Racist or just judgmental?

Racist- a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others.

I think most racism today is not racism buy prejudice or judgmentalism.

Prejudice-
an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason.
any preconceived opinion or feeling, either favorable or unfavorable.

When people today make racist comments, most of them are just inconsiderate opinions that are hasty generalizations, based upon sterotypes. Often these statements do not come from a sense of racial superiority (required for racism) but a rash and crude judgement based upon personal preconceived notions based upon color. These are stupid remarks and should not be condemned, but it is not racism, just stupidity.

Difference between Religion and Philosophy

I was curious if there is a difference between religion and philosophy? Undoubtedly there is religion includes some philosophy but if you do not obey a metaphysical religion then something else needs to be your "god". Does not what you believe in philosophical terms because your highest ultimate principle?

Information.... This is way to much!

Have you noticed that information we take in is being increasingly managed? From Google Buzz to the Iphone apps, information is growing into a beast no one can tame. Since there is so much out on the web to social media, individuals have now switch modes from information gathers to information managers. We cannot handle of this inflow. We seek now to limit and control what information gets flown in front of us. Our mind can only remember and take in so much in at one time. The next step in technology will be just like Bing.com. We will all have personal decision engines to help manage our information. The internet has caused a caused its own rise and fall. It created a vast pool of valuable information. From this, individuals have created “spam info”. This is stuff we don’t want to see or read. It clogs our mental pathways. The internet will become increasingly managed and be dulled down by filters or intermediaries between us and the worldwide web.

Check Your facts

Have you ever thought about why, generally speaking, people do not check the facts? From the start of specialization, information has become specialized as well. When a expert speaks, people generally accept what they say and only, maybe, check their logic or reasoning. We tend to check reasoning rather than just facts because reasoning is in your mind and we use it everyday. Reasoning is not specialized. Facts and obtaining facts is a very time consuming task. Fact gathering is specialized and victim to bias. In a debate, it seems that people are arguing about facts but in reality I think they are arguing about world views and philosophy. Can you ever escape the grip of philosophy?

Value Safety

I was running up and down the stair case in my apartment building. Have you ever thought about why these safety requirements look they way they do? Why is this staircase so big? Why do you need this many sprinklers?

So, I thought this fire stair case is in valuable real estate in my high rise building. But how much does it cost to install such required features? The cost approach doesn't work because there is more value associated where it is in the building. This space could go to apartment. It could go to some room that someone will pay for. The market rate is not that good either. It is not just the space itself that is valuable. It is safety that is really what is being valued. How much can you allocate to safety?

I am not sure that markets can value you that correctly because there is no monetary value for a human life. The market does not put values on humans because it is not just a item but a living and conscious being. Maybe governments should regulate what the market cannot accurately value.... by accurately value, I mean that the little voice inside of you can live with it.