Life expectancy declining

Life expectancy declining in high-income countries, especially in the US: Study

Last Fall 2018 Meeting

For our last meeting, for Fall 2018, we will be at the Eastside Branch of the Lexington Public Library, 9:45am-11:45am, December 14.  The place is on Palumbo.

Our topic this week may be selected from the following (the first item is the planned topic):

-- Declining Average Life Expectancy

-- Housekeeping, if any, looking forward to EOY 2018 and BOY 2019
-- Political correctness
-- Migration

If you have suggestions, or if you want to add to the list, please write me -- jimmonomoy@gmail.com.

See this SIG web page at https://reasonockhammencken.blogspot.com/  

Nick Bostrum: Jobs and AI

Nick Bostrom answers Paul on AI and human stupidity

Do we exist within a Simulated Reality?

Do we exist within a Simulated Reality?

Next Meeting-- 12/7/2018

For our next meeting, for Fall 2018, we will be at the Eastside Branch of the Lexington Public Library, 9:45am-11:45am, December 7.  The place is on Palumbo.

Our topic this week may be selected from the following (the first item is the planned topic):
-- Housekeeping looking forward to EOY 2018 and BOY 2019  
-- Kialo.com (exploring)*
-- Political correctness
-- Migration 
-- Artificial Intelligence
-- Declining Average Life Expectancy
-- The origin of the concept & early history of Hope & its subsequent evolution to contemporary times

If you have suggestions, or if you want to add to the list, please write me -- jimmonomoy@gmail.com.

* before Thanksgiving the library was blocking this site, but I checked again last Friday -- it was reachable.  Here's hoping.

Topics Updated

-- Usability

-- What Book have you just finished?

-- Kialo.com (exploring)
-- Political correctness
-- Migration

-- Artificial Intelligence
-- Declining Average Life Expectancy
-- the origin of the concept & early history of Hope & its subsequent evolution to contemporary times
-- Objectivism (Ayn Rand)

The Good Place, Again

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/10/04/magazine/good-place-michael-schur-philosophy.html

The Good Place

https://www.nbc.com/the-good-place

Next Meeting November 30, 2018

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday!

For our next meeting, for Fall 2018, we will be at the Eastside Branch of the Lexington Public Library, 9:45am-11:45am, November 30.  The place is on Palumbo.


Our topic this week may be selected from the following (the first item is the planned topic):
-- The Good Place (Moral Relativism)
-- Housekeeping looking forward to EOY 2018 and BOY 2019 
-- Kialo.com (exploring)
-- Political correctness
-- Migration


If you have suggestions, or if you want to add to the list, please write me -- jimmonomoy@gmail.com.

No Meeting November 23

See you again on November 30

Violence

In our Nov. 16 meeting, we were blocked from kialo.com, so we discussed violence.  In the next three weeks, I will try to troubleshoot kialo, but next time, Friday Nov. 30, we will talk about The Good Place.

Meeting of November 16 and Kialo.com

For our next meeting, for Fall 2018, we will be at the Eastside Branch of the Lexington Public Library, 9:45am-11:45am, November 16.  The place is on Palumbo.

Our topic this week may be selected from the following (the first item is the planned topic):

-- Kialo.com (exploring)

-- Violence  

-- The Good Place (Moral Relativism)

-- Political correctness

-- Migration 

If you have suggestions, or if you want to add to the list, please write me -- jimmonomoy@gmail.com.

See the SIG web page at https://reasonockhammencken.blogspot.com/   

Check It Out

Kialo.com

Memetic Evolution

Evolution

Meeting of November 9 and Evolution

Sorry for the last minute notice, but ...

 

For our next meeting, for Fall 2018, we will be at the Eastside Branch of the Lexington Public Library, 9:45am-11:45am, November 9.  The place is on Palumbo.

 Our topic this week may be selected from the following (the first item is the planned topic):

-- Where is evolution taking us?

    -- Violence  

-- The Good Place (Moral Relativism)

-- Where is evolution taking us?

-- Political correctness

   -- Migration 

If you have suggestions, or if you want to add to the list, please write me -- jimmonomoy@gmail.com.

See the SIG web page at https://reasonockhammencken.blogspot.com/   

Meeting of November 2 and Gender Grammar

For our next meeting, for Fall 2018, we will be at the Eastside Branch of the Lexington Public Library, 9:45am-11:45am, November 2.  The place is on Palumbo.

Our topic this week may be selected from the following (the first item is the planned topic):
-- Gender in Language
-- The Good Place (Moral Relativism)
-- Where is evolution taking us?
-- Political correctness
-- Violence

If you have suggestions, or if you want to add to the list, please write me -- jimmonomoy@gmail.com.

See this SIG web page at https://reasonockhammencken.blogspot.com/

Topic List

Our topics each week may be selected from the following:
-- Gender in Language
-- The Good Place (Moral Relativism)
-- Where is evolution taking us?
-- Political correctness

Talking Heads

https://youtu.be/O52jAYa4Pm8

Stereotyping II

https://youtu.be/rbe5D3Yh43o

Stereotyping

https://youtu.be/rspZv2a0Pp8

Meeting of October 26

PLEASE NOTE LOCATION CHANGE

For our next meeting, for Fall 2018, we will be at the Eastside Branch of the Lexington Public Library, 9:45am-11:45am, October 26.  The place is on Palumbo near Man-o-War.

Our topic this week may be selected from the following (the first item is the planned topic):
-- Labels
-- Gender in Language
-- The Good Place (Moral Relativism)
-- Where is evolution taking us?

If you have suggestions, or if you want to add to the list, please write me -- jimmonomoy@gmail.com.

See this SIG web page at https://reasonockhammencken.blogspot.com/

The Taylor Series

Nobody asked but ...

Today, we are going to relate some higher mathematics to the real world.  There is a fairly human discussion of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brook_Taylor">Taylor</a> Series at <a href="https://medium.com/@andrew.chamberlain/an-easy-way-to-remember-the-taylor-series-expansion-a7c3f9101063">this web site</a>.  But even it is a bit math geekish.  Never fear, because I am going to try to reduce the confusion, so we might apply the principle in living a real voluntaryist life.

The concept of a Taylor Series is the idea that no matter how chaotic something, taken as a whole, might be, there are parts of it that are well behaved.  Then taken as a whole again, a collection of well behaved parts, the whole something is well behaved.  A baby can be expected to soil his diapers, but as a thirty year old, he has outgrown the problem, in most cases.  This man's life then may be described as a series of patterns that fit different stages of his life.  Any passage of events can be described in vivid detail by describing its parts -- the only trick is identifying where one smooth pattern ends and another starts.  In effect, describing the past requires an appropriate identification of its parts, their length, and their significance.  This further requires understanding that the future is TBD (to be determined).

The beauty of the Taylor Series is that no part predetermines the shape (character) of the next part, other than its starting point.  As voluntaryists, we might consider shedding the human propensity to predict the future, while misconstruing the past.  We must take the time to examine the present, and the present only, for a proper understanding of that which probably was and that which probably will be.  Accuracy in the present is the only key.

-- Kilgore Forelle

The Quiz from 'Factfulness'

1. In all low-income countries across the world today, how many girls finish primary school?
A: 20 per cent
B: 40 per cent
C: 60 per cent

2. Where does the majority of the world population live?
A: low-income countries
B: middle-income countries
C: high-income countries

3. In the last 20 years, the proportion of the world population living in extreme poverty has:
A: almost doubled
B: remained more or less the same
C: almost halved

4. What is the life expectancy in the world today?
A: 50 years
B: 60 years
C: 70 years

5. There are 2 billion children in the world today, aged 0 to 15 years old. How many children will there be in the year 2100 according to the United Nations?
A: 4 billion
B: 3 billion
C: 2 billion

6. The UN predicts that by 2100 the world population will have increased by another 4 billion people. What is the main reason?
A: there will be more children (aged below 15)
B: there will be more adults (aged 15 to 74)
C: there will be more very old people (aged 75 and older)

7. How did the number of deaths per year from natural disasters change over the last 100 years?
A: more than doubled
B: remained about the same
C: decreased to less than half

9. How many of the world’s one-year-old children today have been vaccinated against some disease?
A. 20 per cent
B: 50 per cent
C: 80 per cent

10. Worldwide, 30-year-old men have spent 10 years in school, on average. How many years have women of the same age spent in school?
A: 9 years
B: 6 years
C: 3 years

11. In 1996, tigers, giant pandas and black rhinos were all listed as endangered. How many of these three species are more critically endangered today?
A: all three
B: one of them
C: none of them

12. How many people in the world have some access to electricity?
A: 20 per cent
B: 50 per cent
C: 80 per cent

13. Global climate experts believe that, over the next 100 years, the average temperature will:
A: get warmer
B: remain the same
C: get colder

Meeting of October 19

PLEASE NOTE LOCATION CHANGE

For our next meeting, for Fall 2018, we will be at the Northside Branch of the Lexington Public Library, 9:45am-11:45am, October 19.  The place is on Russell Cave Pike.

Our topic this week may be selected from the following (the first item is the planned topic):

-- Fact (Factfulness)

-- Gender in Language

-- The Good Place (Moral Relativism)

-- Labels

-- Where is evolution taking us?

If you have suggestions, or if you want to add to the list, please write me -- jimmonomoy@gmail.com.

See the SIG web page at https://reasonockhammencken.blogspot.com/

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34890015-factfulness?ac=1&from_search=true

Once an Engineer

Body language and gender from a dancer's perspective | Natalia Khosla | TEDxYale

Men, women and language -- a story of human speech | Sophie Scott | TEDxUCLWomen

Meeting 10/12/18

For our next meeting, for Fall 2018, we will be at the Eastside Branch of the Lexington Public Library, 9:45am-11:45am, October 12.  The place is near the intersection of Palumbo and Man o' War 

Our topic this week may be selected from the following:
-- Gender in Language

-- Fact (Factfulness)
-- The Good Place (Moral Relativism)
-- Socialism / Capitalism
-- Labels
-- Where is evolution taking us?

If you have suggestions, or if you want to add to the list, please write me -- jimmonomoy@gmail.com.

See this web page at https://reasonockhammencken.blogspot.com/

Words Are Events

Factfulness

Communication Graphic

Next Meeting -- October 5

PLEASE NOTE LOCATION CHANGE

For our next meeting, for Fall 2018, we will be at the Northside Branch of the Lexington Public Library, 9:45am-11:45am, October 5.  The place is 1733 Russell Cave Rd, Lexington, KY 40505  

Our topic this week may be selected from the following:
-- Gender in Language

-- Communication and Communication Theory 

-- Fact (Factfulness)
-- The Good Place (Moral Relativism)
-- Socialism / Capitalism
-- Labels
-- Where is evolution taking us?

If you have suggestions, or if you want to add to the list, please write me -- jimmonomoy@gmail.com.

See this web page at https://reasonockhammencken.blogspot.com/

The Good Place

Here are a couple of links to interesting articles on The Good Place and its use of philosophy for an upcoming class.

https://consequenceofsound.net/2018/02/the-good-place-season-2-wrestled-with-morality-by-smashing-the-status-quo/

https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/10/how-the-good-place-goes-beyond-the-trolley-problem/543393/

Meeting -- September 28

For our next meeting, for Fall 2018, we will be at the Eastside Branch of the Lexington Public Library, 9:45am-11:45am, September 28. 

Our topic this week may be selected from the following:

 -- War
 -- Fact (Factfulness)
 -- Gender in Language
 -- Communication and Communication Theory
 -- The Good Place (Moral Relativism)
 -- Socialism / Capitalism
 -- Labels
 -- Where is evolution taking us?

If you have suggestions, or if you want to add to the list, please write me -- jimmonomoy@gmail.com. 

See this web page at

https://reasonockhammencken.blogspot.com/

Future Topics

 -- War
 -- Fact (Factfulness)
 -- Gender in Language
 -- Communication and Communication Theory
 -- The Good Place (Moral Relativism)
 -- Socialism / Capitalism
 -- Labels
 -- Where is evolution taking us?
 -- Memory

Human Attributes

http://humanorigins.si.edu/human-characteristics

https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-6432/The-6-Qualities-That-Make-Us-Fully-Human.html

https://philosophynow.org/issues/124/Bergson_Rights_Instincts_Visions_and_War

What Does It Mean to Be Human?

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/philosophy-dispatches/201205/what-does-it-mean-be-human

What Does It Mean to Be Human

http://humanorigins.si.edu/about/become-involved/submit-your-response-what-does-it-mean-be-human

Meeting -- September 21

For our next meeting, for Fall 2018, we will be at the Eastside Branch of the Lexington Public Library, 9:45am-11:45am, September 21. 

Our topic this week was selected by the members at the past meeting:

-- what it means to be human.

If you have suggestions, or if you want to add to the list, please write me -- jimmonomoy@gmail.com. 

See this web page at

https://reasonockhammencken.blogspot.com/

Nihilism Tee Shirt

Meeting, September 14

For our next meeting, for Fall 2018, we will be at the Eastside Branch of the Lexington Public Library, 9:45am-11:45am, September 14. 

Our first topic this semester can be selected from this list we proposed last week or from other suggestions the members may make:

-- Culture's Use of Symbols

 -- Communication and Communication Theory
 -- The Good Place (Moral Relativism)
 -- Socialism / Capitalism
 -- Labels
 -- What does it mean to be human?
 -- Where is evolution taking us?

If you have suggestions, or if you want to add to the list, please write me -- jimmonomoy@gmail.com. 

Prospective Topics

 -- Culture's Use of Symbols
 -- Communication and Communication Theory
 -- The Good Place (Moral Relativism)
 -- Socialism / Capitalism
 -- Labels
 -- What does it mean to be human?
 -- Where is evolution taking us?

A Real Me

https://www.arealme.com/

Big Think

https://bigthink.com/world-in-mind/can-we-quit-it-with-the-right-brain-left-brain-stuff-already

Moon Landing

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2018/07/20/why-do-people-believe-the-moon-landing-hoax-or-other-conspiracy-theories/?utm_term=.51bb86f62485&wpisrc=nl_rainbow&wpmm=1

Pensmore

Here's a link.

And another: https://youtu.be/zK499A8EUzo

Meeting, July 27

For our next meeting, the last for Summer 2018, we will be at the Eastside Branch of the Lexington Public Library, 9:45am-11:45am, July 27. 

Our last topic this Summer can be selected from this list (of one item) or from other suggestions the members may make:

-- Rationality vs irrationality

If you have suggestions, or if you want to add to the list, please write me -- jimmonomoy@gmail.com. See our web page at https://reasonockhammencken.blogspot.com/

Meeting, July 20

For our next meeting, we will be at the Eastside Branch of the Lexington Public Library, 9:45am-11:45am, July 20. 

Further topics in July can be selected from this list:

-- Rationality vs irrationality

-- Conspiracy theories.

If you have suggestions, or if you want to add to the list, please write me -- jimmonomoy@gmail.com. See our web page at https://reasonockhammencken.blogspot.com/

What Is Consciousness?

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05097-x?utm_source=briefing-dy&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=briefing&utm_content=20180515

How Robert Nozick put a purple prose bomb under analytical philosophy

https://aeon.co/ideas/how-robert-nozick-put-a-purple-prose-bomb-under-analytical-philosophy?utm_source=Aeon+Newsletter&utm_campaign=eb393ad774-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_05_14&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_411a82e59d-eb393ad774-68613613

Can 3D-Printed Homes Solve the Global Housing Crisis?

https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/108512582?utm_source=Houzz&utm_campaign=u8099&utm_medium=email&utm_content=gallery5&newsletterId=8099

Introduction to Philosophy: God, Knowledge and Consciousness

https://www.edx.org/course/introduction-to-philosophy-god-knowledge-and-consciousness

The philosophy of Mexicanness

https://aeon.co/classics/to-be-accidental-is-to-be-human-on-the-philosophy-of-mexicanness?utm_source=Aeon+Newsletter&utm_campaign=dd27e1d43f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_06_24_11_47&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_411a82e59d-dd27e1d43f-68613613

Bus Driver Shortage

https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2018/06/why-wont-anyone-drive-the-bus/563555/

Why Exactly?

https://fpif.org/why-exactly-is-the-u-s-at-war-in-yemen/

Meeting, July 13

For our next meeting, we will be at the Eastside Branch of the Lexington Public Library, 9:45am-11:45am, July 13. 

Further topics in July can be selected from this list:

-- Rationality vs irrationality

-- What constitutes attention.

-- Conspiracy theories.

-- Friday the 13th

If you have suggestions, or if you want to add to the list, please write me -- jimmonomoy@gmail.com. See our web page at https://reasonockhammencken.blogspot.com/

Accepting Limitations

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/collections/201203/know-your-limits

Meeting, July 6

For our next meeting, we will be at the Eastside Branch of the Lexington Public Library, 9:45am-11:45am, July 6. 

Further topics in July can be selected from this list:

-- Rationality vs irrationality

-- What constitutes attention.

-- Accepting limitations.

-- Conspiracy theories.

If you have suggestions, or if you want to add to the list, please write me -- jimmonomoy@gmail.com. See our web page at https://reasonockhammencken.blogspot.com/

Best regards
Jim Carigan

Tee Shirt

The Extraordinary Proliferation of Jobs and Careers

https://www.edge.org/response-detail/11163

The happy secret to better work

What makes us feel good about our work?

Notes on Starbucks Incident

Starbucks incident

Prepared by Bill Bowden for OLLI class, “Lifelong Philosphy”

Meeting of May 11, 2018

Sources

USA Today

Associated Press

NPR

The Washington Post

CNBC

Good Morning America

Eater.com (“The freshest news for the food world every day”)

Sequence of events

April 12, 2018

Two African American men, Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson, enter downtown Philadelphia Rittenhouse Square Starbucks.

They ask to use the restroom, informed they are for customers only. Asked if they would like to order something, they say no. Say they are waiting for a friend.

The manager calls the police and says the men are trespassing. The police arrive, ask the men to leave. They refuse. They are arrested, handcuffed, and taken away.

The friend they were waiting for shows up as they are being arrested.

Starbucks declines to press charges. Two to three hours later, they are released from custody.

Observations from various media

A police report says the men cursed at the manager when told the restrooms were for paying customers only. (NPR)

The manager called the police because they declined to buy anything. (USA Today)

Police commissioner Richard Ross said the officers gave the men the choice of buying something or leaving. They were asked politely three times to leave. (NPR)

Ross later apologized for the arrests, saying neither he nor his officers were aware of the lack of a clear Starbucks policy on non-paying customers. (Eater.com)

Starbucks’ policy on hanging out at its stores is not clearly dictated in any company directives. The company refused to comment on this. (Eater.com)

A Starbucks spokesman said, “In this particular store, the guidelines were that partners (managers, presumably) must ask unpaying customers to leave the store, and police were to be called if they refused.” (The Washington Post)

Rashon and Donte say they were given no reason as to why they had to leave. (Good Morning, America)

Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson said, “The basis for the call to the Philadelphia police department was wrong.” (NPR)

Executive director of Starbucks Howard Schultz said the police were called because the men were African American. “I’m embarrassed by that. I’m ashamed of that.” (The Washington Post)

Rashon and Donte contend this kind of thing happens “Every day, all the time, everywhere.” (AP)

Starbucks will close more than 8,000 stores on May 29 for an afternoon of “racial bias education” training for over 175,000 employees.

Bill’s observations

There appears to be confusion over an official Starbucks policy about making a purchase or leaving. There are anecdotes about customers staying for hours and not always refilling their drinks.

When police officers tell you to do something and you refuse, you can be in violation, whether or not you are actually guilty of anything. If you say you weren’t’ speeding and try to drive away from the highway patrolman citing you, you are guilty of not cooperating with law enforcement. Because Rashon and Donte felt they had done nothing wrong, they declined the opportunity to avoid arrest by either ordering something or leaving (says Police Commissioner Ross.)

Millions of people patronize Starbucks every day. There are about 200,000 Starbucks employees. It’s risky to use the Philadelphia incident as an indication of widespread racism within Starbucks. How do you assess this?

Notes on Consciousness

“I thunk me a thought” Humans can think about thinking, that one thinks

Consciousness definition: mystery of consciousness and the brain  Bergson: instinct/intuition and intelligence combine in duration to consciousness  Gazzaniga: the goal of the brain is to protect and regulate the body…period.

States of consciousness  Awake  Sleep  Dreaming  (subconscious)

 Hindu Vedas (4)  wakeful state  dream state  deep sleep state  transcendental state

 Hindu Yoga/Tibetan Buddhism (7 bodies of consciousness ) Christopher Calder  1) Physical Realm – simple awareness  2) Energy Realm – most people reside in this realm  3) Enhanced Mental Realm – (astral, meditation)  4) Super-Mental Realm – (“mental body”), intense, inspirational  5) Realm of Enlightenment – superconsciousness, Buddha  Author rejects the notion of realms beyond the 5th  6) Cosmic Body  7) Nirvana

Hypnotic states – resemble deep sleep Out of Body Experiences (OBE) Masts – Meher Baba; persons disabled by experience of higher spiritual planes, may appear irrational or insane—claimed quite elevated spiritual status, “intoxicated with God.” Some had OBEs and could not reenter the body well enough.

Consciousness as awareness/cognition  Race consciousness/white privilege/  Ta Nehisi Coates: “choose to believe you’re white,” “people who believe they are  white,” “people who wanted to be white.”

 Political consciousness – Women’s movement “consciousness raising groups”    from the 1960s. CR groups in LGBT movement, mental health care  Cultural consciousness – Aboriginal song lines and walk-abouts  Insect consciousness – leaf-cutter ants  Animal consciousness – 100th monkey  Ecological consciousness – burning rivers; plastic ocean islands

 Increasing levels of self awareness, as with CR groups, or active meditation will often strengthen ego consciousness, or ego-state consciousness which can become an obstacle to moving to higher realms.

Meditative role of “destruction of the ego” as an counterpoint to Western ego states

Mechanistic/electronic consciousness—deviance or extensions of consciousness?

Consciousness as imagination/”altered states of consciousness”

 Maya-illusion, life as a dream,   Source of creativity, creative genius phenomenon  Artistic vision—paintings which speak to the observer  Music and transcendence  Chanting and trance states  Use of intoxicants/”spiritual burglary” vs. rehearsal to alter consciousness?   Huxley-Doors to Perception   Levi-Strauss – studies of Amazonian tribes use of plants

Karl Jung  archetypes of the collective unconscious

 -- Thanks to Edwin Hackney

Meeting, June 29

For our next meeting, we will be at the Eastside Branch of the Lexington Public Library, 9:45am-11:45am, June 29.  

Further topics in June can be selected from this list:

 

 -- Rationality vs irrationality

 -- What constitutes attention.

 -- The nature of work/career.

 -- Accepting limitations.

If you have suggestions, or if you want to add to the list, please write me -- jimmonomoy@gmail.com. See our web page at https://reasonockhammencken.blogspot.com/

Meeting, June 22

For our next meeting, we will be at the Eastside Branch of the Lexington Public Library, 9:45am-11:45am, June 22.

This week's topic will be led by Edwin,
-- Conscious v unconscious

Further topics this Summer may be selected from this list:

-- Freedom

-- Rationality vs irrationality

-- What constitutes attention.

-- The nature of work/career.

-- Accepting limitations.

If you have suggestions, or if you want to add to the list, please write me -- jimmonomoy@gmail.com. See our web page at https://reasonockhammencken.blogspot.com/

Best regards
Jim Carigan

Advertising

https://www.facebook.com/groups/477525649249182/?ref=bookmarks

Meeting June 15

For our next meeting, we will be at the Eastside Branch of the Lexington Public Library, 9:45am-11:45am, June 15.  We had intended to meet a week earlier, but I miscommunicated with the library branch manager.

This will be the first meeting for Summer 2018.

Further topics in June can be selected from this list:

 -- Freedom

 -- Conscious v unconscious

 -- Rationality vs irrationality

 -- What constitutes attention.

 -- The nature of work/career.

 -- Accepting limitations.


If you have suggestions, or if you want to add to the list, please write me -- jimmonomoy@gmail.com. See this web page at https://reasonockhammencken.blogspot.com/

PS -- you might want to take a look at Edge.org

Murray Shanahan

Chicory

Chicory blue comes again to Kentucky in June,
Heading into the morning sun, heliotroping til high noon,
Indigo buntings on their flyway intersect, Chickadees of gold intermingle,

Orange daylilies begin to appear,
Red clover is a perfect backdrop,
Yellow daisies provide highlight

Sticks and Stones

https://philosophynow.org/issues/124/Sticks_and_Stones

Meeting May 11

meeting, we will be at the Eastside Branch of the Lexington Public Library, 9:45am-11:45am, May 11. 

This will be the last meeting for Spring 2018.  We will resume Summer 2018 on the second Friday in June.

Our topic will be:

-- Starbucks, and Organizational Behavior

Further topics in June can be selected from this list:
-- Freedom

-- Conscious v unconscious

-- Rationality vs irrationality

-- What constitutes attention.

-- The nature of work/career.

-- Accepting limitations.

If you have suggestions, or if you want to add to the list, please write me -- jimmonomoy@gmail.com. See our web page at https://reasonockhammencken.blogspot.com/

Musical Topics

Classical *
Roaring Twenties Jazz
Rock
Rhythm and Blues
Childhood Music
Symphony
Jazz Piano
Big Band and Swing
Dixieland
Musicals
Chamber Music
Folk Music
Western Swing
Classical Classical
Country
Vocal Performance
Choral
Bach
Beethoven
Indian Music
Zydeco
Cajun
Irish Dance
Klezmer
Greek Dance
Hymns
Gospel


Accordian
Guitar
Bass
Drum
Piano
Vocal
Harpsichord
Computer
Keyboard
Organ
Harmonica
Gregorian Chants
Trombone

Roy Orbison
Alan Jackson
The Book of Mormon (musical)
The Messiah
Ravi Shakar
Bach Passion
Bruce Springsteen
The Damnation of Faust
Peter, Paul, and Mary
Ella Fitzgerald
St Martin-in-the-Fields
Don't Cry for Me, Argentina
Fiddler on the Roof

Philosophy of Music

https://youtu.be/3fdYjFirMwA

Meeting of May 4

For our next meeting, we will be at the Eastside Branch of the Lexington Public Library, 9:45am-11:45am, May 4. 

Our topic will be chosen from among your suggestions and these past recommendations:

 -- Music as inspiration, reflection of culture

 -- Starbucks, and Organizational Behavior

 -- Freedom

 -- Conscious v unconscious

 -- Rationality vs irrationality

 -- What constitutes attention.

 -- The nature of work/career.

 -- Accepting limitations.



If you have suggestions, or if you want to add to the list, please write me -- jimmonomoy@gmail.com. See our web page at https://reasonockhammencken.blogspot.com/

Intellectual Traits for Critical thinking

http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/valuable-intellectual-traits/528

Valuable Intellectual Traits

Intellectual Humility: Having a consciousness of the limits of one's knowledge, including a sensitivity to circumstances in which one's native egocentrism is likely to function self-deceptively; sensitivity to bias, prejudice and limitations of one's viewpoint. Intellectual humility depends on recognizing that one should not claim more than one actually knows. It does not imply spinelessness or submissiveness. It implies the lack of intellectual pretentiousness, boastfulness, or conceit, combined with insight into the logical foundations, or lack of such foundations, of one's beliefs. Intellectual Courage: Having a consciousness of the need to face and fairly address ideas, beliefs or viewpoints toward which we have strong negative emotions and to which we have not given a serious hearing. This courage is connected with the recognition that ideas considered dangerous or absurd are sometimes rationally justified (in whole or in part) and that conclusions and beliefs inculcated in us are sometimes false or misleading. To determine for ourselves which is which, we must not passively and uncritically "accept" what we have "learned." Intellectual courage comes into play here, because inevitably we will come to see some truth in some ideas considered dangerous and absurd, and distortion or falsity in some ideas strongly held in our social group. We need courage to be true to our own thinking in such circumstances. The penalties for non-conformity can be severe. Intellectual Empathy: Having a consciousness of the need to imaginatively put oneself in the place of others in order to genuinely understand them, which requires the consciousness of our egocentric tendency to identify truth with our immediate perceptions of long-standing thought or belief. This trait correlates with the ability to reconstruct accurately the viewpoints and reasoning of others and to reason from premises, assumptions, and ideas other than our own. This trait also correlates with the willingness to remember occasions when we were wrong in the past despite an intense conviction that we were right, and with the ability to imagine our being similarly deceived in a case-at-hand. Intellectual Autonomy: Having rational control of one's beliefs, values, and inferences, The ideal of critical thinking is to learn to think for oneself, to gain command over one's thought processes. It entails a commitment to analyzing and evaluating beliefs on the basis of reason and evidence, to question when it is rational to question, to believe when it is rational to believe, and to conform when it is rational to conform. Intellectual Integrity: Recognition of the need to be true to one's own thinking; to be consistent in the intellectual standards one applies; to hold one's self to the same rigorous standards of evidence and proof to which one holds one's antagonists; to practice what one advocates for others; and to honestly admit discrepancies and inconsistencies in one's own thought and action. Intellectual Perseverance: Having a consciousness of the need to use intellectual insights and truths in spite of difficulties, obstacles, and frustrations; firm adherence to rational principles despite the irrational opposition of others; a sense of the need to struggle with confusion and unsettled questions over an extended period of time to achieve deeper understanding or insight. Confidence In Reason: Confidence that, in the long run, one's own higher interests and those of humankind at large will be best served by giving the freest play to reason, by encouraging people to come to their own conclusions by developing their own rational faculties; faith that, with proper encouragement and cultivation, people can learn to think for themselves, to form rational viewpoints, draw reasonable conclusions, think coherently and logically, persuade each other by reason and become reasonable persons, despite the deep-seated obstacles in the native character of the human mind and in society as we know it. Fairmindedness: Having a consciousness of the need to treat all viewpoints alike, without reference to one's own feelings or vested interests, or the feelings or vested interests of one's friends, community or nation; implies adherence to intellectual standards without reference to one's own advantage or the advantage of one's group.

Unconscious Bias

Meeting Agendum April 27

For our next meeting, we will be at the Eastside Branch of the Lexington Public Library, 9:45am-11:45am, April 27.

Our topic will be chosen from among your suggestions and these past recommendations:

 -- Knowing one's biases.

 -- Starbucks -- at the meeting, we decided to broaden this topic to Organizational Behavior

 -- Freedom

 -- Music as inspiration, reflection of culture.

 -- Conscious v unconscious

 -- Rationality vs irrationality

 -- What constitutes attention.

 -- The nature of work/career.

 -- Accepting limitations.

If you have further suggestions, send me an email at jimmonomoy@gmail.com

Science Daily

https://www.sciencedaily.com/



Raymond Kurzweil

Jared Diamond

https://www.amazon.com/Collapse-Societies-Choose-Succeed-Revised/dp/0143117009

Jared Diamond at Goodreads

Topics for future meetings

 -- Knowing one's biases.
 -- Starbucks
 -- Freedom
 -- Conscious v unconscious
 -- Rationality vs irrationality
 -- Music as inspiration, reflection of culture.
 -- What constitutes attention.
 -- The nature of work/career.
 -- Accepting limitations.

Meeting 4-20-18 -- Lifelong Philosophy SIG

For our next meeting, we will be at the Eastside Branch of the Lexington Public Library, 9:45am-11:45am, April 20. 

Our topic will be chosen from among your suggestions and this recommendation by me:

How can we think about the future?

You may want to watch these two videos:
https://youtu.be/FePeytAqZu4  -- Raymond Kurzweil

https://youtu.be/5rLPBZzAk-w  -- Jared Diamond

If you have suggestions, or if you want to add to the list, please write me -- jimmonomoy@gmail.com. See our web page at https://reasonockhammencken.blogspot.com/