Most of the stuff here are either exaggerations or fabrication. You want to talk about health risk then talk about cigarettes and alcoholic drinks these are the true health risk.

Thanks man... watch-out for those evangelical bankers :) . But seriously, I think the guy meant well.

I will look into that. At this point since I still don't have a particular direction I could go either way. I'll probably try to learn as much as I can about starting one but buying could be a better solution in the end... we'll see. Which reminds me It's been a month and I haven't done anything to push this along.

Whoo boy... this is a tasty bit of discussion so hang-on to your hat.
Its not a question of if... because it will surely happen. A myth almost have an ethereal property... its hard to pin it down to factual instances, its like a blank check. Literal interpretations will be the least of it, they will make stuff up along the way. In the monkey experiment we have no clue what is going on in their head. The monkeys could rationalize (for lack of a better word) that almost "cultural" activity of preventing newbies from getting to the priced banana however way they want. The end result is still however the same... they stay away from the banana.
What would happen when the myth custodians (provided they are the administrators) started to become power hungry and impose an over-zealous adherence to the myth and eliminate with impunity all those that oppose them? This question is quite elementary, we've seen this happen over and over in the past... this scenario played out countless times in the last 6,000 years of modern civilization. Its happening right now in some part of the world. What happens then? The administrators get toppled, a new one takes its place, the new administration will be a little bit better. Provided that there is no environmental disaster or shortage of resources... this would play out over and over towards an enlightened governance. I can't say that this cycle of "accumulated moral governance" (I just made that term up right now) is an innate property of the cosmos, I doubt this can be transcribe as a mathematical axiom, but we do have the data, 6 millennium worth of recorded history... Its a fact and it happens.
Would it slow down the progress of scientific thinking? Yes it would... but that question is not as real as it sound. Slowed-down compared to what exactly? Is it a race? Is there a competing progression that needs to be beaten? Is there a pre-determined temporal landmark that need to be noted... say in 500 years such and such theories should have been produced already or else dire consequences? The rise and fall to prominence of mythology and religion happened several times over in the course of our history and yet here we are with all our scientific knowledge. Let us assume in our own history that mythological adherence had delayed scientific progress by a thousand years (thats a real stretch but I'm feeling generous)... what then? Nuclear war-heads would have been available to the likes of Genghis khan, Richard the Lionheart, Hitler and Stalin?

The assumption here I believe is that scientific progress equates to moral progress. There is not a single shred of evidence for this. When it comes to morality the scientist, clergy man and the baker at the corner patiserie have equal conceptual grasp (Scott Atran beyond belief 2006). More scientific knowledge does not equate to more moral judgement. If you look up eugenics this used to be a mainstream scientific endevour, these days its cast-down to a social movement. The advocate of this defunct movement are scientists and they used this to justify the repression of the jewish society in Europe back in Hitler's regime. Scientist have biases and prejudice just like the rest of us. Just take a look at James D. Watson , co-discoverer of DNA and yet one of many high profile racist. He genuinely believe that black people are intellectually inferior to white people (he was forced to recant a public remarks recently, because he is a noble laureate but this does not change his personal opinion on the matter). Morality does not come from academia the same way it does not come from religion. Morality results from the dynamic interaction of every sentient participant in the society, its a product of natural-selection... which behaviour is acceptable and which is not. In-fact the most egalitarian societies known to man... be it now or in the known past are small bands of forest dwelling natives. Be it the natives of america, high lander of Papua New Guinea or the forest dwellers of the deep jungles of Borneo and Africa. This is backed up by libraries upon libraries of anthropological data. Equality breaks down when society becomes complex... and its easy to see why.

Believe it or not scientist like Stephen Jay Gould, Richard Dawkins, Lawrence Krauss, Paul Davies, Neil DeGrasse Tyson and even Carl Sagan are looked down upon in academic circles for the very act of making science accesible to the common man. Scientists in general are not people oriented folks, most of them are quite elitist. It is such blessings to be graced by an educator and a scientist in the same body because it is incredibly rare and too far in between. This is the fight that Lawrence Krauss and Carl Sagan has taken up personally.

This is an interesting discussion would be good to keep it open and flowing.

Cheers

I sure will. Cheers

Hello to you! Happy for you to be here. As for why you are here, its a snapshot of all the blogs that I enjoyed (still enjoying) recently. Let me put it on record that you are not irreverent. Your blog (among others) is my counter-weight for those blogs that are irreverent... but couldn't stay away from. About "rays of sunshine" haha, the first post that I read (or was it the second?) from your blog was the "Dahil puno na ang salop" piece which was incredibly moving. It helped boost-up my faith in the Pinoy spirit (ironic I know) plus you do have a rainbow... so there. I put it on quotations because some of your pieces are really, really edgy. I thought you may not want to be perceived as a Sanrio character.

There isn't any profound message here really... I would like to write a book about the battle of Tirad-Pass and this blog will host all the ideas that I have about it.

Same here... I find writing my thoughts help me unclog some of the gunk in my brain. As for time... for the last 2 weeks or so medyo ayaw gumana ng utak ko but I still need to keep busy kaya nag blog na lang ako. Hopefully when things pick-up I can still find the time to do all these. Kaka addict eh.

I think I've heard of the Power of Myth, but not Joseph Campbell. I'll look this up... sounds like something I'll be interested in. Thanks.

Testing intense debate