critical thought

John Roberts

John Roberts

Graduate Student
Jan 12, 2011
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www.resotune.com
I always credited those old TV commercials for children's toys that never lived up to the imagery for teaching us to be skeptical, but lately I've been picking up on commercials that are just nuts, if you pay attention to the context or details. One recently selling a water bottle with filter built-in so you can purify tap water, shows a housewife offering filtered water to an eskimo drinking out of some bay or perhaps the ocean. Either case seems like it would be much too salty to drink, no wonder he preferred the filtered tap water. :-) I guess we are supposed to ASSume they are drinking from a Glacial lake? Real eskimos melt snow and ice for drinking water, or get it from inland glacial lakes.

OK let me get to my point... There is an old joke about playing poker. If you are in a game and can't figure out who the patsy is, "you are the patsy". :-). For the last few years I have been seeing more and more TV ads where it isn't obvious who is selling what and why. So I would rephrase that old poker joke into, "if somebody is spending big money for a TV ad, to alter your opinions and behavior, and you don't recognize who is doing that to you and what their agenda is, .......then you are the Patsy". At least all those ads pushing pecker medicine are obvious about what they are doing.

Don't be the patsy, always pay attention to who is trying to influence you, and why. it may not be in your best interest to blindly accept what they are pushing at you.

JR
 
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i am under the opinion these ads dont apply to me for the most part. I might once in a while support a company that advertises through sponsorship of events I favor. TV,internet and print ads for the most part dont influence my spending.
 
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That's why TV these days increasingly has commercial product placements during the show content, with all kinds of promotional tags running under the show along the bottom edge of the screen.

There is a legal challenge going on right now about the "hopper" bing offered mainstream by Dish, from content providers, I suspect there will be technology adjustments to make it harder to distinguish commercial from show. I have been thinking about using the pattern recognition technology used to ID songs to ID commercials so you can dim the volume more, each time they are repeated.

We are all still exposed to and influenced by the "persuaders" among us, some more than others. I am only suggesting we try to understand who is pushing our buttons and why. YMMV

JR
 
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But you should also take note that the Eskimo give the bottle back to her. If it was really good-he would want to keep it-would he not?

We used to have a "wet weather spring" in my parents back yard-when we lived in the mountains. There was nothing but nature (rocks-trees-dirt etc) between us and the top of the hill. When the water would flow-it was cold-clear and tasted great. Nothing but nature to filter it.

Funny thing was-in biology class we tried to analyize it and it didn't come out as "water". I don't remember exactly what was going on-but the teacher was very confused also. Maybe it was "to good"?
 
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Ivan Beaver said:
But you should also take note that the Eskimo give the bottle back to her. If it was really good-he would want to keep it-would he not?

We used to have a "wet weather spring" in my parents back yard-when we lived in the mountains. There was nothing but nature (rocks-trees-dirt etc) between us and the top of the hill. When the water would flow-it was cold-clear and tasted great. Nothing but nature to filter it.

Funny thing was-in biology class we tried to analyize it and it didn't come out as "water". I don't remember exactly what was going on-but the teacher was very confused also. Maybe it was "to good"?
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I am old enough to recall my mother collecting rain water to use in her iron to prevent lime scale build up common with tap water. :-)

I suspect rain water in later decades to more resemble dilute sulphuric acid (perhaps carbolic acid?). Who knows what minerals the dilute acid will leach from running over the ground.

JR
 
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This is one of the reasons why I have enjoyed studying philosophy under good professors so much. It teaches you how to think rationally and critically, and it applies directly to absolutely everything in life. (Especially metaphysics)


That is why I think that the joke about majoring in philosophy only tells half the story, since even though for most it may not seem to help you get a job it most definitely underlies everything you will ever come across in life. The one who proclaims that "philosophy is dead" is himself making a philosophical statement.


Take Care,
Phil
 
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Critical thinking should be taught in kindergarten, and perhaps it was accomplished by those old sleazy toy ads. I've heard funny stories about modern text books and critical thinking by some of today's young students, from a neighbor's son who is a retired geography teacher, and his kid still in school. Some students appear more critical than many of their teachers. I don't want to start a new conspiracy rant, so I won't but some funny business about the "truth". In one discussion about the outcome of the war of 1812, one student questioned if the text book was written by the British. :-)

JR

Phil: Was there a joke about majoring in Philosophy in there that I missed? Or is the joke that people expect to find a high paying job in that field? :-). We all inadvertently learn philosophy, while it's better IMO to study it consciously, than have it spoon fed to us.
 
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John Roberts said:
Phil: Was there a joke about majoring in Philosophy in there that I missed? Or is the joke that people expect to find a high paying job in that field? :-). We all inadvertently learn philosophy, while it's better IMO to study it consciously, than have it spoon fed to us.
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I didn't make it too explicit, so I understand your confusion; my apologies. I am actually majoring in philosophy (although not looking to find a high-paying job in it) but was just making the side joke of how when you tell people you are majoring in philosophy that they always joke about what the heck you gonna do with that!?


But really to get at the idea that, as you mention, consciously studying good philosophy helps to teach one how to think critically in all facets in life. So it when a person says to me "what the heck you gonna do with that degree" I tend to think/explain the importance of living the examined life by being a rationally minded person. (This doesn't mean become a crazy intellectual, but rather simply be human and live it to the fullest in the search for rational truth, and truth itself.)


Take Care,
Phil


PS - Myself and a couple friends think that a philosophy 101 class should be taught in high school for this very reason, since there can be so much of forming of ones philosophy unconsciously at that time. They should learn to form it rationally and critically. (They should also stay away in that 101 class from this modern crazy philosophy stuff with mind/body problem and making us doubt our own or others existence that they deem as "classical problems of philosophy"; which only became problems when the moderns dealt with them. Maybe teach a basic philosophy of nature/human person and focus on the 3 prominent views of the human person of hylomorphism, dualism, and materialism. But that's for another topic ;) )
 
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kristianjohnsen said:
WTF?
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I'm of the understanding (in this US state) that rain water which falls from the sky on to a property owner's property is not the property owner's water to utilize as they see fit, especially if that water is utilized by said property owner to the exclusion of the public having access (rights) to said water. If-fact, the only legal water available locally (as I understand it) is that which is either pumped from a licensed private well, or is metered from a water district... and there's a move locally to meter water pumped from a private well.

As I understand it, rain water (in this US state) is public property, therefore all access to said public property, including rain water, for personal (or business use) shall be metered, and charged for accordingly, the proceeds of which to be returned to the public (or the remenits of which returned to the public after a suitable handling/adminstrative fee has been deducted... currently being somewhere north of 40% of GDP as I understand it).

I suspect it would be fine to collect rain water off your roof to put in your cloths iron in this US state, if that water was purchased via a PUD water meter (which said meter is doubtfully available... besides hoops that would have to be jumped through to get the state to license the installation of said rain gutter water meter).

My... what a tangled web we weave.
 
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Andrew Broughton said:
Wow.

Charging for rain water that falls from the sky onto your property! Only in the good 'ol USA. ;)
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error.

Let me clarify: It's not that there's a charge for rain water that falls from the sky onto a property owner's property, but rather, it's unlawful to utilize that water without paying for it.
 
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W. Mark Hellinger said:
error.

Let me clarify: It's not that there's a charge for rain water that falls from the sky onto a property owner's property, but rather, it's unlawful to utilize that water without paying for it.
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Yup, that clears it up... :-) Actually I still don't understand.

Let me guess Washington state?

How do your state legislators feel about you breathing the state air without paying a fee? It seems breathing it is utilizing it.

If we utilize the rain water to grow our lawn does that count?

Do farmers pay the state for utilizing the rainwater to grow crops?

Then there's the sunlight... that has value.

Don't tell the pukes in DC... they're looking for new revenue sources.


JR
 
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John Roberts said:
Yup, that clears it up... :-) Actually I still don't understand.

Let me guess Washington state?

How do your state legislators feel about you breathing the state air without paying a fee? It seems breathing it is utilizing it.

If we utilize the rain water to grow our lawn does that count?

Do farmers pay the state for utilizing the rainwater to grow crops?

Then there's the sunlight... that has value.

Don't tell the pukes in DC... they're looking for new revenue sources.


JR
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SHHHHHHHH!!! Don't tell them-but they might figure out a way to start charging for the air we breath!

So do people who excersize more have to pay more-because they are using more air?

Maybe the guy who has lots of trees on his property can actuall charge the guy who lives in a apartment for the oxygen produces by his trees that the other guy is using?

I can see a futuristic movie out of these things.
 
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Ivan Beaver said:
SHHHHHHHH!!! Don't tell them-but they might figure out a way to start charging for the air we breath!

So do people who excersize more have to pay more-because they are using more air?

Maybe the guy who has lots of trees on his property can actuall charge the guy who lives in a apartment for the oxygen produces by his trees that the other guy is using?

I can see a futuristic movie out of these things.
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Keep up the critical thinking guys....:-) I wasn't looking for a government veer but I guess that is hard to ignore them in this silly season (presidential campaign), and they will be trying very hard to persuade us.
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Before they charge us for the air we breath, the EPA will probably fine us for the carbon dioxide emissions we exhale (contributing to global warming?) :-). Yes, runners would emit more carbon dioxide while running, but their lower respiration rate at rest compared to an out of shape individual may be enough of an offset to cancel it out.

While excessive food consumption is arguably not good for mother earth I don't think it should be against the law (mayor Bloomberg). That seems like a logical connecting of the dots if government takes over all health care cost responsibility. I prefer the free market approach, you want to eat yourself to death, OK pay more for your personal healthcare, and then die. While It was hard to foresee children getting adult onset diabetes from pigging out, and they won't die quickly or well.

======

Getting back to critical thought, here's another one. Government "can not" create jobs, so both sides are disingenuous when they campaign by saying they can create more jobs than the other. The real horse race is to hobble the private economy "less".... but that is not what the public wants to hear, so their message is crafted to give the voters what they want to hear. "I'm from the government and I'm here to help you...". If you believe that line of BS, bend over and lube up.... :-(

i expect the news cycle for the next few months to be filled with everything but the real reasons the economy is stagnating (public debt displacing private economic activity, uncertainty about only short term tax policy tweaks, (no) government budget and growing deficits, uncertain solvency of long term entitlements, lack of rational immigration policy, etc.). There is more but that's enough to chew on for now.

Lets try to ignore the superficial arm waving (and mud slinging) and be thoughtful about the important issues. What's the latest joker thrown into the mix to distract everybody, aborting fetuses based on sex? Come on, we're not China........ focus.

JR
 
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Public debt is not displacing private capital. The economic principle is call "disintermediation" and in college debate we ran a case based on that concept. It was enough of a "squirrel" case that we often won because the negative team didn't have the evidence necessary to refute our case.

Public corporations, the kind that can really create jobs, are sitting on large piles of cash right now. Corporate profitability is way up, but hiring is not. Why? Because there is low demand for many goods and services as the PUBLIC at large sees high unemployment, stagnant wages and other factors that make them reluctant to spend either savings or on credit. In fact, consumer credit card debt is dropping. So while the lenders are getting paid back, those funds are not generating the kind of consumer demand necessary to stimulate the businesses to hire more workers.
 
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