Yuval shares some traits of Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins in that they challenge the centrality of fictitious narratives in controlling mass behaviour.
"We cannot search for truth and for the way out of suffering without the freedom to think,investigate, and experimentSecular people cherish freedom,and refrain from investing supreme authority in any text,institution or leader as the ultimate judge of what's true and what's right.Humans should always retain the freedom to doubt,to check again,to hear a second opinion,to try a different path.Secular people admire Galileo who dared to question if the earth really sits motionless at the centre of the universe;they admire the masses of commoners who stormed the Bastille in 1789 and brought down the despotic regime of Loius XV1 and they admire Rosa paerks who had the courage to sit down on a seat reserved for white passengers only.
It takes courage to admit ignorance and venture into the unknown.Secular education teaches us that if we don't know something,we shouldn't be afraid of doubting our opinions and checking ourselves again.People throughout history worried that unless we put all our faith in some set of absolute answers,human society will crumble.In fact.modern history has shown that a society of courageous people willing to admit ignorance and raise difficult questions is usually not just more porsperous but also more peaceful than societies in which everyone must unquestioningly accept a single answer.Questions you cannot answer are usually far better for you than answers you cannot question."
So when everyone believes that AI and robotics lead to the betterment of society,what would be its dehumanizing effect when we create something that surpasses its creator?
As Harari postulated"Biotechnology and artificial intelligence now seek to change the very meaning of humanity.If we are committed to the right to life,does that imply we should use biotechnology to overcome death?If we are committed to the right to liberty,should we empower algorithms that decipher and fulfil our hidden desires?If all humans enjoy equal human rights,do superhumans enjoy super rights?
Thursday, March 7, 2019
Tuesday, March 5, 2019
Education as the change maker
When the four tiger economies of Taiwan,Singapore,Hong Kong and South Korea rose to catch up with the developed economies in term of GDP ,they were able to raise the living standard of the people through a strong work ethic,a competitive spirit and the stress on an education system that was rigorously based on meritocracy.
What all of them shared was a culture based on Confucian ethics of teamwork,strong work ethic and meritocracy.People got to the top not through connections or elite family background but in achieving good performance in a standardized exam.That explains the stressful environment of academic studies in these Asian families as it was the yardstick to measure success in career and ability to get into the civil service or highly paid jobs in the private sector.
For many are the unseen sacrifices of parents coaching children in their homework or long hours spent sacrificing personal pleasures to send children for music ,art,dance or tuition classes.Many migrant families that left their motherland to seek greener pastures in foreign countries were trying to escape war,food famines and natural disasters in their villages.Being illiterate or with very little educational opportunities,they remembered that perseverance and hard work ethic,pooling of financial resources from relative and community and mutual co dependence pulled themselves up the socio-economic ladder not through government handouts or special privileges but through sheer meritocracy and hard work.So when they made their fortune,they gave back to the community through setting up welfare institutes to aid the old,sick and poor.many tycoons pooled resources to set up hospitals,banks and even schools and university.Tan Kah Kee donated a lot to setting up Nanyang University and in his native XiaMen.
I think the same mentality exist in Japanese migrants who migrated to Hawaii and the Latin American countries due to hardship in their motherland.The same ethic of adaptability,resilience and hard work ethic is passed on through the generations.
Education became the tool for upward socio-economic mobility not possible in their own motherland due to overpopulation and famines.
What all of them shared was a culture based on Confucian ethics of teamwork,strong work ethic and meritocracy.People got to the top not through connections or elite family background but in achieving good performance in a standardized exam.That explains the stressful environment of academic studies in these Asian families as it was the yardstick to measure success in career and ability to get into the civil service or highly paid jobs in the private sector.
For many are the unseen sacrifices of parents coaching children in their homework or long hours spent sacrificing personal pleasures to send children for music ,art,dance or tuition classes.Many migrant families that left their motherland to seek greener pastures in foreign countries were trying to escape war,food famines and natural disasters in their villages.Being illiterate or with very little educational opportunities,they remembered that perseverance and hard work ethic,pooling of financial resources from relative and community and mutual co dependence pulled themselves up the socio-economic ladder not through government handouts or special privileges but through sheer meritocracy and hard work.So when they made their fortune,they gave back to the community through setting up welfare institutes to aid the old,sick and poor.many tycoons pooled resources to set up hospitals,banks and even schools and university.Tan Kah Kee donated a lot to setting up Nanyang University and in his native XiaMen.
I think the same mentality exist in Japanese migrants who migrated to Hawaii and the Latin American countries due to hardship in their motherland.The same ethic of adaptability,resilience and hard work ethic is passed on through the generations.
Education became the tool for upward socio-economic mobility not possible in their own motherland due to overpopulation and famines.
Sunday, March 3, 2019
movies that tell a good story
Special effects or whatnot 3D effects are just the trimmings as what is important in a movie is the story itself.
it should have the right tension between the characters,realistic dialogue and be entertaining-meaning it has to capture my attention.
Indian movies are entertaining and has universal appeal despite the foreign language and the context of foreign lifestyle.Watching both Pad man and Toilet overtwo weekends shows the skill of the filmmaker to take a topic of social ills of society and spin it into a humorous ,entertaining movie.the appeal of Bollywood movies has spread to four corners of the globe and are the most widely seen movies all over the world from China,Russia,the Middle East,SouthEast Asia ,Britain and Africa.Fans from diverse cultural and social worlds have a liking for popular Indian movies.
Bollywood movies are value for money as it allows plain folks 3 long hours of entertainment with everything all thrown in. There are no distinct genres but mixes several genres and themes simultaneously in an orgy of visual and sound.This makes Bollywood movies different as multi genre movies are termed "the masala film" like curry cooked with different spices or masala,the Indian movie serves a potporri of flavours.
A famous choreographer says"What is saving Indian cinema from being overwhelmed by Hollywood is our song and dance routines,because they just can't imitate that." ( That's why I enjoy my Sunday dance sessions at the park as our guru teaches us Bollywood moves like her Masala Bhangra last Sunday saw us wriggling hipsand sliding our necks to hot bhangra music).
Their movies are full of hope,showingthat good inevitably triumphs,people live modern westernised lives and still respect traditional Indian values,the hero always beat the villain and the dark side of life is banished forever.As Amitabh Bachchan sums it 'Hindi movies provide poetic justice in just three hours-a feat that none of us can achieve in a lifetime."
I like movies that deal with socio-cultural issues in society and that I get from independent movies not manufactured for mass consumption.They deal with family issues or society concerns in which the movies from China starting from Zhang YiMo ,Feng Xiao gang and that generation of directors did not follow the mould of Hong Kong movies that were entertaining but lack critique of socio-cultural norms.Now China movies have zoomed way ahead with use of animation and dipping into new genres like sci-fi.I wanna watch The Wandering Earth when it comes as it had raving reviews.Horror and romance movies are so common in Asian movies that they lack creativity.Good to watch how science fiction is interpreted through an Asian director and Chinese writer-they are getting bolder in film making.Interesting development.Technical skills can be learnt but not the creativity of the story telling-that is an inborn talent and with a pool of billions,there are bound to be a few who will rise to the top of the profession if they are nurtured with access to diverse reading,viewing and acting opportunities.
it should have the right tension between the characters,realistic dialogue and be entertaining-meaning it has to capture my attention.
Indian movies are entertaining and has universal appeal despite the foreign language and the context of foreign lifestyle.Watching both Pad man and Toilet overtwo weekends shows the skill of the filmmaker to take a topic of social ills of society and spin it into a humorous ,entertaining movie.the appeal of Bollywood movies has spread to four corners of the globe and are the most widely seen movies all over the world from China,Russia,the Middle East,SouthEast Asia ,Britain and Africa.Fans from diverse cultural and social worlds have a liking for popular Indian movies.
Bollywood movies are value for money as it allows plain folks 3 long hours of entertainment with everything all thrown in. There are no distinct genres but mixes several genres and themes simultaneously in an orgy of visual and sound.This makes Bollywood movies different as multi genre movies are termed "the masala film" like curry cooked with different spices or masala,the Indian movie serves a potporri of flavours.
A famous choreographer says"What is saving Indian cinema from being overwhelmed by Hollywood is our song and dance routines,because they just can't imitate that." ( That's why I enjoy my Sunday dance sessions at the park as our guru teaches us Bollywood moves like her Masala Bhangra last Sunday saw us wriggling hipsand sliding our necks to hot bhangra music).
Their movies are full of hope,showingthat good inevitably triumphs,people live modern westernised lives and still respect traditional Indian values,the hero always beat the villain and the dark side of life is banished forever.As Amitabh Bachchan sums it 'Hindi movies provide poetic justice in just three hours-a feat that none of us can achieve in a lifetime."
I like movies that deal with socio-cultural issues in society and that I get from independent movies not manufactured for mass consumption.They deal with family issues or society concerns in which the movies from China starting from Zhang YiMo ,Feng Xiao gang and that generation of directors did not follow the mould of Hong Kong movies that were entertaining but lack critique of socio-cultural norms.Now China movies have zoomed way ahead with use of animation and dipping into new genres like sci-fi.I wanna watch The Wandering Earth when it comes as it had raving reviews.Horror and romance movies are so common in Asian movies that they lack creativity.Good to watch how science fiction is interpreted through an Asian director and Chinese writer-they are getting bolder in film making.Interesting development.Technical skills can be learnt but not the creativity of the story telling-that is an inborn talent and with a pool of billions,there are bound to be a few who will rise to the top of the profession if they are nurtured with access to diverse reading,viewing and acting opportunities.
Monday, January 28, 2019
Food and culture
A lot of cultural legacy is contained in how food is caught,prepared and passed down.
A lot of food history shows how cultures intermingle and assimilate another alien culture.It's also how families create memories as cooking and feasting is a celebration of life wedding,birth and good memories.
i saw in the ancient Chinese manual of gastronomy from The Garden of Contentment how food recipes are created.I remember how uncle and granny bought soft shell turtle to make tonic soup or snakehead fish is filleted and how ferocious the survival of the fish thrashing on the floor.I remember the catfish with the poisonous sting barb in front but when cooked with black beans in claypot smelled awesome.
A lot of cooking is a labour of love so nomatter how backbreaking or how hot and sweaty, alot of good memories come out of the kitchen.The frugality of our ancestors who lived through famine and starvation sees my late dad talking about eating rice mice as a delicacy or catching frogs from the rice fields for food.How pomelo skin is dried and cooked as a vegetable just as the Italians use flowers of zucchini to stuff and deep fry or Japanese eating wild vegetables for health.
This New Year I think of panfried dry prawns marinated in superior say sauce and caramelised with sugar,steam pomfret,stewed trotters with dried oysters and black moss,soya sauce chicken and steamed winter melon soup as the traditional new year food I miss the most.
A lot of food history shows how cultures intermingle and assimilate another alien culture.It's also how families create memories as cooking and feasting is a celebration of life wedding,birth and good memories.
i saw in the ancient Chinese manual of gastronomy from The Garden of Contentment how food recipes are created.I remember how uncle and granny bought soft shell turtle to make tonic soup or snakehead fish is filleted and how ferocious the survival of the fish thrashing on the floor.I remember the catfish with the poisonous sting barb in front but when cooked with black beans in claypot smelled awesome.
A lot of cooking is a labour of love so nomatter how backbreaking or how hot and sweaty, alot of good memories come out of the kitchen.The frugality of our ancestors who lived through famine and starvation sees my late dad talking about eating rice mice as a delicacy or catching frogs from the rice fields for food.How pomelo skin is dried and cooked as a vegetable just as the Italians use flowers of zucchini to stuff and deep fry or Japanese eating wild vegetables for health.
This New Year I think of panfried dry prawns marinated in superior say sauce and caramelised with sugar,steam pomfret,stewed trotters with dried oysters and black moss,soya sauce chicken and steamed winter melon soup as the traditional new year food I miss the most.
Monday, January 14, 2019
How social media coins new words
The use of social networking sites has allowed new vocabulary to be coined as users make up words to express a particular idea which will later be viralized and enter popular usage.
Words like manhandle and blacklisted goes out of fashion with the rise of social trends like feminism and anti racism.So current lingo shows the creativeness of the inventor like blamegame or kickass.The young people go a step further in reducing words into acronyms like LOL or MILF or YOLO.
Some words come and go very fast .Last year the word was milkshake duck to describe someone once highly regarded is found to be not true to character .In English we say that idols have feet of clay.Now the word of the year is "Me Too" in view of the anti discrimination of female victims and anther word that lost to it is Big Dick Energy,Deepfake and Single Use.How language evolves has to be understood in line with the socio-cultural context of the changes in society.I guess the dumb blonde and the dickhead has gone out of fashion .
Words like manhandle and blacklisted goes out of fashion with the rise of social trends like feminism and anti racism.So current lingo shows the creativeness of the inventor like blamegame or kickass.The young people go a step further in reducing words into acronyms like LOL or MILF or YOLO.
Some words come and go very fast .Last year the word was milkshake duck to describe someone once highly regarded is found to be not true to character .In English we say that idols have feet of clay.Now the word of the year is "Me Too" in view of the anti discrimination of female victims and anther word that lost to it is Big Dick Energy,Deepfake and Single Use.How language evolves has to be understood in line with the socio-cultural context of the changes in society.I guess the dumb blonde and the dickhead has gone out of fashion .
Thursday, January 10, 2019
Art of the Soul
Really would like to see the exhibition of China's artist Shao Fan in Malaysia.Next year some exciting cultural events like Ed Sheeran's concer and musical Phantom of The Opera performance in Malaysia.Need to save for these pricey events by eating home cooked meals or buy less novels.It's a hard choice-sigh.
X & Y or Y X? Get more ZZZZZ
The Art of Soul or the Art of Life.
X & Y or Y X? Get more ZZZZZ
The Art of Soul or the Art of Life.
"Art for me is like a pearl," he says.
"I see the pearl as a result of self-healing after suffering harm from the outside world. Art has that same function-serving as a kind of enduring self-relief or self-comfort to cope with our feelings of helplessness." China's artist Shao Fan at exhibition
The Art Of The Soul.
Wednesday, January 2, 2019
Doggone it
That's my favourite word.When my owner Cathy got a new baby poodle with curly white fluffy coat and sappy round eyes,she seem to have lost all interest in me.When i rubbed against her leg,she would pick me up and tickle the top of head and smooched my face.Poor bobby, You miss me don't you but I told the kid next door to feed you everyday.Did he do it? Why are you getting so scrawny?
Look what I bought you from my holiday in Australia.Here its a lovely green collar with a medallion of your name see Bob .
Now she pushes me out of the room and her bed and she cuddles Fifi in her bed.When I see Fifi,I took an instant dislike to her fawning ways.I would hiss and snarl at her "Doggone it! What are you blinking at me for?"
last night,she said Bob come you have to go to the vet.You need to go for your injections.Your knees must be giving you a lot of pain.She put me in the plastic carrier and carried it down the lift.Then she forgot the keys and rushed back up the lift,leaving me in the carrier.A sexy white bob tail peered inside.Hi you wanna join me for the great hunt today.She pushed the door lightly with her paws and whoa,it swung open.Cathy must have forgotten to latch it as she was in a hurry.
Come on I'm Sasa ,don't be a pussy,come on out,We'll have so much fun.
Well,I jumped at this chance,to be a free cat .Follow me,she beckoned and we dashed behind the huge black refuse bins.It reeked of fish bones and rotting vegetables.As Sasa leaped to the edge,she called,Quick you scaredy cat!Me scaredy,no way,
Look what I bought you from my holiday in Australia.Here its a lovely green collar with a medallion of your name see Bob .
Now she pushes me out of the room and her bed and she cuddles Fifi in her bed.When I see Fifi,I took an instant dislike to her fawning ways.I would hiss and snarl at her "Doggone it! What are you blinking at me for?"
last night,she said Bob come you have to go to the vet.You need to go for your injections.Your knees must be giving you a lot of pain.She put me in the plastic carrier and carried it down the lift.Then she forgot the keys and rushed back up the lift,leaving me in the carrier.A sexy white bob tail peered inside.Hi you wanna join me for the great hunt today.She pushed the door lightly with her paws and whoa,it swung open.Cathy must have forgotten to latch it as she was in a hurry.
Come on I'm Sasa ,don't be a pussy,come on out,We'll have so much fun.
Well,I jumped at this chance,to be a free cat .Follow me,she beckoned and we dashed behind the huge black refuse bins.It reeked of fish bones and rotting vegetables.As Sasa leaped to the edge,she called,Quick you scaredy cat!Me scaredy,no way,
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