For me there is only the traveling on paths that have heart. There I travel, and the only worthwhile challenge is to traverse its full length. There I travel, looking, looking breathlessly.
— Carlos Castenada
Welcome to Centroid Café!
Here is a gathering place for people who want to travel only on paths that have heart.
This café promotes critical thinking, unfettered inquiry, creativity, innovation, and humor.
Click the links below to open the various café areas.
Thank you for visiting!
With make-believe everywhere, it doesn't matter who you really are.
An insecure, reclusive Earth scientist is almost killed by a Martian assassin with a focal razor. For his survival, and to uncover the problem with the "deviant diggers" on Mars, he must become a brash and promiscuous Martian mining tycoon.
At the beginning of the 22nd century, in a world of chatty machines, pervasive surveillance, immersive virtual/augmented reality, and standardized brain conditioning, many things are not as they appear.
LogicRef is an online tool for fast reference to basic concepts and skills for critical thinking for Earth humans in the 21st century. This free tool is a compact summary of basic logic. It is readable on desktop displays, laptops, tablets, and mobile phones. This guide is designed for very quick reference, but it can also be useful for introductory learning and comprehensive reviews.
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Centroid Online Learning Modules are online, interactive, self-paced instructional units.
This module will introduce you to the classic Design Argument as formulated by William Paley. You will learn that this argument for “intelligent design” has a long history in the Western wisdom tradition. David Hume’s criticisms of this argument are also covered, and the student learns that Hume’s critique falls short of directly addressing the nature of this argument.
Find out why learning is a lot like hiking.
Centroid Online Learning Modules are online, interactive, self-paced instructional units.
This module builds on the ideas introduced in the Hike on the Beach module. Taken together, these two self-study modules address the main points in the evolution – intelligent design discussion. Although we conclude that both viewpoints do not have equal status as scientific theories, we also identify basic ethical questions, and note alternative ways of understanding the relationship between science and religion.
Find out why learning is a lot like hiking.
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Perversity of Virtual Violence According to Albert Borgmann -Joseph K. Corrado |
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Abstract Many video games today enable users to engage in various forms of virtual violence—often displayed in extreme detail under the users’ interactive control. The broad availability of these systems provokes concern about how best to promote the measured development of reason and to protect the ethical innocence of our children and other vulnerable people, without jeopardizing freedom of speech. Albert Borgmann offers a sturdy conceptual framework for understanding the virtual ambiguity and fog of these entertainment devices and for reframing our discourse. Borgmann reveals the perversion of our ambivalence about the ethical squalor and brilliant excitement of virtual violence. |
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Responsibility and Imagination in the 21st Ceentury -Joseph K. Corrado |
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Christian-Muslim Dialogue: Interreligious Prospects at the Beginning of the 21st Century -Joseph K. Corrado |
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Abstract At the beginning of the 21st century, of the world’s five great, nduring religions, the two youngest are also the two most dogmatic—the two least likely to be able to conduct a dialogue with genuine and mutual respect. Today, Christianity and Islam are the clearest examples of creedalism—and thereby, the two religious groups least likely to seek or be able to sustain effective discourse that goes beyond mere tolerance. But the press of historical and current geopolitical events provokes especially Christians and Muslims to develop more effective dialogue. |
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Guy's Box -Joseph K. Corrado |
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Abstract —a science fiction short story When the mon announced wakeup, Guy bounded from bed and remembered first that it was the first day of his first real job. In a blur of excitement, he showered, shaved, dressed while eating a Mama’s Real Breakfast Bun, and folded up his bed. Slowly, with excitement laced with anxiety, Guy walked over to the corner where his box was installed. His hand groping like a suspicious tentacle, he swung out his coaster chair, settled into the chair's warm hug, and put on the glowing halo. |
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Meeting Doctor Watson -Joseph K. Corrado |
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Abstract —a science fiction short story I'm like this techno-hermit living in a forest cabin far from the madding crowd. Every day I really get off on the quiet and privacy of my secluded living and every day I connect to the cyber sphere for stuff like news, account updates, email, information searches, and socialmedia strolling in Face2U, and stuff like that. So, anyway, my computer and my chainsaw are my main power tools. |
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Singing in Summers of Distress -Joseph K. Corrado |
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Abstract —a science fiction short story I awoke to Edward Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance—just as I had instructed my jiggy comm to always play for wake-up music on weekends. It made me feel like I was getting to the finish line with a smooth victory march. I sprang from my bed and paced with the music toward my wall comm, imagining that it would deliver a diploma that would qualify me for a jiggy getaway. |
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Songs for Ascending -Joseph K. Corrado |
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Abstract —a small collection of poetry The songs in this humble book are dedicated to the people who first taught me how to sing. |
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This online journal showcases creative writers, artists, activists, and deep thinkers around the world. Buoyed by the thriving literary community of Portland, Oregon, the Metrozine reaches out to a global community to inspire, encourage, and broadcast creative expression. Our focus: positive and constructive action, cooperation and conservation, respect for diversity, and hope for a future of flourishing for all.
Click on a masthead below.
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Joe's Paradox Notebook This small notebook will introduce you to the wonders of paradoxes, contradictions, and visual spoofs. It's an easy read...sort of. |
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Chrome Contact A young, alert student and a zany professor team up to decipher the first messages from the Chromes. Integrated learning for young adults. |
An online media syndicate for tracking pivotal issues beyond their typically short headline cycles, monitoring global media issues and current developments, and linking affiliates in a common bond of concern and support. This network affirms the values of the Centroid Café: critical thinking, unfettered inquiry, creativity, innovation, and humor.