OUR GOVERNMENT WENT OVER THE FISCAL CLIFF A LONG TIME AGO!

Democrats and Republicans agreed to the terms of the Budget Control Act of 2011, which becomes effective on January 1, 2013, in order to avoid shutting down our government because of a debt ceiling. Without increasing the debt ceiling, the government could not continue to pay for our extravagant entitlements. We needed to borrow another trillion dollars in order to continue programs we can no longer afford. In order to approve the ridiculous proposed budget, Congress and the President agreed to massive spending cuts and tax hikes. However, the cuts and tax increases would not go into effect until a year and a half later. Now that 2013 has arrived they want to modify the terms but cannot agree on how to do it. And now, we are bumping up against the new debt limit. We are out of time and money. We are at the bottom of the cliff!

The only reasonable thing to do is let the current policy, scheduled for the beginning of 2013, go into effect. Otherwise, the Mayan predictions for the end of the world will become reality. Our country’s black hole in public finances must be dealt with now. The irresponsible behavior of our stupid, greedy representatives has put us between a rock and a hard place. There will be an unpleasant impact from the tax increases and spending cuts but the deficit will fall significantly. Yes, we may go back into a recession and economic growth will temporarily be reduced but we must bite the bullet. Oh, and BTW, please, no more stimulus packages with borrowed money. They do not help fight recession. History proves they just make things worse. Happy New Year and good luck surviving next year.

THE FASCINATING SUBJECT OF RELIGION

The world’s largest religious tradition is Christianity but it was preceded by many other ancient religions with similar characteristics. And there are other major religions in the world that compete with the Christian tradition. Different forms of religion have been around for millions of years. And they have been responsible for both good and evil. Religion remains the most powerful community builder the world has ever known. Religion binds individuals into groups through habits of belief and relationships of trust.

Religion is based on faith and because of that it has survived the attacks by atheist and the conflicting evidence from the advancement of science. There is no possible way to prove or disprove the existence of God. Bad things continue to happen in the world that are a test of faith but there are also good things happening that can be attributed to the answer of prayers. For me, life is a mystery and there are both good and bad people among the believers and the nonbelievers. Religion is likely to survive for at least another thousand years. I am okay with that as long as I am allowed to believe or not believe.

Nollaig Shona Duit

С Новым Годом и Рождеством  聖誔快樂，新年進步 Prettige kerstdagen en een gelukkig nieuwjaar  Hyvää joulua ja onnellista uutta vuotta Joyeux Noël et Bonne Année Fröhliche Weihnachten und ein glückliches/gutes Neues Jahr Buon Natale e Felice Anno Nuovo  God jul og godt nyttår Feliz Navidad Kellemes Karácsonyi Ünnepeket és Boldog Új Évet or simply BUÉK God Jul och Gott Nytt År
AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!

EDUCATION ON THE INTERNET

One of the amazing opportunities created by the Internet is the ability to take college courses on line. Many of the students at traditional colleges show no improvement in critical thinking, complex reasoning and writing. However, students on line seem to be motivated to gain these things from the courses available to them on their computers. An organization called Coursera offers free courses at prestigious universities all over the world. I recently enrolled in Introduction to Philosophy at THE UNIVERSTY of EDENBURGH. I have a lifelong interest in the subject of philosophy and I am excited about this course.

The course will introduce me to some of the most important areas of research in contemporary philosophy. Each week a different philosopher will talk me through some of the most important questions in their area of expertise. We’ll begin by trying to understand what philosophy is__what are its characteristic aims and methods, and how does it differ from other subjects? Then we’ll spend the rest of the course gaining an introductory overview of several different areas of philosophy: Epistemology, Philosophy of science, Philosophy of mind, Moral Philosophy, and Metaphysics. Would you like to join me? If so, go to: https://www.coursera.org/course/introphil

SOMETHING NEW TO THINK (and worry) ABOUT

There are problems with technology changing faster than society can adapt. As people and computers become more closely connected, it is likely that they will become a kind of global brain. The question is, will this global brain create collective intelligence or collective stupidity? The scientific experts do not agree. We need to understand these possibilities better than we do now. How do we connect people and computers so that collectively, they act more intelligently? We must guard against stupidity created by mob psychology.

On the one hand, what’s to stop a mass of anonymous but connected people from suddenly turning into a mean mob? Historically and predating computers, People have been willing to give up personal identity and join a collective. That propensity has been very bad news. For example, Fascists, communist, religious cults, and criminal “families” tend to designate enemies, be violent, and discourage creative thought. We might be playing with fire! Just because we all become connected does not necessarily make us better.

On the other hand, the synergy of Internet-enabled collective intelligence, if managed properly, could be a boon for mankind. Most of what we think of as human intelligence has come about by our interactions as human beings. We learn languages, and we learn to communicate. Our intellectual achievements result not from a single person working alone but from interactions of an individual with a culture and a body of knowledge. I hope that collective intelligence can help us to become a part of a broader intelligent entity.