• The emergence of Intelligence and life in the world
    It would entail providing the right conditions and chemistry for life to happen at earliest stage and then let evolution do the rest.kindred

    So, what is the nature and origin of some sort of divine who pushed to get things started i.e. where does the divine itself come from, and how did he find out the right conditions and chemistry for life? What was the divine's intention / motive for providing the right conditions and chemistry for life to happen?

    If evolution is true, then why humans have not evolved since Socrates and Buddha were alive?
  • The emergence of Intelligence and life in the world
    I just find it improbable that life could emerge on its own without some sort of divine push to get things started…what is your take on this ?kindred

    You need to define what divine push is, and list the range of actions he/she can/does perform.
  • AI sentience
    ADDED: One day, AI, due to its original programming, and it's [free] development/evolution over time, will come to "believe" in its own "sentience," and most of us, although like anything else, debated, will come to "believe" it too. We are conditioned to.ENOAH

    Belief in something means that the believer will respond in the way that the belief is leading the believer to act, make statements or decide ... etc. What responses can you list from the belief you are referring to?
  • AI sentience
    What really is 1+1=2?ENOAH

    What is number system, counting and math?  They are just conceptual language to describe objects, movements, changes and events in the external world.  They don't exist as physical objects.  They are the conceptual tools for human intelligence.   

    If there were no objects in the universe, then there would be no numbers, counting system or math, hence the reason why no other animals, but only humans have math and numbering system in their mental world. All other animals can live without numbers and math quite comfortably and with no problems, but humans need them for their more complex life style.

    1+1=2 can describe many real objects in the world such as you picked up 1 apple from the tree, and 1 apple from the shop.  How many apples do you have?  You will say you have 2 apples, because you can count, add, and you know the numbers. Likewise, I bought 1x book from Amazon, and 1x book from eBay. How many books did I buy? 2x books. and so on so forth so fifth .... to infinity.

    That is what numbers, counting and adding, subtracting multiplying and dividing are about.
    So if you talk about infinity, it is just a description of any thing - objects, time or space that keeps expanding or adding or rotating forever without stopping.  That is all there is to it.  You don't need the irrelevant math formulas to prove it.  You just know what infinity is by understanding the concept.

    You write a computer program which asks the computer keep adding a number forever by

    x=0, y=0
    Do While x < y;
    x= y+1x:=y
    End


    The program will fail with overflow error, and halt.  Because it knows that it is invalid instruction for the real world application.

    Computer program also knows that when IF statements were input, they would check for the validity and truth value for the premises (IF statements), and when invalid or false, they would refuse to process further instructions.   Some dim humans cannot do that, insisting that you cannot deny premises in logic.   This sad fact is perhaps due to their blind worshiping on what they read on some shady internet sites rather than thinking clearly on the points with their own mind.

    In that respect, the computer program is smarter than some human intelligence.
    However, I don't believe AI or computer programs are sentient.  As I said before, they lack feelings and emotions, which are the basic perceptual abilities for all biological existence.
  • AI sentience
    I don't say AI is really sentient in nature, or befoe "God", nor that "I' am really sentient. But in the "reality" where mind and human history call the shots, where I am sentient, AI sentience will be real.ENOAH

    AI can do many intelligent stuff, answering your questions on the technical problems etc. However, they lack emotional side of sentience. Machines cannot feel or show emotions due to lack of biological bodily structure, and also lived experience like humans.

    AI and robots will never be able to feel elated, joyous, angry or jealous or depressed like humans do.
    We don't hear about any AI killed himself due to depression, or got into fight with his boss out of frustration being treated unfairly.

    If some folks believe AI is fully sentient, then wouldn't it be out of some illusion? Not saying you believe it, because you said you don't.
  • AI sentience
    I do not mean believing makes things Real. Only being real is real; not knowing/believing. What I mean is believing brings a thing into our unique "reality" the narrative of mind/history.ENOAH

    Reasonable beliefs require reasonable reasons / grounds for believing. Without them, it becomes false and blind beliefs which lead to confusion and illusion. Could you reiterate your reasons / grounds for the belief?
  • Intelligibility Unlikely Through Naturalism
    I’d like to better understand the argument that intelligibility cannot arise through purely naturalistic processes. Some naturalists will react to this idea, and I fear the discussion may end up in the somewhat tedious “how is consciousness related to a physical world?” type of threads.Tom Storm

    Intelligibility is not just knowing things, but also understanding and solving the problems in practicality of life. There is limit of human knowledge on the world and even human mind, and knowing the boundary of intelligibility is also an intelligibility.

    We must admit that not only there is clear boundary of our knowledge, but also there exists large part of the unknown universe. The limitation is due to lack of data on the type of abstract existence such as space and time, the origin of the universe, and God rather than human intelligence itself or naturalism.
  • Time Dilation and Subjectivity
    Positing that they would not be in sync is preposterous (try it). So given correlation, yes, you have indirect access to the tune in somebody's mind.noAxioms

    The only way you could demonstrate your access (be it direct or indirect) to a person's song playing in his/her mind would be, if you could tell what song the person is playing without him/her telling you anything about the song, and if you could sing along the song in the person's mind as it plays along.
  • Time Dilation and Subjectivity
    It really doesn't matter. All neural activity is subject to physical time treatment of relativity.noAxioms
    What do you mean by this? Could you elaborate with philosophical language?

    Not directly, sure, but you still have indirect access. Supposedly a person could be doing the Macarena dance to the music playing only in their mind. Positing that they would not be in sync is preposterous (try it). So given correlation, yes, you have indirect access to the tune in somebody's mind.noAxioms
    The only way you can have access to person's music playing in their mind is let them sing out the tune, or play the instrument the tune in their mind in front of you. Your claim that indirect access to the tune in somebody's mind is possible sounds like some black magic or telepathy stuff.
  • Time Dilation and Subjectivity
    isn't the firing of neurons, which constitutes the playing of the song in the mind, something physical as well? It doesn't happen at the speed of light, because it occurs through a physical medium. So wouldn't time dilation slow down that activity?Metaphysician Undercover
    The problem is we don't know if the firing of neurons are the playing of the songs in the mind. If they are, still we don't know which neurons and what type of firing are related to the song playing, in what manner and ways.

    and you observe the corresponding neural activity. Then, whenever you see an exact replication of that physical activity you know the person plays that song.Metaphysician Undercover
    Again, there is no concrete evidence or working details proving the observed neural activity is the person's playing the song. Isn't it your imagination which links the neural activity to the song in your friend's mind? It is possible to imagine it of course, but it is not demonstrable or provable with intelligible evidence, is it?
  • Time Dilation and Subjectivity
    Why not? it's like when you play a 45 at 33 1/3.Metaphysician Undercover

    Replayed songs are physical - the speed of the motor regulates it. Unless you change the speed of the record player or digital sampling speed (in case the music is replayed digitally), the song doesn't appear stretched in time.

    You can hear the song stretched in time in your mind, if your imagination can do it. But you cannot access the other folks mind, hence you wouldn't know what song is being played in his/her mind.
  • Time Dilation and Subjectivity
    Suppose I could somehow observe their inner mental activity directly. Imagine they’re playing a song in their headRogueAI
    Not possible thing to do. The premise is false. Not accepted.

    From my frame, would that mental “song” appear stretched out in time?RogueAI
    No.
  • Time Dilation and Subjectivity
    I’m trying to understand how (or whether) relativity meaningfully applies to subjective mental events like imagined music, not just external physical actions.RogueAI

    Time dilation is possible within mental level. You can even travel to the past in your mental world using your own memory and imagination. But it is impossible to do so in external physical world.
  • Unfalsifiability, valuation and "warranting belief"
    The "up to now" is in contrast with the statement you're making. So it doesn't save it from being logically fallacious.Hallucinogen

    The statement All swans are white is based on the past observations, hence it doesn't say anything about now or future observations. If it does, then it would have been a prediction, not a scientific statement.
  • Unfalsifiability, valuation and "warranting belief"
    The critical words you seem to miss here is "up to now".
    Don't forget the statement was made based on the past event, not now or future.
  • Unfalsifiability, valuation and "warranting belief"
    I'm starting to get the impression that you're joking.Hallucinogen

    No joking. Common sense.
  • Unfalsifiability, valuation and "warranting belief"
    Any scientific statement, for example: "All swans are white".Hallucinogen

    Just means that all swans seen up to now are white. If you spotted a black swan tomorrow, that doesn't negate the statement all swans are white. The black swan should be treated as a rare case, which needs further investigation on its nature.
  • Unfalsifiability, valuation and "warranting belief"
    A statement is falsifiable if we can specify a condition under which empirical observation can contradict it.Hallucinogen

    Could you give some example cases? Because it seems depends on what the statements were.
  • Direct realism about perception
    I'm afraid we'll have to agree to disagree, then. I agree that it's a bit on the fringe of this topic.Ludwig V

    OK, That's cool mate, as long as you are not a blind internet info worshiper, or a clueless apostle of guys with the white gown (doctors & medical folks) or someone who calls everyone stupid just because his own life is going bad. I have no time for folks like these, sorry.

    If you thought the point with your own reasoning, and came up with your own logical conclusion to disagree with the others points never relying on ad hominem, then you are good to go. :)
  • Unfalsifiability, valuation and "warranting belief"
    "If it’s unfalsifiable you don’t know if it is true or false."Hallucinogen

    But how do you know if it is unfalsifiable first place?
  • Unfalsifiability, valuation and "warranting belief"
    But this is flawed because of tautology,Hallucinogen

    Isn't tautology always true in logic? Tautology is not flawed.
  • Direct realism about perception
    Statements do not always have clear meanings and sometime people deliberately mislead us and sometimes we just get it wrong. But not always. The fact that it is possible to get it wrong does not mean that we never get it right, nor does it mean that we cannot correct our mistakes.Ludwig V
    Statements have explicit meanings, and in most cases it carries truth or falsity value too. Actions don't have these characters I am afraid. All you can do about actions are inferring and imagining what it could have meant. Plus, folks from different cultures and age groups and different backgrounds tend to have different behaviors on the situations. You cannot bring behaviors into analytical discussions because it just won't work.

    You are a victim of philosophical scepticism.Ludwig V
    No one is a victim of anything. We are just discussing on these topics speculating and reasoning.
  • Direct realism about perception
    and they don't always show their minds via what they say. Feeling the water and reporting feedback is one thing. Putting on (or taking off) clothes is another. Shivering, sweating. All sorts of clues.Ludwig V
    Whether they say their minds or not, a statement has clear meanings. Behaviors can have many different interpretations. And even if you interpreted with mos likely reasonable way, they could say, I didn't mean that at all, or how could you possibly imagined that?

    What we say is also behaviour. I don't understand why you regard non-verbal behaviour as outside the scope of philosophy.Ludwig V
    Too broad claim to be meaningful I am afraid. I am not denying philosophy of action. But just saying it doesn't seem to go well with this thread. :)
  • Direct realism about perception
    Actions, as they say, speak louder than words.Ludwig V

    If you were in the bathroom where John and Jane were feeling the temperature of the water in the tub, yes their behavior could be part of the interpretation. But how likely is that? :)

    Plus, folks don't always show their minds via behavior or actions. They tend to use words. And of course, philosophy deals with words, semantics and logic mostly. Behavior and actions would be more of psychological topic.
  • Direct realism about perception
    Well, there is behaviour as well.Ludwig V

    Behavior is random and would be too subjective for interpretation. But when Jane says cold, and John says hot, Jane can infer that John's bodily sensation for temperature is different from Jane's, and vice versa. That is all there is to it.
  • Direct realism about perception
    For if we accept that Michael's verbal behaviour is the causal expression of Michael's stimulus-response conditioning, then Michael cannot be literally intepreted as having a false belief in relation to a universal truth. All that we can allege when alleging epistemic errors, is that a person's verbal behaviour was in violation of our lovely communication protocol.sime

    A statement like "I feel hot." is about one's own bodily state and the content of sensation. It has nothing to do with the world outside one's own body and mind. There is no truth or falsity value in that type of statement.

    If one heard that statement, one can only conclude his/her body is feeling hot. That is all there is to it.
  • Direct realism about perception
    I'm willing to be incorrect, but my understanding of indirect realism is not that visual (or auditory e.t.c.) experience is an illusion per se, but more that it is not the exact same as the object that is experienced. If I perceive a cat on my windowsill then that is a mental event that is completely separate from (although far from necessarily an inaccurate representation of) something real.Nichiren-123

    If the cat came to you, and you patted him, then he is real. But if you saw the cat, and it either vanished into nowhere, or became a dragon, then it could be your mental event for illusion. There are different cases of seeing and hearing depending on the circumstances of perception and sensation.
  • AI sentience
    AI sentience depends upon what we believe to be true.ENOAH

    Not so sure if it would be a correct meaning of AI sentience. Some might, but many don't.
  • AI sentience

    Could you prove AI is sentient? Some people say AI sentience is just programmed reflex.
  • The case against suicide
    Incorrect, death is biological as it's the cessation of biological phenomenon. Maybe you're just stupid.Darkneos

    We were talking about the body which is dead. Calling the dead body biological is real stupid. Anyway you don't even know what the point of talking was, so what does it tell you?
  • The case against suicide
    Biological means living and life. Adding it to body, and describing a dead body as biological body is incorrect, confused and unintelligible.
  • Direct realism about perception
    Philosophy is also about the brain and how it relates to the mind.RussellA

    which is all in the realm of inference. There is no conclusive objective details of proof or demonstration how physical brain relates to the mind yet.
  • Direct realism about perception
    I don’t think that neurologists or brain scientists can currently observe thoughts in the mind.

    At the moment it is up to philosophy.
    RussellA

    Philosophy is largely about semantics and logic. It doesn't deal with the cells, neurons and brain chemistry how it works with the entered images into it, does it? These are the subject for Neurology and brain science.
  • Direct realism about perception
    When the IR says “I see the ship indirectly” the word “indirectly” is not referring to the space between the person and the ship but rather is referring to what is happening in the mind of the IR.RussellA

    Once the image you saw enters into your mind, shouldn't you then consult neurology or brain science in order to find out what is happening with the perceived image in your mind, rather than calling it Indirect Realism?
  • Direct realism about perception
    Yes, I had never heard of Direct and Indirect Realism ten years ago.RussellA

    Saying, you see a ship directly or indirectly sounds like, if there are any obstacles in the middle of the path of the seeing, rather than seeing the ship itself. It just sounds like it is a statement something unnecessarily confusing.

    You would only say that when asked - how do you see the ship? Was there anything between you and the ship, not blocking the view?
  • Direct realism about perception
    Yes, Direct and Indirect Realism are just names which need further explanation.RussellA

    Isn't it the case that anyone can see a ship directly or indirectly depending on the circumstances or the way they see a ship? A folk see a ship with his bare eyes, then he is seeing it directly. If he picks up a binoculars, and sees it, then he is seeing it indirectly?

    Surely there are no such folks as DRists or IDists from their births, who must see a ship always either directly or indirectly no matter what situation under they see a ship?
  • Direct realism about perception
    Words need to be added because the Direct Realist, Indirect Realist and person in the street understand the world in different ways.RussellA

    Yes, they can add these words in their sentences, but it seems making the meaning of the sentence more confusing. It is ambiguous on telling why they are seeing a ship directly or indirectly. The sentence begs for more explanations on why these folks are seeing a ship in those ways.

    If you say, well because they are DRists and IRists, then it doesn't make any sense, and tells nothing meaningful, because it is not explaining why they see and understand the ship they are seeing in that way.
  • Direct realism about perception
    That is why posts on the Forum get confused when people mix up ordinary language and philosophical language.RussellA
    It sounds really confusing when you say that you see a ship directly or indirectly, when you can say you see a ship. Why add those words, and make the statements unclear and muddled?

    The expression “I am a Direct Realist” would mean something different to the person in the street and a philosophy person.RussellA
    It is not what you call yourself, which makes you a philosopher. It is how you think, see, understand and explain on the world and mind, which makes you one. Wouldn't you agree?
  • Direct realism about perception
    However, in philosophical language, when looking at a ship in front of them, the Direct Realist could say “I am directly looking at the ship” and the Indirect Realist could say “I am indirectly looking at the ship”. When looking through a telescope, the Direct Realist could say “I am indirectly looking at the ship” and the Indirect Realist could say “I am directly looking at an image of the ship”RussellA
    Doesn't it sound odd to add "directly" and "indirectly" on these statements, when they perfectly make sense without these words?

    There is ordinary language and philosophical language.RussellA
    Really? How do you tell the difference between the two?
  • The case against suicide
    Well judging by your replies and exchanges so far there would be no point in doing so, which ironically proves my point.Darkneos

    If you cannot demonstrate, explain and prove your own statements on others in logical and understandable manner, when asked, then your statements wouldn't be accepted as significant philosophical remarks or comments, but will be regarded as just your emotional blurt out on others.

    To be perfectly honest, no one in the forum would like to read statements in that nature, when they are trying to discuss serious philosophical topics. It is just waste of your time and others' time.