november 7, 2005 - midnight almost
I just finished reading my heavy book...and it's paperback. Consiousness Explained, by Daniel Dennett. Took me several months to get back to it, and about two months to finish it even then. The book shows how to explore how we think, using reason and observation...in other words, applying the methods of science where many folks feel (for whatever reason) that science has no place. And it turns out that there really is no reason to believe that our minds work with some kind of magic, because all that needs doing in there can be done by the available physical stuff.
Other than that, not much went on today...although I did get some sweeping and mopping done, and put the black car back together resignedly, and went and fetched a free swamp cooler for one or the other garage, and went to the hardware store with little Steving to get some stuff to put together the robotic arm thingy he's making.
Rest assured all, I have made no vows to agnosticism....terms such as "avowed agnostic" and "devout atheist" are what I consider to be oxymorons. I expect it's a difficult concept to grasp, this lack of belief in the mystical on my part. But that is all it is...a lack of belief. Not at all the same thing as being a firm believer in a lack of mystical things. My mind is still open, and must remain so as long as I live. So far I've not seen anything that defies explanation by other means.
I have an old book that I think I got from a good friend I had when I was a kid, it's about drag racing, written about 1970 and published by the Scholastic Book place. Same folks that do Harry Potter, but before they got lucky and started making serious money. The cover of the book has a psychodelic effect photo of a 55 Chevy smokin the tires on the strip....I think it might have influenced me. Just last year there was a picture of me in my 55 Chevy smokin the tires somewhere in the country, published in a major automotive magazine. Wierd how things like that happen.
Like when I took the ACT as a high school junior, and filled out the "what do you think you'll do" part. I expected to get a 3.2 grade average on my way to a BSME degree. Almost 6 years later I got my BSME with a 3.20 GPA. huh. I was flabbergasted when I discovered the test sheet after all those years.
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