It's a slow, snowy afternoon. How about a 🧵 on "rationalists" & "rationalism"? I want to talk about what real rationalism might look like & what people devoted to rationalism might actually behave like--and how that differs from what you often see from self-styled rationalists.

Caveat up front: this is not about Slate Star Codex, which I haven't read regularly enough to have an opinion on, or about the recent controversy between SSC & the NYT. I'm more interested in the *idea* of rationalism (vs. the practice).

The core premise of rationalism, as I understand it, is simply that humans' cognitive machinery was not designed by evolution to find truth, but rather to advance the interests & welfare of the collective -- a Venn overlap, but not the same thing. Therefore ...

... reasoning well, both individually & as groups, requires special effort. It requires consciously trying to set aside the parochialism, biases, & other distortions that typically characterize our thinking -- resisting, to some extent, the dynamics of group membership/welfare.

That's all fine. I agree entirely that we should make special effort to reason well & to guard against the typical failures of reasoning to which we humans are prone. I believe it's the best (maybe only) way forward as a species. So far so good.

ORT. Final chapter. Atto XXII
“Give up defining yourself to yourself or to others. You won’t die. You will come to life. And don’t be concerned with how others define you. When they define you, they are limiting themselves, so it’s their problem. Whenever you interact with people

don’t be there primarily as a function or a role, but as the field of conscious Presence. You can only lose something that you have, but you cannot lose something that you are.”  Eckhart Tolle
Jung pinpoint that there are elements of our psyche that are out of our control.

A driving force that influences our decisions. Now, here’s where spirituality comes in, what are these mysterious elements? Are they simply biological drives built into our DNA? Deep-rooted conditioned pathways in our brain? Or is there something greater?
Of course there is.

The importance of spirituality is that its focus is beyond the material dimension. When you look beyond the material, the concept of who we are...
“Though It seems that I know that I know, What I would like to see Is the ‘I’ that knows ‘me’ When I know that I know that I know."

What makes us feel spiritual then? It could be the quieting of a small area in our brains.
The area in question, the right parietal lobe, is responsible for defining "Me," according to Brick Johnstone of Missouri University. It generates self-criticism and guides us through

They were at a vigil when the issue came to light
The pastor of the church heard the testimony of one of the men of the church earlier that week and decided to allow him to share with the brethren
The man took the microphone and explained how he had

survived for two years without a job!
As soon as he said "Without a job" the congregation gasped!
It was impossible to even contemplate that the man was out of job for a second
He always dressed corporately and drove a good car
Everybody saw him as one of the gainfully employed

members of the church
The man explained further that a week after he lost his job in a stock brokering firm, his wife found him crying and promised him she would ensure his shame was covered
The man said at the end of every month, his wife would hand over her ATM card to him and

they would both go shopping for the family and for themselves
She knew he would eventually catch a break but she was determined not to let him suffer simply because times were hard
The man talked on and on about his wife's support
and love
While the talk was going on, the

assistant pastor watched the man with awe
When the man was done, a lady raised up her hand in the congregation
She said she wanted to ask a question
She was the assistant pastor's wife
When she was given the microphone, she said she didn't see any wisdom in what the man's wife

As a scholar who has researched and written quite a bit about the Anabaptists, can we set a few things straight?

1. Baptists are not Anabaptists. Their history is theirs; ours is ours. We have similarities, but we are not them. We honor them by not using them for our purposes.

2. Not all Anabaptists were in Münster, and many if not most Anabaptists at the time were just as appalled as we are by the Münsterites. So please drop the tropes equating all Anabaptists with Münster. Informed and honest scholars are known by their right retelling of history.

3. The same truth applies to the other types of Reformation Radicals. There is a great difference between those who have become known as Evangelical Anabaptists on the one hand and Spiritualists, Rationalists, etc. on the other hand. Respect them as you also wish to be respected.

4. Yes, there were Anabaptists who toyed with various heresies, including Arianism, Socinianism, and Celestial Flesh Christology. But there were also many Anabaptists who affirmed, commented upon, and used the traditional Apostles’ Creed, Nicene Creed, and Athanasian Creed.

And if you want to do the honest research, you can also find a few heretical Roman Catholic Popes and more than a few heretical Anglicans, Presbyterians, Lutherans. and whomever else you want to talk about. Good historical theology doesn’t play favorites; it speaks the truth.

I am done giving this doctor or team grace. I started with "We are tremendously grateful for all you are doing." He seemed irritated to speak to us. Literally I asked, "What is the likelihood our mom will die on current support, in the next 24 hours, so we can plan travel?"

He hammered us with how severe this was and that was. Yes, that is why I am asking the question. "We are asking you to be a thought partner so we can make responsible decisions as the family." I had had pre-conversations with doctor friends to understand the numbers and prognosis

He said "It would be illegal for me to tell you that she won't die, then she dies." Yes, that is why I said LIKELIHOOD - critical care docs deal in likelihoods. It so frustrating to be on this side and not get a fraction of the standard that I have been held to and hold myself to

Then I made the error of saying, "I'm a pediatrician, I literally do this work on family-centered, compassionate care." to which the charge nurse answered, "It is not the work we do. We keep people alive." End of life care IS your job. Planning IS your job. It's not just numbers

Compassion is not only a pediatric thing while critical care/end of life can proudly lack it. I've had more end of life conversations than I want to remember. My mom is not numbers. She is a human being. I am modulating my voice, complimenting you, leveraging my network.

A good theory of consciousness is one that predicts behavior that is unexplained by other current theories of consciousness. Einstein's General Theory was given credence because it predicted the bending of light.

What do current theories of consciousness predict that is outside common intuition about the nature of consciousness?

Many theories of consciousness are elegant, but do they predict anything out of the ordinary?

A theory of consciousness must be expressed in a formulation, consists of interpretations that are valid and predict something unexpected.

A bad theory of consciousness has ambiguous interpretations and predicts nothing out of the ordinary.

A lot of women get in touch to ask me about #coercivecontrol and come to the conclusion that their partner is controlling, but not abusive enough that they want to leave.

So when is the right time to leave?

A THREAD

Is it when he calls you an ugly bitch the first time?
Or do you wait for him to call you it again?
Or do you wait until he has so completely undermined your sense of self worth that you don’t think you can leave?

Is it when he says that no one will love you like he does?

Or do you wait until he says that no one else COULD love you.

Or that you are unloveable?

Do you leave when he says he likes women to be women?

Or do you wait until he says you are fat and unless you lose weight, he will divorce you?

Do you leave when he pushes you into the wall and then claims he lost control because you made him so jealous?

Or do you wait until you no longer go anywhere, for fear of making him jealous?

1/This is a rant I had with someone while texting, and I thought it would make an interesting thread:

2/ Jim, If you come across any information, I still desire to hear any information on the state of our beleaguered union.

Oregon Prison Report: Voices from the Inside

"The people that were suspected of organizing the hunger strike in April are currently in segregation under bullshit rule violations, being held illegally, having their outgoing mail seized, and are being refused their property...”

“...and yet still in segregation."

(Testimony from Critical Resistance PDX's (@CR_PDX) Write Them All Campaign)

Snake River Correctional Institution (SRCI) / November 17, 2020.

#ODOCKills #KateBrownKills #FreeThemAll

COVID-19

If you are reading this I'm probably in Segregation as we speak because the inmates aren't necessarily allowed to tell you this, a lot of my homies were transferred to a different prison or put in solitary confinement for saying what's been going on here.

Let me start off by saying that this prison is currently and will continue to be a Coronavirus hotspot. Almost for the past year it has been.

At the beginning of this pandemic, due to our childish president, this pandemic wasn't treated with the emergency, urgency, and caution it needed. As you know Snake River is almost 25 minutes away from Boise, Idaho (if you drive fast).

For many years, I made a sincere effort to give everyone a fair shake. Just because someone associated with toxic people, I didn't automatically write them off. 1/10

But there comes a time, as we realise the impact that those toxic connections have on a much broader range of interactions, when we have to say, "Sorry... your association with toxic individuals is unacceptable and an indication of your tacit approval of their behaviour. 2/10

It's time for us to part company."
And I get it... There have been times when I tried to "tolerate" someone's behaviour, to maintain cordial business relationships myself.
But here's the thing... 3/10

🔥 Your on-going association with someone who is attacking members of our community without provocation, is endorsing their behaviour. 4/10

🔥 Endorsing someone who regularly takes advantage of others, for their personal financial benefit, and then stabs those who helped them in the back after their usefulness no longer remains viable is a tacit endorsement of that behaviour. 5/10

R.A.F.

Lemme say something-from here on out, whenever U read an article from a major newspaper or watch anything from any public figure in any position, try 2 look up their bio & background. If U cant find anything on them, U should automatically become deeply suspicious

I actually once outed a well known professor for being a fraud. All this started with his British professor colleague joking in class how he loved America b/c most Americans thought he was so brilliant just b/c he had a British accent. He told the class how back home-

he was nothing, but he was given some advice by another British friend that in America he could thrive because they would find him exotic & different. So he left Britain & came to America climbing all the way to the top of the Ivy League. While overseas, I actually ran n2 a Brit-

that knew him & said, "Oh yes, we regarded him as pretty mediocre for our tastes. Many failed British scholars go to America where they can be stars. We send all our mediocrity there." He said that shit very nonchalantly, but with dead seriousness. He said this wasn't just true--

-in academia but in many other fields as well. He called this "the lure of immigrant exotics." He said that human beings have a natural tendency to be attracted to the exotic. He felt many of Britain's failed scholars had cracked the code of parlaying their accent &

MORNING BANTER

Most people could not handle being around me & my wife due to our ruthless banter. In my wife, I found my match. At 1st glance, my wife seems like a sweet choir girl who reads the bible all day, but she can play the dozens w/the best of them & takes no prisoners.

Ive said many times b4, like comedian Flip Wilson said, "When I met my wife she had a Sunday School face & I had Saturday Night thoughts." I was a frat boy running around campus half naked & she was an honor roll student athlete seduced by a bad boy who partied more than studied.

Many mouths drop at the shit I say in stand up, in speeches, articles & on social media, but if y'all could hear da shit my wife says to me, U would be on the floor howling. Supersensitive mafuckas cant crack our door seal. My wife don't give a fuck about my feelings & I LOVE IT.

So here's an excerpt from our recent morning banter. Now to set the stage, I need to give you a picture of my morning routine. I love nature, so in the morning before I have my 1st cup of coffee, I get up & refill all the bird feeders around our property & water the plants.

Oh & by the way yall dont wanna see me in that garden I'm a beast. Ive been trying 2 do a little winter greenhouse activity 2 see if I can grow certain flowers in the winter & I also have a couple of orchids that belonged 2 my cousin that were dying & I'm trying 2 nurse them back

@tommy_pane I have pondered how to respond to you and this thread of yours. And the understandable inability of you to actually engage a discussion.
I suppose it becomes more clear with this post.

You are not trying to solve the questions, but advocating a broken, albeit powerful,

2/ "conspiracy" that has a baseless response to every single fact... "The MSM is doing fake news".
Which has the patina of "truth", which has a few examples that might be trotted out to "prove the point".
But in the constant reciting of the Trumpian catechism, fails to realize,

How has religion been used to fan the flames of insurrection on Capitol Hill? - welcome to the participants to our zoom briefing today! We'll be live-tweeting as we go along:

Bishop @Mebudde felt a range of emotions on yesterdays events such as shock outrage, deep confusion, and alarm at the ways they unfolded with some predictability #capitolhill #washington #briefing

Bishop @Mebudde highlights there was no protection for vulnerable people, the homeless and key workers in the #CapitolHill area during yesterdays events

"truths unveiled" is how @wsvarghese described the events on #capitolhill, and feels the US nation has been anxious and so on edge, especially the last 4 years in many communities, and shockingly stressful. #briefing #news

Guest @ChineMcDonald shares how she has previously felt called vocationally to "detoxify the brand" of UK #Evangelicals- but has become aware its a place where white supremacy reigns