Apr 08 2009
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]Played: 8 times.

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Apr 05 2009

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Jan 21 2009
Agency, or free will as it is generally conceived, is not truly possible in a world constrained by biological and memetic evolution coupled as it is with constant cybernetic feedback. The memebearers, us flesh and blood humans acting as repositories for these abstract bodies, are never wholly free in our actions or in control of our world and our selves. What we find then is that free will is an omega point from which degrees of agency and control are divined in response to the question: To what degree does one have control of oneself given that the individual only exists in relation to a system? And secondly, to what degree can an individual control a larger system given that there are other controlling factors?
The Art of Memetics

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Dec 29 2008

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Nov 29 2008

‘Ten Precepts for Freedom of Thought’:

1.) Do not feel absolutely certain of anything.
2.) Do not think it is worthwhile to proceed by concealing evidence, for the evidence is sure to come to light.
3.) Never try to discourage thinking, for you are sure to succeed.
4.) When you meet with opposition, even if it should be from your partner or your children, endeavour to overcome it by argument and not by authority, for a victory dependent upon authority is unreal and illusory.
5.) Have no respect for the authority of others, for there are always contrary authorities to be found.
6.) Do not use power to suppress opinions you think pernicious, for if you do the opinions will suppress you.
7.) Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.
8.) Find more pleasure in intelligent dissent than in passive agreement, for, if you value intelligence as you should, the former implies a deeper agreement than the latter.
9.) Be scrupulously truthful, even if the truth is inconvenient, for it is more inconvenient when you try to conceal it.
10.) Do not feel envious of the happiness of those who live in a fool’s paradise, for only a fool will think that it is happiness.

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Oct 23 2008
Americans are apocalyptic by nature. The reason why is that we’ve always had so much, so we live in deadly fear that people are going to take it away from us.

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Oct 13 2008
We plan ahead. That way we don’t do anything right now. Earl explained it to me.
Kevin Bacon in Tremors

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Oct 08 2008

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Oct 08 2008
U.S. debt grows too big for National Debt Clock. The National Debt Clock in New York’s Times Square — first erected in 1989 when the debt was less than $3 trillion — cannot keep pace with the growing national debt, now at more than $10 trillion. NBC’s Brian Williams reported last night that “the debt has been piling up so fast lately they had to drop the dollar sign to make room for an extra digit.” A new clock with two extra digits will go up next year. Watch it: Recall in September 2000, during President Clinton’s last year in office, the National Debt Clock had the reverse problem. It was shut down because “it started ticking in the opposite direction, shaving off roughly $30 a second.

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Oct 01 2008
Back then people wrote novels about the temptations and tribulations of “selling out.” They don’t anymore because “selling out” is now our deepest aspiration.

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