Random Musings from a Doctor's Chair
My adventures with God,life and all these stuff.
Saturday, June 28, 2014
Thursday, June 26, 2014
Random Glimpses of my Desktop: Batman DC Comics Icon
Batman DC Comics Icon
1:6 scale
cold cast porcelain
sculpted by Gentle Giant Studios
DC Collectibles
limited: 5200
Labels: Batman, Collectibles, Comics and Mangas
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Thursday, June 19, 2014
Sunday, June 15, 2014
Hey, this just not my phone, this is also my library!
We are very aware that mobile hand phones especially smart
phones have become as essential part of life in the last two decades. Nowadays
we cannot imagine life before these small portable mobile devices. Pay phone
booths, expensive operator assisted calls and land line are slowly becoming a
thing of the past. The world has become even more interconnected as never
before. With the ever expanding cellular infrastructure development, cellular
mobile phones are becoming common in some underdeveloped countries even before
the land based telephones. According to the United Nations more than 6 billion
of the 7 billion people on earth today has access to a mobile phone!
This is an exciting time for the Church. Most mobile phones
not only receive voice phone calls but also books and videos. This means that
The Church has a unique opportunity today to make the bible available to almost
85% of the people on earth by means of free downloads of e-bible or audio
bible! This is a fantastic opportunity. Not only e-bibles but also books on
Christianity, Christian living and theology.
The revolution that resulted from the Guttenberg Press
caused not only a revolution in learning and knowledge, but indirectly the
Protestant Reformation. The bible became more easily available and was
translated into a more readable form in the local languages from Latin or
Greek. The limitations to that revolution was printing costs, distribution and
point of sales/bookshops. The present e-book revolution bypass the limitations
of the printing press (surprisingly this has not really translated to cheaper
books). The electronic version is easily distributed and downloaded at the cost
of a website and mobile apps.
The e-book revolution has placed the power of publishing and
distribution into the hands of the authors and readers. Publishers are
gatekeepers of printed books and while it is acknowledged that as corporate
companies, they need to make a profit, they however also limit books published
to that of a few superstar authors. Authors should make their works free or at
a minimal charge on the Internet. This is especially true of sermon transcript,
books on Christianity and Christian living. In fact, superstar authors and
pastors should be the first to do so. Many do not need these incomes from their
books. The call is also to Christian theological publishers. For reasons best
known to themselves, most of our theological writings in books and journals are
locked up behind walls that demand we pay a high monetary price to have access
to these books and articles. Open the doors and allow the knowledge and wisdom
to be available to all. Commentaries, theological thesis and writings are valuable
resources that should be available to all. Everyone, including the poorest
Christian living in the slums should have access to a well-stocked Christian
library through his or her phone.
The mobile phones also make easily accessible videos and
audio messages. Through Youtube, Godtube and other such services, everyone will
be able to access Christian documentaries, attend lectures, participate in
conferences, and even attend Church services. The technology for streaming video
is always improving as is the technology for uploading and downloading.
The dawn of a new era is here. It is now possible to share
the bible and Christian teachings to at least 85% of the whole population, even
those who are living at the ends of the earth. This is a tremendous
opportunity. It is hoped that the Church will awaken to this opportunity.
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Labels: Bible, Books and Reading, Church, Digital Books, Evangelism
Thursday, June 12, 2014
Why Batman does not kill...especially the Joker
Over the decades from their initial encounter in Gotham
City, the Joker has transformed from the Clown Prince of Crime to a mass
murderer. He killed the second Robin, Jason Todd, paralysed Barbara Gordon
(Batgirl), and shot and killed Lt. Sarah Essen, Commissioner Gordon's second
wife. As many times, the Batman captured the Joker, as many times the Joker
escaped. Being insane, Batman knew the Joker will never be persecuted. Knowing
as he did that the Joker will continue to escape and hurt and kill people, why
did the Batman not kill the Joker?
Batman has said many times that he refused to kill because
in killing, he is no better than the criminals that he is sworn to fight. But,
the Joker? Come on, man.
I have been trying to understand Batman's reluctance to kill
and I come across this system of ethics named utilitarianism. This system will
say, Batman kill the Joker because this will prevent all the murders he will
commit in the future. While it is bad to kill, yet killing one life will be the
saviour of many other lives.
Philosopher Philippa Foot and Judith Jarvis Thomson put
forth the issue in form of a moral dilemma:
Imagine that a trolley is going down a track. Further down the track are five people who do not hear the trolley and will not be able to get out of the way. Unfortunately, there aren't enough time to stop the trolley before it hits and kills them. The only way to avoid killing these five people is to switch the trolley to another track. But, unfortunately, there is one person standing on that track, also too close for the trolley to stop before killing him. Now imagine an innocent bystander standing by the track switch who must make a choice; do nothing, which leads to the death of five people on the current track, or act to divert the trolley to the other track, which leads to the death of the single person.
The Batman is in the place of the bystander. He is holding
the Joker's hands at the top of an unfinished office in the movie The Dark
Knight. All he has to do is to let go and let the Joker fall to his death.
Imagine the trolley scenario except the current track is onto the one person
and switching the track will kill the five.
Do you think the Batman should kill the Joker?
Philosopher Thomson now suggest another scenario
There is a surgeon with five patients. Each of his patients is dying from failure of a different organ and could be saved by a transplant. Since there are no organs available by normal channels, the surgeon considers drugging one of his (healthy) colleague and removing his organs to use for transplants.
By killing one, many will be saved. This is utilitarianism. This is similar to the trolley story. The death of one will save the five. Or is it? Do you agree? Is the choice of allowing the trolley kill one person the same as killing another person for his organs?
Do you think Batman should kill the Joker?
It would have been so easy for the Batman to kill the Joker.
Batman is an expert exponent of many types of martial arts.
The philosophical system of utilitarianism will have not
problem with Batman killing the Joker to prevent Joker from committing further
crimes. As we have seen from our earlier posts about the trolley and the
surgeon, it is not as straight forward as it seems.
In the Hush storyline, Hush asked the Batman, "How many
lives do you think you've cost, how many families have you ruined, by allowing
the Joker to live?...And why? Because of your duty? Your sense of
justice?"
In utilitarianism, the end justifies the means. A popular
proponent of utilitarianism is Peter Singer, professor of Philosophy in
Princeton University and in the University of Melbourne.
However, there is another system of philosophy named
deontology (nothing to do with dentists) in which the act is more important.
When you decide "do not kill", it means do not kill under any
circumstances, irrespective of whatever good that killing may produce.
Deontology is based on a sense of duty and the most well known proponent is
Immanuel Kant. Of course, Immanuel Kant have never met the Joker.
"Is Batty a secret deontologist?" muses the Joker.
"I want my lawyer! Oh, that's right, I killed him
too" (from The Dark Knight)
In our consideration of why Batman did not kill the Joker
when he have had so many opportunities to do so, it is obvious that he is not a
follower of utilitarianism. Utilitarianism takes into consideration that the
death of the Joker will save many people in DC comic universe.
While it may appear that Batman is a deontologist; that the
act of killing is against his sense of duty to be not like the criminals he
fights, however, his other actions do not support the conjecture. Batman as a
masked vigilante is dangerously skirting the edge of the law and have been
known to break the law when it suits his purpose. His Kantian ethics will not
allow him to do this if he is a deontologist.
There is another system of ethics which come down to us from
Aristotle, the great philosopher himself. Named virtue ethics, Aristotle
postulated that the ethical behaviour of a person is not from his choice
(utilitarianism), or his actions/duty (deontologism). It arises from who this
person is. He calls these virtues or what we nowadays call character;
compassion, justice, courage, and tolerance. One of the great virtue
philosophers alive today is Alistair MacIntyre. There has been much talk of
character/virtues in leadership especially political and religious leadership.
Unfortunately these talks are of character/virtue flaws than of good strong
character with integrity.
Does Batman has such good virtues that he is incapable of
killing the Joker, no matter how much he wants to?
Our investigation into the existential question should
Batman kill the Joker? has evolved to why the Batman did not kill the Joker.
We have established that Batman does not subscribe to
utilitarianism and Kantianism (odeontologism). That left us to consider virtue
moral theory. While unilitaianism focus on the consequences of the action,
odeontologism on the duty of actor, virtue theory is about who the actor is,
i.e. the character or virtues of the actor.
Batman/Bruce Wayne has very strong influential persons in
his life. His father, Dr Thomas Wayne is a compassionate surgeon, industrialist
and philantrophist. He believed in the goodness of people. Note that he
organises the rich elite to help the poor during the depression in Gotham City
and built the monorail system for the people. His death was partially due to
the fact that he brought his family to the opera by monorail instead of by private
car (see Batman Begins).
The butler Alfred was another influence and served as a
surrogate father figure after the death of Thomas Wayne. Alfred exhibits strong
elements of loyalty and integrity, looking after the family estates when Bruce
was wandering around in search of himself. Though he disapprove of Bruce's
nocturnal activities, he restrict himself to sarcastic remarks while availing
himself to rescue the Batman and offer medical treatment when necessary. It
takes a strong character not to impose his will on others and to remind in the
shadow of another.
Dr. Thompson is another who helped Bruce after the death of
his parents. She provide the nurturing mother figure to balance Alfred's Yang
with her Yin. A competent doctor, she chooses to devote her life to helping the
poor and the helpless in slum alley.
Thomas Wayne, Alfred and Thompson did not act out of a sense
of duty but because of who they are. It is their characters that dictate their
actions, not the other way around. Bruce Wayne must have pick up this moral
theory from them. In the storyline, Bruce Wayne:Fugitive, Bruce Wayne has an
identity crisis. Is he the Batman and Bruce the man behind the mask or Bruce
Wayne and the Batman is the person behind the persona? As expected, the crisis
was resolved when Bruce realise that the Batman was a means to an end (limiting
the activities of the criminal elements by putting a fear in the criminal
mind). This question resurfaced numerous times, for example in the story arch
of No Man's Land and Knightfall (and Knightend).
Batman does not kill the Joker because it is not in his
nature or character to kill. Like Gandhi who resort to non-violence to resist an
unjustice government, the Batman resort to non-lethal violence to resist a
corrupt justice system and the criminal minds. It is in their strength of character
that we must respect him.
previous posted at
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Labels: Batman, Ethical-Questions, Philosophy