Jump to content
Objectivism Online Forum

NickMunro

Regulars
  • Posts

    17
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by NickMunro

  1. ? The two statements are not incompatible. You have no idea who I am; dispensing advice on how we "ought" to be acting, when you are ignorant of what we ARE doing. It appears that you are wholly clueless on European affairs; the fact that you are willing to speak with authority on the issue speaks volumes about your nature. I won't be returning here. I urge you to check your premises, and look at the facts.
  2. Please dont be so arrogant. It is clear from your post you have no idea what you are discussing. If I claimed that Canada and the USA were "all one country" what would you say? To suggest that "there is no difference in the thinking of Euro-politicians" is erroneous. There is constant disagreement. I may not agree with any of their policies, but there is a great amount of difference. We dont all have one currency either. It is especially surprising that someone who follows the philosophy of "look at reality" could be so far from the truth. While we are at it can you apologise for your offensive comments? regards, Nick
  3. Funny that you mentioned it - I was searching for David Harriman's suggested reading list for physics. Can you reprint that list please? regards, nick
  4. As a British person, I can't say that I am able to speak of the French without some bias, however it is my observation that the French are a highly arrogant, irrational, and proud people who will never realise their errors until it is too late (and even then they will not admit them). Just look at the recent farm's subsidies fiasco... arguing with the French is like dealing with an irrational child. I think France is over a quarter muslim already. As for Britain, I believe the ship is sinking and there is no way back now. I plan to leave for America as soon as possible - Socialism is too deeply embedded here.
  5. I have just listened to the podcast - it was very interesting and informative, thank you for posting the link. regards, Nick
  6. Im in the everlast t shirt. My friend Jim is in the picture with the cannon.
  7. I believe the reason that the theory of evolution has not been supplemented with a law of evolution is that biology does not always deal with irreducible primaries. Therefore, qualities such as "life" are not quantifiable, and so it is impossible to measure changes further than basic concepts; "more/less mobile", "different colour" etc. Biology looks at the world at a certain level, and the emergent property of this level is life. I think this is why we cannot explain Biological phenomena with chemistry, or physics, nor mathematics. Im not a student of biology so I hope the above is accurate... regards, Nick
  8. Yeah its a formality. Basically the Queen is presented with the new bills of parliament and she has to sign every one of them to make it an 'official' bill. However she cannot refuse to sign them (if she does she will be removed from office I believe). SO they have no political power in that sense. regards Nick
  9. I was actually introduced to philosophy through the works of a bodybuilder, called Mike Mentzer. Although he is dead now, he was an Objectivist, and he brought radical new theories to the world of bodybuilding. His best book, Heavy Duty 2: Mind and Body is an excellent mix of philosophy and weight training advice: "It is only within the context of having properly developed your mind that you will be able to truly enjoy the achievement of your material values, including that of a more muscular body". (Heavy Duty 2) Although I dont agree with his method, I appreciate the fact that he rigorously applied logic to build a rational theory of weight training. He is also a brilliant writer, by introducing me to Objectivism, his books literally saved my life. www.mikementzer.com regards, Nick
  10. Countdown is great, it was a shame when Richard Whiteley (the host) died. His funeral was on a DAYEWEDNS. Strange thing about Vorderman is that she looks much better in now than she did 15 years ago! Nick
  11. I had a similar dilemma about Rational Selfishness a couple of weeks ago. However, it was pointed out to me that: It is never rational to violate another person's rights for the sole reason that you could get away with it. If you steal someone's car for example, you have violated that person's right to property - therefore it is irrational to claim your OWN right to property, because A is A. Therefore, with rights as concepts, Rational Selfishness demands that you respect the rights of others. Nick
  12. Thanks for your replies guys, very insightful as I was having difficulty "conceptualizing" the notion of privacy. Nick
  13. He is an idiot - he knew the rules and yet he still decided to risk it by smuggling drugs - isnt he guilty of 'not focusing' ? Nick
  14. Store card, home delivery. I agree the position I put forward is rather untenable; but a similar point was put forward in my class last week and I am currently writing an essay on the Ethics of Data Mining. I agree its not particularly plausible, also I dont think that you can claim an action is immoral if it only allows a 'potential' violation of rights - a couple of days back my friend remarked that Macdonalds should be fined because its customers were dropping litter all over the local bus stop - I think that in principle this is the same argument - the company is not violating any rights - other people are. thanks for your comments - can anyone define privacy? Nick
  15. Almost anything by Edward Elgar and (ahem) early Prince albums. Nick
  16. Hmm, ok good argument! how would you define 'privacy'? regards Nick
  17. If there is no right to privacy in objectivism: You are a local schoolteacher and a customer of your local supermarket. From your purchases, the supermarket builds a profile of you over several weeks. They sell this to a marketing company, which then does some more data mining on you and decides that based on available data, there is a 90% chance you are gay. You then start receiving junk mail en-masse selling homosexual products/services. Your local postman now knows your gay, and starts gossiping in the local pub, where you can no longer go thanks to the attitudes of some of the punters there. It soon gets out that your gay because the postman's son is a pupil at your school, your colleagues treat you differently and the pupils bully you and vandalise your car and home. You might not even be gay! You cannot even move to another town, because your data records are kept indefinately and it only takes a matter of weeks before you are receiving the junk mail again. This is where we are heading; the above scenario is increasingly a potential reality. It doesnt have to be homosexuality, but any aspect of private information about yourself that you do not want to be publically known, and have not told anyone about. Just think, when everyone is going around with WIMax phones, that have adverts on them that change depending on your profile, and which WImax service you are on - this is another way to reveal information about a person without their consent. Is this ethical?
×
×
  • Create New...