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Life Undercover #54
by Thanos K & Asa B
2008-01-11 09:41:16

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Emanuel Paparella	2008-01-11 09:54:52
Voice in one's head: But do you know what the average life-span of a best seller is? --No, tell me --The average number of weeks that a new No. 1 bestseller stayed top of the hardback fiction section of the New York Times Bestseller List has fallen from 5.5 in the 1990s, 14 in the 1970s and 22 in the 1960s to barely a fortnight last year -- according to the study of the half-century from 1956-2005. --So what's your point? --Simple, you need to get out of those covers and go to the library and discover that books that last more than a few weeks are not bestsellers, they are classics and remain current thousand of years later.


A.P.	2008-01-11 23:10:17
Hummmm... yeah, current in many advisable and non-advisable ways.


Emanuel Paparella	2008-01-12 05:22:59
And who might assess the difference? Amd once that is done, what next? Do we then proceed to burn those which are found current in non-advisable ways, as was done on May 10, 1942 in Germany? And what might be the consequenses of burning one's own tradition and heritage? One cannot but wonder.


Sand	2008-01-12 12:08:50
I suspect your enthusiasm for book burning, Paparella, is closely related to that of the Catholic Church when printing began to make the Bible available for the general public to examine in detail. The church banned ordinary people from examining the Bible because ordinary common sense would quickly reveal its inconsistencies and ludicrous proclamations. See http://www.aloha.net/~mikesch/banned.htm


Emanuel Paparella	2008-01-12 13:17:32
Grinding the ax again. of course, that is your real agenda in this forum and it has precious little to do with the search for truth. In any case, the schizophrenia here involved is fascinating. Which way do we want it? If the Bible is full of lies and contradictions, as you claim, why resent your allege fact that the Church forbids its reading? F for logic 101. What do you suppose is read in Church every day during Mass? Ah, the wonders of ignorance!


Sand	2008-01-12 14:34:08
Goodness! What are those sparks? Could it be your ax being ground? My, my. So many axes! So then you claim that the reference I supplied contains lies? Hmm.


Alexandra Pereira	2008-01-13 18:26:20
Sometimes I feel like laying in bed talking to God and tell him: "Now shut up and just listen!".


Alexandra Pereira	2008-01-13 18:30:26
Mr. Paparella: I just meant that some current (and not so current) interpretations of the Bible, like those of the Koran, are pretty dangerous. They should be faced as books more often, and one should take the positive lessons out of them, not use them to legitimate whatever.


A.P.	2008-01-13 18:44:57
Do you remember those two characters from the Muppets show, Statler & Waldorf? I do.


Sand	2008-01-13 18:59:21
Makes me feel I should be green.


A.P.	2008-01-13 20:37:51
Please do not mistake with Kermit The Frog.


A.P.	2008-01-13 20:43:39
When I read you two quarreling and picking on each other and everyone who happens to mess with your quarrels, on one hand I'm always very happy that you are both retired and enjoy your time like this, on the other I always remember Statler & Waldorf. I don't know why, I just can't help it. :D


Sand	2008-01-13 20:50:15
As you noticed, I would prefer to be Kermit.


A.P.	2008-01-13 21:12:35
But destiny drove you the Waldorf way...


Sand	2008-01-13 22:13:48
Nobody can speak for destiny which means I have, at least, the illusion of free will.


A.P.	2008-01-13 22:19:51
It was an ironic and playful remark. Don't take it so personally.


Sand	2008-01-13 22:36:51
Take it easy. I never take anything seriously.


A.P.	2008-01-13 23:03:28
Well, you understood I was speaking for destiny and not observing the facts. Yes, you believe in free will. But sometimes you seem to have a bitter view about the action that should follow it. As everyone is responsible, we can't proclaim impotency.


Sand	2008-01-13 23:13:54
It's late here and I have to cut out now but you misunderstand me. Several factors indicate pretty surely that free will is an amusing illusion and would not be a useful ability if it were real. Maybe tomorrow I can go into detail.


A.P.	2008-01-14 00:27:26
...Se what I mean with bitter?


A.P.	2008-01-14 00:28:09
see


Sand	2008-01-14 06:37:30
Morning here. I don't understand about being bitter. I am no more bitter about the lack of free will than I am about gravity that locks me to the surface of the Earth. It is a useful condition of existence. All phenomena in the universe must march to the basic rules of cause and effect and humanity is no different. And I would have it no other way. There are some random phenomena but randomness is not freedom.


A.P.	2008-01-14 23:08:11
That's too deterministic for my taste...


Sand	2008-01-15 06:33:14
I understand the human desire to be free of restrictions but the choice is not between freedom and conformity to absolute rules. It is a choice between understandable rigid rules and absolute chaos which would not even permit the development of the universe as we see it. Chaos has no desirable features whatsoever.