I dedicate these musings of thought to the Temple of Numbers

When I tripped over the online Perseus entry for the word χάος which alludes to the Pythagoreans, it inspired me to pursue another new trail to experience. My google-fingers floated my mind across the ocean of cyberspace until I docked at a website about Pythagoras of Samos. Some fun reflections emerged from the deeps.

Pythagoreans are often said to be an important part of the foundation of modern science and mathematics. However I never really took the time to soak in how these philosophies contributed to modern rationalism and atheism. In a general sense, we might get away with saying that theories like those of the Pythagoreans arose from the rubble of religious contradictions noticed by the most astute iconoclasts of that period, offering us a new set of eyes to gaze into the heavens with, a new method of perceiving the cosmos whose doctrine would be increasingly shaped by logic and deductive reason.

It seems to me that a silent sin of religion is that it abstractifies the infinite Unknown into a fear-inspiring overlord standing over our helpless fate. But a deity is just our common anxieties anthropomorphized. The logic born from Pythagoras and similar philosophies brings remedy to that spiritual tyranny, lamping the path to our self-salvation, overthrowing the sadomasochism inherent in the unhealthy relationship between human and "God". So is it sacrilegious as an atheist to cede after all that that, in a sense, logical truth is Divinity expressed? Is Logic, floating on its flimsy axiomatic foundation called "existence", ironically nothing more than the most optimal faith of faiths?

And so I dedicate these humble offerings of finite perception to the Temple of Numbers. May it compute correctly. Amen.

The evolution of empathy

There's a great talk here available online at the Centre for Inquiry website that I just have to share with everyone called Evolution of empathy. The speech is very insightful and spoken in plain language. It gives a lot to think about on different societal attitudes towards moral behaviour, behavioural tendencies in social populations, and what direction we're all headed in. (No, it's not necessarily completely doom and gloom at all.) It personally gave me a few positive insights to reflect on.

Bureaucracy stifling academic innovation

Hardly a newsflash, is it? I just came across a recent article by Donald W. Miller Jr. entitled The Government Grant System: Inhibitor of Truth and Innovation? [pdf]. Essentially it details some core problems existent in the current American grant system that disfavours support for research that contradicts scientific orthodoxy.

This is nothing new, of course, and is a predictable outcome of many bureaucratic systems that take over the role of cultural accountant, dividing funds up to only those that it may deem "academically worthy". It's always hopeful that a bureaucracy is wise enough to make informed choices and to take appropriate actions towards the welfare of meritorious scholars and towards the benefit of society as a whole. However, this is too often not the case and, when bloated and mismanaged, bureaucracies can quickly turn into oppressive buddy systems.

An interesting thought I take out of this article is the concepts of "Apollonian" (pro-orthodox) and "Dionysian" (anti-orthodox) research. Miller proposes that a balanced system should be remodeled to explicitly allocate funds for both types. This is a commonsense solution to me but, being pessimistic, I somehow doubt this superior model will be implemented as long as human politics are involved.