John Locke is Jeremy Bentham on Lost

Who was the real John Locke?

John Locke (August 29, 1632 – October 28, 1704) was an English philosopher. Locke is considered the first of the British Empiricists, but is equally important to social contract theory. His ideas had enormous influence on the development of epistemology and political philosophy, and he is widely regarded as one of the most influential Enlightenment thinkers and contributors to liberal theory. His writings influenced Voltaire and Rousseau, many Scottish Enlightenment thinkers, as well as the American revolutionaries. This influence is reflected in the American Declaration of Independence.

Locke's theory of mind is often cited as the origin for modern conceptions of identity and "the self", figuring prominently in the later works of philosophers such as David Hume, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Immanuel Kant. Locke was the first philosopher to define the self through a continuity of "consciousness." He also postulated that the mind was a "blank slate" or "tabula rasa"; that is, contrary to Cartesian or Christian philosophy, Locke maintained that people are born without innate ideas.

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Who was the real Jeremy Bentham?

Jeremy Bentham (IPA: ['benθəm] or ['bentəm]) (15 February 1748–6 June 1832) was an English jurist, philosopher, and legal and social reformer. He was a political radical, and a leading theorist in Anglo-American philosophy of law. He is best known for his advocacy of utilitarianism, for the concept of animal rights,[1][2] and his opposition to the idea of natural rights, with his oft-quoted statement that the idea of such rights is "nonsense upon stilts."[3] He also influenced the development of welfarism.[4]

He became known as one of the most influential of the utilitarians, through his own work and that of his students. These included his secretary and collaborator on the utilitarian school of philosophy, James Mill; James Mill's son John Stuart Mill; and several political leaders including Robert Owen, who later became a founder of socialism. He is also considered the godfather of University College London.

Bentham's position included arguments in favour of individual and economic freedom, the separation of church and state, freedom of expression, equal rights for women, the end of slavery, the abolition of physical punishment (including that of children), the right to divorce, free trade, usury,[5] and the decriminalization of homosexuality.[6][7]

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But, WHY did Locke come back as Bentham on Lost?
All the names and references on Lost mean something.

Did you notice the fake Dharma commercial leading here?

What about Faraday?
He and some survivors are still in their boat!

Maybe it is just me, but...
Surviving a helcopter crash far easier than it looks?

When Christian says "you can go now" to Michael.
Does that mean you can die now? (which is what I think)
Or does it mean you can leave now?
Who knows.

Good Bye Red Envelope

I have to admit, I loved purchasing gifts from Red Envelope. Not only were they usually clever and fun gifts, but they were also moderately priced and very fun to give in their bright red boxes. Nonetheless, all good things must come to an end.

Bad news for San Francisco based ecommerce site Red Envelope, an “upmarket online retailer with the primary goal of making gift giving easy and fun”: it’s about done. The company’s market cap is just $2.95 million even though it has cash on hand of nearly $12.3 million. The stock is trading at $0.23/share - it was as high as $8.42 in the last year.

Red Envelope was founded in 1997 and went public in 2003. But a steady stream of losses has taken it’s toll. CFO William Gochnauer resigned earlier this month, and board member John Pound resigned on March 30.

In a SEC filing on March 31, the company announced their credit line with Wells Fargo was terminated, the final straw. They also said they would be unable to continue operations and were talking to buyers.

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The Phoenix White Something

The Phoenix Mars Lander landed yesterday. It has been spinning up its systems for 15 hours now. Initial photos are coming in. There's already excitement about a "polar bear" in one image. This is likely a artifact of a low resolution image, but nobody knows what it is... yet.

Right along the horizon, toward the right of middle is a small white spec that, given the distance, is probably bigger than a pixel. Still, the spec could be dust on the lens, an error in compression, or an approaching polar bear. It's hard to really say.

Misunderstanding Faith

Often I hear “I don’t believe”, “I can’t believe”, or “I don’t have faith”, “I can’t have faith”, or – ironically – “I don’t believe in faith”. The notion is gibberish.

Consider the chair in the middle of the room. Now, sit.

I need to ask you a question.

Did you test the chair before sitting? No

How did you know it would hold not collapse? Faith

There isn’t a human alive that is not fundamentally defined by belief and faith in unseen things. It’s faith in causality, logic, science, reason, God, or the chair. If you are like me, you likely have faith in all of those and plenty more.

I suppose what people mean is that they don’t want to believe.

Belief and faith have life-changing implications, not always easy changes either.