Big Think

Steve NoBrainer commented on Alan Dershowitz on Torture on January 14, 2008, 8:08 AM

This intellectual tolerance of current US state-sponsored torture is disgusting. Does the Professor also agree with the current state-sponsored kidnap and detention without trial on the basis that the end justifies the means? See the Wikipedia article on utilitarianism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utilitarianism Where does this way of thinking end? I would argue that it eventually results in Nazi gas chambers and mass extermination. He is also na

Steve NoBrainer commented on Finding a Non-Moralistic Solution on January 14, 2008, 5:52 AM

Prof Pinker states, not all problems have a moralistic solution. He is using a wrongly inverted paradigm of science. He should instead understand that many technological solutions have moral problems. He needs to understand that science needs to be part of a wider framework of ideas including social or moral codes. It is the amoral, as distinct from immoral, nature of science that imposes that need upon us. I have developed this idea further at www.nobrainer.me.uk/Proposition1.htm

Steve NoBrainer commented on Where are we? on January 14, 2008, 5:26 AM

As a European liberal democrat, I see one of the inspiring features of American culture is its inherent optimism. Prof. Pinker%u2019s comments on the enlightenment are certainly in that tradition. What amazes me about the sentiments of that part of the video is that he, like so many prominent US thinkers, are so blinkered by the prevailing cultural belief set of popular political culture, in which the current intellectuals provide the justification for empire. In the 20th century we Europeans have had to listen to left and right wing ideologues tell us of the greatness of their brand of ideas, although they were not quite working yet. He says %u201CI think we have hit on a way of living that is better to the alternatives %u2026. (the) chunks of the world that have not got there yet could do a lot of damage%u201D Clearly ideas do spread between cultures. We are, for example, benefiting from mathematical ideas that originated in India. Middle eastern and then European culture willingly adopted these ideas because of their empirical value. It is bizarre to divorce militarism from the rest of liberal democratic thinking. Liberal democracy of the US and UK variety has presently embraced the territorial aggression of Genghis Khan. It is one of the intrinsic weaknesses of liberal democracy that we have done so. The UK parliament for example voted in favour of the Iraqi invasion through a chain of democratic processes. We should be asking how can we reform liberal democarcy from within rather than how we can export it. If we, like the Indians, make genuine advances in culture they will in due course be adopted by other cultures. The fact that intellecutals like Mr Pinker feel that we are logically superior and thus entilted to export our values is deeply worrying. The fact that it is %u2018the others%u2019 who are capapble of %u201Cdoing a lot of damage%u201D shows a deeply frighetning lack of cultural introspection.

Steve NoBrainer commented on Alan Dershowitz on Torture on January 14, 2008, 3:08 AM

This intellectual tolerance of current US state-sponsored torture is disgusting. Does the Professor also agree with the current state-sponsored kidnap and detention without trial on the basis that the end justifies the means? See the Wikipedia article on utilitarianism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utilitarianism Where does this way of thinking end? I would argue that it eventually results in Nazi gas chambers and mass extermination. He is also naïve about the success of torture. Would an atomic suicide bomber really worry about a couple of hours of torture before ascension to paradise?

Steve NoBrainer commented on Finding a Non-Moralistic Solution on January 14, 2008, 12:52 AM

Prof Pinker states, not all problems have a moralistic solution. He is using a wrongly inverted paradigm of science. He should instead understand that many technological solutions have moral problems. He needs to understand that science needs to be part of a wider framework of ideas including social or moral codes. It is the amoral, as distinct from immoral, nature of science that imposes that need upon us. I have developed this idea further at www.nobrainer.me.uk/Proposition1.htm