Why I don't feel like arguing about religion any more
I find it increasingly difficult to debate religion the more materialist I become. Right now I may be even more materialist than the hard-core materialist philosopher Daniel Dennett.
Discussing the contradictions in the concept of God, or ideas of what is natural, or absolutely moral seem so far in the distance from my current philosophical position that it seems a huge effort to get anywhere near there.
Right now, I see people's minds as neural networks that I'd like to understand more. Why should I be concerned about discussing the nature of absolute morality when what I really want to understand is how the neural networks come up with such a deluded idea.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm not that interested in dealing with the results of the bugs in the human brain - I'm interesting in debugging!
Discussing the contradictions in the concept of God, or ideas of what is natural, or absolutely moral seem so far in the distance from my current philosophical position that it seems a huge effort to get anywhere near there.
Right now, I see people's minds as neural networks that I'd like to understand more. Why should I be concerned about discussing the nature of absolute morality when what I really want to understand is how the neural networks come up with such a deluded idea.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm not that interested in dealing with the results of the bugs in the human brain - I'm interesting in debugging!
Millennium food
It started with a single recipe book:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Millennium-Cookbook-Extraordinary-Vegetarian-Cuisine/dp/0898158990
Brought back by my husband last year after a trip to California.
I discovered amazing recipes that did not involve fish, meat, or eggs, but (from his reports of the quality of food at the restaurant) where truly delicious. So, I started to try a few recipes. I was impressed, as they were based on ingredients that could be found in a local supermarket. I was astonished. I was cooking close-to restaurant-quality meals, and it was fun (I have always enjoyed playing around with recipes).
The quality of the recipes led us to decide to try and go vegetarian this year. Last year, we regularly ate fish, and I occasionally ate fowl. It has not been a problem at all. Most main meals I cook now are vegan.
It has been a revelation. From past experience of vegetarian food in restaurants (so many cheese and tomato quiches), I thought that vegan food would be dull. It has been the exact opposite. I have discovered amazing things like seitan, and the way that different fungi can add character to a dish.
Far from being dull and limited, I have found vegan cooking to be the best food I have ever tasted, with an amazing variety and range of flavours, and the variety of vegetables and herbs in each meal means it is probably the most nutritious food as well.
I don't miss fish or fowl at all. For my birthday, we are travelling to Northern France. I suspect that vegetarian/vegan food will be hard to find, so I'm prepared to lapse into animal-eating. But only for a while.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Millennium-Cookbook-Extraordinary-Vegetarian-Cuisine/dp/0898158990
Brought back by my husband last year after a trip to California.
I discovered amazing recipes that did not involve fish, meat, or eggs, but (from his reports of the quality of food at the restaurant) where truly delicious. So, I started to try a few recipes. I was impressed, as they were based on ingredients that could be found in a local supermarket. I was astonished. I was cooking close-to restaurant-quality meals, and it was fun (I have always enjoyed playing around with recipes).
The quality of the recipes led us to decide to try and go vegetarian this year. Last year, we regularly ate fish, and I occasionally ate fowl. It has not been a problem at all. Most main meals I cook now are vegan.
It has been a revelation. From past experience of vegetarian food in restaurants (so many cheese and tomato quiches), I thought that vegan food would be dull. It has been the exact opposite. I have discovered amazing things like seitan, and the way that different fungi can add character to a dish.
Far from being dull and limited, I have found vegan cooking to be the best food I have ever tasted, with an amazing variety and range of flavours, and the variety of vegetables and herbs in each meal means it is probably the most nutritious food as well.
I don't miss fish or fowl at all. For my birthday, we are travelling to Northern France. I suspect that vegetarian/vegan food will be hard to find, so I'm prepared to lapse into animal-eating. But only for a while.