Skeptopia

Back on Track

2007-11-16T06:39:00.000-08:00

It has come to my attention somewhat that I may have started off on the wrong foot.
(And yes, I know, this blog is ugly, but it ~~gives great head~~ ~~has a nice personality~~ has a lot of heart!)

I made the mistake of posting a semi-clever/semi-childish rant that I trotted out from my old blog, so when I told people to check out my blog, they only saw that. I should have stuck with my original plan.
In the future I will try to stick to ranting about actually skeptical topics and babbling about my utopia.

Moving on, I would like to address something else which troubles me. I told my friend today over our weekly beer that I had started a new blog.

"What's it about?"
"Skepticism and my personal vision of a utopia. It's called Skeptopia"
"Wait a minute, a skeptical utopia? Isn't that a bit of a contradiction? Ha ha!"

This is similar to a common response I get when I tell people how I met my husband.

"We met at a skeptics conference."
"Are you telling me you found true love at a skeptics conference? Do skeptics even believe in love? Ha!"

People always seem to think this is really clever for some reason. It's as if only starry eyed optimists with free spirits and open minds can believe in love or have dreams. Or it's as if "skeptics" have to be cranky old farts with bad breath and no people skills.
I am not the first to notice this and, rather than bore you with another "skeptics are a diverse group of people" rant, I would like to simply say that, in fact, having ideals does not preclude one from being a skeptic.

There is indeed a fine line between skepticism and cynicism. I treaded that line rather closely when I wrote my anti-hippie rant. Some would say I crossed it. The difference, as I see it, is one of assumptions. A cynic assumes the worst in people. A skeptic never assumes, but reaches a conclusion after considering the evidence.

In my next post, as it is very late and I'm too tired to do it now, I plan to write a rebuttal to my own anti-hippie rant. After all, if I can't question my own beliefs and assumptions, how can I call myself a skeptic?

Why I dislike hippies (a rant)

2007-11-15T20:09:00.000-08:00

This is the rant I mentioned in my previous post.
EDIT: Disclaimer: Please keep in mind, I was in a foul mood when I wrote this after dealing with some particularly annoying people. I don't have a problem with ALL hippies, just certain attitudes I've noticed among some groups of hippies. I used to be one myself, after all. See the P.S. at the end.
EDITED AGAIN:
After much consideration, I have decided to simply link to the original rant in my old blog.

My Utopian Community

2007-11-15T19:41:00.000-08:00

So a few months ago I was reading a site about sustainable communities and I realised something: most sustainable communities are run by hippies.

Something that you should know about me is that I generally dislike hippies. I wrote about this in another blog of mine, and if I can find it I'll repost it. It was pretty funny.
You see, there are a lot of things the hippies do right. For instance, hippies are generally concerned about the earth and are usually pacifists. I'm cool with that. Also, sometimes the drug thing is okay.
But I'm not here to rehash all the reasons I ~~hate~~ generally dislike hippies. I'm here to describe my utopia.
The site I was looking at (getting back on track here) suggested that to build your sustainable community you need to first sit down with all of the members of the community and set goals.

Since, so far, my community only consists of me, this is what I came up with (my skeptical utopia):

Our goal:

To create a sustainable community based on secular and humanistic values.
Which are :
- Need to test beliefs - A conviction that dogmas, ideologies and traditions, whether religious, political or social, must be weighed and tested by each individual and not simply accepted on faith.

- Reason, evidence, scientific method - Commitment to the use of critical reason, factual evidence, and scientific methods of inquiry, rather than faith and mysticism, in seeking solutions to human problems and answers to important human questions.

- Fulfillment, growth, creativity - A primary concern with fulfillment, growth, and creativity for both the individual and humankind in general.

- Search for truth - A constant search for objective truth, with the understanding that new knowledge and experience constantly alter our imperfect perception of it.

- This life - A concern for this life and a commitment to making it meaningful through better understanding of ourselves, our history, our intellectual and artistic achievements, and the outlooks of those who differ from us.

- Ethics - A search for viable individual, social and political principles of ethical conduct, judging them on their ability to enhance human well-being and individual responsibility.

- Building a better world - A conviction that with reason, an open exchange of ideas, good will, and tolerance, progress can be made in building a better world for ourselves and our children.

We want, as a community to promote environmental goals. These will be implemented in the following ways:

- Individual vegetable gardens created and maintained by each family unit.
- Individual compost heaps maintained by each family unit
- Group transportation (carpooling) to eliminate the need for individual cars.
- A fruit orchard, serving the community as well as serving as a recreation space.
- A grain field, serving the community.
- A bicycle shed with cooperatively owned and maintained bicycles for small, individual trips.
- Building using recycled, non-toxic and sustainable materials.
- A wilderness park area, filled with native plants and organism.
- Sustainable energy sources, such as solar water heaters and a community solar oven.
- Sustainable water supplies, i.e. rainwater tanks for each individual garden.

We want, as a community to promote reason and the scientific method. This will be implemented in the following ways:

- A school, where students will be taught skill based learning and critical thinking by members of the community and outside experts.
- A library, where all members of the community can check out books.
- Broadband internet access for all community members.
- A rapid prototyping lab where individuals can create technologies as needed without waiting for mass production by software and hardware companies.
- A health centre, where community members can receive first aid as well as basic medical care by a general practitioner.

We want to promote fulfilment and growth for each individual member and an appreciation for this life in the following ways:

- An art studio where members have access to resources and where they can take classes
- A dance/rehearsal studio where members can practice different forms of dance and where theatre can be rehearsed.
- A theatre space/cinema and outdoor amphitheatre where community members and visiting artists and speakers can perform and where films can be shown.
- A music rehearsal/recording studio where community members can rehearse/record music.
- A television/film editing suite where members can produce films, and create television programs to be presented on a local television station.

We want to promote ethical living in the following ways:

- A council of annually elected officials to facilitate operations and an outside mediation to deal with disputes.
- A monthly meeting to air grievances and plan community events.
- A list of bylaws which community members are expected to follow.
- A list of guaranteed freedoms which cannot be revoked.
- A system by which those bylaws and freedoms are protected.

And that's where I stopped. There is more that needs to be written.
I guess this is pretty silly, but I really wish I could find other people with similar worldviews that don't just want to "live off the land" but are really interested in living in a sustainable manner. I'll go off on why I ~~hate~~ generally dislike hippies later.

Skeptopia has landed!

2007-11-15T19:33:00.000-08:00

Hi.

I'm Liz and I'm a skeptic.

This is my blog. It's called skept (as in skeptic) opia (as in utopia)

This is going to be a very sloppy entry since it is my first. Sure, it would be great to start off with a bang and be very showy with this, my 5th? 6th? attempt at a blog, but I'm not.

The mission statements for this blog are simple:

-To have a place to rant about skeptical topics.

-To have a place to ramble on and on about what my perfect world would be.

You are free to disagree with my view of the world, and I hope you will understand that I am free to mock you. It's my blog and that's my prerogative. So there.

However, if you share my view of a perfect world, I'd love to know. And perhaps you can help me make it so.

Lofty goals, yes. But this is just a first tiny step toward changing the world for the better, and isn't that what we all want?