Bones 6.20: This Very Statement Is a Lie

Bones 6.20 flirted with the dizzying, irresistible paradox of the liar, as the case at hand takes the team to a group dedicated to radical honesty, or always telling the unvarnished truth, no matter what.

This would rule out or not permit any lies, of any sort, including the white lie, which serves as a social lubricant in our world.  Actually, more than that.   Would you tell someone that he or she had only three months to live, if you were 100% sure that there was absolutely nothing that could change that? Perhaps yes, if you wanted the victim to have the opportunity to make the most of each remaining day.  Perhaps no, if you didn't want to put a pall over the remaining days.  It's complicated, and great books have been written about it, ranging from James Morrow's City of Truth novel to Sissela Bok's nonfiction Lying: Moral Choice in Public and Private Life.

On Bones 6.20, the fun begins with Bones asking Booth if he's ever lied to her.  "No," he replies.  Sweets, who has previously introduced us to the radical honesty program - which is real, check it on Wikipedia, which I assume presents a truthful account - says he thinks that very statement by Booth to Bones is a lie.   That is, Booth lied to Bones when he said he never lied to her.  Or at least, Bones and Sweets think so.

That part is easy, non-paradoxical.  But consider the following:  "This very statement is a lie."   If the statement is true, that means that the statement is indeed a lie, which means ... we can't or shouldn't believe it ... which means it's not true.    But if the statement is not true, or false, that means the statement is not a lie, which means the statement is true, which means the statement is indeed a lie ...

That's why it pitches us into a paradox ... because, whichever interpretation we take, that the statement is true or false, leads us to the opposite view, and back and forth, forever.  Sort of like infinite regress, and one of the reasons I chose that name for this blog.

On Bones, Booth does divulge that he sometimes goes commando, and he does admit to Bones that he committed a lie of omission, when he didn't tell her how much he appreciated Bones' support when he and Hannah split up.  But is a lie of omission really a lie, or the same as a lie of commission?

Well, I can go into that, if you like ...

See also Bones 6.1: The Linchpin ... Bones 6.2: Hannah and her Prospects ... Bones 6.3 at the Jersey Shore, Yo, and Plymouth Rock ... Bones 6.4 Sans Hannah ... Bones 6.5: Shot and Pretty ... Bones 6.6: Accidental Relations ... Bones 6.7:  Newman and "Death by Chocolate" ... Bones 6.8: Melted Bones ... Bones 6.9: Adelbert Ames, Jr. ... Bones 6.10: Reflections ... Bones 6.11: The End and the Beginning of a Mystery ... Bones 6.12 Meets Big Love ... Bones 6.13: The Marrying Kind ... Bones 6.14: Bones' Acting Ability ... Bones 6.15: "Lunch for the Palin Family" ... Bones 6.16: Stuck in an Elevator, Stuck in Times ... Bones 6.17: The 8th Pair of Feet ... Bones 6.18: The Wile E. Chupacabra ... Bones 6.19 Test Runs The Finder

And see also Bones: Hilarity and Crime and Bones is Back For Season 5: What Is Love? and 5.2: Anonymous Donors and Pipes and 5.3: Bones in Amish Country and 5.4: Bones Meets Peyton Place and Desperate Housewives and Ancient Bones 5.5 and Bones 5.6: A Chicken in Every Viewer's Pot and Psychological Bones 5.7 and Bones 5.8: Booth's "Pops" and Bones 5.9 Meets Avatar and Videogamers ... Bad Santa, Heart-Warming Bones 5.10 ... Bones 5.11: Of UFOs, Bloggers, and Triangles ... Bones 5.12: A Famous Skeleton and Angela's Baby ... Love with Teeth on Bones 5.13 ... Faith vs. Science vs. Psychology in Bones 5.14 ... Page 187 in Bones 5.15 ... Bones 100: Two Deep Kisses and One Wild Relationship ... Bones 5.17: The Deadly Stars ... Bones Under Water in 5.18 ... Bones 5.19: Ergo Together ...  Bones 5.20: Ergo Together ...  Bones 5.21: The Rarity of Happy Endings ... Bones Season 5 Finale: Eye and Evolution

---

                 Special Discount Coupons for Angie's List, Avis, Budget Car, Garden.com, eMusic, Mozy

---

---

The Plot to Save Socrates


"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

---

Enjoy listening to audio books? Get a free audio book copy of The Plot to Save Socrates - or any one of 85,000 other titles - with a 14-day trial membership at Audible.com ...

 

FlashForward 1.19: The Stubborn Universe

FlashForward 1.19 was written by Robert J. Sawyer - author of the novel upon which the series is based - and a great friend for almost two decades now.   I say that in the interest of full disclosure.  But as I mentioned when I started reviewing FlashForward in the Fall, I'm not going to let that stop me from reviewing this fine series, extraordinary in many ways, and from calling things in the series as I see them.

The dominant theme in tonight's episode - appropriately entitled "Course Correction" - is the universe's stubborn resistance to changing its course, in this case, the deaths of people foreseen in the flashforwards.   It's a powerfully attractive theme.   I first began thinking about it when I read Stephen Hawking's "chronology protection conjecture" in the 1990s, which holds that, even if time travel were possible, the universe would not let it happen, lest it risk itself becoming unraveled by time travelers.  My 1995 novelette, The Chronology Protection Case (Analog Magazine), explored that theme in the context of a serial killing of scientists.

It's a theme bursting with paradox at every turn, which is what makes it so much fun.   In FlashForward, one could ask, is the flashforward what the universe "wanted," or was it something that happened contrary to the universe's original course?  Since human beings, who are part of the universe, caused the blackout/flashforward, we could well conclude that this is what the universe wanted (such a conclusion could be warranted in any development, caused by anything in the universe, since it's taking place, by definition, in the universe - this is part of the great paradox of this issue, and another name for it is infinite regress).   This, indeed, is what is assumed in FlashForward, which means that any attempt to prevent what was foreseen in the flashforwards is going against what the universe "intended," which provokes the universe to "correct" it.

Of course, we could say that any changes in the universe's plan are/were also part of the universe, so why would the universe be bent on correcting it?  You could say that, alright, but it's a quick path to driving yourself crazy (this is why I call paradox the root canal work of the human intellect).  In other words, you can only go so far with paradox - that's part of what makes paradox paradox.

On FlashForward, then, the universe seems to be correcting, by whatever means, the saving of people who were supposed to die.   This affects, most notably, Celia (the object of Gough's noble suicide and attempt to change the future in Episode 1.7) and Jeff Slingerland of Blue Hand fame.   Both end up dead tonight.  And, of course, squarely back in the universe's cross-hairs tonight is Demetri.   It's a fine turn  of events indeed, for now his brilliant rescue from the jaws of fate several weeks ago is in danger of being undone.    The mere raising of the universe as course corrector means Demetri is only in slightly better shape than he was before Mark saved him.

Other good moves tonight involve Bryce (who learns his cancer's in remission) and Nicole kissing,  and Lloyd and Olivia ... kissing.   Actually, I'm not so happy about that, I've become a Mark fan, and I also like Keiko, but the recouplings are good story telling.

But, whew, the paradox, that's the thing.   You can't find it served up like this any place else on television.


6-min podcast review of FlashForward

See also FlashForward Debuts and Oceanic Airlines as a Portal Between FlashForward and Lost ... 1.2: Proofs and Defiance of Inevitability ... 1.3: Conficting Visions and Futures ... 1.4: FlashForward Meets Shaft and House ... Drunk FlashForwarding in 1.5 ... Across the Universe in FlashForward 1.6 ... FlashForward 1.7: The Future Can Be ... FlashForward 1.8: The Nightie as a Grain of Sand ... FlashForward 1.9: Shelter from the Storm ... Olivia Benford at Harvard in Flashforward 1.10 ... Flashforward 1.12 Parts 1 and 2 ... FlashForward 1.13: Aaron's Daughter, Mark's Gun, and Magpies ... FlashForward 1.14:  Somalia, LA, Fate Irresistible and Resistible ... FlashForward 1.15: Who's That Lady? ... FlashForward 1.16: Mark's Gun and Demetri's Wedding ... FlashForward 1.17: Mark, Demetri, and Hari Seldon ... FlashForward 1.18: Triple Forks

Listen to 40-minute interview with Robert J. Sawyer

Save Flashforward!! - Let ABC know you love it!

---

Special Discount Coupons for Angie's List, Avis, Budget Car, eHarmony, eMusic

---

---

The Plot to Save Socrates


"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

Faith vs. Science vs. Psychology on Bones 5.14

On the masthead of this blog, you'll find mention of George Santayana's "irrational faith in reason".  Many philosophers - not only Santayana but Bertrand Russell and Karl Popper - have recognized that the roots of reason are not logical, and instead rest in faith that reason and the logical process work.  Because, if one is asked to defend logic and rationality, the response will undoubtedly be an appeal to logic - or using the very process which is in dispute to demonstrate the value of that process.   Philosophers refer to this as tautology or "infinite regress"  (see my Mind at Large: Knowing in the Technological Age for more).

So, now you know (in part) why my blog is titled "Infinite Regress".  But faith in reason is also what Bones says she has, at the end of a fine, intellectually outstanding episode 5.14 of Bones, which features not just faith vs. reason, but hard science vs. psychology.

The specific plot concerns a burnt corpse which looks like the devil.  Turns out the horns were implanted coral (around which bone grew) and the tail was vestigial.   We're then treated to one of the better who-done-its on Bones as Booth, Bones, Sweets, and team suss out the identity of the killer.

But I especially liked the complex schools of thought that each of the three represent, and defend as they investigate the murder.  Booth, as always, will never rule out faith.   Bones deals with evidence and logic.  And Sweets is almost somewhere in between, dealing with suppositions and informed intuitions, which is not faith but not quite hard evidence, either.    Booth admits that the evil in this case will test his faith in a good deity,  Bones admits that her faith in reason is sometimes shaken by inexplicable results.   But they both will recover their faiths, and will remain united as well by their good-natured ridicule of Sweets and his psychology.

Back at the lab, there's also some good exposition about the Islamic conception of angels and demons by Bones' assistant Arastoo.   When he says he sees the devil everyday, Cam thinks he's talking about her and/or the great American Satan, but it was pretty clear to me that he was talking about looking in the mirror, which was in fact the case.   It was a nicely instructive, entertaining little vignette about the emergence of misconceptions in our tense age.

Bones continues to deal with complex, even profound, philosophic and cultural issues, in the form of funny, police-procedural, endearing television.


5-min podcast review of Bones

See also Bones: Hilarity and Crime and Bones is Back For Season 5: What Is Love? and 5.2: Anonymous Donors and Pipes and 5.3: Bones in Amish Country and 5.4: Bones Meets Peyton Place and Desperate Housewives and Ancient Bones 5.5 and Bones 5.6: A Chicken in Every Viewer's Pot and Psychological Bones 5.7 and Bones 5.8: Booth's "Pops" and Bones 5.9 Meets Avatar and Videogamers ... Bad Santa, Heart-Warming Bones 5.10 ... Bones 5.11: Of UFOs, Bloggers, and Triangles ... Bones 5.12: A Famous Skeleton and Angela's Baby ... Love with Teeth on Bones 5.13

---

Special Discount Coupons for Angie's List, Avis, Budget Rent-a-Car, eBags, eHarmony, eMusic, Nutrisystem

---

The Plot to Save Socrates




"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

Infinite Regress at Pownce

Ok, this is probably not what you're think it is ... (but who knows what you're thinking)...

But ... people occasionally ask me what I mean by Infinite Regress. And I just came upon a great example.

There's a new social networking system called Pownce - I blogged a little about it on Light On Light Through last month. It's a sleeker version of Twitter, and allows you (unlike on Twitter) to directly send MP3s and videos to your friends and followers (in addition to links, as Twitter does).

Now, Pownce just put in a few new features - including listing your social networks, which appear on the left or right-hand side of your Profile page. The idea is that visitors can click on your MySpace, Facebook, etc links and be brought to your profile page on that system. A nice feature...

But ... Pownce also lists, as one of the social networks you can list on your Pownce profile page ... Pownce ...

And, if you click on that Pownce link, you're of course brought right back to where you already are: your Pownce profile page. Where you'll again see that link for Pownce, which you can click on again, and be brought back to-

Infinite Regress, in action...

White Tea and Infinite Regress

Hey, this is a post about television - not about what I'm watching on television, but what I'm drinking when I'm watching television. And, maybe more important, what I'm drinking when I'm writing about what I'm watching on television. Come to think of it, what I'm drinking right now - when I'm writing about what I'm drinking when I'm writing about what I'm watching on television.

Infinite regress....

Whatever I may be doing and watching, I usually drink it at the end of long, tiring days - actually, even long days that are not tiring. It has enough caffeine to keep me sharp, without keeping me awake, unless I want to be.

A long time ago, I used to drink coffee. But it had the strange effect of turning me into a real grouch the next day. Some people said this was a complete reversal for me.

I can't recall exactly when I switched to tea.

It's a touchy thing. It's not that hot in northern New Jersey, and I'd guess that's because of the water. It's almost always good in London, probably the same reason. In New York City, and close by, it's usually good. A lot depends upon the tea, too, and how you prepare it.

First, white tea is a kind of green tea, best prepared not by boiling but steaming water. Best of all is water that just starts to steam. But if you forget about this and the water starts to boil, wait until it cools down just a bit.

I have seen white tea in bags, but do yourself a favor and get some sort of tea maker. You can use a tea-ball and chain, and they sell contraptions for $15 or so which make excellent tea from loose leaves.

I sometimes put white tea leaves in a cup, add water, and let the tea brew in the cup. Most of the leaves settle to the bottom, and they're fun to suck on.

White tea comes from the tips of green tea leaves. Which means they are the most tender part of the leaf. Unlike black tea leaves, green and white leaves are not aged.

White tea is said to have powerful anti-oxidizing qualities. That's good, but I'd drink it anyway, because I like it what it tastes like, and how it makes me feel.

It comes in lots of varieties. I'd recommend Mutan - it's sweet and smooth. If you want a white tea with a little more tingle, try Silver Needle.

The age of the tea leaves - how long they have been stored - is extremely important. We're not talking wine here. The fresher the tea the better. I bought some white tea in an old Chinese shop in London a few years ago. I had the idea that maybe I was getting a taste from some secret, delicious, ancient stash.

The tea itself was very old, that was certain. It tasted like it came from the Manchu dynasty - which means, it tasted awful. Old tea tastes like some kind of wood shavings, which, although I've never tasted, can't taste too good.

White tea has become one of my favorite off-beat beverages. It also seems to be attracting a lot of public interest - I have more listens on my White Tea episode than any other piece on my Ask Lev podcast. If you'd like to hear it - it's about 3-minutes long - just scroll down on the right-hand column of this blog.

All right - you saw this coming. I've got some water on the boil that's starting to steam ...

I'd send a cup to you right through the Web, if I could, but java script can't process tea - not even java - just information, like this...


The tea merchants below are quite good. The tea maker on the right works like a charm - we use it instead of more traditional tea-strainers...