You’re certainly already familiar with several mathematical operations, such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. You may also be familiar with the logical operations AND, OR, NOT, XOR, and IF…THEN. More generally, an operation can be defined on any nonempty set. Operations have the following properties. Arithmetic operations We’ve already discussed a few of the…
Author: Kenneth
Cat owner, educator, learner
Jungianism and divination
The conscious and the unconscious An important part of Carl Jung’s philosophy is the separation of (and connection between) the conscious mind and the unconscious mind. Both are parts of the self, and this implies that there is a part of the self we have no awareness of. However, that does not make it inaccessible….
The omnibenevolence paradox
This, what I call a paradox, is a major irreconcilable difference between myself and some religious people, especially Christians. If you have faith that God is all good, then you are presupposing that whatever God does must be good. If you personally disagree with God then it must be your moral compass that’s wrong. In…
“Opinions about the science”
I recently heard a panel interview on NPR discussing how climate change and environmental policy will affect how people vote in November. A self-identified conservative panel member said that people have “different opinions about the science” of climate change. This particular person was not in fact a climate change denier, but was referring to climate…
A response to Catholicism on “What is truth?”
The following question was asked on catholic.com: I got into a discussion about truth, and I had the opinion that there is only one Truth and that is God. So what is truth? Is it something we believe in completely, body and soul? Or is it something God reveals to us? How do we know…
I’m not entirely happy with the rise of the “nones”
Over the past decades in the United States, there has been a rise in the number of people claiming no religious affiliation, or “nones.” While this includes atheists and agnostics, these individuals are often distinguished from those who actively identify as such. “Nones” may be agnostic or atheist, but most have a theistic or deistic…
Intelligent design’s scope problem
Intelligent design (ID) is the position that life must have been designed by an intelligent creator and thus could not have evolved naturalistically. Setting aside all the positive evidence for naturalistic evolution, there is a glaring problem with the very idea of ID itself. Arguments for ID often take the form of comparing human-engineered mechanisms…
The work ethic of algorithms
In computer science, an algorithm might be classified as either lazy or eager. A lazy algorithm delays carrying out computations until the last minute, while an eager algorithm attempts to perform computations as soon as possible. Both approaches save time in different ways, and are appropriate in different situations. For example, if a program tends…
The problem with college sports
The benefits First, let’s consider the pros. There are benefits for the athletes (scholarships, character building, career opportunities, etc.), benefits for the fans (entertainment), benefits for the university (income, prestige, etc.), and benefits for the community (economic stimulation, bringing the community together, etc.). These things are not to be disregarded. As we proceed to consider…
Stories in the history of written language (part 6)
Writing systems in fiction Back in part 2, we looked at some writing systems that were invented rather than developing naturally over a long time. There are many more invented writing systems, namely those invented for fictional languages. J. R. R. Tolkien was a pioneer of fictional languages, being a real-world language expert himself. His…
thoughts on mind 