SocialistPunk
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Hi VinYeah pretty mad stuff. I think I saw the full lecture years ago as it's from The Royal Institute Christmas Lectures series. They are really good lectures, some of the best stuff on TV around Christmas.Years ago I did a bit poking around about the subject of quantum mechanics and it is fascinating, if not a bizarre aspect of science.Needless to say my brain didn't retain much of the information I was coming across, but I think I'll have another go.Race on for the Nobel Prize then.
Hi YMSI must apologise for my earlier comments and dismissive attitude regarding ideology, must have caught me on an off day. If you think it needs addressing I am more than willing to engage with an open mind. Fire away.
Found this short film explaining the fascinating and mind boggling double slit experiment.http://www.richannel.org/the-double-slit-experimentAnybody fancy a Nobel prize?
Not sure about the source, reliability etc, but an interesting article.http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/blog/roland-flamini/crimea-putins-war-oil-and-gas
Thanks mcolome1 and hallblithe, I've been coming across sites that spoke of the oil connection but wasn't sure of the reliability etc so anything that confirms it is appreciated. Keep it coming people.
I'm not sure if this has been discussed on another thread or even mentioned here. But can anyone confirm whether or not Russia's interest in the Crimea is due to the presence of oil and gas fields?
Hi LBirdIt might be a good idea to get to grips with what is meant when we say "science". Again I'm gonna suggest keeping it simple for now.The word, as with many others, is from Latin, and refers to "knowledge". To put it simply science is the human quest for knowledge. However knowledge covers a couple of important areas. One area is knowledge of our physical surroundings and this is what most people see as science. Experiment, observation, recording stuff etc. The other is human thought or ideas about things, simply put philosophy. Both impart knowledge.This to me is were it gets sticky. Knowledge and truth are not one and the same. Whereas most people see science as discovering and learning new stuff from and about our environment, it doesn't necessarily mean that it is the truth about our world, because as humans we are part of that world and we can't help imprint inging ourselves onto that world wether deliberately or unintentionaly. It's like trying to observe the world at the quantum level. The very act of observation has an effect on what is being observed.I could be totally full of shit here LBird but I think this is what you are getting at and wether or not it is possible to overcome our tendency to imprint or if we can somehow make the inevitable imprint less biassed or perhaps useful to our world view.
Just done a bit of searching and as I suspected the word Creed is more commonly used to refer to an American rock band that are often considered to be a pro christian band .Generaly the meaning of the word is associalted with religious doctrine although it does cover the realm of political belief etc.There is also the fictional character Apollo Creed from the Rocky films played by the actor Carl Weathers.But if we try hard enough I'm sure we can complicate matters further.The word is derived from the latin credo, "I believe". Now I could be wrong on this one but I dont think they had Fascism, Communism, Marx or even capitalism in mind, way back over a thousand years ago.So I sugest in the interests of simplicity, and I know some people look down their noses at such a suggestion, we use the word ideology to refer to political belief etc and the word creed to refer to religious belief etc.If we all agree (democratically of course) to stick to some basics maybe a productive discussion can be had.
In the interests of trying to promote a little harmonious discussion, here is the basic definition of ideology.i·de·ol·o·gy[ahy-dee-ol-uh-jee, id-ee-]NOUN [PLURAL I·DE·OL·O·GIES.]1.the body of doctrine, myth, belief, etc., that guides an individual, social movement, institution, class, or large group.2.such a body of doctrine, myth, etc., with reference to some political and social plan, as that of fascism, along with the devices for putting it into operation.3.theorizing of a visionary or impractical nature Of course if anyone wants to they can seek out long academic tracts on the philosophical nature of ideology, but there is little point in doing so unless confusion is your goal.
I was wondering if anyone thinks this situation could escalate into war. It has all the potential symptoms, territorial claims and takeover, military stategic interests, escalating economic tension and diplomatic breakdown?
There is also this.http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/23/arms-export-licences-russia-pm-embargo-reportAnyone for a spot of tennis or passy the political parcel.
Alan,Something about your post #6 on this thread caught my attention earlier, but I let it go without further thought. Recently it came back to me.
alanjjohnstone wrote:You got the time and energy to devote to this forum…i'm sure you can put it to more effective use in the class war and on its battlefield of ideas out there in the real world of convincing non- and semi-communists. This forum is only a side-show, after all, we got to reach out to many more people than simply talking to ourselves and the already converted.Do you really see this forum as irrelevant, a "side-show" as you put it? I would say it is just as important and relevant as any other socialist propaganda method. Standing on a street corner giving away more literature than selling is no more real socialist activity than debating on an internet forum with potentially thousands of people dipping in and out. I stress the word potentially. But a good thread does generate thousands of views over time. People are watching. It's a numbers game, the more people watch or join the site and read good threads the bigger the pool of possible contributors becomes.Checking out this site and forum got me back into socialist politics after many years in the wilderness. I've now joined several discussion lists as a result..
