John Hammonds
Recent Activity
Relativism or an absolute truth?
Are social animals just following a linear trend in a progressive system of psyche or did it occur randomly and through evolution? To me they seem to follow a trend. How often do you hear of a socialist, liberal, humanist, et cetera converting to a "every man for yourself" social Darwinist? I think we acknowledge certain objective truths such as that other beings are sentient, and they could have thoughts, feelings, and reactions similar to our own. Even recently it's been found that bacteria have a complex inter- and intra- species communication network, leading to the new sensation of quorum-inhibiting antibiotic research. I consider animals to have the most pragmatically built psyches that are very well tuned to their environment, but humans make their own environment. Is our sprawl of philosophical and sociology theories the result of true chaos in an isolated system or does sentience fly in the face of pragmatism? It's hard to say since progress in sentient beings would be individual, and a single individual can cause a lot of societal changes merely by writing his ideas down for someone else to read. Perhaps there are certain philosophical and sociological absolutes as defined by some cognitive process of sentient beings. … Read More
August 23, 2009 | In Identity
Profit motive vs. public service business models.
We all know the famous debate between these fundamental ideas, and personally I would call myself a secular progressive, but I honestly want to hear arguments for capitalism in the modern age. Most people I talk with cite Adam Smith or early 19th century thinkers. I suppose my main argument for socialism would be that we are social animals in a colony like setting, so the health of all individuals is directly related to health of all individuals, so competition would be negative in the scenario, and I can point out the power of community, and even almost somewhat communist mentality with the concept of open source software and code. Linux is, in my opinion, the best operating system, and it was created in it's entirety from people wanting to make a decent open source OS. I can, however, think of markets in which greed can be useful. Many entertainers would not be able to produce the works they do without such funds. Many movies have a hefty budget, but at the same time there are artists that enjoy giving their work away from free for people to enjoy it. Perhaps more of you out there can bring in more arguments for capitalism/profit motive/self interest. … Read More
August 15, 2009 | In Business & Economics
John Hammonds commented on Warning: God-sent Chance to Short -sell the Banks! on April 27, 2009, 3:13 PM
Adam Smith was a man who wrote in the age of the impact of the industrial revolution, and this economics are dead. Just as England had the revolution of the Labour Party, the United States should have a large scale movement toward diminishing the wealth gap. The real sources of the problems go down to greed. Houses were becoming to expensive for people to afford, so the government had to step in and get mortgages to people somehow. When wages lowered and the cost of living went up, people couldn't pay those mortgages. Also, there really isn't a free market, or any such thing as supply and demand. The most profitable industries in the United States are in agricultural and construion, which are the things people need to survive; food and shelter. I believe it was Cargill that claimed the largest income in 2008, with something like 140 billion dollars. It's a system founded on exploitation.
John Hammonds commented on Pardis Sabeti Reveals the Future of Genomics on April 17, 2009, 2:31 AM
Im an aspiring biotechnology major and I must say this is pretty interesting. Sequencing is a good step into figuring out the fuction of that good majority of unknown gene coding. I would also think the matter of figuring out how genes have changed would be interesting, and that therapy for problems realted with genetics would be a major ethical issue since we don't have natural selection, and the whole matter delves into philosophy. PS Contact is one of my favorite movies. :)
Secular progressive, pragmatist, mellow cat.
John Hammonds commented on Video Games: Altering Behavior for the Good of the Human Race on August 14, 2009, 10:43 PM
I'd really like to see MMO(massive multiplayer online) games that experience with the human psyche. Most games out there currently, or at least the one's I've played, are based on the same principles such as stratification, competition, compulsory social interation, et cetera. I'd really like to see video games change these variables. One wouldn't really imagine playing a video game in which the in-game economy is basically Communist, but why not experiment?