One of my favorite answers came from the one and only, Kevin Kelly. And yes, I’m a huge fan of Kevin Kelly’s work. Here’s what he has to say in response to the question.

… my knowledge is now more fragile. For every accepted piece of knowledge I find, there is within easy reach someone who challenges the fact. Every fact has its anti-fact. The Internet’s extreme hyperlinking highlights those anti-facts as brightly as the facts. Some anti-facts are silly, some borderline, and some valid. You can’t rely on experts to sort them out because for every expert there is an equal and countervailing anti-expert. Thus anything I learn is subject to erosion by these ubiquitous anti-factors.

I can so relate to this. Think about the above and then just imagine the impact the web will have on religion in the long-term.

… My certainty about anything has decreased. Rather than importing authority, I am reduced to creating my own certainty — not just about things I care about — but about anything I touch, including areas about which I can’t possibly have any direct knowledge . That means that in general I assume more and more that what I know is wrong. We might consider this state perfect for science but it also means that I am more likely to have my mind changed for incorrect reasons. Nonetheless, the embrace of uncertainty is one way my thinking has changed.

Uncertainty is a kind of liquidity. I think my thinking has become more liquid. It is less fixed, as text in a book might be, and more fluid, as say text in Wikipedia might be. My opinions shift more. My interests rise and fall more quickly. I am less interested in Truth, with a capital T, and more interested in truths, plural. I feel the subjective has an important role in assembling the objective from many data points. The incremental plodding progress of imperfect science seems the only way to know anything.

Brilliant. Read the rest here.

I’m in love with the fact that “truth” is no longer what the guy sitting on the throne and a bunch of bearded men want it to be. Like inter-continental satellite television before it, the internet is now causing disturbances in the epistemologies of Muslim countries worldwide.

But, unlike the push medium of conventional media, the internet is a pull medium and the epistemic consequences of this massive property are as fascinating as they are exciting.

Me loves.

One the negative side, say hello to postmodernism on steroids!

Solution? What Carter Phipps said:

Rehabilitating confidence in truth and reason will undoubtedly be one of the tasks of the twenty-first century. As a culture, we must begin to recognize that while truth and objectivity may not be absolutes that exist perfectly free of time and history, neither are they hopelessly embedded in personal perspectives. Simply because truth is always subject to revision does not and could never mean that all truth claims deserve equal space at the table of cultural discourse. Let’s not put reason and science on the pedestal of perfection, but let’s also not confuse leaps of faith with rational inquiry. If the twenty-first century is being defined by an ongoing clash of traditional, modern, and postmodern worldviews both in individuals and in societies around the world, then escaping that clash with minimal harm and maximal development will mean finding a fourth way. It will mean learning to steer our ship of culture away from the overconfident certainties of theology and science but also away from the overwrought uncertainties of contemporary philosophy.

Right on.

Now, it’s time to enjoy the Arabic one.

LOL, those guys are sooo retarded.

Hehehe!

So, I think this podcast is a big deal for sure.

The blogger being interviewed is Ali aka Black Gay Arab, whom many of you already know thanks to the time I blogged about him here and here.

Kudos to Reem for doing this, because we do need an open conversation about the subject, something which is already starting to happen across the Arab world.

Let the fun begin. The reactions should be entertaining to watch.

Meanwhile, on a related note, I wrote about what seems to be Sudan’s first LGBT rights organization here in my latest GVO round up post.

LOL. Poor guy.

Just change your name if you wanna work in the Arab world, Ambassador Akbar Zib!

Despite having served for years as a distinguished Pakistani diplomat, Akbar Zeb reportedly cannot receive accreditation as Pakistan’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia. The reason, apparently, has nothing to do with his credentials, and everything to do with his name — which, in Arabic, translates to “biggest dick”:

In Saudi Arabia, size does count.

A high level Pakistani diplomat has been rejected as Ambassador of Saudi Arabia because his name, Akbar Zib, equates to “Biggest Dick” in Arabic. Saudi officials, apparently overwhelmed by the idea of the name, put their foot down and gave the idea of his being posted there, the kibosh.

According to this Arabic-language article in the Arab Times, Pakistan had previously floated Zeb’s name as ambassador to the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, only to have him rejected for the same reason. One can only assume that submitting Zeb’s name to a number of Arabic-speaking countries is some unique form of punishment designed by the Pakistani Foreign Ministry — or the result of a particularly egregious cockup.

Okay, so he was rejected before for the same reason - twice.

Guess they should have learned their lesson!

(h/t: Adil Abdalla)

I’ll be sharing my thoughts about the trip soon, just like how I did with Beirut.

I’ll also need to finish a round up post for Global Voices which you can expect, and the 7 Categories of Faith series which I got too busy and distracted to continue with.

Lastly, the journey with my book continues. Yes, it’s still happening. Although I must admit, writing it is one thing. Getting it published is a whole different story. Luckily, I’ve learned my lesson.

I should have hired a professional a long time ago. It would have spared me some wonderful headaches and lack of clear direction.

Things now are so much better. The whole writing process has been deeply therapeutic, and it’s taken the form of a memoir. Plus, given my recent career transition, I’m going to enjoy a lot of more free time.

Talk soon.

- Drima

PS: Meanwhile, watch this cool video by Mona Eltahawy about how the internet is impacting Islam. Agreed!

Cheers.

Bearded lunatic on the right asks “are we wrong?”

Wisey beard on the left replies “absolutely not, they criticized us first.”

Good, but also bad.

The American auto industry lives on, even the big portions of it which should have been allowed to fail, because you see, if America has been pretty damn good at anything, then it’s failing.

Heavy government regulation prevents that, and contributes to propping up inefficient business operations that end up wasting resources and killing real entrepreneurship.

Still, if America is to survive and flourish economically in this increasingly competitive world, there needs to be a balance and it must fail.

It must continue failing.

Failing forward.

Meanwhile, I leave you with Ayo’s sexy reggae tunes: Help Is Coming!

I’m not going to comment on the latter because many have already done so in great detail, and here, Citizen Obie does an awesome job rounding up some pretty interesting reviews, including this one: “Avatar: the most expensive piece of anti-American propaganda ever made.”

The best part of Citizen Obie’s post? What Heather said: “if white guilt could masturbate… Avatar.”

LOL.

Read the whole thing here.

Oh, and watch the movie.

May might Ewya bless you in 2010.

- Hugs, bitches.

Our first elections in like a zillion years, followed by Southerners deciding in 2011 whether they want to divorce the North to finally end that lovely dysfunctional bitter marriage arranged by the British.

And then of course 2012 will arrive and we’ll be screwed anyway, so why worry about voting?

Bleh, okay, I admit, a big part of me is pretty pessimistic about the transparency of the upcoming elections, but if I allow the pessimism to take over, then I’ll simply be embracing what can only be described as a defeatist attitude.

So, in Kawther’s words… “Here’s hoping that the country doesn’t descend into even greater chaos.”

Back to slowly revamping the subtleties of this blog.