I use it fairly sporadically, but will say that it was better when Wallows and Terrapin Station were still here. Having contributed to its decline, I will say that it will just get better now, more or less necessarily. — thewonder

Maybe he will come back and tell us. — Valentinus

I was thinking about Terrapin Station the other day. I remember some good conversations. I looked him up to see if he was still around. He's banned.

My focus was on the over-abundance of religious and political discussions on this forum - both of which are rife with irrationality and emotional outbursts, not unlike what you see all over FB and Twitter. — Harry Hindu

:up:

What about us grateful cunts? — T Clark

What about us just cunts? :rofl:

Did you read the links I gave? I'm not completely sure about this but to be fair to irrationalism, rationalism hasn't much to show for its roughly 2 millennia old reign. In some circles, that would be considered a monumental failure, no? — TheMadFool

Again, I'm asking for specifics. It seems that irrationality has been the dominant form of thought for most of human existence. In what areas has rationality failed where irrationality has succeded? Rationality includes the idea that you might not be right, and that you can only be right after making all possible mistakes. Have we made all possible mistakes? If not, then how has rationality failed?

Just the tip of the iceberg of threads on philosophical "progress." — TheMadFool

What about scientific progress? Has the progress of ethics been based on irrationality (racism) or rationality (inclusiveness - and understanding that we are all human beings of equal worth)?

I guess some philosophers simply gave up on rationality in utter frustration and wanted to try something new à la alternative medicine which has a similar reason for its popularity which is failure of allopathic treatment regimes and that "something new" is irrationalism. — TheMadFool

Seems to me that these "philosophers" are just impatient and want to declare that they have the answers without having had to work at it.

They're what makes the place lovable. :kiss:

I love the place except for ungrateful cunts. — Benkei

I love the place except for the dicks with delusions of grandeur that believe that us cunts should be grateful to them.

:smirk:

:lol:

Try defending Irrationalism without using rationality — Harry Hindu

:up:

I confess I miss some of those who once posted with some frequency, e.g. Landru Guide Us and a young fellow who used the name schep or something like it, who used to comment on my anti-romanticism and other things. And of course Chomskybot.

Was it really more 'intelligent' handling over at PF?

I know he's still around; he passed through the main philosophy discord I frequent. He got banned there too.

sheps...

My perception is that the level of discourse on this site has declined. — hypericin

I think it has stayed the same with compared to the old Forum. And it hasn't died, that's for sure. (The old site had a strange death, you know. Odd story.)

The thing what I like is that when newbies ask the classical questions about math and logic, there are those who take the time to give good answers to them and try to educate people. And I really like the comments of people like @fishfry and @jorndoe and others in math & logic. One old member I think isn't around is Moeblee, who also commented in the math section of the old PF site. I've always been fascinated by the incompleteness results Gödel and Turing, and nice to see the topic has stayed popular. I think there's still something very important there for us to find out.

Of course then it's nice to discuss the current events with the gang. Usually what things are discussed, what especially create a heated debate, do actually tell something about how things in the World are going. Later some threads are nice to view in hindsight. A classic in these cases will be the coronavirus -thread, the long Donald Trump -thread, the brexit -thread and, one of my favorites, something you might not think to find in an Philosophy Forum, the cryptocurrency -thread. I'll definately buy bitcoin if that thread is not commented for six months. Active discussion on that thread means that bitcoin is topping (or at least, has been so).

What I don't get is the antinatalism threads...

What I don't get is the antinatalism threads... — ssu

Even if you believe in antinatalism, how can you expect to convince anyone not to have children? It seems like it's just a way to look down on breeders. It was better when that was just something that Lesbians said about straight people. There's no reason to make a dig from the 1990s into an actual political philosophy.

As I was saying, I don't get the antinatalism threads...

What I am saying, though, is that it was cooler when it was just a snide remark that you'd hear a character played by Janeane Garofalo say in a film about a set of people who spend all of their time in an offbeat coffee shop and are going through some sort of quarter-life crisis or another. Imagine what Philosophy would be like were we to seriously consider the implications that the video game, Space Channel 5, for the Sega Dreamcast had for Critical Theory. Some people just took the nostalgia for the 1990s too far.

Active discussion on that thread means that bitcoin is topping (or at least, has been so). — ssu

Fair bellwether. It topped (unless it makes a miraculous recovery) just about at the most recent post there a month ago.

Thanks.

It topped (unless it makes a miraculous recovery) just about at the most recent post there a month ago. — Baden

But notice the longer term discussion activity compared to Bitcoin price movement.

The thread was active three years ago in December 2017 - January 2018, where we got basically the first 9 pages. Then, uh, I waked the thread up a year later...which just brought few comments and didn't spark much interest. But then the thread started in earnest on page 9 again for the last three pages from six months ago until a month ago. Now compare how this "active interest time" of this thread compares to when bitcoin has had a vertical rise, then a sharp fall yet coming down to a lower level that luckily is higher than the "bubble started".

OK, I admit the statistics aren't there yet, but I'll say that the thread is a genuine "canary in the coal mine" -indicator as it didn't "sound the alarm" in the summer of 2019 when prices were going up. Now if the thread stays silent, will Bitcoin consolidate on a lower level (yet higher than before the last uptick)? :razz:

Thank you.

As my former manager said when I was embedded in the risk department : not enough data points! Go back and do your homework!

Spoof a ledger transaction and make money!!!

Or just wait until the ledger system gets so obfuscated by spoof transactions that it halts the whole system and forces it to centralize.

I don’t consider myself a longtime member. I was at the old site for maybe a year or so. I left shortly after the server incident that erased a couple months worth of threads/comments. But my departure was due to lack of internet access at the time.

Anyway, what I really miss from that site was the debate section. It was full of seemingly knowledgeable participants on several different topics. And the structure kept all the BS comments at bay. I learned a lot from those debates. I think people now are more easily triggered, and less polite, which is something I value. However, I think the most valuable posters are probably ones that were at the old site as well. And I’m sure in all that time their knowledge/understanding has increased. So they’re probably making even better posts now than they were.

I think people now are more easily triggered, and less polite, which is something I value. — Pinprick

That surprises me; I would have thought you would value people being less easily triggered and more polite...

I'd also like to see the debating option used more.

That surprises me; I would have thought you would value people being less easily triggered and more polite... — Banno

Lol, that’s what I meant.

No surprise you’d be the one to catch it, with your acute obsession attention to language. :joke:

I blame Covid and the lockdowns. It's sucked the energy out of me. — Michael

I certainly feel like Trump's election fucked up the vibe a bit too - or maybe even more than a bit - a few years ago. Speaking generally, posters and mods became more annoyed, less charitable, less willing to discuss contentious issues from a spirit of lively disagreement. Of course this idealized pre-Trump state of affairs is probably a fiction of my imagination, but I don't think it's crazy to assume there's some truth to it. In fact, to some extent I think we're still living in the highly polarized context that emerged with his clownish presidency.

But lately I've missed this place and the people who contribute here, some of whose posts I've been reading for around 20 years now dating back to the old PF (damn!). Some very intelligent, very high quality people frequent these boards and I wish I had the time and the energy to be more involved in the discussions.

Anyway, I just returned so I can't form a solid opinion on whether the forum's gotten better or worse just yet (from my biased perspective, of course), but so far it looks pretty good.

No surprise you’d be the one to catch it, with your acute obsession attention to language. — Pinprick

...and my acute obsession with triggering and being impolite...

...and my acute obsession with triggering and being impolite... — Banno

I'm pretty sure it was only this...

Also, I don't seem to find any info on where this forum is located or who exactly owns or controls it. — Apollodorus

I heard it receives some of its funding from the New Internationalist.

It's all a work-in-progress these days, just dialectics and rants. — 180 Proof

I appreciate your honesty. Times have been hard, I can subscribe to that. I know that you have been moving as well. I hope it all worked out for the best.

About the subject. I've been here for 3 months now. I find it easier to talk about science than religion. I noticed I get easily upset when talking about absolute truths. I spend a great deal of time reflecting on myself, this website being the mirror. It's good.

I wonder if rather than looking back with almost a sense of nostalgia to previous times on the forum, it is worth thinking how we can all work to make the forum a better place for exchange of ideas — Jack Cummins

From my 20+ years of internet experience I can say this site is high quality. I haven't experienced any technical or ethical issues thus far. Forums are made for discussion and I think we're doing pretty good.

Maybe we can do a ZOOM group debate with the next guest speaker. It has to be someone skilled, not only in writing but in spoken dialectics as well. Could a moderator respond whether that's possible and desirable? Thanks

I heard it receives some of its funding from the New Internationalist. — bert1

My understanding is it is supported by the Rockefeller Foundation under a subsidiary of the Fabianism and post-modern Marxist funny handshake collective.