M Y M I N D O U T L O U D

IT Joke at Work from friend.

2007-07-28T03:46:00.000+08:00

Got this joke from friends at work.

1. A consultant goes to work on some projects at work. "On her first day, we set her up with a new laptop, docking station and monitor," said IT director, X. " On her second day, she is having connection problems. X went to her office, and all that was there was the docking station. X asked, 'Where is your laptop?' She said, 'At home. Oh, you mean I have to bring it back to work in here?'"

Sigh... that would help.

Names were taken out to prevent identifaction from the consultant.

Scenario 7: Moral Luck

2007-01-30T23:50:00.000+08:00

Something new!~

Thought Experiment 6: Moral Luck

Mette looked into the eyes of her husband, but could find no flicker of remorse.

'You tell me you want us back,' she said to him. 'But how can we do that when you won't even admit that you did the wrong thing when you left me and the children?'

Because in my heart I don't think I did wrong, and Idon't want to lie to you,' explained Paul. 'I left becuase I needed to get away to follow my muse. I went in the name of art. Don't you remember when we used to talk about Gauguin and how he had to do the same? You always said that he had done a hard thing, but not a wrong one.'

'But you are not Gauguin,' sighed Mette. 'That's why you are back. You admit you failed'

'Did Gauguin know he would succeed when he left his wife? No one can know such a thing. If he he was in the right, then so was I.'

'No,' said Mette. 'His gamble paid off, and so he turned out to be right. Yours didn't, and so you turned out to be wrong.'

'His gamble?' replied Paul. 'Are you saying luck can make the difference between right and wrong"'

Mette thought for a few moments. 'Yes. I suppose I am.'

Source: The eponymous essay from Moral Luck by Bernad Williams (Cambridge University Press, 1981)

Luck can mean the difference between success and failure, happiness and misery, riches and poverty, but surely it can't seperate the virtuous from the bad? Whether we are good, decent human beings must depend on who we are and what we do, not what happens beyong out control.

That's definitely what common sense would suggest. But even if luck isn't the main deterninant of moral goodness, can we really be so sure that it has no role at all to play in ethics?

Back to the baseics, there is something called constitutive luck. We are born with certain traits and characteristics, and thse are developed by the way we are brought up. But we didn't choose any of this. In this this scenario, two people behave exactly the same way, unsure of the future, yet only when we know the outcome is good or bad, then we can determine if the person did right or wrong.

If you think this scenario is totally out, then consider this: We are careless from time to time, if that carelessness results in serious injury, then we are morally culpable. But, if by chance, our lack of attention results in no bad consequences, few will think much worse of us. Does that suggests that there is something call moral luck?

Taken from "The Pig that wants to be Eaten" by Julian Baggini

More restrictions

2007-01-25T22:41:00.000+08:00

Ok, seto, you want more restrictions, you got more restrictions. For those of you who have the courage to face moral dilemmas, please ignore this post.

1. The private is from a "bad" family, if he fellows all the orders and served for 3 years straight, his family( parents, sister, and son) can get an exemption. This is he second last month.

2. The private is being held at gun point. The rape and murder shall be conducted under gun point, and under surveillance.

3. The female prisoner has been injected with excessive hormone, and sex is the ticket out.

4. If you do not rape her, the prisoner will be gang rape by the camp.

5. Even, if released, she will be killed and murder by her people.

Any or all of the restriction and or description can be applied.

Scenario: When no one wins

2007-01-25T21:57:00.000+08:00

I know, I know, I know I should be posting my opinions rather than something new. But, due to heavy workload, my brain is dead. Can't really focus, and forget about think straight.

The "God" Series is over for now. This is something new.

Thought Experiment 6: When no one wins

Private Sacks was about to do a terrible thing. He had been ordered to first rape and then murder the prisoner, whom he knew to be no more than an innocent civilian from the wrong ethnic background. There was no doubt in his mind that this would be a gross injustice - a war crime, in fact.

Yet quickly thinking it over he felt he had no choice but to go ahead. If he obeyed the order, he could make the ordeal as bearable as possible for the victim, making sure she suffered no more than necessary. If he did not obey the order, he himself would be shot and the prisoner would still be violated and killed, but probably more violently. It was better for everyone if he went ahead.

His reasoning seemed clear enough, but of course it gave him no peace of mind. How could it be that he was both going to do the best he could in the circumstances and also terrible wrong?

We all know the "If I don't do it somebody else will" saying doesn't work generally. It is really a weak justification for wrongdoing. But in this case, it is subtly different. Usually, it would seemed perfectly moral to do what you can do to prevent as much harm as possible. Yet, this reasoning leads him to take part in rape and murder, and surely is not the morally right thing to do.

The temptation to imagine the third possibility - just shooting the prisoner and himself is hard to resist. But we must, since in a thought experiment, we must control the variables. The whole point of creating the dilemma is to confront the moral problem head on rather than thing our way around it.

Taken from "The Pig that wants to be Eaten" by Julian Baggini

i am here

2007-01-24T21:57:00.000+08:00

I am here, not dead. I haven't update recently is due excessive work from my job. I shall post something later tonight.

Scenario 5: The problem of evil

2007-01-18T22:10:00.000+08:00

This of course is connected to the last scenario.

Thought Experiment 5: The problem of evil

And the Lord spake unto the philosopher, 'I am the Lord thy God, all loving, all powerful and all knowing.'

'Surely not,' replied the philosopher. 'I look at this world and I see horrible diseases, hunger, starvation, metal illness. Yet you don't stop it. Is it that you can't? In which case, you are not all powerful. Is it because you don't know about it? In which case you are not all knowing. Or perhaps you don't want to? In which case you are not all loving.'

'Such impudence!' replied the Lord. 'It is better for you if I don't stop all this evil. You need to grow morally and spiritually. For that you need the freedom to do evil as well as good, and to confront the chance occurrence of suffering. How could I possibly have made the world better without taking away your freedom to grow?'

'Easy,' replied the philosopher. 'First, you could have designed us so that we felt less pain. Second, you could have made sure we had more empathy, to prevent us doing evil to others. Third, you could have made us better learners, so we didn't have to suffer so much to grow. Fourth, you could have made nature less cruel. Do you want me to go on?'

Source: The problem of evil recurs in different forms throughout the history of theology

Taken from "The Pig that wants to be Eaten" by Julian Baggini

Now, friends told me to put my views as well as my thoughts about the scenarios on. So, this is my decision. I will put my opinion up the next day after I posted the scenario. THe postings before this one, I will post them as comments.

PS: Sorry for the delay of posting today, I was really tired.

Scenario: Divine Command

2007-01-16T14:04:00.000+08:00

This is in relation with the Good God scenario.

Thought Experiment 4: Divine Command

And the Lord spake unto the philosopher, 'I am the Lord thy God, and I command thee to sacrifice thy only son.'

The philosopher replied, 'There's something not right here. You commandments say, "Thou shalt not kill".'

'The Lord giveth the rules and the Lord taketh away,' replied God.

'But how do I know you are God?' insisted the philosopher. 'Perhaps you are the devil trying to fool me?'

'You must have faith,' replied God.

'Faith - or insanity? Perhaps my mind is playing tricks? Or maybe you are testing me in a cunning way. You want to see if I have so little moral fibre that at the command of a deep voice booming through the clouds, I commit infanticide.'

'Me almighty!' exclaimed the Lord. 'What you are saying is that is reasonable for you, a mere mortal, to refuse to do what I, the Lord thy God, commands.'

'I guess so,' said the philosopher, 'and you have given me no good reasons to change my mind.'

Source: Fear and Trembling by Soren Kiekegaard(1843)

Taken from "The Pig that wants to be Eaten" by Julian Baggini

What is faith? In the book of Genisis, God found a more compliant servant, Abraham, who went along with the instructions.You know, it might surely be God who is talking, but also is possible is the devil. Or even more possible that the philospher and/or Abraham is mad. Since what kind of loving God would command such a barbaric act of killing the son?

Ofcourse, here enters the question of faith. I will dicsuss more the faith problem in the next thought experiment. And please do give comments on the topic.

Scenario: Good God

2007-01-14T21:50:00.000+08:00

Thought Experiment: Good God

This is something not in relation with the last one. But this one is quite interesting.

And the Lord spake unto the philosopher, 'I am the Lord thy God, and I am the source of all that is good. Why does thy secular moral philosophy ignore me?'

And the philosopher spake unto the Lord, 'To answer I must first ask you some questions. You command us to do what is good. But is it good because you command it, or do you command it because it is good?'

'Ur,' said the Lord. 'It is good because I command it?'
'The wrong answer, surely, your mightiness! If the good is only good because you say it is so, then you could, if you wished, make it so that torturing infants was good. But that would be absurd, wouldn't it?'

'Of course!' replieth the Lord. 'I tested thee and thou hast made me pleased. What was the other choice again?'

'You chose what is good because it is good. But that shows quite clearly that goodness does not depend on you at all. So we don't need to study God to study the good.'

'Even so,' spake the Lord, 'you have got to admit I've written some pretty good textbooks on the subject...'

Source: Euthyphro by Plato (380BCE)

Taken from "The Pig that wants to be Eaten" by Julian Baggini

Scenario to ponder: Total Lack of Recall

2007-01-13T15:27:00.000+08:00

Thought Experiment: Total Lack of Recall

This is in relation with future shock.

Arnold Conan had just made an unpleasant discovery: he wasn't Arnold Conan at all. Or rather, he used not to be. It was all rather confusing.

This is the best sense he could make of his unusual autobiography. He was born Alan E. Wood. Wood was, by all accounts, a deeply unpleasant man: egotistical, selfish, cruel and ruthless. Two years ago, Wood had got into deep trouble with the State Bureau of Investigation. He was given a choice: spend the rest of his life in maximum security prison, where thy were make sure he was victimised by the other inmates; or have his memory erased and replaced with that of an entirely fictitious creation of the spooks at the SBI. he chose the latter. And so it was that Alan E. Wood was put under a general anaesthetic, and when he woke up, he had forgotten all about his life to date. Instead, he remembered an entirely fictitious past, that of Arnold Conan, the man he now believed he was.

Conan had established that these were the facts. But he still did not know who he was: Wood or Conan?

What do you guys think?

Taken from "The Pig that wants to be Eaten" by Julian Baggini

A bit of remark for the futureshock post

2007-01-13T15:22:00.000+08:00

A friend of mine respond to that post as : "proof to me that I vote republican." 'That will buy me some time.'

Personally, I never thought about that. And in respond to the living will, he said: "voting republican is not considered to be (and probably wont be) a terminal state and wouldnt be considered euthanasia by the courts." THat was great, sort of block my argument to continue.

I will post another scenario to ponder, aka thought experiments later today.

Scenario: Future Shock

2007-01-12T22:35:00.000+08:00

Scenario to ponder: Future Shock

'Drew! I haven't seen you since college, twenty years ago! My God, Drew - what are you doing with that gun?'
'I have come to kill you,' said Drew, 'just as you asked me to.'
'What the hell are you talking about?'
'Don't you remember? You said to me, many times, "If I ever vote Republican, then shoot me." Well, I just read you are actually a Republican senator. So you see, you must must die.'
'Drew, you are crazy! THat was twenty years ago! I was young, I was idealistic! You can't hold me to that!'
'It was no causal, flippant remark, senator. In fact, I have here a piece of paper, signed by you and witnessed by others, instructing me to do this. And before you tell me not to take that seriously, let me remind you that you voted for a bill recently in favur of living wills. In fact, you have got one yourself. Now tell me this: if you think people in the future should carry out your wish to kill you if you get denmentia or fall in to a permanent vegetative state, why shouldn't I carry out your past wish to kill you if you became a REpublican?'
'I have got an answer to that!' screamed the sweating senator. 'Just give me a few minutes!'
Drew cocked her pistol and aimed. 'You better be quick.'

Now, if you are that sweating senator, how would you answer? And I want to ask you a more fundermental question, what gives us the right to make binding decisions on behalf of out future selves?

Taken from "The Pig that wants to be Eaten".

Music

2007-01-11T10:56:00.000+08:00

Lately, I have been in love with this radio site, hkvp, hong kong vintage pop. It is from live365.com Some old classic chinese pop, real nice, just a bit heavy on the commercials. But considerig its price, free. Its all good. Those interested in ol songs like me shold really try.

Long time no type

2007-01-11T10:40:00.000+08:00

Sigh... Being lazy these few months.
Anyhow, some updates on my pathetic life.
Dec26-29, me, my family, some relatives and some church friends went to Taipei, Taiwan. It was fun.Fun as in Taiwan itself, but also the group of people that we went with. Our church friends are a blessing to go on trips with, they are energetic, optimistic, and happy. We didn't choose to go on a tour desiggned by tour groups, instead, we went on this trip solely by the leadership of a church friend, she went to Taipei many times already. The photos of this trip has been updated to my online album already. THe cost of this trip is ot too bad, including air fare, hotel, food, and some shopping, it costs less than 4000hkd. Remember this is peak season. Next time, I wish to stay a bit longer to really enjoy Taipei, the life of the people living there.

Oh, Dec24, christmas eve, I went to 中環蘭桂坊 to celebrate christmas eve. I went with Samuel, and some of his exchange friends in hk. It was fun and wild. My first time celebrating christmas eve in 中環蘭桂坊. I wish I could load up some of the short video clips I took using my phone to this site, I will explore the possibility later when I get home.

New years' eve was as usual at my aunt's place. Whats different this year, is that none of my cousins are there with us. They are either with husbands, gfs, or police stations, what a pity. We watched "Two weeks notice" that night, starred by Hugh Grant. It was great. It was funny. And I like it.

I will talk more next time, better get back to work before my boss finds out.

Sorry to all

2006-10-01T16:59:00.000+08:00

I know, I haven't update in ages. Not that tempting to type anything, real lazy these days. However I did update some photos in my photo album at rogers yahoo, anyone interested can give it a click on the side panel. I will update more later this month (aka OCT).

Currently in life, I am lining up for 2 part time jobs, seeing it would go though. Hope it all goes good.

Sweets Expo

2006-05-15T06:26:00.000+08:00

Hey.

I know, i know. My last post for those who knows chinese is a bit extreme. But, I was in a down mood...... Anyhow, today I went to the Sweets Expo at MTCC, got charged 12 per adult. Went in, felt like just being robbed. I expect to see a large area with lots of candies..... Not only I just saw a few, I also saw shops that don't belong in this expo. Shops like jewllery, personal hygiene, tupperware....etc. What had this world became, when on earth did those things became consumable. OH well, I did take a few quick snapshots, will update it to my album later tonight.

2006-05-08T08:38:00.000+08:00

飄過，燒紙，點蠟，上香，沒動靜；倒酒，進貢，放炮，砸碑，沒反應；挖墳，掘墓，開棺，鞭屍，沒脾氣；擺案，畫符，運功，雷轟，沒乍屍；放火，焚屍，銼骨，揚灰，再試試，法鈴，木劍，小人，念咒，再招魂，流淚，痛哭，哀嚎,捶地.此人已死

Will update more when I feel better.

Photos updated

2006-04-25T18:03:00.000+08:00

I know, I havent updated for awhile. Butm hey, i am still updating at least once a month. I have updated the food section of my photo album, some good food ate in hk. As well, I updated the photos while I was in hospital in hk. Some others also has been updated.

My little blog on the plane April 4, 06

2006-04-08T04:40:00.000+08:00

Kinda of weird typing a blog on a plane, usually I use it for other purposes. Anyhow, first meal, a chaos. Since the plane attendants completely mess up what dishes are there. At first, it was sweet and sour pork and creamy chicken. Then, it became pork and creamy fish. At last, it was sweet and sour chicken and creamy fish. Of all flights, this is the first time that an ac adapter was available for use in front of me. When I get back, I will defininitely get a special adapter by Targus for Air canada to make sure all my flights have such service (row 13-18 ailse seats only).

sorry

2006-03-25T23:33:00.001+08:00

yea, havent update for awhile. Last friday, I pay a visit to 養和醫院 (Hong Kong Sanitorium and Hospital) for day, stay there for a night. I will update more when I actually feel like myself again.

pictures

2006-03-08T00:44:00.000+08:00

Pictures for the antique carshow, repulse bay, and assorted has been updated. You can find the link to my photo album in the side panel.

Mercedes Benz car fair

2006-02-27T01:08:00.000+08:00

I know, i know, i havent update for awhile. But, from this long update, i found out there actual ppl that view my site, thats a good news. Long update is due to little motivation, but is coming back, it will, once i get my hands on the new laptop i am about to buy. I will be back to toronto before the end of this current academic term.

The past monday, the 21st, I went to the Benz antique car fair expecting alot of cars to see, but unfortuately there were only 6 displayed. I will load up the photos in latter times, it will be on my yahoo photo album, i will post a message when is load.

I have taken lots of photo, but havent upload them yet. Technically speaking, it should be a fast job. But, it requires sorting, and i am lazy. So, it will be awhile.

For friends in hk, anyone knows where to get "cheaper" computer software/games? Need to load office in my coming laptop. Thankx, either msn, email, or leave a message.

Repulse Bay

2006-02-09T17:27:00.000+08:00

Interesting day today. I first went to Time square in causeway bay to have lunch there, the dim sum is pretty good. (My standard ofcourse) After that, an uncle and me went to repulse bay to have a walk, I took some pictures, the view there is beautiful. After the long walk, we went to hong kong jockey club to have afternoon tea, the price and food was good, but the food display need some work. I was too hungry then to take any pictures. Originally today, I planned to goto 德福廣場. But, oh well, I will try tommorow instead. 德福廣場, because there is a bookfair by breakthrough...... I like their books alot.

I am realy considering in buying a 1GB SD card, the cheapest I see is a Toshiba one. It is 360hkd. Regualr speed (20x or so). But, this one is made is Japan. Other faster models are around 450hkd. What do you guys think? (for camera)

Toured Chinese University

2006-02-08T20:22:00.000+08:00

Today, I toured around the CU campus, and ate lunch there. THere are quite a few cafs there, I visit the one that offered viet food. It was ok, but alightly too much msg. I took some interesting photos there, I will take more another time. I will upload the photos tommorow.

I tried to install the wireless extender for Jess's family, man, its so hard. And when it finally works, the internet speed is unacceptably slow...... eventually I had to go home, and gave up trying.

Photos updated

2006-02-04T02:40:00.000+08:00

Hey, I have uploaded the photos to my photo album already. Please go and check it out~
http://photos.yahoo.com/jhklau

just updating

2006-01-29T15:45:00.000+08:00

Just updating, i know, i havent update in quite awhile. Went to the flower fair yesterday. And went to bi lin today.... got some red pockets. We got back a lot of turnip cakes from my aunt. I will load my the photos to yahoo tonight.

Here I wish everyone to have more red pockets la.

2006-01-19T01:05:00.000+08:00

Went to Chinese university today as per usual. Then went to inter-continental to have lunch with Uncle R. After the coupons we have used, it only cost 50hkd per person. I had lobster bisque, seared scallop and shak mushrooms salad, and a chillean seabass. With complimentary strawberry shortcake and cafe au lait. I overate...... sigh..stomache hurts.

After that I went to buy some leisre books to read, and went to Mongkok computer centre to check out the price for usb to bluetooth for alan. Brought usb to wifi dlink for myself. Got real tired, and went home to rest.

Not listening to any songs, jst dun feel like it.

Sony Walkman 特約：2005 年度十大勁歌金曲頒獎典禮

2006-01-16T00:43:00.000+08:00

It was a great night, too bad that I didn't go to the celebration dinner afterwards. It would have been even better. I didn't know nic is interested, or else I should have asked him to go with me. Originally, uncle offered me 2 tickets. I will load up photos of tonight to http://photos.yahoo.com/jhklau asap. I had great seats, section 65, row L, seat 85. Very front and centered. I have to say, Live and watching it from television is really different.

The people who read my site, please do leave some comment, so my site looks more populated.

New home

2006-01-13T22:07:00.000+08:00

Ok, I have finally decided to test blogger out, some friends say is better than xanga. I damn hope so.