prohexa

I suspect that I'm missing something from the big picture, and I'm afraid I might blind you with the obvious, but aren't we just splitting hairs and discussing irrelevant "what-if's"? According to our best understanding of physics today there really is true randomness in quantum mechanics, and this is obviously incompatible with determinism. Couldn't we just say that until we know better we will assume that we live in a non-deterministic universe and move on? On the other hand - this is not an argument against the (remote) possibility of some future scientist coming up with a deterministic explanation for the seemingly random properties of matter. But even if that would happen, would that really change anything? We will still behave, and always have behaved, as if we had free will; the latest and greatest therory of physics will not change the nature of man. I don't see how argumenting for determinism would be contradictory in itself - if determinism really is true, wouldn't that only mean that the determinist in question was doomed to argue for determinism since the birth of the universe? I'm sure that even the most stubborn determinist feels and acts as if he has free will, be there determinism or not. "Particle physics made me do it" is not a valid excuse for being an asshole.

I agree to the fullest. In particular as she herself kept screaming all kinds of profanities to Dayna's husband when she was "threatened" of having the blow horn she meant to use on the kids being used against herself. What an incredible hypocrite, my jaw just dropped to the floor. I'm totally with you on this one too, that was very surprising. While I fully believe in the unschooling philosophy, one cannot stress enough the importance of reading and writing. Think of all the wonderful books and stories they never got to know as younger children! Kids do learn from playing, but a lot of potential and inspiration in their play is lost from just not being able to read. Just think of all the wonderful books you (hopefully) read and loved as a kid, and how they brought new ideas and colours to your fantasies! Also, Dayna's children seem to frequently use the Internet for learning, but they can hardly tap the enourmous potential of it if they can't read. There is absolutely no need to "force" a child to learn to read and write, but there are a million ways to friendly encourage it from early on by simply showing them what a useful and exciting tool it really is. Books and stories are food for young minds! (And adults too!) I think the interesting question is why Dayna's children took so long to learn to read - in particluar since Dayna herself is an author. As we know, children take after their parents; they do what their parents do. Does that mean Dayna and her husband rarely read books themselves? Or what are your theories on this?

About time! Who are "Ron Paul" and those other guys anyway? [rollsmile]

Hi all! We recently saw the documentary "Crumb", and it's a most fascinating, tragic and intimate portrait of the controversial cartoonist Robert Crumb (and his dysfunctional family). IMDB link here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109508/ I think we all are familiar with least some of the works and characters of R. Crumb, ranging from the famous "Keep on trucking" phenomenon to the infamous and perverted "Fritz the Cat", "Mr. Natural" and many others. In this documentary we get to meet not only the brilliant but disturbed Robert Crumb himself, but also his incredibly talented and broken brothers, their abusive mother, his wife(s), children and so on. What really made this documentary so interesting is that Crumb begins by explaining how he does not know what is going to come out of his pen when he starts drawing - he basically puts the pen on the paper and lets his unconscious self tell the whole story - and I just loved how clearly it showed the parallells between what was happening in his life and his inner twisted emotions. An interesting question is why Robert (the younger of the three brothers) survived and adapted so seemingly well to society, while his equally talented (but completely unknown) brother Charles never was able to break free from the bonds of their mother and subsequently wasted away in her home until he eventually (shortly after the documentary was finished) committed suicide. What saved Robert? Was it his fame and the success with women it brought him? Stef: Is there any chance that you would make a review of this one? It's just so incredibly rich of symbols and in-your-face-obvious abusive childhood traumas... There is so much to learn from this!