the human mind and artificial intelligence, which in turn inspired Douglas Hofstadter. Much of Godel, Escher, Bach was a reply to Lucas. Here's a Lucas paper on point:  http://www.leaderu.com/truth/2truth08.html If I understand the argument, Lucas believed that humans will in principle always be able to outsmart computers (or "Turing machines") because such machines have limits that follo...

Well, there is this: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-religion/u-s-supreme-court-declines-to-hear-religious-clash-on-washington-transit-ads-idUSKBN21O1S3 The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington had sought to buy ad space on the subways. The ad would have featured an image of three shepherds and two sheep -- the shepherds looking at a star, with a verse from Matthew, "Behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy." Beneath this was a URL, FindthePerfectGift.org The phrase "find the perfect gift" could of course be used by a mall or department store or by amazon.com. But if you go to the URL, you'll find that the "perfect gift" you are being asked to find is God's love. Back in 1974, in the LEHMAN v. SHAKER HEIGHTS case, the US Supreme Court spoke to the decisions of transit authorities on such matters. The Lehman decision said that a bus or the like "is not a park or sidewalk or other public place for discussion....

There was a time in the history of life on earth before predation. Scientists talk about an Ediacaran period in the history of our planet. It is named for the Ediacara hills in Australia, where some of the key fossils were found. Also, for the phonetically curious, the proper pronunciation is Ee-dee-ac-aran. Rhymes with Me - he- wrack -Iran. Anyway, the creatures of the Ediacaran did not eat each other. They were without eyes, claws, or antennae: no means for watching, seizing, or evading each other. Beginning around 635 million years ago, continuing until 542 million, Ediacaran biota  had simple lives as they crawled along the sea floor, eating such organic matter ("the mat" as Peter Godfrey-Smith calls it) that had built up there. Eventually dying and contributing to that mat. Ediacaran biota did have nervous systems. The fact itself indicates that nervous systems aren't entirely about sensing and reacting to the outside. The biota didn't have to react to ...

In finance, there is a concept known as "skin in the game." It is used to warn against taking advice from anyone who does not share with you in the related risks. Though when it is offered as advice ("only listen to people with skin in the game") it can cut both ways. "Buy Xerox," says the television prophet.  On the one hand, yes, I see the point of expecting that he has some skin in the game himself. If he doesn't own some stock, he doesn't really care whether the price of Xerox goes up or down. It is an academic exercise for him. It is a retirement fund for some sucker paying attention to him.  But on the other hand: what if he does have skin in the game? That may work against his reliability.  After all: he may be trying to drum up interest in Xerox, holding Xerox stock himself, precisely because he plans on selling INTO that drummed-up interest. :Pump and dump. His talk may be pumping so his broker can do the dumping.  ...

A sheriffs' department recently put out a FAQ about how law abiding citizens should act during a health related lock-down. One of the frequently asked questions, in appears, is what one should do if one knows of a still-operating non-essential business. Apparently the answer to the question is that one should be a snitch. The sheriffs department helpfully provided a phone number. No, I will NOT pass along a link or even the locale of the department. This FAQ richly deserves obscurity and you'll have to trust me on this. DON'T HELP THEM CLOSE DOWN SOME POOR SCHMUCK WHO IS JUST TRYING TO PRESERVE HIS LIVELIHOOD EVEN THOUGH IT HAS BEEN DEEMED INESSENTIAL BY THE POWERS THAT BE. We know what rhymes with the word "snitches," don't we? I don't endorse violence. I recognize that there is good reason behind the anger behind that well-known rhyme. Okay? Thanks. Peace out.