Wednesday, January 09, 2013

Thought For The Day

I had thought that the villains in my science fiction novel project were a bit absurd. And then I read pages 38-39 of THE DIM HYPOTHESIS by Dr. Leonard Peikoff:

A philosophy professor at the Stevens Institute of Technology makes eloquently real the connection between nihilism and anti-integration. I quote from a letter from one of his students:

An anecdote from his own life... He said that he sat his 5 year old daughter down on his lap one day and asked "Where's Daddy?" She responded by pointing to him. He said. "No, that's Daddy's body. Where's Daddy?" She looked perplexed and then pointed to his head. He responded, "No, that's Daddy's head. Where's Daddy?" This conversation continued for some time until he had reduced his daughter to tears while she screamed, "Where's my Daddy? Where's my Daddy?" I dropped the course very soon after that...."

Over the course of writing this blog I've been accused of being Satanic. Of having my humanity surgically removed. And of being the embodiment of all evil on Earth. But this is simply sick. This so-called man effectively admitted to being a soulless being. And his daughter should have been removed from his custody as a result of this action.

I will have to finish reading THE DIM HYPOTHESIS before I resume writing.

What are your questions on this block of instruction?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Makes me want to break his bones and say, "Where's your pain?"

PR1ME

Leslie Bates said...

Or one can ask, "Where is the baseball bat that is striking your head?"

Leslie Bates said...

And then I had some fun:

In my opinion the guru was being uncooperative. I decided to pursue a different method of interviewing on him.

I opened my briefcase. In doing so I allowed the man to have a full view of the contents. What I call the toolkit.

“What are you doing?” He said.

As I put on a pair of blue surgical gloves I answered.

“Switching to a more effective method of interviewing. You don’t mind? Do you?”

As I placed a simple set of brass knuckles on my right hand and performed a light test punch into the palm of the left hand the eyes of the subject expanded almost to the point of falling out of their sockets.

“You need not do that.” He said weakly. “I can answer the question.”

“Are you certain? Can you ever be certain?” I said. “Physical pain is a form of sense data -- and therefore according to modern academic philosophy is not a valid form of information -- this process should not hurt you at all. And I should not feel any guilt from inflicting any pain upon you.”

“I’m sure. I’m absolutely sure.” He said. “I can answer the question.”

“Well then.” I said. “Where do I find him or her?”

“Wisconsin.”

“Specifically where in Wisconsin?”

“The Carpenter family estate west of the town of Minong, Wisconsin.”

Minong?