TRP-thematic. Found at a philosophy blog

[Robin Landseadel]

On Sep 14, 2009, at 8:04 AM, Mark Kohut wrote:

> The spell that today's rationalists and naturalists choose to cast  
> upon themselves has its own special name: the Ionian Enchantment  
> (coined by physicist Gerald Holton , and employed, without irony, by  
> such prominent a figure as biologist E.O. Wilson, in his book  
> "Consilience.") In Wilson's words, the Ionian Enchantment is "a  
> conviction, far deeper than a mere working proposition, that the  
> world is orderly and can be explained by a small number of natural  
> laws." I don't relate this fact to belittle or diminish this  
> particular spell, merely to observe that it is one. In more  
> vernacular terms, the Ionian Enchantment is referred to as  
> reductionism. As its defenders and practitioners are quick to point  
> out, reductionism works--if by "works" we mean that our airliners go  
> from place to place without incident, with enough reliability to  
> make it a worthwhile endeavor.
>
> But this is a definition that is built into the question. Within it  
> is embedded the supposition that technology makes our lives better.  
> How do we know? Because it manifestly makes our lives "better,"  
> where "better" is defined as the thing that technology does.

Ionian Technologies—Nucleic Acid Amplification in Minutes . . .

http://www.ionian-tech.com/

	First Nut (or maybe Keeper): Got an amazing deal for you here,
	American? I thought so, always tell a face from home, saaay,
	like your suit there, go far enough up the glacier 'n' nobody'd be
	able to see ya! Well yes now, I know how you feel about these
	street-vendors keep coming by, it's the old three-card monte on
	 the sidewalk [trucks across the stage for a while, back and
	forth, waving his finger in the air, singing "Three-card monte on-
	the side, walk," over and over in the same obsessive monotone,
	for as many repetitions as he can get away with] and you can
	spot right away what's wrong, every one promises ya somethin'
	fer nothin', right? yes now oddly enough, that's the main 	
	objection engineers and scientists have always had to the idea
	of [lowering his voice] perpetual motion or as we like to call it
	Entropy Management—here, here's our card-well, sure, they've
	got a point. At least they had a point. Up till now ....

	Second Nut or Keeper: Now you've heard about the two-
	hundredmile-per-gallon carburetor, the razor edge that never
	gets dull, the eternal bootsole, the mange pill that's good to your
	glands, engine that'll run on sand, ornithopters and
	robobopsters-you heard me, got a little goatee made out of
	steel wool-jivey, that's fine, but here's one for yo' mind! Are you
	ready? It's Lightning-Latch, The Door That Opens You!

	Slothrop: Think I'll go take my nap now ....

	Third N. or K.: Transmogrify common air into diamonds through
	Cataclysmic Carbon Dioxide Reducti-o-o-o-o-n-n-n ....

Contrast and compare to "Principia Discordia," the Erisian Enchantment:

http://www.principiadiscordia.com/

Also consider the Gaian Hypothesis.

http://tinyurl.com/qkqy3b