Can we really believe that belief is a matter of choice and that this choice can be taken upon factors unrelated to the content of the belief or to evidence for it?
Pascal suggests that we have to choose whether to believe in God, but his account of the nature of that choice is really suspect. He presents it as sort of a question of whether we want to live in one city or another city, knowing that the consequences might be extremely serious (perhaps more serious than the consequences of any other choice).
I don't see belief as formed that way!
In other news
Hooray, no force of law for administrative classification in the U.S. (no "official secrets act"). I'm actually totally amazed that Clinton vetoed that bill; I thought there was almost no chance of that.
Lots of turmoil and reports of old turmoil that I didn't know about in the anti-censorware community, currently centered around the Censorware Project and spilling over into other things. It's very sad.
Somehow I always think that only the bad guys have these things happen to them.
I spent a lot of Saturday with a friend wandering around, including an excursion to Green Apple Books in the Inner Richmond (6th and Clement; take the 1 bus to 6th and California from downtown). That was cool. Now I have Martin Gardner's most recent book (Did Adam & Eve Have Navels?).
I might go to my friend's place for Thanksgiving, which is fast approaching. I haven't been one for big family holidays in recent memory, but it should be cool to see how someone else's family does it.
stephane's party was pretty neat and seemed to have the TikiNature. I had a good time, and got home late. A lot of people with Advogato accounts were present, with large Eazel and Linuxcare contingents. I was going to post some quotations from the party here, but I've forgotten all of them!
OK, "we could get out some Cat 5 and start knitting" seems to have been one.
Stephane's cat Pixel is very cute.
So, happy birthday, Stephane, and happy Guy Fawkes Day, everybody.