Intellectual Archive

Reflections on science, materialism, and near-death experiences

May 6, 2012 · Category: Current Events, Health, Intellectual

Curious to hear thoughts from others who walk the fine line between materialism and spirituality, I posted this article about near-death experiences to Mudita Forum. (I also included links to a critical response to that article and a subsequent reply from the author.) Some forum members responded that it's all rather anecdotal and unscientific, despite being researched by neuroscientists who appear committed to scientific investigation and the value of empirical studies. Below is my reply. As far as I can tell, consciousness exists only inside sufficiently evolved living organisms. So I view these kinds of NDE reports with a kind of default assumption ...

Posted by Joshua Zader · View Comments

Science: Oh, you found a study? How nice for you!

January 31, 2012 · Category: Current Events, Intellectual

On Facebook, my friend Joe Duarte, a grad student in positive psychology at Arizona State University, asked why I've been so scornful of science and clinical trials lately. (For those who don't know, for six years I studied to be a research scientist while pursuing my Ph.D. in clinical psychology at the University of New Mexico.) I replied: As you might suppose, I'm not a proponent of rejecting science or clinical trials, per se. Rather, I'm a critic of how people trust them broadly, while remaining ignorant of common systematic faults in how they are used. Science has become a kind ...

Posted by Joshua Zader · View Comments

The Battle of Chosin Reservoir

November 26, 2011 · Category: Current Events, Intellectual, Politics

This moving message just landed in my inbox, from friend Ross Barlow. Honoring “The Chosin Few” in the Korean War from 27 November 1950 on into December 1950. The battle of Chosin Reservoir. It was intensely brutal combat in temperatures sometimes down to minus-35 degrees in the mountains. A frozen Hell. Honored warriors there were from the US Marines, the US Army, the Republic of Korea (the “ROKs,” South Korea), and the British Royal Marine Commandos. But don’t forget, the ill-equipped (and tyrannically led) communist Red Chinese troops fought bravely against these UN forces, sometimes fighting down ...

Posted by Joshua Zader · View Comments

Ayn Rand and murderer William Edward Hickman

November 22, 2011 · Category: Individualism, Intellectual, Objectivism

A friend on Facebook lamented the fact that academics tend to equate libertarian thinking with Ayn Rand — "And it's never her ideas of anything like self-ownership or individuality that get cited either. It's always her batshit personality quirks," like "Her creepy admiration of William Edward Hickman, a serial killer." My reply: I've heard that something like 80% of serious libertarians originally came to these ideas via Ayn Rand's novels — though their intellectual development hardly stopped there, of course — so perhaps it's not surprising that many people, especially those who aren't familiar with the genre, associate her ideas with libertarianism. The ...

Posted by Joshua Zader · View Comments

Book recommendation: “Hunter” by Robert Bidinotto

September 25, 2011 · Category: Atlasphere, Individualism, Intellectual, Objectivism, Reviews

I like inspirational novels with a significant moral message, such as Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead and Richard Bach's Jonathan Livingston Seagull. They hit us on multiple levels: supplying entertainment, giving intelligent food for thought, and providing inspiration and emotional fuel for facing the challenges of leading The Good Life. With that in mind, Robert Bidinotto's novel Hunter: A Thriller hit the spot. I found the writing crisp, the characters interesting, and the interplay of plot and theme to be tight and compelling. I was far more moved than I expected to be, particularly by the love relationship between Dylan Hunter and ...

Posted by Joshua Zader · View Comments

The legend of Damon and Pythias: Trust and loyalty in a true friendship

July 23, 2011 · Category: Individualism, Intellectual

From Wikipedia. As told by Aristoxenus, and after him Cicero (De Offic. 3.45), Diodorus Siculus (10.4), and others, around the 4th century BC, Pythias and his friend Damon, both followers of the philosopher Pythagoras, traveled to Syracuse. Pythias was accused of plotting against the tyrant of Syracuse, Dionysius I. As punishment for this crime, Pythias was sentenced to death. Accepting his sentence, Pythias asked to be allowed to return home one last time, to settle his affairs and bid his family farewell. Not wanting to be taken for a fool, Dionysius refused, believing that once released, Pythias would flee and never return. Pythias ...

Posted by Joshua Zader · View Comments

Yasuhiko Genku Kimura: The virtues of enlightened selfishness

July 13, 2011 · Category: Integral, Intellectual, Objectivism

A writer I've never heard of before, named Yasuhiko Genku Kimura, has a very interesting article titled "The Virtues of Enlightened Selfishness" that begins: The human being has two wings, the wing of universality and the wing of individuality, with which to fly above the earth and to soar into the heavens. The wing of universality grows in the awareness of selflessness, while the wing of individuality grows through the creation of selfhood. In this seeming paradox lies the secret of human evolution and of human happiness. To be universal is to be inseparably one, in the oneness of which there ...

Posted by Joshua Zader · View Comments

Michael Strong’s “Be the Solution”: Show us what your vision of beauty and nobility looks like

June 18, 2011 · Category: FLOW, Intellectual

Readers of Mudita Journal may well enjoy Michael Strong's new book Be the Solution. I seldom order books while I'm overseas, wanting to keep my suitcases light, but I've just ordered a copy of this book -- which is ironic, because Michael sent me a copy when it was published, and I was still in the U.S., but for personal reasons I was doing much less reading at the time. Some of you may recognize Strong as the CEO of FLOW, whose activities I have covered from time to time on Mudita Journal. Strong has some new projects that interest me a ...

Posted by Joshua Zader · View Comments

On the psychological impact of the Atlas Shrugged movie

April 19, 2011 · Category: Atlasphere, Current Events, Individualism, Intellectual, Objectivism

Brian Wright offers some insightful reflections after seeing the Atlas Shrugged movie. These pargaraphs caught my attention as particularly noteworthy: Tonight I find myself clarifying several of the key ideas that Ayn Rand developed that were expressed in the movie. Here are the four key ideas I see in ASM: Innovation and the joy of creation The importance of industrial production Egoism and reason vs. altruism, faith, and force The distinction between the productive class and the political class Each of these points emerges from time to time as the theme of Atlas Shrugged comes forward: That theme is "What happens to society when the 'men ...

Posted by Joshua Zader · View Comments

Bill Whittle: What we believe (the Tea Party philosophy)

December 21, 2010 · Category: Current Events, Individualism, Intellectual, Politics

I just discovered these this morning. (Thanks, Marsh!) I haven't had time to watch them all, but I'm so blown away by the quality of the first one -- and I've found Bill Whittle to be so outstanding overall, in the past -- that I'm going to go ahead and post the full series here. What do you think of his presentations?

Posted by Joshua Zader · View Comments