Life Lurking

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Sun, 20 May 2012 19:28:50 -0400

Photo

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 01:25:19 -0400

Audio

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 00:07:00 -0400

Two things I’ve discovered recently that I really really...

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 17:50:30 -0400

Two things I’ve discovered recently that I really really like:

Pictures for Sad Children

Songs: Ohia

Have I mentioned how much I love this song? It’s a lot.

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 17:41:00 -0400

Have I mentioned how much I love this song? It’s a lot.

Photo

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 23:56:53 -0400

Found this place during SXSW. To give you a sense of the size,...

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 16:09:48 -0400

Found this place during SXSW. To give you a sense of the size, that metal statue on the right is a little bigger than a person.

I’m loving this album already. This is one of my favorites...

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 23:14:01 -0400

I’m loving this album already. This is one of my favorites right now.

On Twin Earth, a brain in a vat is at the wheel of a runaway trolley. There are only two options...

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 20:33:09 -0400

On Twin Earth, a brain in a vat is at the wheel of a runaway trolley. There are only two options that the brain can take: the right side of the fork in the track or the left side of the fork. There is no way in sight of derailing or stopping the trolley and the brain is aware of this, for the brain knows trolleys. The brain is causally hooked up to the trolley such that the brain can determine the course which the trolley will take.

On the right side of the track there is a single railroad worker, Jones, who will definitely be killed if the brain steers the trolley to the right. If the railman on the right lives, he will go on to kill five men for the sake of killing them, but in doing so will inadvertently save the lives of thirty orphans (one of the five men he will kill is planning to destroy a bridge that the orphans’ bus will be crossing later that night). One of the orphans that will be killed would have grown up to become a tyrant who would make good utilitarian men do bad things. Another of the orphans would grow up to become G.E.M. Anscombe, while a third would invent the pop-top can.

If the brain in the vat chooses the left side of the track, the trolley will definitely hit and kill a railman on the left side of the track, ‘Leftie,’ and will hit and destroy ten beating hearts on the track that could (and would) have been transplanted into ten patients in the local hospital that will die without donor hearts. These are the only hearts available, and the brain is aware of this, for the brain knows hearts. If the railman on the left side of the track lives, he too will kill five men, in fact the same five that the railman on the right would kill. However, ‘Leftie’ will kill the five as an unintended consequence of saving ten men: he will inadvertently kill the five men rushing the ten hearts to the local hospital for transplantation. A further result of ‘Leftie’s’ act would be that the busload of orphans will be spared. Among the five men killed by ‘Leftie’ are both the man responsible for putting the brain at the controls of the trolley, and the author of this example. If the ten hearts and ‘Leftie’ are killed by the trolley, the ten prospective heart-transplant patients will die and their kidneys will be used to save the lives of twenty kidney-transplant patients, one of whom will grow up to cure cancer, and one of whom will grow up to be Hitler. There are other kidneys and dialysis machines available; however, the brain does not know kidneys, and this is not a factor.

Assume that the brain’s choice, whatever it turns out to be, will serve as an example to other brains-in-vats and so the effects of his decision will be amplified. Also assume that if the brain chooses the right side of the fork, an unjust war free of war crimes will ensue, while if the brain chooses the left fork, a just war fraught with war crimes will result. Furthermore, there is an intermittently active Cartesian demon deceiving the brain in such a manner that the brain is never sure if it is being deceived.

What should the brain do?

– Michael F. Patton Jr., “Tissues in the Profession: Can Bad Men Make Good Brains Do Bad Things?”,Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association, January 1988

Photo

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 00:29:12 -0400

Photo

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 23:04:52 -0400

http://reptarmusic.com/

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 20:58:39 -0500

http://reptarmusic.com/:

Awesome band website. Minimize the welcome screen. Click the control panel. Chose the grey color scheme. Now click the games folder.

From the 33 1/3 book on In The Aeroplane Over the Sea by...

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 21:31:00 -0500

From the 33 1/3 book on In The Aeroplane Over the Sea by Kim Cooper.

“Surprisingly, “Oh Comely,” at 8:18 the longest song on the album, was recorded in a single take by Jeff by himself. The other musicians clustered around Robert in the control booth and in the tiny adjacent room for what they thought was just a test take as Jeff tried out the mic placement. Robert remembers feeling claustrophobic, with maybe twenty people standing around him. The rooms were laid out so Robert could hear Jeff’s playing through speakers, but also ambiently through the air. Although he was only supposed to play a verse or two, Jeff powered through the song, stunning his friends with a beautiful, passionate performance no less amazing for the uncontrolled moments when he veers out of tune. At the finish, everyone burst into spontaneous cheers and applause—you can hear someone, possible Scott Spillane, yell “Holy shit!” at the end of the track if you listen closely. The final version is almost exactly what Jeff played that day, with the addition of horn overdubs and a couple of places where Robert went in and doubled the vocal.”

designcloud: Don’t Be A Dick by Luke Beard

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 14:21:04 -0500

designcloud:

Don’t Be A Dick by Luke Beard

follow my new tumblr wild-atrocisity.tumblr.com i follow back

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 11:06:56 -0500

follow my new tumblr wild-atrocisity.tumblr.com

i follow back

Audio

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 18:31:37 -0500

Unforgettable Chorus

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 13:15:54 -0500

Unforgettable Chorus

surfgoths: Say Yes - Elliott Smith I’m in love with the world...

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:01:58 -0500

surfgoths:

Say Yes - Elliott Smith

I’m in love with the world through the eyes of a girl who’s still around the morning after.

Beautiful

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 01:36:31 -0500

Beautiful

Photo

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:03:59 -0500