Happy Birthday, Mom

We celebrated my mother's 80th birthday today.

Over 60 family and friends came to honor her life, which, as my uncle put it was one that's been loving, caring, and capable. He also called her a "world-class worrier" - one who not only worries about those she loves, but also reaches out to them with caring and capable support.

She also lives with a philosophy that "life is short, and we must do what makes us happy."

She apparently gets her happiness from worrying, caring, loving, and helping.

Happy Birthday, Mom.

Worry on.

Natural Source of Morality

A fascinating article from Time magazine a while ago - The Mystery of Consciousness, by Steven Pinker - looks into the current (now 9-month old) state of scientific and philosophic study of consciousness. The closing paragraphs lay out why this work is so important...

"...the biology of consciousness offers a sounder basis for morality than the unprovable dogma of an immortal soul. It's not just that an understanding of the physiology of consciousness will reduce human suffering through new treatments for pain and depression. That understanding can also force us to recognize the interests of other beings--the core of morality.

"As every student in Philosophy 101 learns, nothing can force me to believe that anyone except me is conscious. This power to deny that other people have feelings is not just an academic exercise but an all-too-common vice, as we see in the long history of human cruelty. Yet once we realize that our own consciousness is a product of our brains and that other people have brains like ours, a denial of other people's sentience becomes ludicrous. "Hath not a Jew eyes?" asked Shylock. Today the question is more pointed: Hath not a Jew--or an Arab, or an African, or a baby, or a dog--a cerebral cortex and a thalamus? The undeniable fact that we are all made of the same neural flesh makes it impossible to deny our common capacity to suffer."

A rational reason to do unto thy neighbor's brain as you would have them do unto yours.

"And when you think about it, the doctrine of a life-to-come is not such an uplifting idea after all because it necessarily devalues life on earth. Just remember the most famous people in recent memory who acted in expectation of a reward in the hereafter: the conspirators who hijacked the airliners on 9/11."

What is more moral - to do good in anticipation of some reward or in fear of some punishment, or to do good because it feels good to do so in the here and now?

"Think, too, about why we sometimes remind ourselves that "life is short." It is an impetus to extend a gesture of affection to a loved one, to bury the hatchet in a pointless dispute, to use time productively rather than squander it. I would argue that nothing gives life more purpose than the realization that every moment of consciousness is a precious and fragile gift."

Amen.

Two Flavors of Stupidity

Wasteful Stupidity -

"Congress again has extended funding for a core abstinence-education program...First, Congress funds what Mr. Wagoner called unproven abstinence programs. Then it commissions a study that shows they don't work, but lawmakers ignore those results and continue to fund the programs."

Evil Stupidity -

"The head of the Catholic Church in Mozambique has told the BBC he believes some European-made condoms are infected with HIV deliberately. Maputo Archbishop Francisco Chimoio claimed some anti-retroviral drugs were also infected 'in order to finish quickly the African people'."