The problem with Intelligent Design is that it attributes God's direct intervention in the process. The problem with Evolution is that by definition, it can not be directed. It has to be random mutations. Only the ones that fit better with their environment survive.  Neither consider that God's direct intervention is not in all places and always at the same time. You can see this in the Hagadah of Passover that in the last plague it was God, no angel. That means much of the time, God' intervention is through angels. As the Rambam puts it in the Guide God's direct השגחה פרטית Direct Providence is only on the intellectuals. [As horrifying as that sounds].

Thus what we see in evolution is that Divine Reason permeates everything. That this Divine Reason is the reason that the world is not a chaotic mess. This is obviously from Plotinus with Logos being the middle Emanation, but with Hegel developing the idea further.

I think to share this link to videos on mathematics from Harpreet.

 The reason I share this is I realize that learning math just from textbooks is like learning to play the violin from a textbook. It just does not work. You need to hear it from a teacher.  אבדתם את הנעשה. אחוז בנשמע "You lost the 'We will do'. So now hold onto 'we will hear'" [Midrash]

 I have not written about Gemara for a long time because I have been confused about a certain issue. This is Ula in Bava Batra 26 b -a person that has a tree within 16 amot  [arm's breath] of the boundary if his property with that of his neighbor can not bring first fruits.  The Gemara brings then R. Yochanan who concludes  he can because על מנת כן הנחיל יהושוע את הארץ. The issue that has been bothering me is that this is subject to an argument between Rabbainu Chananel and Tosphot. Tosphot obviously holds that between Ula and R Yochanan there is no doubt that if he bought three trees, he gets 16 amot around them and even more if they extend further. The only issue here is that there is just one tree. But to Rabbainu Chananel the law is not like Ula at all. Not just because of R Yochanan, but also because of R Yosi that one can plant a tree right at the boundary itself.

The actual Gemara brings Ula אמר עולא אילן הסמוך למיצר חבירו ט''ז אמה אינו מביא ביכורים גזלן הוא because of roots the extend that far. 

 There was a surfing competition that just finished here yesterday. Morocco won first prize. [There was four in all. two for men and two for women.] [The winners I think were also from France, Germany and Portugal.] The water here is crystal clear. But on occasion with stormy weather or rain the overflow in the sea makes the sea muddy. I thought about this problem and thought to myself I have never heard of such a problem in the USA. So there must be some solution. Then it occurred to me the the runoff water from the city should be directed into a large pipe that would be laid out for about a half a kilometer into the depths of the sea.  I mean to say that I think this would solve other problems also. It is not just the mud in the water but sometimes other kinds of parasites can get too close to the shore--being attracted by the run off. \

Why you ask do I put this on my blog. ונשמרתם מאוד לנפשותיכם The Gemara brings this verse to show that one is required to take care of his physical health. 

 Z58 MUSIC FILE

 As you can see I am not coming up with a lot of new ideas. But I wanted to share one thought. That as you can see 20th century philosophy got into a whole bunch of messes. Half baked neurosis. Not just in pure philosophy but also in psychology and political thought.

So it is obvious why I elected not to go into any of it --being aware that I did not want to get brain washed. 

But for some reason a whole bunch of brilliant philosophers has cropped up  that see clearly the lunacy of 20th century philosophy, and show the way forwards. Kelley Ross, Robert Hanna, and Michael Huemer ae just the best examples but there are many more. Eg Michael Sugrue .

It is hard to know what to make out of this. It is as if philosophy has risen out of some sort of Dark Ages.

Myself I have no great ideas but I do see some sort of vertical thread that binds lower areas of value to higher levels. That is you have horizontal levels of value.[This is from Dr Kelley Ross]. All form, no content. [Formal logic]. And then jump to the next step Mathematics which is very close but there is a quantum leap since we know by Gödel that math can not be reduced to logic. Then the higher levels have more content like Physics but less formal structure. Galaxies are Homology complexes with the black hole being the kernel. Then the other natural sciences. Then human affairs. More numinous content like Justice, Ten art Music, etc. Then up to God,- total numinous content, no form.

But there is a vertical thread that unites it all.  [note 1] I see this in Homology with the internal CW complex as opposed to the boundaries. Form and Content. Exactly parallels to the above 

The parallels on every level of value are astonishing. All the levels are connected as per Plotinus and Hegel. They all flow from the Logos. But in quantum leaps. From pure space- a line or surface you get automatically numbers since one line has two boundary points, and we know from the Nullstelensatz that Geometry and Algebra are connected

note 1.

my mother. It seems to me that this might have been on her honeymoon with my father on a ship towards Europe (after WWII)

 

Her parents were Isaac Freeman and Devora. Devora was the first in the USA -born of her parents the Solomon's. Leila Freeman was from Newark NJ, but in the summer she was in Asbury Park helping  to run the Hamilton Hotel. She and her friends were at the beach there one day, when a bunch of guys came over to say "hello." She laid eyes on my dad for one split second, and that was that. My dad must have been quite a sight. He was a captain in the USA Air Force in WWII.  

Isaac Freeman, her father, was born in Poland. My own dad's parents also were born in Poland.  

The lessons I learned from my mother were somewhat different from what I learned from my father. From my mother I learned "to be a mensch" decent human bein with good character traits [which were the forte of my parents.] plus --"to marry a nice Jewish girl". To be a mensch I did not succeed, but to marry a nice Jewish girl I did--Paula Finn [changed name from Finkelstein]. My father had a slightly different set of values=self sufficiently. The odd thing is neither emphasized the natural sciences, but they clearly had a high regard for what is now called STEM. [and almost zero for the stupid social studies] [My dad was an inventor.  First the infrared telescope and later laser communication at TRW. ]

I might mention is not that my parents liked the idea of serving in the Army. Everything depended on what kind of war the USA was involved in. Fighting Nazi Germany was not the same thing as fighting North Vietnam. That later was essentially nothing to do with us.