Saturday, March 28, 2009
Humanism
I must say, I agree with the sentiments in this video. So, I imagine, would Freeman Dyson (in case you did not click through the link yesterday).
The people who turn the lights on and keep them on have done a lot more for humanity than the people who turn them off. Of course, the people who turn them off care about other things.
CWCID: Glenn Reynolds.
4 Comments:
By 
, at
Sat Mar 28, 11:01:00 PM:
To watch our leaders lead us down a dour path is so disheartening---this refreshes. Let there be light! I just turned on a few more.
M.E.
By 
Noumenon, at
Sun Mar 29, 05:22:00 AM:
The people who turn the lights on and keep them on have done a lot more for humanity than the people who turn them off.
You wouldn't really know, since you can only see the lightbulbs that are turned on. The grasshopper lights up the night for dancing, the ant sits in the dark.
By , at
Sun Mar 29, 10:22:00 AM:
The grasshopper lights up the night for dancing, the ant sits in the dark.
And both freeze to death in the winter :)
By , at
Sun Mar 29, 12:51:00 PM:
"The disagreement about values may be described in an over-simplified way as a disagreement between naturalists and humanists. Naturalists believe that nature knows best. For them the highest value is to respect the natural order of things. Any gross human disruption of the natural environment is evil. Excessive burning of fossil fuels is evil. Changing nature’s desert, either the Sahara desert or the ocean desert, into a managed ecosystem where giraffes or tunafish may flourish, is likewise evil. Nature knows best, and anything we do to improve upon Nature will only bring trouble.
The humanist ethic begins with the belief that humans are an essential part of nature. Through human minds the biosphere has acquired the capacity to steer its own evolution, and now we are in charge. Humans have the right and the duty to reconstruct nature so that humans and biosphere can both survive and prosper. For humanists, the highest value is harmonious coexistence between humans and nature. The greatest evils are poverty, underdevelopment, unemployment, disease and hunger, all the conditions that deprive people of opportunities and limit their freedoms. The humanist ethic accepts an increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as a small price to pay, if world-wide industrial development can alleviate the miseries of the poorer half of humanity. The humanist ethic accepts our responsibility to guide the evolution of the planet."
-Freeman Dyson
Careful, this guy is scary. He may actually have friends who are.....neocons!
Gaia Uber Alles!
-David
