Answering A Question With A Question

I was gonna post on the coverage of the budget, which is the lead story in the majors. While they report the numbers, they rarely give the context which allows you to understand the numbers.

But I started getting drowsy, so instead let me note a letter to The NYT Magazine. They did a piece on philosopher Daniel Dennett (who, by the way, is not only an interesting thinker, but a fun guy). Dennett, like most philosophers out there today (but not most people), doesn't believe there's any magical component to life--that we are a collection of atoms or cells that, added up, constitute life.

The Times got your classical thinks-it's-clever response in a letter. The writer asks: "Can [Dennett] really explain the beauty of Bach's music as merely the right combination of sound waves tickling his eardrums?" I can only reply that there may be different levels at which the question can be approached, but if you think it can be explained in any way that doesn't ultimately break down into a combination of sound waves tickling the eardrums, I'd like to hear about it.

There was also a silly letter about abortion, but one controversy at a time is enough.