Find of the day

[Sailor Steve]

That really puts it into perspective.

[Aktungbby]

INDEED! especially in view of today's anniversary of the first Russian Hydrogen test: the first Soviet test of a hydrogen bomb, took place on August 12, 1953 and was nicknamed Joe 4 by the Americans. It used a layer-cake design of fission and fusion fuels (uranium 235 and lithium-6 deuteride) and produced a yield of 400 kilotons, mostly from neutron-initiated fission rather than fusion. Perhaps not a 'true' hydrogen bomb... but 400 kilotons TNT... I wasn't picky at age 2!

[Skybird]

Harold White, 2014 - NASA Warp Drive Concept Spaceship



http://www.cosmostv.org/2014/06/nasa...rship-ixs.html

[Skybird]

This one is only for those understanding a little bit of German, sorry, but it is too good and the guy does his job too well as if I want to ignore it completely. Maybe one day somebody will do the subtitles.

Michael Rosenhahn - Solaris als Grundfrage der Philosophie

part 1:
part 2:
part 3:
part 4:

30 minutes all together.

Skip the first minute, that is just an infantile video show that was not needed at all.

Rosenhahn, with very simple speech and in an elegant way, using the easiest of tools only for demonstration, introduces us to one aspect of the philosophical abyss that hides behinds Andrej Tarkowski's film "Solaris", an old theme of philosphy, the relation between "Sein" and "Bewußtsein= bewußtem Sein", or in other words: the relation between "ideal" and "matter".

It gets pretty fascinating some time later on.

The lecture originally was part of a German DVD release of Solaris from around ten years ago.

From reflections and copies in mirrors over Marx' materialism to Moebius strips - not bad!

[Skybird]

Jamie Harkins - Beach Art

http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/ja...ke-117938.html

[Skybird]

Ludwig von Mises (1932) - On the destructionism in socialism

Written in the 19-30s - it could have been as well the early years after the cold war ended, that actual it is.

It is a mistake to think that the lack of success of experiments in Socialism that have been made can help to overcome Socialism. Facts per se can neither prove nor refute anything. Everything is decided by the interpretation and explanation of the facts, by the ideas and the theories.
The man who clings to Socialism will continue to ascribe all the world's evil to private property and to expect salvation from Socialism. Socialists ascribe the failures of Russian Bolshevism to every circumstance except the inadequacy of the system. From the socialist point of view, Capitalism alone is responsible for all the misery the world has had to endure in recent years. Socialists see only what they want to see and are blind to anything that might contradict their theory.


Only ideas can overcome ideas and it is only the ideas of Capitalism and of Liberalism that can overcome Socialism. Only by a battle of ideas can a decision be reached.


Liberalism and Capitalism address themselves to the cool, well-balanced mind. They proceed by strict logic, eliminating any appeal to the emotions. Socialism, on the contrary, works on the emotions, tries to violate logical considerations by rousing a sense of personal interest and to stifle the voice of reason by awakening primitive instincts.


Even with those of intellectually higher standing, with the few capable of independent reflection, this seems to give Socialism an advantage. With the others, the great masses who are unable to think, the Socialist position is considered unshakable. A speaker who inflames the passions of the masses is supposed to have a better chance of success than one who appeals to their reason. Thus the prospects of Liberalism in the fight with Socialism are accounted very poor.


This pessimistic point of view is completely mistaken in its estimate of the influence which rational and quiet reflection can exercise on the masses. It also exaggerates enormously the importance of the part played by the masses, and consequently mass-psychological elements, in creating and forming the predominant ideas of an epoch.


It is true that the masses do not think. But just for this reason they follow those who do think. The intellectual guidance of humanity belongs to the very few who think for themselves. At first they influence the circle of those capable of grasping and understanding what others have thought; through these intermediaries their ideas reach the masses and there condense themselves into the public opinion of the time. Socialism has not become the ruling idea of our period because the masses first thought out the idea of the socialization of the means of production and then transmitted it to the intellectually higher classes. Even the materialistic conception of history, haunted as it is by "the psyche of the people" as conceived by Romanticism and the historical school of jurisprudence does not risk such an assertion. Of itself the mass psyche has never produced anything but mass crime, devastation, and destruction. Admittedly the idea of Socialism is also in its effects nothing more than destruction, but it is nevertheless an idea. It had to be thought out, and this could only be the work of individual thinkers. Like every other great thought, it has penetrated to the masses only through the intellectual middle class. Neither the people nor the masses were the first socialists. Even today they are agrarian socialist and syndicalist rather than socialist. The first socialists were the intellectuals; they and not the masses are the backbone of Socialism. The power of Socialism too, is like any other power ultimately spiritual; and it finds its support in ideas proceeding from the intellectual leaders, who give them to the people. If the intelligentsia abandoned Socialism its power would end. In the long run the masses cannot withstand the ideas of the leaders. True, individual demagogues may be ready, for the sake of a career and against their better knowledge, to instil into the people ideas which flatter their baser instincts and which are therefore sure to be well received. But in the end, prophets who in their heart know themselves to be false cannot prevail against those filled with the power of sincere conviction. Nothing can corrupt ideas. Neither by money nor by other rewards can one hire men for the fight against ideas.


Human society is an issue of the mind. Social co-operation must first be conceived, then willed, then realized in action. It is ideas that make history, not the "material productive forces," those nebulous and mystical schemata of the materialist conception of history. If we could overcome the idea of Socialism, if humanity could be brought to recognize the social necessity of private ownership in the means of production, then Socialism would have to leave the stage. That is the only thing that counts.


The victory of the socialist idea over the Liberal idea has only come about through the displacement of the social attitude, which has regard to the social function of the single institution and the total effect of the whole social apparatus, by an anti-social attitude, which considers the individual parts of the social mechanism as detached units. Socialism sees the individuals--the hungry, the unemployed, and the rich—and finds fault on that account; Liberalism never forgets the whole and the interdependence of every phenomenon. It knows well enough that private ownership in the means of production is not able to transform the world into a paradise; it has never tried to establish anything beyond the simple fact that the socialist order of society is unrealizable, and therefore less able than Capitalism to promote the well-being of all.


No one has understood Liberalism less than those who have joined its ranks during the recent decades. They have felt themselves obliged to fight excrescences" of Capitalism, thereby taking over without a qualm the characteristic anti-social attitude of the socialists. A social order has no excrescences which can be cut off at will. If a phenomenon results inevitably from a social system based on private ownership in the means of production, no ethical or aesthetic caprice can condemn it. Speculation, for example, which is inherent in all economic action, in a socialistic society as well as any other, cannot be condemned for the form it takes under Capitalism merely because the censor of morals mistakes its social function. Nor have these disciples of Liberalism been any more fortunate in their criticisms of Socialism. They have constantly declared that Socialism is a beautiful and noble ideal towards which one ought to strive were it realizable, but that, alas, it could not be so, because it presupposed human beings more perfect morally than those with whom we have to deal. It is difficult to see how people can decide that Socialism is in any way better than Capitalism unless they can maintain that it functions better as a social system. With the same justification it might be said that a machine constructed on the basis of perpetual motion would be better than one worked according to the given laws of mechanics—if only it could be made to function reliably. If the concept of Socialism contains an error which prevents that system from doing what it is supposed to do, then Socialism cannot be compared with the Capitalist system, for this has proved itself workable. Neither can it be called nobler, more beautiful or more just.
It is true, Socialism cannot be realized, but it is not because it calls for sublime and altruistic beings. One of the things this book set out to prove was that the socialist commonwealth lacks above all one quality which is indispensable for every economic system which does not live from hand to mouth but works with indirect and roundabout methods of production: that is the ability to calculate, and therefore to proceed rationally. Once this has been generally recognized, all socialist ideas must vanish from the minds of reasonable human beings.


How untenable is the opinion that Socialism must come because social evolution necessarily leads to it, has been shown in earlier sections of this book. The world inclines to Socialism because the great majority of people want it. They want it because they believe that Socialism will guarantee a higher standard of welfare. The loss of this conviction would signify the end of Socialism.

from: L.v.M.: Socialism - An Economic and Sociological Analysis (Die Gemeinwirtschaft. Untersuchungen über den Sozialismus), chapter 35: Overcoming Destrucionism.



A free - and legal! - pdf of the scanned book is available as well as a better-formatted HTML and an .epub version of the book here:


http://mises.org/document/2736/Socia...gical-Analysis


English-talking people have it good, they can get almost all of von Mises' main works in English for free.:

http://mises.org/Literature/Author/280/Ludwig-von-Mises

With Germans, it is a bit different, since the German versions are subject of other copyright situations on the German book market.

The more I learned about this man and read by him, the more my admiration and appreciation grew. The whole mess we face today - he saw it coming and explained why it was inevitable to come - already in the 19-30s. EIGHTY YEARS AGO. Having been a defender of the democratic principle for most of his life, in the late years of his life he moved away from that defence and admitted to feel guilty for not having seen earlier to what degree the demcrioatic system necessarily contributes and even leads to these disastrous developments. He said he was naivew for too long, wanting to hope for something better.

It speaks for him that he admitted to this mistake of his, even though he was a bit late. I mention it only to put into relaiton the general undertone in most of his works that sounds like quite a strong defence of the democracies of the West. He wrote these works before he came to insight later in his life, short before his death. And it is the only major flaw you can find in them, as far as I now have waded through just the three main works of his - its quite a monumental work he left behind. There is so much more than just these three key-works (Das Gemeinwesen, Theorie des Geldes und der Umlaufmittel, Nationalökonomie).

[Skybird]

2014 - Laniakea: Immeasurable Heaven

[Aktungbby]

Two views of the Laniakea Supercluster. The outer surface shows the region dominated by Laniakea’s gravity. The streamlines shown in black trace the paths along which galaxies flow as they are pulled closer inside the supercluster. Individual galaxies’ colors distinguish major components within the Laniakea Supercluster: the historical Local Supercluster in green, the Great Attractor region in orange, the Pavo-Indus filament in purple, and structures including the Antlia Wall and Fornax-Eridanus cloud in magenta. KISS: we're 93 million miles from the sun on the outer edge of the Milky Way; on the relative outer edge of the Laniiakea Supercluster (and the Great Attractor)...pays to stay on the edges(and beat the heat) IMHO!! Does god throw dice or are we lucky? GREAT FIND O' the DAY! http://www.centauri-dreams.org/?p=31466

[Skybird]

David Hume (1748) - An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding

The mere philosopher is a character, which is commonly but little acceptable in the world, as being supposed to contribute nothing either to the advantage or pleasure of society; while he lives remote from communication with mankind, and is wrapped up in principles and notions equally remote from their comprehension. On the other hand, the mere ignorant is still more despised; nor is any thing deemed a surer sign of an illiberal genius in an age and nation where the sciences flourish, than to be entirely destitute of all relish for those noble entertainments. The most perfect character is supposed to lie between those extremes; retaining an equal ability and taste for books, company, and business; preserving in conversation that discernment and delicacy which arise from polite letters; and in business, that probity and accuracy which are the natural result of a just philosophy. In order to diffuse and cultivate so accomplished a character, nothing can be more useful than compositions of the easy style and manner, which draw not too much from life, require no deep application or retreat to be comprehended, and send back the student among mankind full of noble sentiments and wise precepts, applicable to every exigence of human life. By means of such compositions, virtue becomes amiable, science agreeable, company instructive, and retirement entertaining.

http://sqapo.com/CompleteText-Hume-C...erstanding.htm

Cannot claim to have read Hume in any complete work of his, but in many excerpts from various works, always being impressed. I wonder whether there would have been the influx of Kant in Germany without Kant having been affected by the influx of Hume. I slowly read my way through the above work currently, since Spring, in no systematic effort, but a lazy approach. Enjoyable.

Hume is one of those famous great Scottish minds, no doubt on that.

[Aktungbby]

[Skybird]

NASA - CME event of 2012

Puts some things into perspective, and shows how fragile and easy to break our technology-craving civilization is.

What happened:


What could it have meant:
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news...ul_superstorm/

If an asteroid big enough to knock modern civilization back to the 18th century appeared out of deep space and buzzed the Earth-Moon system, the near-miss would be instant worldwide headline news. Two years ago, Earth experienced a close shave just as perilous, but most newspapers didn't mention it. The "impactor" was an extreme solar storm, the most powerful in as much as 150+ years.
"If it had hit, we would still be picking up the pieces," says Daniel Baker of the University of Colorado.

After such an event hits Earth, those who had lived before in primitive circumstances would find it easier to survivive and to fight others than those who only know a world and a fight for survival depending on the tools of hightech civilization. That is true for the individual. That is true for nations.

[Catfish]

Asteroids are the universe's best reminder, that we should forget our ridiculous wars, forbid religious nutheads, send all egomaniacs in jail and finally do some real [sic!] research.

[Aktungbby]

Originally Posted by Catfish

Asteroids are the universe's best reminder, that we should forget our ridiculous wars, forbid religious nutheads, send all egomaniacs in jail and finally do some real [sic!] research.

Not if you're William the Conqueror and need Devine inspiration! from the Bayeux Tapestry; comet detail(Haley's actually) from the panel "We now know that the comet-star in the sky was Halley's Comet making one of its 76-year cyclical appearances. In the Tapestry, an attendant rushes to tell Harold of the celestial happening as he sits upon his throne. The comet appears at the upper left. The portrayal acquires a sense of foreboding as empty long boats appear below the scene. These no doubt presage the invasion fleet William will employ to cross the Channel. The Tapestry implies that the appearance of the comet expresses God's wrath at Harold for breaking his oath to William and assuming the throne. Retribution will be found in the invasion fleet." NORSE GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG BBY...move over Siegfried!

[Skybird]

Hans-Herrmann Hoppe (2014) - Logical Beauty

http://www.mises.org/daily/6494/The-...Libertarianism

Democratic state government systematically promotes egalitarianism and relativism. In the field of human interaction, it leads to the subversion and ultimately disappearance of the idea of eternal and universal principles of justice. Law is swamped and submerged by legislation. In the field of the arts and of aesthetic judgment, democracy leads to the subversion and ultimately disappearance of the notion of beauty and universal standards of beauty. Beauty is swamped and submerged by so-called “modern art.”
(...)
Private property entitles its owner to discriminate: to exclude or include others from his property and to determine the conditions of entry and inclusion. Both inclusion and exclusion have associated costs and benefits for the owner, which he weighs against each other when he makes his decision. In any case, the owner’s decision is motivated by his concern for his property and by reason. His reasoning may turn out correct and he reaches his goal or it may turn out wrong, but in any case, the owner’s is a reasoned decision.
... a libertarian world would be characterized by a far greater variety of different, but internally relatively homogeneous communities, and consequently the range, diversity, and vigor of intellectual discussion in all likelihood would far surpass anything experienced presently or at any time in the past.
(...)
Psychologically matters are different, however. Here, in the realm of psychology we sense that life as a peaceful bum or as a lover of Soviet Realist art is somehow incompatible and at odds with the life of a self-conscious libertarian. When we see such conduct or taste displayed in a professed libertarian, it causes us emotional or aesthetic distress and dissonance. And rightly so, I believe. Because the human experience is characterized by the integrated whole of three abilities: of the recognition of truth, of justice and of beauty. We can distinguish between true and false, we can distinguish right from wrong, and we can distinguish between the beautiful (and perfection) and the ugly (and the imperfect) — and we can speak and reflect on all three notions. A whole and complete human life, then, should not only be truthful and just, it should also be a good life. Maybe not beautiful and perfect, but a life striving toward beauty and perfection. An exemplary, morally and aesthetically uplifting and inspiring life. It is here, where the peaceful bum and the Soviet-Realism-lover are lacking.
(...)
I would only want people to recognize matters for what they truly are. I would want them to recognize taxes as robbery, politicians as thieves, and the entire state apparatus and bureaucracy as a protection racket, a Mafia-like enterprise, only far bigger and more dangerous. In short: I would want them to hate the State. If everyone believed and did this, then, as É. de la Boétie has shown, all power of the state would almost instantly vanish.
(...)

[Skybird]

Wilhelm Röpke - Totalitarianism and liberalism

Most revealing, however, is the observation that all totalitarian movements of our time with absolute clarity have recognized their true antithesis to be in liberalism (=libertarianism), and they never stopped for just one moment to wage bitter war to the finish against it, with violence, libel and slander. Always on the lookout for some success-promising turn, the modern tyrants have - they may be called fascist, Nazi or Communist - tried all the fancy costumes. They assured us that they were socialist or democratic or nationalistic or romantic-corporatist or whatever. Yes, at times they even had the cynicism to provide even Christianity with their reverence.

But they always were wary of never to court liberalism.

---

Besonders aufschlussreich aber ist die Beobachtung, dass alle totalitären Bewegungen unserer Zeit mit sicherem Blick im Liberalismus ihren eigentlichen Gegenpol erkannt und keinen Augenblick aufgehört haben, mit Gewalt, Verleumdung und Beschimpfung gegen ihn Krieg bis aufs Messer zu führen. Auf der ständigen Suche nach irgendeiner Erfolg versprechenden Wendung haben die modernen Tyrannen – mögen sie sich nun faschistisch, nationalsozialistisch oder kommunistisch nennen – alle Maskenkostüme ausprobiert. Sie haben uns versichert, dass sie sozialistisch oder demokratisch oder nationalistisch oder romantisch-korporativistisch oder was sonst immer seien. Ja, sie haben zuzeiten den Zynismus so weit getrieben, dass sie sogar dem Christentum Reverenz erwiesen.

Aber sie haben sich gehütet, jemals dem Liberalismus den Hof zu machen.

Random find. - Röpke was social philosopher and economist. He was one of the pathfinders of the concept of so-called social market economy. Influenced by Menger, von Mises, and the Freiburger Schule, he projected influence himself in the thinking of Ludwig Erhard, the legendary German minister for economy after WWII, usually referred to as the "father of the German economy miracle".