Sort By:
I recently completed my best work to date: the formulation of an instrument to address any question whatsoever. Here's the basic concept. All questions fall into one or more of seven generic question forms, each of which can be addressed with an algorithm. The set of seven question forms and their associated algorithms enable us to address any question whatsoever. Eager to …
Source: The Straits Times, 4 December 2010, p.A18 Headline: Bacterium in US lake unlike any other known life form Quote1 WASHINGTON: All life on Earth ... requires the element phosphorus as one of its six essential components. But now researchers have uncovered a bacterium that ... has replaced phosphorus with its toxic cousin, arsenic. "What we've found is a microbe doing …
In this wondrous land of acronyms, here's one I thought up recently. PIQUE stands for Philosophically Interesting Questions for You to Examine. I think it's quite nice. END
The cartoon strip "Non Sequitur" in The Straits Times of 6 November 2010 has Danae setting up her own church. She says: "I'm taking the doctrines from all the mainstream religions into one church to end all the fighting over who has the most peaceful religion." It's a nice thought. Her strategy is that if all the main ideas from the mainstream religions are all incorporated …
Recently, several billionaires started a campaign to get other billionaires to pledge their wealth to charitable causes. This, of course, made the headlines. When ordinary folk pledge their spare cash to charities, that is one thing. But when people whose individual wealth dwarfs the GNP of some countries want to give billions to charities, that is another thing. In …
Here's a quick post on the movie that so many commentators are raving about: Inception. It's a great action movie, set in five different locales: Reality, and four increasingly deeper dream levels, each identified by a different physical setting (airplane, van, hotel, ice, beach). The dream levels are achieved by the simple plot device of declaring it to be so. Inception is …
I have received some (not many) enquiries about philosophy cafe. My thanks to the enquirers. I am currently working on a new format for the philosophy cafe. Also, I have not yet found a suitable new location to hold the sessions. (This is not the same as there is no suitable location to be found.) When these two conditions have been met, I will inform readers as to the new …
This is my first post in a long time. I have been busy. Last weekend, I took part in Raffles Institution's annual Inter-school Philosophy Dialogue as a facilitator. The group whose discussion I facilitated considered the following scenario. Mariah is married to Johnny. Due to a gynecological problem, Mariah is unable to carry a foetus. The couple persuades Julie to be a …
This is a report of a philosophy café session held on 13 May 2010 in conjunction with date agency champagnejsg, at Tea Cosy in Plaza Singapura from 7.45pm onwards. As usual, we choose our …
I have just finished watching Ip Man 2. It is a great action movie. The plot is thinnner than rice paper, but it's a great action movie. English boxer Twister disparages Chinese martial artists as dancers rather than fighters, and scornfully challenges them to duels. Master Hung accepts the challenge. Twister beats Master Hung to a pulp. Master Hung refuses to surrender, …
When I went to Nook on 21 April (third Wed of the month), I found it closed. There was a blackboard notice saying it is closed for normal business but available for special bookings. My apologies to anyone who went there and found it closed. I do not know if the situation is temporary or permanent. I shall find out and update readers accordingly. I have been running this …
Headline: Mad Max public square on the Internet Writer: David Brooks Source: The Straits Times, 21/4/10 Quote1 In 2001, Mr Cass R. Sunstein, ... a professor at the University of Chicago, ... raised the possibility that the Internet may be harming the public square. Comment1 The conclusion is "the Internet harms the public square". What is the argument? Quote2 In the …
US President Obama has announced his space programme of a manned trip to Mars. Writer Gwynne Dyer is sceptical. We examine the arguments. Headline: Obama's Martian odyssey more a charade? Source: The Straits Times, 22/4/10 Writer: Gwynne Dyer Quote1 In the real world, the United States is giving up on space, although it is trying hard to conceal its retreat. Comment1 As in …
This is a report of the philosophy café session on 17 March 2010. Our question for the evening is “Does a lover have rights?” After some vigorous efforts to define “lover” in its various …
This is a report of the philosophy café session on 17 February 2010. The question for the evening is: “Is patience a waste of time?” What is patience? An online dictionary defines it as: …
This is a report of the second question attempted at philosophy cafe's first commercial outing -- on 12 February 2010 -- as an event organised by a dating agency (www.champagnejsg.co m). Only if one is prepared to be responsible for a child should one have a child. Whether or not this is true, the claim does not address the question, which is about the importance of a child …
Philosophy cafe has its first commercial outing on 12 February 2010, on the eve of the eve of Chinese New Year. It is used as an event in the calendar of a local dating agency (www.champagnejsg.co m). The question for the evening is, as usual, suggested and chosen by the participants in a popular vote. It is: "Can we change to be different?" "Different" is defined as "not …
A regular visitor to my philosophy cafe asked me this question after a session, saying knowing this will help him formulate questions to offer at future philosophy cafe sessions. Coincidentally, I had also thought about this very question during my Introduction to Philosophy course last year. Here is the answer I came up with. A question is philosophical if it satisfies …
This is a report of my philosophy café session on 20 January 2010. The question of the evening, selected as usual by a popular vote, is: “Do beer ladies need a career path?” We begin by …
This is a report of the philosophy caf é session on 16 December 2009. The topic for the evening is: What does it mean to be cheating in a relationship? Is “cheating” only physical? We ca …
…