Freedom: a moral hypothesis

Is it a claim, or a thesis that is put forth as a kind of null hypothesis—something that it is morally right to accept unless there is evidence against it? I think the latter.

Thus take a debate about slavery, or women’s rights. If Jones claims that some people (say blacks) yearn to be slaves, and that women can only be satisfied when they follow orders and are beaten if they don’t, and that we must grant blacks and women what they dearly want, then Jones has the responsibility to provide evidence. A pretty heavy responsibility in fact. If Smith says that no one yearns to be a slave, or to be beaten if they don’t follow orders, we don’t require that he provide evidence. That’s a moral judgment, and I think a correct one. But that’s weaker than the claim that humans yearn for freedom. And if someone asks for scientific proof, they simply don’t understand the nature of science.

You could have found the same in investigating slave societies: slaves who tell you how much more secure they are being ordered and beaten than in having to make their own choices. Or patriarchal societies; the same—and it’s still very much alive in this case. An important step in the struggle for freedom is simply “consciousness raising”: helping people—ourselves and others—come to understand that they are oppressed, that their subordinate role is not a necessity of life. Nor is it a psychological necessity; rather, an abandonment of one’s basic rights, including the right to realize one’s full potential. People of course have the right to give up their basic rights, but if we care about them, we have a responsibility to help them understand what they are doing, and why. And it applies to ourselves too.

Take, say, women’s rights. If you had asked my grandmother whether she is oppressed, she probably wouldn’t have understood what you are talking about; that’s life. If you’d asked my mother, you’d have found that she resented it, but accepted it, as life. If you’d ask my daughters, they’d tell you to get lost. That reflects hard-won victories for freedom.

By Noam Chomsky

wayfaring stranger

I am a poor wayfaring stranger
Travelling through this world alone
There is no sickness, toil or danger
In that fair land to which I go

I'm going home To see my mother
I'm going home No more to roam
I am just going over Jordan
I am just going over home

I know dark clouds will hover on me,
I know my pathway is rough and steep
Beauteous fields lie right before me
Where weary eyes no more will weep

I'm going home to see my father
I'm going home no more to roam
I am just going over Jordan
I am just going over home

I'll soon be free from every trial
This form will rest beneath the sun
I'll drop the cross of self-denial
Come back home with God

I'm going home to see my savior
I'm going home no more to roam
I am just going over Jordan
I am just going over home

(traditional Appalachian folk song)

Thanks to Qalander ;)

Creativity

"Somebody at one of these places asked me: "What do you do? How do you write, create?" You don't, I told them. You don't try. That's very important: not to try, either for Cadillacs, creation or immortality. You wait, and if nothing happens, you wait some more. It's like a bug high on the wall. You wait for it to come to you. When it gets close enough you reach out, slap out and kill it. Or if you like it's looks, you make a pet out of it."

Charles Bukowski

hmmm.. i did it again...woke up at 9 am n for no particular reason decided to skip office :D..even after having 4 days off for eid holidays... called them n repeated one of my award winning performances ..cough n fever stuff...:P ... funny thing is that skool ke zamane mein ..the same act nvr worked ...

cleaned my room .. finally.. which represented a complete mess .. looked like a workshop of some kind ...21st century version of a stone age cave i guess

watched Out of Africa and Scent of a Woman....AGAIN...n was as much TUN as i was the first time i watched em ..

had a chit chat with Ammi regarding some family politics... which i nvr really understood but still kept on shaking my head like a wise baba.. heh :)

wrote a letter to my sister in chicago ... sometimes i hate all this technology n stuff... it has taken away all the simplicity from our lives...i dont remember when i last wrote a letter to anyone.. get me a time machine n i 'll probably go back a thousand years

watched kiyonke saas bi bahu thi stuff for almost 10 mins... hahah... can't believe that :D

n then finally around 10:30 pm.... did awara gardi on lahore's roads for no particualr reason ... enjoyed lahore's crazy traffic ... for a change..

it was surely a productive day... ;) .. much much better than messing with that measley computer and attending stupid meetings

do try that once in a while

Thank You Big Governor

can't wait to learn more!



Riverbeds and Lakebeds Discovered on Saturn's Titan

Explanation: Methane rain, evaporating lakes, flowing rivers, and water ice-volcanoes all likely exist on Saturn's moon Titan, according to preliminary analyses of recent images taken by the successful Huygen's lander. A snaking and branching riverbed is identified with the dark channel near the top of the above image, while a dark lakebed is identified across the image bottom. Both the riverbed and lakebed were thought to be dry at the time the image was taken but contained a flowing liquid - likely methane - in the recent past. Titan's surface was found to appear strangely similar to Earth even though it is so cold that methane flows and water freezes into rock-hard ice. Although the Huygen's probe has now run out of power, the images it returned will likely be studied for decades to come. The Cassini mothership is scheduled to continue to orbit Saturn and return images for several more years.

Source: NASA web site

More Rumi (from diwan-e-shams)

Rumi 26


I need a lover and a friend
All friendships you transcend
And impotent I remain

You are Noah and the Ark
You are the light and the dark
Behind the veil I remain

You are passion and are rage
You are the bird and the cage
Lost in flight I remain

You are the wine and the cup
You are the ocean and the drop
While afloat I remain

I said, "O Soul of the world
My desperation has taken hold!"
"I am thy essence," without scold,
"Value me much more than gold."

You are the bait and the trap
You are the path and the map
While in search I remain

You are poison and the sweet
You are defeated and defeat
Sword in hand I remain

You are the wood and the saw
You are cooked, and are raw
While in a pot I remain

You are sunshine and the fog
You are water and the jug
While thirsty I remain

Sweet fragrance of Shams is
The joy and pride of Tabriz
Perfume trader I remain.


Rumi 146


O blaze of the world you are dear, you are dear
O beholding the beloved, keep near, keep near

I am the creation, I am the house
I am the trap and the mouse
I am wise and mad, stay here, stay here

I am the secrets you can’t see
Cloak and turban are both me
I am the cloister and the monk, do appear, do appear

I am mortal, I am old
Chains and shackles my feet hold
I make plans, don’t disappear, don’t disappear

I am the noon, I am the eve
Fire of love with my heart receive
I am the candle giving light, stay clear, stay clear

I am the prayer and the angel in flight
I am the fire, I am the light
I am the Promised Land, so dear, so dear

I am here, I am to be
Alpha and Omega are in me
I am aware of the others, keep near, keep near

I am the acquaintance and the friend
The lover and beloved in the end
I am the flower and the thorn, don’t fear, don’t fear

I am the season and temporal train
I am the minor, I am the main
I am the mind and the story, be here, be here.


Translated By
Shahriar Shahriari
Vancouver, Canada

a few interesting links

XML-RPC
i was specially struck by Blogging APIs... super kool web site

Scientists Floored by Photos From Titan (AP)
(more details about river channels and fluids in them)

Awesome dynamic map of Switzerland. thanks to Simon Willison
Map search Switzerland

Linux Live Gaming Project

KMail In Depth

Are you talking to meee? ... :D

Why we feel so helpless sometimes? It seems there is nothing we can do to change anything at all. Reminds me of a U2 song

What to do in such moments in your life?

Huygens landed on Titan today!

Its totally unbelievable/shocking what i saw today on CNN. Pictures from Titan (the 2nd largest known moon of our universe). The river channels (filled with some kinda fluid, probably methane) and the dark area which they are saying may be some kinda sea (see the first images). It took Huygens 7 years to reach Titan.


These are one of the first raw, or unprocessed, images from the European Space Agency's (ESA's) Huygens probe as it descended to Saturn's moon Titan. It was taken with the Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer, one of two NASA instruments on the probe.



The Cassini-Huygens mission offers rare views of the gassy planet Saturn and its rings and moons. Launched in 1997, the Cassini orbiter started its four-year mission on June 30, 2004. The Huygens probe, launched from Cassini on Christmas Eve, is scheduled to reach Saturn's largest moon, Titan, on January 14, 2005. This view, taken May 21, 2004, shows Saturn's atmospheric multicolored bands. Cassini is a $3 billion joint project between NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency.



These four dark spots, captured in a May 5, 2004, image, are storms in Saturn's atmosphere. The Cassini spacecraft is expected to send back to Earth more than 300,000 images.



Cassini captured this close-up of Saturn's rings on November 9, 2004. The bands are density waves caused by Janus and Pandora, two of Saturn's moons. The bright areas are the denser "peaks" of the waves.



Scientists are interested in Titan, Saturn's largest moon (seen here May 23, 2004) because it is the only moon in the solar system with its own atmosphere. On January 15, 2005, the Huygens probe is expected to penetrate Titan’s murky atmosphere and land on its surface.




This image of Titan was taken on October 24, 2004, and has been processed to sharpen the features of the moon's surface. The bright spots near the bottom are clouds above Titan's south pole.



A methane cloud is visible above Titan's south pole in this composite image. The inset area is a close-up of the Huygens probe's projected landing site.




The haze of Titan's upper atmosphere extends several hundred kilometers above the moon's surface. This ultraviolet image was taken on December 16, 2004.




Phoebe, another of Saturn's moons, is shown in a composite image taken June 11, 2004, during the Cassini orbiter's flyby. Phoebe's pockmarked surface is full of large and small craters.




Slopes on Phoebe's surface are seen during the Cassini orbiter's flyby. Images such as this one from June 11, 2004, indicate the Saturn moon may be an ice-rich body.




A close-up of Phoebe's surface shows an eight-mile (13-kilometer) diameter crater.



One hemisphere of Saturn's moon Iapetus is seen in this color image. The color and detail of the image help differentiate the shadows, which appear black, from the moon's naturally dark surface.



Source: NASA Web Site

;o)

my old pal 386-DX100 still works!
2 songs i found from my first ever computer's 512 mb HD

Zehra Nigar

John Lennon

n this one from http://v2.desiest.com/music/album.jsp?id=3039
Rabbi Sherjill

God and the Tsunami

By Don Dixen - Jan08, 2005

The ABC News radio outlet in New York, 77-WABC Talk Radio, has an interesting poll on its website:

How could a kind and benevolent God allow the tsunami?

The results were:

A. God did not cause it, but allowed it, so man could show compassion. (2%)
B. God caused the tsunami to punish the people there. (8%)
C. We will never know why bad things happen, just that God will help us. (88%)
D. God has turned his back on us. This is only the beginning. (0%)
E. I don’t believe in God. This was just a natural disaster. (1%)

Although there is no pretense that this is a scientific poll, one has to assume that option “E” had to be a real head-scratcher for many respondents. Cannot one who believes in God also believe in natural disasters? Judging from most of the commentary of the last few weeks, apparently not.

This is one of those issues that highlights the stunning illogic of both religious and secular fundamentalists. At least the religious nuts are consistent: they are willing to give God credit for everything — even natural disasters. The secular fundamentalists are on shakier ground when they attempt to argue that disasters prove either that there is no God, or that He simply isn’t very nice. One can’t help hearing the voice of Edgar G. Robinson in his role as Dathan the Overseer in “The Ten Commandments” sneering, “Where’s your Messiah now?…”

Rather than simply berate God for his incompetence, maybe it would be worthwhile to offer some constructive advice, perhaps along these lines:

Almighty God, creator of the cosmos, although You are reputed to be omniscient, perhaps You are unaware of the fact that earthquakes and the resulting tsunamis cause great harm not only to sinners but also to the most innocent children. That being the case, perhaps, in Your infinite mercy, You could either provide adequate advance warning or schedule such events in unpopulated regions. Just a thought. Amen.


Of course, without plate tectonics we would not have mountain ranges and the climatic diversity they produce. More importantly, without subduction there would be no place to store the abundant carbon dioxide that is bound in carbonate rocks deep below the crust, and earth’s temperatures could eventually soar to those of Venus — say, around 900 degrees. Also, the continents would eventually erode away leaving us to sink or swim in a great planetary ocean, ala “Waterworld.” The novelty of commuting on jet-skis between islands constructed from lots of oil drums lashed together would wear off pretty quickly, I suspect.

The whole idea of petitionary prayer seems problematic. While it may indeed be worthwhile to pray for wisdom or courage, since, if nothing else, such meditations may help focus one’s mind on issues that are indeed within one’s control, asking the creator of the universe to tinker with reality on a grander scale takes a fair amount of chutzpah, and, if effective, could almost certainly lead to undesirable results, both on a practical and spiritual level. The Talmud cautions against this kind of prayer precisely because of the moral conundrums it can produce. If, on sighting a column of black smoke rising from one’s neighborhood while driving home, one prays “Please, don’t let it be my house that is on fire,” the obvious concomitant of that prayer is that your neighbor’s house be on fire instead.

Stuff happens, and it is well that it does, even though much of it is unpleasant. I take great comfort from the fact that the universe does indeed seem to be governed by consistent rules. Things always fall down, never up. I take that as sufficient evidence of cosmic compassion. If I learn the rules of nature, I can better my chance of survival. The alternative, suggested by both secular and religious fundamentalists, that an ideal God is one that can be swayed by flattery and pleading to bend the rules just a tad for our convenience, is nightmarish. Chaos would reign if all prayers were answered, and we would be reduced to robots if no harm could ever come to us, no matter our actions.

I prefer plate tectonics.

"[He] was made aware, not by logic but by his whole being, by life itself, that man is created for happiness, that happiness lies in himself, in the satisfaction of the simple needs of living, and that all unhappiness arises not from lack but from superfluity. ... he learned still another new and consoling truth-- that there is nothing fearsome in the world. He learned that just as there is no condition in which a man can be happy and absolutuley free, so also there is no condition in which a man can be completely unhappy and unfree."


"Why am I struggling, why am I toiling and moiling in this narrow, petty environment, when life, all of life, with all its pleasures, is open before me? ... I must make the most of my freedom, since I feel myself so overflowing with strength and energy ... Let the dead bury their dead; but, while we are alive, let us live"

War and Peace
Leo Tolstoy
P-267 & P-622