Prosopology is a fancy word that means studying a text to see who the main characters are. Ancient manuscripts did not have all the easy paragraph breaks we do. In the case of the Bible, it uses far fewer proper nouns than we do as well. So that makes it tough to identify who is speaking.
If Language Makes us Smart, AI will make us Stupid
Christopher Clave recently observed how average IQ has widely declined over the last two decades. This decrease in IQ appears marked in developed countries. While he does not aim to name every cause, he suggests that “language impoverishment” might be one reason. [Read more…] about If Language Makes us Smart, AI will make us Stupid
The Book of Job is About Asking the Wrong Question
In my view, the Book of Job centres on Job’s three friends and Job trying to understand why Job was suffering, while assuming the retributive principle (an eye for an eye).
The big reveal after 34 chapters is that everyone was asking the wrong question. The retributive principle, although wise as it is given in Proverbs, does not represent an immutable principle of justice.
[Read more…] about The Book of Job is About Asking the Wrong Question
Funded Childcare Promises Freedom but it will Bind us to Industry
Canada wants both spouses to work in order to increase GDP since our economy requires continual growth. This also creates a third job because one spouse leaves the home and hires a nanny / day care to watch the kids.
At one point, the spouse who left the home (usually the wife) will realize: I am leaving the home to work outside the home because caring for my children is not adequate work; while at the same I am employing someone to watch my kids.
This realization should lead to the following conclusion: our society exploits the idea of freedom to work away from home in order to grow GDP and deny the biological urge to care for our children. At the same time, it creates jobs of non-parent caretakers of kids, lauding the goodness of this career.
If caring for other people’s kids is good, why not ours?
[Read more…] about Funded Childcare Promises Freedom but it will Bind us to Industry
Judith Butler and Gender Performance
In a 1988 article, gender theorist Judith Butler argued that performative acts in society constitute gender. What she meant was this. Society defines gender norms, and men and women act and dress according to those norms. But these norms have no deep structure. They are stylized performances of gender. Male and femaleness have no essential gender. “Gender is what is put on,” she argues (1988: 531).
Butler affirms and builds on Simone de Beauvoir’s claim that “one is not born, but, rather becomes a woman” (1988: 519). Beauvoir means that the idea of af being a “woman” is not a natural given but something shaped by society. [Read more…] about Judith Butler and Gender Performance
Is God mean in the Old Testament?: How the book of Kings Shows us God is full of Mercy
The Book of Kings should (but usually doesn’t) make us ask: is God just? Will he punish the wicked?
The whole book relentlessly shows God’s mercy and patience as his people regularly abandon his ways, commit evil, and do great harm to one another.