Wildlife Ambassadors

Instead of banning Orca captivity entirely as a California Congressman's bill does, I actually think there should be laws requiring much more humane living conditions for them. SeaWorld has done more for Orcas that anyone else by bringing them into our world. If not for SeaWorld and other major aquariums, the public wouldn't care any more about "Killer Whales" than they do about sharks, rattlesnakes, scorpions... get my drift?

Yesterday, my daughter finally dragged me to the Tallahassee Museum of History and Natural Science (nee The Junior Museum)

If you haven't been there, TMHNS is much more a natural habitat zoo than a museum. Like virtually all zoos in the U.S., they do as much as they can within their meager budget to provide natural habitat space for wildlife. Only a few dangerous animals like poisonous snakes live in "cages" (aquariums). Most live in well fenced areas of native Florida habitat of several thousand square feet or more. Visitors are kept high above these enclosures of palmetto bushes, huge oak trees and cypress swamp on a well maintained wooden walkway. The animals ignore us most of the time.

Courage

A note to conservatives...

We know you're scared s***less of any kind of human progress. If it hasn't been done before, it must be "... lies straight from the pit of hell."

We try to explain that things will be better with improvements in the human condition. But your fears just won't let you go there. We understand.

The survival of the human race depends on overcoming our fears of the unknown... "to boldly go where no one has gone before."

That famous line was a metaphor by-the-way. While fictionally "exploring strange new worlds," the story-tellers were really exploring the human condition. How we treat each other. How we react to change. How we overcome our beliefs in what is possible on encountering the "impossible". And how we embrace it a grow as a result.

We know your fears for they are ours too. We've chosen to let our rational minds hold our fears at bay, for there is no way out of fear but through change.

The only way to remove a threat is to learn. We either learn to understand that it is not really a threat, or we learn how to mitigate or overcome it. We'll keep trying.

Auction of Tallahassee Mall is an Opportunity

Tallahassee Mall, a North Monroe Street landmark for over 40 years here in Tallahassee, is now on the auction block.

Usurped as the place to shop by Governor's Square Mall since 1979, it's long been withering compared to its across town rival in what is apparently still our "one-mall town".

Broken Hearted (revised)

Here I sit broken hearted.
Tried to vote, but was only thwarted.

"You're name's not a match." they said to me.
"The computer says so. Look, here see."

"I always vote here!" I cried.
They looked at me as if I lied.

"Computers are never wrong. That's the law."
"Now get out of here. There can be no flaw."

"Perhaps you're a felon, a terrorist or both."
"Or an illegal alien... do you know the oath?"

"We've no time for your sort. Poll closing is near!"
"What do you mean, 'stolen elections'? That Can't Happen Here!"

"The Da Vinci Code"A Threat to Christianity?

"The Da Vinci Code" proffers a fictional alternative interpretation of what's been written about Christianity and its origins. However, a number of prominent Christian leaders, who are more aware of how tenuous is the evidence upon which they've invested their entire lives, have railed against Dan Brown's best selling novel and still more are calling for boycotts of the upcoming movie. They seem to feel that any question of what they preach suggests that they may have it wrong and that such a possibility is terrifying.

The threat of such ideas is not to Christianity. It is to the personal self-image of those who know that vast amounts of the rhetoric used by religious leaders is not only objectively unsupportable, but is specifically designed to gloss over that and indoctrinate followers into blind obedience.

Repetition is the most effective way to train the mind to react automatically, without conscious thought. Repetition of simple concepts dominates Christianity. Followers are taught that any attempt by "laymen" to interpret the writings for themselves for example, is a breach of faith which makes them a nonbeliever, an outcast.

Christian leaders who are secure in their faith realize that faith is the most effective way to provide a "moral center" to human decision-making. A great many choices in our lives have no clear, objective right or wrong. Somehow we must decide. Faith, religious beliefs, can provide that "tie breaker".

Beliefs that are simple and unambiguous seem to work well. "Thou shalt not kill" is such a belief that, when adhered to in all situations, brings peaceful coexistence. Exceptions undermine the authority of such a belief however. First is the exception for plants and other animals, primarily as sources of food. It was long ago decided that this "commandment" only applied to killing other humans. Then came exceptions for killing anyone trying to kill us. So far, most everyone is in agreement. Then, however, we move down the slippery slope to it being alright to kill people who potentially might try to kill us in the future and further to people who don't hold the same beliefs we do. Beliefs that require adherence to very specific behavior are fraught with peril.

In modern terms...

Long term strategies are very beneficial.
Micro-managing undermines leadership.

The uproar over "The Da Vinci Code" is micro-managing of the first order. It is short-sighted and undermines the trustworthiness of religious leaders.

Most of all, it exposes leaders more interested in exercising the power to control others than on the wisdom Christianity can bring to heal and strengthen them.

Batman Begins

The fifth Batman film, Batman Begins by Christopher Nolan captures the heart of the Batman saga that the previous films missed. Batman, like most good storytelling, is about us. Our fears, our foibles. Our dreams and our nightmares. Three messages stand out:

• Have Faith In Each Other
  Michael Caine, as Bruce Wayne's paternalistic butler Arthur, masterfully hammers this message home throughout the story. Through word and deed, Arthur continually reassures Wayne that he'll never give up on him no matter what. This faith carries Wayne through some of his darkest moments of doubt.


• Compassion Is What Separates Good From Evil
  When mentor Henri Ducard (Leam Neeson) insists that Wayne must be willing to kill decisively and without remorse if he is to defeat evil, he refuses. He instead insists that compassion is the defining difference between Good and Evil.


• Revenge Is Not Justice
  While Ducard tries to convince Wayne of the righteousness of vengeance for the murder of his parents, ADA Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes) admonishes Wayne, "Justice is about harmony; vengeance is about making yourself feel better".

Resources

• Batman Begins in IMDB Database (comment added)

Walt Disney: One Man's Dream

[Comment added to "Walt Disney: One Man's Dream" at IMDB on 12/11/2004 by Robert Watson]

This program was a promotional for the 1982 opening of EPCOT, Disney's third theme park on the same property with the second theme park, Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, USA.

The Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow was Walt's dream to build a real research community where real people actually lived. He envisioned it as a place where urban planners and other researchers would live and work to find new and better ways to design cities, homes, transportation, etc. The concept drawings I saw in a film they used to run in the Welcome Center just off to right as you enter Walt Disney World's Main Street, were of a hub-and-spoke city with high-rise business buildings at the center and monorail loops extending out like spokes to the suburbs of homes.

I think he also expected it to be a kind of educational park as well with rides that would carry the public, unobtrusively, through the research areas.

Alas, with Walt's death in the 1966, so too died the dream... except for the name. The money lenders apparently like the futuristic concept and so went ahead with EPCOT as another theme park. Ironically, the characters representing the "money people" in this program (all played by the great Carl Reiner) repeatedly express the view that Walt should keep doing more of the same (i.e. "think mouse","more pig cartoons") instead of trying new things. Maybe the writers were taking a subtle jab at what EPCOT had become?

There is (or was some 15 years ago when I was last there) one pavilion in EPCOT that captures the flavor of what Walt had in mind. It's called "The Land" and is sponsored by Kraft. It has a boat ride (a la "Small World") through a mixture of animatronics scenes and actual hydroponics gardens and things where they experiment with alternative ways of growing crops and such.

Origins of Values

[Comment #3 by Robert Watson to the post "Bush ethics adviser gets her principles from Star Trek" and "Update on trekkie ethics adviser " on Enterprise Ethics, Apr 1, 2005 1:09 am ]


Let me offer a counter argument to "I do not see Star Trek as an authoritative ethical source..."

For good or ill, some interpretation of The Bible and Dead Sea Scrolls has become the basis for most of the world's ethics.

The Bible is an anthology of stories designed to illustrate moral (ethical) lessons. Star Trek is an anthology of stories designed to illustrate moral (ethical) lessons. The purpose of both is to educate. The most effective way to educate is to convey knowledge in an entertaining way. It maximizes memory retention.

Since Christianity dominates American values, and Star Trek is written by Americans, most of its lessons are compatible with Christianity -- or at least some interpretation of those biblical teachings. Others have grown out of the application of secular logic to solve societal problems.

Thus, the Star Trek stories could be seen as an offshoot of Christianity much like Christianity was an offshoot of Judaism. It took Christianity several hundred years to rise above the status of "cult" but it has, and now more than a third of the planet's population are Christian. Star Trek lore is just getting started.

Personally, I find the values promoted in Star Trek to be more fair, honest and beneficial to long-term survival of human beings than the divisive, hateful, revenging, oppressive interpretation that dominates Christianity today. It is on that basis that I can say that my principals derive in large part from the Star Trek stories I've watched and read.

If most of the world can base its life and death decisions on 2000 year old stories written by men trying to keep an illiterate and superstitious population from destroying themselves, I can base my values and decisions on the lessons in a far larger set of stories that are much more applicable to the ethical dilemmas we face today.

Good Storytelling Enlightens

[Comment #1 by Robert Watson to the post "Bush ethics adviser gets her principles from Star Trek" and "Update on trekkie ethics adviser " on Enterprise Ethics, March 21, 2005.]

Though I disagree with her positions on cloning and stem cell research, I applaud Ms. Schaub's courage to divulge something more widespread than anyone realizes -- the influence the Star Trek stories have had on our society.

The science fiction genre of story telling exists to explore the unknown… to play "what if" on a grand scale. Unlike most of its predecessors, Gene Roddenberry and his collaborators patterned their stories after the great works of authors like Harlan Ellison, Arthur C. Clarke, and Robert Heinlein. They used science fiction to explore the human condition. To ask tough ethical questions too highly charged to be confronted directly. But when faced by fictional aliens on another planet, or even fictional humans in the far future, could be considered with the reason and compassion necessary to formulate beneficial and lasting solutions.

Having followed all of the Star Trek series' since September of 1966, I find Star Trek: The Next Generation to have been the biggest shaper of my own ethical center. The thoughtful and honest appraisal of each ethical dilemma while making every effort to respect even personally repulsive views and values of others is a philosophy usually ignored and even denigrated these days.

In a 1991 interview with Gene Roddenberry (http://www.philosophysphere.com/humanist.html), he makes a chilling observation…

Alexander:You made a statement about 15 years ago: " I think television is one of the most dangerous forces in our lives today." Do you think that situation has changed?
Roddenberry:Certainly there is a great deal of danger from anything as powerful as television; its imagery can affect us with such power. But it’s no more dangerous, in its own way, than a car is over a horse and a wagon. I think now that I was saying, "Let’s be careful of it". In the hands of a Hitler, yes, television could change and turn society backwards.

That Ms. Schaub and I have arrived at entirely different ethical positions based in significant part on the influence of Star Trek, I believe says much for the balance and thoughtful consideration given by those stories to such questions.

Throughout the various series as well as many of the novels, there is clearly a general uneasiness with the practice of cloning sentient beings. The principal characters often express repulsion on a personal level but that it's a personal choice (much like most people today view abortion) and thus to be tolerated when the DNA of others is used with their consent.

I personally have no problem with human cloning for I believe that what makes me "Me" is what is in my mind. Spiritually, that would be my "soul". The physical body, which is all that is being cloned, is just a container. To have several or even thousands of genetic "twins" would be no different than having twin brothers. It does not diminish my uniqueness in the least.

The controversy over stem-cell research is of course the abortion controversy from a different angle. Logically, the growth of a zygote into a baby is a progression from being a part of the woman's body to being an independent organism. Deciding when this mass of cells becomes independent from the mother is partially based on science and partially based on ramifications to society. Thus, it must be acknowledged to be an arbitrary approximation… good enough to cover most situations but more subject to exceptions and amendment than most laws. Stem cell research and its use to treat Alzheimer's and other diseases is beneficial to society with no harm to any sentient being. The donor embryos are not sentient and never would be.

Related Links:The Ethics of Star Trek
Make It So: Leadership Lessons from Star Trek, the Next Generation
Interview of Gene Roddenberry, The Humanist, March/April 1991

Here I Sit Broken Hearted

Here I sit broken hearted.
Tried to vote, but was only thwarted.

"You're in the wrong place." they said to me.
"The computer says so. Look, here see."

"I always vote here!" I cried.
They looked at me as if I'd lied.

"Computers don't lie. That's the law."
"So if you're not there, there can be no flaw."

"Perhaps you're a felon, a terrorist or both."
"Perhaps you're just lost, or prone to Democratic sloth."

"Whatever the trouble, it's not our fault."
"Try again next time. While you wait - read up on John Galt."

[Robert C. Watson, 01/14/2005]

Santa is Dead!Washington Denies Responsibility

Robert C. Satire
Washington, D.C.
Shortly after 1am this Christmas morning, President Bush issued a press release expressing his dismay and deepest condolences to the people of the United States over the untimely death of Kris Kringle, a.k.a. Santa Claus, in the skies over Washington, DC. He vowed to open a comprehensive investigation under the direction of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. When the Secretary was later asked to confirm reports that his office gave the final shootdown order, Mr. Rumsfeld denied any involvement. "We have procedures in place for these situations and everyone knows what to do. It's unfortunate that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, but these things happen in war."

According interviews with officials and eyewitness accounts, at around midnight, the NORAD public relations desk was tracking the jolly old elf as it does every year when they lost contact. At first there was no concern since this had occurred several times throughout the night due to inclement weather over much of the country. About the same time however, over at the NORAD air defense desk, jets were being scrambled from Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. They were investigating an unknown aircraft approaching the Temporary Flight Restriction Area over Washington, DC that was created after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

"Its radar signature read as a small private plane but its altitude, speed and erratic flight pattern indicated that it was way overloaded for that size aircraft," Major Snivly of NORAD advised. "We don't know how it got off the ground, but a normal landing under such a load would seem impossible. Thus it was a reasonable security precaution to determine the intentions of the track and formulate a response which could include the use of lethal force."

However, the aircraft entered the restricted space before the jets could reach it or establish radio contact. Per Executive order 09-666, they had no choice but to establish a weapons lock and again issue numerous warnings. There was no response. The protocols dictated that the aircraft posed a serious threat to The White House and Capitol below. The lead jet received clearance -- and fired.

On the ground, the first reports received by police were of burnt and broken toys falling from the sky. A cab driver was killed when his car was struck by a 400lb reindeer. Wood splinters rained down on an encampment of homeless vets just a few blocks from The Capitol sending many to the hospital for eye injuries. Bar patrons along 4th Street NE claimed to find a half-burnt Santa's cap rakishly cocked on the head of the newly unveiled statue of Vice President Dick Cheney across the tracks in Haliburtan Park. And the charred body of a large man was found in a dumpster behind the Republican National Committee headquarters on First Street. The coroner's office is still investigating.
[Robert C. Watson, 12/25/2004]