Francis Williams' Philosophy Blog

I was acquainted with jazz through the guitarist Django Reinhardt. Although in my teenage years I had 'Kind of Blue' by Miles Davis, I was not really into Jazz at the time. It was only in my late twenties and through Gypsy Jazz guitar that I became passionate about Jazz. To this day there is still some Jazz that I can't listen to too much of, such as big band or some swing ensembles. Maybe if I was introduced to Jazz at an earlier age I would have an ear for the big band sound, and love the saxophone more, but I came to jazz through guitar. It was Django Reinhardt's mix of traditional gypsy and contemporary Jazz sounds that struck a chord (pun intended) with me. It was irresistible, and I had to learn more. In my youth I played a lot of Blues guitar, inspired by Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page. I found the licks I had learnt from that period of my guitar playing translated well into the language of Jazz. I have always preferred simple, raw and basic sounds, in particular wh

From a post on Facebook: "happiness is like cake. too much makes you sick". I don't know if I entirely agree with this. Is there really such a thing as wanting to be unhappy? Lets say you deliberately avoid doing things which make you happy just so you stay in a bad mood all the time. Wouldn't the want to remain in this state constitute some kind of happiness too? But I would agree that happiness isn't the only or the highest value. There are different kinds of happiness. euphoria, ecstasy, serenity, peacefulness, orgasm, productivity. All these are forms of happiness which some prefer over others. Some people prefer a life of constant euphoria with large mood swings from the highs acquired through drugs and substances and the lows experienced through withdrawal symptoms. Others prefer a steadier approach, with less highs but also less lows. On a graph it would be represented as smoother curve with less steep crests and troughs. If it would be possible to take a d

If I had a son I would probably teach him from early on that there is no god, or at least that it is not good to be a Christian for the following reasons. He would ask: "What happens after we die?" and I would say "nothing. Our body dies and we go to sleep forever from which we never wake up with no dreams". Then I would tell him: "precisely because we do not have a second life we have to make the most of the one we have". Then he would say something like "but a friend at school told me that he believes in God and Jesus Christ and prays every night when goes to bed and that he is sure he will go to heaven". I would respond: "you must remember that there is no evidence for gods existence. Christianity is a deal you have to make with God that you will never have any bad or naughty thoughts. If you decide to become a Christian you have to uphold your part of the bargain and think only good thoughts and your whole life must be dedicated to God&

People talk glowingly about these transhumanist ideals such as the 'singularity' where we all upload ourselves onto something like the matrix. But it should be obvious just how much potential for evil it has. If you assume that a person who has uploaded their brain will live in this matrix, paradise or afterlife indefinitely or until they voluntarily decided to have themselves terminated and that their digital body and brain are exposed to some programmer, you could conceive of all sorts of nightmare scenarios of torture, depravity and despair. But even without having gone that far there are hellish possibilities. You could erase someone's memory then have them live through a sick game in which they have to run for their life like in that black mirror episode 'white bear'. You could have access to their memories and force them to relive traumas. These are possible in the near future with improved understanding of the brain. But the hell begins really with uploading.

Thanks to liberalism and humanism, we have shifted from god being at the center of our lives to ourselves being the most important. Todays society places most emphasis on individuality and expression. But the problem with individualism is it is limited in search for truth, individualism coupled with capitalism is consumerism and that isn't a fulfilling type of life. We have lost the sense of obligation and servitude, the proximity to a benevolent but jealous god. This superstition was a form of schizophrenia because it implied a causal connection between unknowable forces and our own lives. With the existence of rational arguments denying the existence of this invisible force we have to continuously remind ourselves that the universe is amoral and irreverent. It doesn't care for us, and nothing does. the only thing that can really care for our existence is ourselves. But you cant just take away this invisible conversation partner and expect just anything to suffice the void. W

All in all an apocalyptic Christmas eve, after watching 'Don't look up': a satire on the media and its reception of impending extinction level comet impact. Its always sobering to watch films where civilization/humanity is under threat of extinction. Especially poignant are the last moments before the end. The thought of being on a one-way course to death is depressing and terrifying, such as the last moment before your plane crashes or you hit the ground when your parachute doesn't open or the 1km high tidal wave hits you. The irony is that we are all going to die, its just that we are good at ignoring it, or at least we try our best to act immortal. The story was a bit ridiculous, especially in its attempt to frame the catastrophe through a political lens. The president and her son were portrayed as corrupt overly media savvy posturers, only interested in their ratings and popularity. The most interesting character was the tech CEO which was a stab at Bezos and Musk.

Watched taxi driver again. he is driven by the need to "do" something significant. He is sickened by the city he lives in, by the crime, prostitution and violence. In this sense he is suffering an existential crisis, because his regular life seems meaningless and the only way to escape it is by doing something significant. His first attempt at achieving something is by finding the ideal woman. He states that "life is not about morbid self-contemplation, but one should be a person like everybody else". He wants to rise above his current station in life, he thinks that marrying the right woman will give him that status. But after she dumps him he concludes that she is just like everyone else, cold and distant and lifeless. So his next response is to kill the presidential candidate. I must admit I don't know why he wants to kill Palantine, maybe out of revenge for Betsy dumping him, or maybe because he considers him a a false prophet a hypocrite and liar who doesn&

He was the type that kept his head down and followed orders. He was intelligent and did his job efficiently, but not too well as to attract attention. He believed however that there was something wrong with the system but feared being exposed too much to ever speak his mind. He never mentioned politics to his friends and always refused to give his opinion out of safety, but also out of fear the someone might report him. He was scared of insiders who might secretly be connected to higher officials. In truth he knew little of politics and always told himself that it is better to shut your mouth if you don't know all the facts. secretly his gut instincts told him however that the system was corrupt, that they were slowly and inexorably heading towards a police state, and he hated the fact that anytime the slightest slander or petty crime could be punished by exposure. What he feared most was being exposed, that maybe his misdemeanors from his youth would be brought up in court or publ

If you are living in a boarding house, university dormitory or a shared flat you often want to protect your privacy. but what is a better practice: leaving your door open or keeping it closed? Keeping it closed suggests insecurity, that you are uncomfortable with others intruding on your activities but it also entail respect since you cant inspect what people are doing outside as they walk past, and it suggests they are keeping themselves to themselves. On the other hand someone who keeps there door open might be trying to foster a sense of community, albeit they may want to be the person in charge of that community. An open door invites people to look inside and find out, but at the same time asserts quite boldly "look at me, I have no secrets to hide!" A person with an open door may also be a control freak of their own, possibly they want to know the whereabouts of everybody walking past. Maybe they want to put on display how many people visit them a day as if to suggest &q

A cross section of a persons late twenties starting from their graduation or end of student days leading to their mid thirties. The film struck a chord with me because of the death of Axel the long term boyfriend of the protagonist. His reflections about death were very astute, and also resounded with my own views of the transience of life. His monologue to Julia (the protagonist) was very poignant, he spoke about his youth and the importance of meaning being attached to physical objects, something which has changed presumably due to the internet, but in a poignant turn he now realizes that approaching his death all that seems meaningless. All that he was left is a regrettable obsession with the past, clinging on to memories, since he has no future. He later realizes that he doesn't care about his art, or living on through it, he just wants to be happy and together with Julia again.

Flying Imagine how strange it would be if humanity had evolved wings, like birds. How strange the sky would look like, with people suspended in mid-air or clusters of winged people all heading in specific directions. you would have special migration routes for long distance flyers and special towers for them to land on. there would probably need to be a special type of food that you had to eat in order to sustain long journeys. there would be no transport. houses would be different, there wouldn't be doors on the ground floor. there would be openings in the roof, or they might just be like bird nests in trees or high up on mountains. office buildings would look like large beehives, with people hovering in front of their cubicles. Sublime Nights Its been many long years since I can genuinely say that I have experienced a "sublime" evening. Roughly speaking i mean an evening in which everything flows naturally and to your command, without negative influences. When I think o

On Creativity It becomes harder to 'will' yourself into a new creative phase when you get older. I remember clearly the momentum I had when taking an interest in new creative things in my twenties. First music, literature, music again, then even computers. It takes a lot of effort to believe in what your doing, almost a kind of faith, because there's nothing there to really encourage you except your own belief, there's no feedback from the outside. Its like what Bob Dylan said about his early musical creativity, when he wrote Mr. Tambourine man and about destiny - that it was a kind of magic that only you have, its like this special thing that you have that no one else has. The twenties is really the time for that, when your not concerned about things like marriage or job and money. In your thirties this strange fear grips you. Suddenly you become disillusioned with things and more cynical and at the same time your mind doesn't have as many free associations anymor

When I was in my teens and twenties I occasionally got small lumps on my anus which went away after a couple of days. It wasn't until I was in my late thirties that I started to get more serious cases of hemorrhoids. I know that I inherited the condition from my dad who often spoke about it to me when I was younger. He would say things like "don't force yourself to fart, you'll get hemorrhoids" or "don't push or strain too hard on the toilet, you'll get hemorrhoids". I often saw suppositories and Vaseline next to the toilet and wondered what they were for. Throughout my twenties I hardly heeded his advice, and it seemed to be of no concern that I occasionally pushed too hard on the toilet or had hard stools. Then when I reached 37 I noticed that I wasn't as lucky any more. The first time I knew something was wrong was when I saw small traces of blood on the tissue paper after wiping. At the time it was most probably due to straining too hard.