Comments

  • Confidence is Risky
    Confidence shouldn't existTheMadFool

    Sounds like analysis paralysis:

    Analysis paralysis (or paralysis by analysis) describes an individual or group process when overanalyzing or overthinking a situation can cause forward motion or decision-making to become "paralyzed", meaning that no solution or course of action is decided upon.Wikipedia on analysis paralysis

    What could be the basis of confidence anyway?TheMadFool

    The fact that you have to survive anyway and that you could as well excel at doing so.

    skepticism is the essence of philosophy and life itself in generalTheMadFool

    We have to believe something.

    If nothing is assumed, then nothing can be concluded.

    Hence, it is our basic beliefs that drive our rational thinking. From these basic beliefs, we can derive an entire system of conclusions. Therefore, it is faith in basic beliefs that propels life forward.

    Faith is actually very powerful. We achieve things, first and foremost, because we believe that we can.

    Skepticism obviously has its place.

    However, skepticism about basic beliefs is just a silly and worthless exercise in infinite regress. It is obvious that from within a system, we cannot justify the basic beliefs from which the system itself is constructed.

    Quite a bit of philosophy is indeed like that and revolves around questioning basic beliefs. That kind of philosophy achieves absolutely nothing. It is based on a complete misunderstanding of what rationality -- derivation of conclusions that ultimately rest on basic beliefs -- is supposed to be. It is ultimately the failure to rationally understand why the existence of basic beliefs is inevitable.
  • Sexual ethics
    Not unless I move to a Muslim countryIvoryBlackBishop

    There are no "Muslim countries". There are only Muslim neighbourhoods and then the overall Ummah, i.e. the global Muslim congregation. Even the Ottoman empire was not a so-called "Muslim country". There were three congregations organized in the Ottoman empire: Muslim, Christian, and Jewish. There may be Muslim-majority countries, but I do not necessarily find them more pleasant, because none of them really exudes the old Ottoman atmosphere of "One Thousand and One Nights".

    now go ask your wife's boyfriend.IvoryBlackBishop

    You really want 80 lashes, don't you? ;-)

    If you plead that you are only a slave, and they believe you, then the lashing will be reduced to just 40. ;-)

    I would love to watch that: 80 vigorously administered lashes. Remember Michael Fay? He got four strokes of the cane in Singapore. If you keep saying that kind of things to random people then one day or the other you will be able to say hello on my behalf to the vigilante who will lash your butt to smithereens! ;-)

    (By the way, is that the reason why half your butt is already gone?)
  • What should religion do for us today?
    As for Luther, his epistemic approach was badly flawed; IMHO.Agathob

    Well, I find the subject controversial. Luther's trial has ripped western Christianity apart. I still don't know what to think about it.

    In defence of the Holy Apostolic Church, we can say that our beloved Augustinian friar was still a member of its personnel and was therefore supposed "to toe the party line". On the other hand, someone had to say something about the regrettable practices by the archbishopric of Mainz.

    On 25 May 1521, on the final day of the Diet of Worms, in Germany, Martin Luther was declared an outlaw, his literature banned, and his arrest required. In my opinion, it is not possible to understand western Christianity without looking in depth at what happened there. It is truly its pivotal moment.
  • What should religion do for us today?
    And if - as you believe - the other religions are unable to formalize their religious texts, this would prove how superior Islam is to other religions. Yes/no?EricH

    Not necessarily.

    Judaism has religious advisories too, but I am not really much familiar with them. I suspect that the Rabbinic approach would be formalizable, but it would have to be analyzed.

    In Christianity, there is the Martin Luther trial in which the Holy Apostolic Church resolutely rejected Luther's epistemic approach, i.e. "through scripture and reason". From the arguments used in his trial, I think that it is obvious that Luther would have agreed with a formal system. Still, that does not mean that all Christians would be happy with such formal system. In fact, formalizing Christian religious law is actually rather controversial. It may rake up the old conflict again.
  • Is society itself an ideology?
    What I have read of the Great Depression totally disagrees withAthena

    Yes, because in that particular downturn the government still managed to keep afloat. In fact, the government will keep afloat as long as the currency does not collapse. When it does, however, that will lead to Venezuela/Zimbabwe situations.

    When the currency will be gone, in all practical terms, the government will be gone too.

    I want to be careful to not derail this thread but economic collapses tend to destroy men's self-esteem and they abandoned their families, leaving the women alone to provide for their children and care for them too. It is nothing like your notion of the effect of economic collapse.Athena

    Where are the few remaining families that could still fall apart? This time, we will mostly be looking at single men and single women fending each for themselves.

    So if a woman wants freedom, she doesn't have children.Athena

    That is the current situation already.

    It is the fake freedom afforded by corporate wage slavery.

    That will only keep flying as long as the corporations do. The corporations will be gone in Venezuela/Zimbabwe type of situations. In fact, they may already be mostly closing, just in a corona-virus situation.

    Not all men will figure out how to survive economically, and still make it, but most of the ones who do make it, will be men. These men will probably want to take care of people who depend on them today already but it will not be a good time for them to take on new burdens. Therefore, unattached people will have to fend for themselves, and make it through the storm alone.

    We can also expect that the security situation will deteriorate drastically. I expect to see riots and looting. Things have been too good for too long. Some people have become way too arrogant, and it is time to pay the bills now.
  • Is society itself an ideology?
    That was before women's liberation and different forms of birth control. Life may choose life, but we should not take it for granted that woman choose to give birth.Athena

    That was before women's re-enslavement by the corporate oligarchy.

    In fact, by becoming wage slaves, women have become very dependent on corporations, from whom, unlike from their husbands, they will certainly not get a divorce settlement when they inevitably part ways. Corporate wage slavery is a Faustian pact, both for men and for women, but even more so for women. It is a very fake kind of freedom.

    With the 401k-style accounts melting away on the stock exchange right now, in spite of the Fed's most recent intervention, the corporation-controlled retirement savings will soon be largely gone too.

    For anybody who mistakenly believes that receiving a corporate wage is a sustainable way of life, the hour of truth is nigh. The next economic downturn is just around the corner and it will be a dire moment of truth. It even looks like the Corona virus may precipitate the inevitable.

    A man will always look for ways to solve the problem without any hand holding. For quite a few men, it will not matter that the existing social script no longer works. So, we will recover as we always have in the past.

    In fact, men even like it when the shit hits the fan, because that allows us to creatively find solutions, rise to the occasion, and show our mettle. Hard times tend to be good for men. Still, we are certainly not going to help anybody who has always insisted that they do not need us. These people will have to help themselves.

    Now that the storm finally seems to be coming to shore, let's rejoice!
  • Confidence is Risky
    If you act confident and get good feedback, you become more confident; on the flip side, if you act confident and get bad feedback, you become less confident.Wheatley

    That is the hardest part of being an entrepreneur or anybody else pursuing his own thing.

    It is preferable to take feedback only from people with skin in the game. For example, if none of your prospective customers wants to buy your new product, then their feedback is relevant. From anybody else, their feedback is actually irrelevant.

    So, you have to carefully consider that most feedback is actually worthless.

    Furthermore, we had better be aware of the fact that we will generally receive lots of unsolicited feedback from bystanders who are merely sitting on the fence. Their ideas are usually not even really theirs. They are often merely repeating mainstream propaganda.
  • Atheism and anger: does majority rule?
    It's your word against mine. We both have reasons to support our opinionsgod must be atheist

    Of course. Human behaviour is generally not even testable ...

    You did not convince me.god must be atheist

    You believe what you want!

    you are an Islaimic fundamentalist and I stop arguing with you at this point out of fear. Fear for my physical well-being, for my life.god must be atheist

    ha aha aah ha ha! ;-)

    I have no interest in running for my life from the likes of you.god must be atheist

    Then don't ! ;-)

    You settle philosophical matters by killing your opponents.god must be atheist

    Me? ;-)

    You are one person who belongs to the sect that kills the French editorial staff, who hunts down the guy who wrote that book and is in secretive exile.god must be atheist

    I have not looked up the details of these cases.

    So far I am still alive because I battle only Christians on their beliefs. I shalt never battle Muslims.god must be atheist

    Strange, because I do not battle Christians on their beliefs. Muslims consider Christianity to be another branch that emerged out of the Mosaic congregation, just like the Rabbinic and Islamic ones did. A good part of the Sunnah (=transmitted traditions) are therefore a shared heritage.

    In the case of the complaint about O'Reilly's complaint, I actually agree with his opponents. Christians are not supposed to impose their views on non-Christians by asking their non-Christian children to sing Christmas carols. Still, I also believe that children of Christian families are meant to be singing them.

    On the other hand, there is enough in common between Muslims and the other Abrahamic branches for numerous Muslim families to find (private) Jewish and Catholic schools suitable for their children to enrol in, apparently, even with a preference for Jewish schools. It works like a charm for private schools. The problem of insensitivity mostly occurs in the public-school indoctrination camps.

    For fear of being hurt or killed for it.god must be atheist

    Your fears are predictable, actually.

    The believers fear God. The non-believers do not fear God, but fear instead the ones who do fear God, because that is the natural order of things. It is a hierarchy that naturally emerges from the laws of nature. Hence, what you are telling me now certainly does not come as a surprise.
  • Atheism and anger: does majority rule?
    Maybe that's why the religious are angry.god must be atheist

    Religious people are not angry at atheists. Religion is a matter of self-discipline only. There is no requirement for you to have any self-discipline at all:

    Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from Error: whoever rejects evil and believes in Allah hath grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold, that never breaks. And Allah heareth and knoweth all things. — Quran 2:256

    In principle, nobody cares if you believe in God or not. It just means that you could be incompatible with religious people for particular contract types. For example, religion has a framework for marriage and divorce. If you do not subscribe to these terms and conditions, you cannot marry someone who does.

    That is a generalized principle, actually.

    If you do not subscribe to the terms and conditions of your gym club, you cannot become or remain a member of it.

    Just like we need a regulatory framework for using gym clubs, we also need one for marriage and divorce. Since atheism does not propose any framework for that contract -- or for any contract for that matter -- it is doubtful that marriage can even work at all for atheists.

    They are envious of the freedom and liberty the atheists enjoy without the confines and the yoke of prescribed restrictions by religions. I don't blame the religious for being envious of the atheists.god must be atheist

    Religious people are not envious of atheists. The lack of personal self-discipline and of a regulatory framework for an entire set of standard agreements, is not something to be envious about. It would be like saying that people who watch their carb intake and regularly exercise would be envious of obese individuals who suffer from type-2 diabetes.
  • Mathematics is 75% Invented, 25% Discovered
    A lot of us get up and work from 9-5 because it is universally accepted to be a part of society without question of it.flame2

    Large numbers of people do not work from 9-5. I personally only did it for relatively short period in my life. Actually, no. Even then it was flexible. People came into the office at any time in the morning and left at any time in the evening. I do not remember any contracting gig in which people were supposed to be present at any particular time.

    We engage in religious activities without second thought of whether this is actually true or not.flame2

    What is the benchmark for truth in religion? Correspondence to what exactly are we talking about? The real problem is that we do not even have a definition for religion. In fact, we do not have one for philosophy either.

    However, if you pick out religious law alone by itself, we have a simple benchmark for truth: A religious advisory is true in its model of religion, if it is a syntactic entailment from scripture. We are just reusing Gödel's semantic completeness theorem here. If a proposition syntactically entails from its theory, then it is semantically true in all the models for that theory.

    11P.M + 5 hours = 4A.M. Aha. In this case the math works like this;
    11+5 = 4... A.M. Because we are referring to the clock now.
    flame2

    (11 + 5) mod 12 = 4

    You cannot use the standard sum operator "+" without indicating that it is distorted because it is applied to a finite set. It is merely a sum-like operator:

    11 ⨁ 5 = 4

    Furthermore, the factorization of the set's cardinality is not a prime power: 12 = 2²3, which means that it is not a legitimate (Galois) field. It is not allowed to do multiplication in that set, because that would lead to inconsistencies. For example, the distorted multiplication:

    3 ⊗ 4 = 0

    This is not allowed in a legitimate field. If a ⊗b = 0, then we expect either a or b (or both) to be zero. That is not the case for 3 ⊗ 4 = 0. Hence, general arithmetic is not permitted in a field of size 12.

    I never understood to this day why anything to the ^0 power is equal to 1 because anything to the power is multiplying by itself.flame2

    There is a good explanation for the nullary arithmetic product in Wikipedia:

    Let be a sequence of numbers, and let be the product of the first elements of the sequence.

    Then for all

    Provided that we use the following convention and .

    This choice is unique.
    Wikipedia on nullary arithmetic product

    The phrase "This choice is unique" means that any other choice would lead to inconsistencies.

    The initial state for the multiplication result's accumulator must be initialized to 1, even before carrying out any repetitions at all. If you happen not to carry out any repetitions at all, then you must still return the accumulator as a result, initialized as it is to 1:

    // function implementation to raise a to power n
    
    function raise_to_power(a, n) {
    
        // initialized to the only legitimate value possible
        accumulator = 1
    
        for k = 1 to n {
          accumulator = accumulator * a
        }
    
        return accumulator
    
    }
    

    The argument in Wikipedia is that this algorithm will only be consistent when choosing to initialize the accumulator variable to 1. Any other choice will lead to trouble.
  • Atheism and anger: does majority rule?
    Kind of a no-brainer, but did you know that countries like Syria do not separate politics from religion and vise versa?3017amen

    I am actually not familiar with the details of how Syria works. Many countries have implemented a Statist approach to education resulting in the widespread presence of public-school indoctrination camps. Teaching Christianity to the children of Christian parents is most likely what these parents want, and therefore, in my opinion, the best solution. The same remark can be made for children of Jewish or Muslim families.

    This is one of the reasons they fight all the time.3017amen

    Not all the time. In fact, there was not much of that kind of fighting going on in the Ottoman empire until its last decades.

    In a free democracy, we must make laws that provide for such peaceful expression while at the same time discouraging extremism and discrimination.3017amen

    From an Islamic point of view, people cannot make new laws, because God has made all the laws already.

    I personally do not see any legitimacy in laws invented by someone who is just another person, just like myself. I simply do not respect that kind of laws. That is not a form of "extremism". It just acknowledges the principle that players cannot be allowed to be player and rule maker at the same time. It would give them too much of an advantage over the other players.

    Furthermore, filling out a ballot paper is certainly not sufficient to effect that, because that does not amount to putting skin in the game. That approach has simply no credibility.

    "Discouraging extremism" is actually a misnomer. It is more of a feeble attempt to convince religious people to put secular law above religious law, and to put politicians as law makers above God as sole law maker (or even next to). That will never happen.

    Religion is about communities self-governing their own affairs. It is not just about "peaceful expression". For example, the religious community has its own marriage and divorce laws. We will not consider whatsoever to ever adopt someone else's views on these matters.
  • Divine Command Theory versus Skepticism About Moral Reality
    “If There is No God, Murder Isn’t Wrong”. As the description of the video reads: “without God, all morality is opinion” (PragerU).Aleph Numbers

    In fact, killing another person is never deemed wrong in absolute terms.

    Just like wild dogs or hyenas, human traditionally hunt in gangs or packs.

    This principle became extended to the mating season: humans do not attack other humans individually for resources and mating rights but always do that in group.

    Hence, within the context of group-versus-group violent combat ("war"), killing another human is not only necessary but also deemed courageous and honourable.

    Doing that outside the context of "war" is deemed mostly wrong, because you are generally only allowed to kill enemies, i.e. members of other groups, and not members of your own group. That kind of individual in-group violence is damaging to group cohesion and is therefore considered to be a reprehensible lapse in discipline, to be utterly disapproved.

    The reason why murder is wrong for humans, is because it is also wrong for wild dogs or hyenas.

    Note that if you fail to kill enemies in warfare, you will be deemed to be a despicable coward, possibly to be shot at dawn. In that case, it is the act of failing to kill other people that will lead to severe reprisals, in which you will be disavowed, repudiated, reprobated, and utterly condemned.

    The religious scriptures teach the believers the difference between individual and collective violence, in line with biological reality. In religious lingo: it is God who wanted this biological reality. Therefore, you are held to abide by its rules. Hence, it is indeed God's will that we shall shoot the cowards with a bullet through the back of their heads.
  • Atheism and anger: does majority rule?
    He is suggesting that the majority of Atheists are angry.3017amen

    O' Reilly calls atheists angry because they sue schools for having kids sing a Christmas Carol. Now, this practice would also piss off Jews and Muslims. Children who are not Christian should not be asked to sing Christmas carols.

    The real problem here is excess Statism.

    For what reason should the government be involved in the field of education in the first place?

    Parents may (or may not) appoint service providers to assist them with the education of their children, but from there on, we can witness a gigantic Statist land grab in which politicians have the temerity to impose their views onto other people's children by dictating the terms under which education is organized, aka, the public-school indoctrination camp.

    I want the politicians expelled, kicking and screaming, out of all the land grabs that they have unlawfully appropriated.

    That is one of the main reasons why the core of my finances is in bitcoin. Our financial blockchain-based technology is clearly better. Sooner or later, we will effectively manage to bankrupt and destroy state-run fiat currencies, and in that way, expel the politicians from the field of money. The politicians have to go, while by themselves they will not agree to go. So, we will simply have to make them go.

    Our goal is to compete away and thoroughly destroy excess Statism until it has been completely annihilated. Excess Statism is the enemy. Furthermore, our stuff is simply smarter and better than their outdated crap. In fact, we should do the same for education, and destroy excess Statism there too.
  • The Quest For Truth: Science, Philosophy, and Religion
    Faith does not lead to knowledge because faith is belief without justificationHarry Hindu

    The basic assumptions of any discipline rest on faith.

    For example, there is no justification for the scientific method, as it is not justified from underlying premises.

    In mathematics, the problem is even more obvious. The axioms must not be justified. The axiomatic method insists that axioms must be speculative, arbitrary beliefs with no justification possible from within mathematics. Otherwise, they are not legitimate axioms.

    There is also no justification possible for the axiomatic method itself, if only because logic itself is an axiomatic system that ultimately rests on fourteen arbitrary, speculative beliefs.

    Hence, the core pillars of knowledge, i.e. its starting point beliefs, its normative ontology, and its normative epistemology, are always accepted on faith and without possible justification.

    Therefore, the idea that faith does not lead to knowledge is contrary to the entire body of existing knowledge. It is, in fact, exactly the other way around. Without faith, there cannot be any knowledge.
  • The Quest For Truth: Science, Philosophy, and Religion
    Is science a part of philosophy?Malice

    That depends on how you define philosophy. The definition of science is easy, peasy: science is the collection of propositions that you can justify using the scientific method. The definition of philosophy is not as straightforward. There is actually no agreement on it.

    If you pick epistemology instead of all possible forms of philosophy, the problem becomes easier.

    There were science seeks to detect patterns in the physical universe, epistemology seeks to detect patterns in the abstract, Platonic world of knowledge, i.e. in the universe of justifiable beliefs.

    Both science and epistemology are empirical, but the universes that they study empirically are different and even non-overlapping. In that sense, science cannot be a part of epistemology.

    Is science an entirely different method of seeking knowledge about the world?Malice

    In comparison to epistemology, no. Both science and epistemology are empirical but they observe different universes, i.e. the physical universe in the case of science versus the abstract, Platonic world of justifiable knowledge in the case of epistemology.

    Does religion have any meaningful role to play in seeking knowledge about the world?Malice

    There is no generally agreed definition for religion as a whole. However, the ontology and epistemology of religious law are straightforward. Religious law is a formal system that seeks to derive moral advisories from an axiomatic scriptural base. Therefore, since religious law produces syntactic entailments from basic rules using the axiomatic method, it looks much more like mathematics than science or epistemology.

    The question whether religious law has a meaningful role to play depends on whether you believe that a formal system of morality is needed or not. I personally believe that moral judgments must syntactically entail from basic rules.

    Furthermore, morality does not seek to describe how human behaviour in the world happens to be, but how it should be. It is meaningful in a sense that we actively shape the world. We are not merely passive spectators.
  • My thoughts on life
    The presence of a higher power still does not explain how nothing became something.Nils123

    0 = -1 + 1

    Hence, nothing (= 0) can become something (= 1), along with something else (= -1) without violating any conservation laws. This phenomenon is actually well known and even quite well understood:

    Virtual particles are often popularly described as coming in pairs, a particle and antiparticle which can be of any kind. These pairs exist for an extremely short time, and then mutually annihilate, or in some cases, the pair may be boosted apart using external energy so that they avoid annihilation and become actual particles, as described below.

    The longer the virtual particle exists, the closer its characteristics come to those of ordinary particles. They are important in the physics of many processes, including particle scattering and Casimir forces.
    Wikipedia on virtual particles and pair production

    Hawking used this principle to explain why a black hole that seemingly absorbs everything, including light and other radiation, still radiates away energy:

    Pair production is invoked to predict the existence of hypothetical Hawking radiation. According to quantum mechanics, particle pairs are constantly appearing and disappearing as a quantum foam. In a region of strong gravitational tidal forces, the two particles in a pair may sometimes be wrenched apart before they have a chance to mutually annihilate. When this happens in the region around a black hole, one particle may escape while its antiparticle partner is captured by the black hole.Wikipedia on Hawking radiation of black holes

    In fact, black holes must radiate something away, because otherwise they would be able to evade the general principle of entropy, which they cannot. Hence, Hawking's famous hack.
  • What should religion do for us today?
    So you would be mapping the text of the Quran into a set of symbols with no semantic content?EricH

    When you look at logic sentence such as:

    Man in Mortal and (Socrates in Man) implies Socrates in Mortal
    

    You can see that the conclusion is a syntactic entailment of its premises. The symbols actually themselves do not matter. It would also work perfectly-well like this:

    x in k and (s in x) implies s in k
    

    In the end, the reason why this syllogism entails is entirely structuralist:

    Structuralism is a position holding that mathematical theories describe structures, and that mathematical objects are exhaustively defined by their places in such structures, consequently having no intrinsic properties.Wikipedia on mathematical structuralism

    That is because the symbols are "alpha-equivalent":

    A basic form of equivalence, definable on lambda terms, is alpha equivalence. It captures the intuition that the particular choice of a bound variable, in an abstraction, does not (usually) matter. For instance, λx.x and λy.y are alpha-equivalent lambda terms, and they both represent the same function (the identity function).Wikipedia on alpha equivalence (lambda calculus)

    So, yes, actual semantic content does not matter in the context of syntactic entailment.

    However, a system with large numbers of sentences written in the second, nondescript manner would be much harder to debug. Software is not just written for only the machine to read. It must also be suitable for other people to read, so that it can be troubleshooted and maintained.

    Therefore, both a religious script representing a religious advisory as well as the Quranic base library are just like other software. On the one side, they are purely structuralist, but on the other side, they are also meant to communicate to other religious programmers what the otherwise alpha-equivalent symbols are all about.
  • What should religion do for us today?
    Islamic law mirrors some /many of the attributes/behavior/qualities of a formal system. Your thoughts?EricH

    It is possible to verify syllogisms from their premises, i.e. axioms, by using a tool like the Coq proof assistant:

    assert Syllogism {
      all Socrates: univ, Man, Mortal: set univ |
          -- every man is mortal
          Man in Mortal
          -- Socrates is a man
          and (Socrates in Man)
          -- implies Socrates is mortal
          implies Socrates in Mortal
      }
    
    check Syllogism
    

    This approach requires encoding the Quran, as system-wide premises, in the formal language of Coq. It is an inordinate amount of work, but it should allow to operate a Quranic formal system for the mechanical verification of (a subset of) the existing knowledge database of religious advisories. Curating that enormous knowledge database is another massive task. In fact, for mathematics proper, this curation and encoding work has been completed only very partially. With enough budget, however, I feel that it could also be done for Islamic law and yield very interesting results.
  • What can we know for sure?
    If you want to think that I am arrogant and ignorant...Frank Apisa

    The world of documented knowledge has ended up with at least three standard knowledge-justification methods that all hark back to the JtB doctrine (there may be more methods):


    What all documented knowledge has in common, is that its beliefs are justified from other beliefs. That is the gist of the JtB doctrine, which in all practical terms gets elaborated through standard knowledge-justification methods. Epistemology, i.e. the theory of knowledge, is therefore a critical thread throughout all documented knowledge.

    So, yes, you are arrogant and ignorant in claiming that the JtB doctrine would be "bullshit".
  • The Reality of Time
    ... John Ellis McTaggart argues for "The Unreality of Time." His basic claim is that time cannot be real because it is contradictory ...aletheist

    A remark that I need to make on McTaggart's work, is very similar to what Karl Popper wrote in his seminal publication, Science as falsification:

    With Einstein's theory the situation was strikingly different. Take one typical instance— Einstein's prediction, just then confirmed by the finding of Eddington's expedition.

    Now the impressive thing about this case is the risk involved in a prediction of this kind. If observation shows that the predicted effect is definitely absent, then the theory is simply refuted. The theory is incompatible with certain possible results of observation—in fact with results which everybody before Einstein would have expected.[1] This is quite different from the situation I have previously described,when it turned out that the theories in question were compatible with the most divergent human behavior, so that it was practically impossible to describe any human behavior that might not be claimed to be a verification of these theories.
    Karl Popper in 'Science as falsification' on the requirement to take a risk

    Einstein's characterization of time is indeed risky:

    Albert Einstein's 1905 special relativity challenged the notion of absolute time, and could only formulate a definition of synchronization for clocks that mark a linear flow of time. Einstein's equations predict that time should be altered by the presence of gravitational fields (see the Schwarzschild metric). That is, the stronger the gravitational field (and, thus, the larger the acceleration), the more slowly time runs. The predictions of time dilation are confirmed by particle acceleration experiments and cosmic ray evidence, where moving particles decay more slowly than their less energetic counterparts. Einstein's theory was motivated by the assumption that every point in the universe can be treated as a 'center', and that correspondingly, physics must act the same in all reference frames. There is no 'universal clock'. An act of synchronization must be performed between two systems, at the least.Wikipedia on time in physics

    As you can see from the quote mentioned above, Einstein took a real risk in his theory of time, as he predicted the gravitational slowdown of time. It can be tested. It could have turned out to be wrong, but it didn't.

    I do not see where McTaggart would be taking any risk at all in his theory of time.

    Therefore, McTaggart's theory must be considered too easy. In line with what Karl Popper wrote, McTaggart's work is irrelevant in a sense that you cannot do anything with it. It simply does not matter whether time is discrete or continuous until it can actually be tested.
  • What can we know for sure?
    Fair enough! And I will repeat my assessment of your assessment. It is BULLSHIT. All of it!Frank Apisa

    That does not diminish in any way that calling the JtB doctrine "bullshit", makes you arrogant and ignorant. Furthermore, JtB is not my doctrine. Therefore, anybody with even just moderate knowledge on epistemology will simply have to objectively conclude the same as I did about you: arrogant and ignorant.
  • The Private Language Argument
    Interesting question, really.

    Bertrand Russell considered Ludwig Wittgenstein to be a genius.

    His teacher, Bertrand Russell, described Wittgenstein as "perhaps the most perfect example I have ever known of genius as traditionally conceived; passionate, profound, intense, and dominating".[18]Wikipedia on Russell calling Wittgenstein a genius

    I certainly understand why Russell himself was a genius: (1) his paradox, (2) Principia Mathematica, (3) etching the standard notation of mathematics in stone with help from Whitehead, and last but not least, (4) his type theory. That was just off the top of my hat. Russell may have achieved more influential breakthroughs than that.

    However, I have never understood why Wittgenstein would be a genius. I have never seen anything Wittgenstein wrote, reused at all, by anyone, and in any other context. Seriously, I have never seen anybody doing anything even remotely useful with his Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus or his posthumously published notes.

    Perhaps Wittgenstein was a genius, but in that case, he was also a genius at expertly concealing it.
  • What can we know for sure?
    Thank you for your considerations of my intelligence and knowledge. I disagree with you about that, but I stand by what I have posted thus far.Frank Apisa

    That puts you in conflict with very basic, standard epistemology.

    It is certainly possible to criticize the JtB doctrine, like e.g. Gettier successfully did, but you cannot achieve that by merely calling it "bullshit". Alternatives to JtB are possible but the existence of such alternatives still does not turn standard epistemology into "bullshit".

    So, yes, I also repeat my assessment of the remarks you have made on the standard foundations of epistemology: both arrogant and ignorant.
  • What can we know for sure?
    Bullshit.Frank Apisa

    The reason why you are so arrogant, is the same as ever: runaway ignorance. Maybe you first want to read up on the theory of justification:

    The theory of justification is a part of epistemology that attempts to understand the justification of propositions and beliefs. Epistemologists are concerned with various epistemic features of belief, which include the ideas of justification, warrant, rationality, and probability. Loosely speaking, justification is the reason that someone (properly) holds a belief.Wikipedia on the Theory of Justification

    You do not seem to be familiar even with the very, very basics of epistemology, i.e. the theory of knowledge.
  • What can we know for sure?
    In the context of a discussion about the unknown...the word "belief" is used to disguise a blind guess.Frank Apisa

    Well, you would first have to be familiar with the discussion that has been going on for at least since 369 BCE. Socrates was certainly asking all the right questions. He became even famous for that. In the context of JtB, the term "knowledge" is linked to the term "belief", i.e. knowledge is a particular type of belief.
  • What can we know for sure?
    Oh...that justified true belief shit is so 19th and 20th century.Frank Apisa

    It is much older than that:

    In the Theaetetus, Socrates considers a number of theories as to what knowledge is, the last being that knowledge is true belief "with an account" (meaning explained or defined in some way). According to the theory that knowledge is justified true belief, to know that a given proposition is true, one must not only believe the relevant true proposition, but also have a good reason for doing so.[17]Wikipedia on where JtB comes from

    The more precise date is 369 BCE:

    The Theaetetus (/ˌθiːɪˈtiːtəs/; Greek: Θεαίτητος) is one of Plato's dialogues concerning the nature of knowledge, written circa 369 BCE.Wikipedia on the Theaetetus dialogue
  • God is proven meaningless with Infinity and finite.
    I challenge you guys to break thisKratos1

    Imagine that you were born in a box, with no windows, and that you never came out of it. What would you be able to know about who made that box?
  • What can we know for sure?
    If you suppose me to be wrong...we can discuss it.Frank Apisa

    JtB -- knowledge as a Justified (true) Belief -- is a long story. Epistemology in general, i.e. the theory of knowledge, is a long story ...
  • Sexual ethics
    a "rich" fellow like WeinsteinIvoryBlackBishop

    It is not his wealth that did it. It is his position.

    Even a simple nightclub bouncer has that power. He can let people in or refuse them entry. You will immediately notice that there are girls who will offer sex in exchange for his favours. That is why even bouncers have an endless stream of trysts with these silly girls.

    Even staff at an HR department can do that. He regularly interviews women. He calls the ones that he fancies over the phone to meet him privately. He does not even need to promise the woman that she will get hired. The simple fact that being on good terms with him could possibly help her getting hired, is enough for lots of women to offer sex to him.

    As I have said before, the price of sex can drop very low for a non-attached non-virgin. What does it cost her anyway? So, she could do it for only half a vague promise, or so. The consideration that "I want to get along with this guy" could actually be enough already.

    All you need to be, is some gatekeeper of sorts to a resource, and then you can easily turn that into an endless stream of sex.

    others caught in sex scandals obviously had enough moneyIvoryBlackBishop

    Money is actually more difficult to use in order to get sex.

    It costs lots of money just to show that you have lots of money. Furthermore, if you do that, you will first and foremost attract women who are specialized in resource extraction. Hence, it is not necessarily a good strategy. It is certainly an expensive one.

    So, no, if you want a stream of endless sex, set up or buy even a small modelling agency, or so. Select the girls who will get modelling gigs and the ones who won't. That will get you going. You can be the most ugly man in the world, but you will still end up with enormous amounts of sex with otherwise pretty girls.

    if they were too ugly and repellant to attract female attention spontaneouslyIvoryBlackBishop

    That probably does not even exist. With just a little bit of power, that man will not be too ugly or repellent. If you deal with sales representatives to figure out what your company will be buying, some of these female sales reps will spontaneously offer sex for you to buy her stuff. She won't care if you are ugly. She wants to close the sale in order to keep her job and make some commission. Sex can be very, very cheap ...

    could, at very least have spent all of the money they wanted to on prostitutesIvoryBlackBishop

    Professional prostitutes are relatively expensive and even cumbersome in comparison. The cheapest sex is with women who use sex as a cheap tool to achieve something else.

    So, to lower themselves to such an inferior level as to make inappropriate advances at women, is really quite sad and patheticIvoryBlackBishop

    It is the women themselves who were making the advances. Weinstein didn't have to lift a finger for that to happen. All he did, was sitting in that chair, with his fat belly and ugly grin, selecting female candidates for actressing gigs. He could have been farting the most stinking winds while he was doing that, it would not have made a difference. The woman would have ignored it and still have had sex with him on the spot.
  • Sexual ethics
    This is based on your in-depth understanding of how women think and what they care about - or just on your wounded ego?Possibility

    Ha aha ah ;-) That is the "who hurt you?" argument. Youtube is full of funny videos on that subject!

    It seems clear to me that you know absolutely zero about real womenPossibility

    I will ask my wife. Maybe she agrees! ;-)

    you’ve narrowly escaped the incel culture in the WestPossibility

    The qualification "narrowly" is a bit of a stretch, given the fact that it takes less than $100 to fly out of the West to places where there is no "incel culture".

    The problem of the incels is probably a bit different.

    First of all, they may be a bit too feminized by their single-mother family background and the public-school indoctrination camps to do well, even in other areas of the world. According to the red-pill philosophy, "woke" men, i.e. "white knights" are thoroughly and universally disliked by women. In that view, if a man buys into the feminist ideology, he will probably have to forsake sexual relationships. Incels are deemed to be men who believe the falsehoods that (western) women say about themselves, and who therefore fail at achieving anything.

    In that sense, if a man wants sexual relationships, he must first start by never believing a word that women say. The key to success in that realm is a healthy distrust and disbelief.

    seeking a niche where you can conceal your disrespect and direct your hatred towards ‘Western culture’Possibility

    That is probably a gross oversimplification. These other non-western cultures are highly skeptical of the western one. If you want to fit in here, you must reject many western ideas, especially, in the realm of inter-gender dynamics. If you don't, the locals will end up despising you.

    when what you really hate is how you saw yourselfPossibility

    Well, not really. Your SMV (Sexual-Market Value) is a very local thing. It is different in different circumstances and in different places in the world.

    For example, there are lots of western men who have a relatively low SMV back home, and who do incredibly well here. Just to give you one example, a man who is short, will not do particularly well in Europe or the USA, while his shorter stature is absolutely no problem in SE Asia, as he may even be taller than the average here. Some of these shorter guys can actually even be seen binging here ... ;-)

    Furthermore, making a decent living is at a premium in many areas in the world. So, unlike in the West, potentially being a good provider is something that even the younger women quickly notice outside the West. People's priorities are different in different circumstances. Just don't be feminized as a man, i.e. "blue-pilled" in red-pill lingo, because that simply does not work anywhere in the world.

    Most women would see your insincerity and contempt from a mile away.Possibility

    Well, there is the well-known phenomenon of the "bad boys", who apparently do really well with women. Part of the secret is: never give anybody a higher status than they truly deserve. High-value female candidates are staunchly chaste. They carefully protect their integrity. On the other hand, if you simply know that she is just trash, then treat her accordingly. I can certainly be sincerely contemptuous when that is my opinion. Why not? Apparently, these women even prefer it like that! ;-)

    Furthermore, outside the West, it is certainly not about "most" women. The ones deserving of contempt are just a relatively small minority elsewhere.
  • What should religion do for us today?
    I could quibble with you over the definition of a formal system. Is a list of axioms by itself without a mechanism to generate theorems a formal system? I'm not qualified to answer that question, but if I had to maker a guess I'd say no.EricH

    The mechanism to generate theorems from axioms is the system of logic:

    assert Syllogism {
      all Socrates: univ, Man, Mortal: set univ |
          -- every man is mortal
          Man in Mortal
          -- Socrates is a man
          and (Socrates in Man)
          -- implies Socrates is mortal
          implies Socrates in Mortal
      }
    check Syllogism
    

    These theorems are derived from the Quran, but they also rely on the Hadith for supporting evidence.EricH

    Hadith and Sunnah are often used as synonyms for each other.

    I have looked it up in Quora, but apparently that view is considered not to be completely correct.

    Hadith are testimonies about the prophet's life in which he applies the Quran. So, the Hadith are mostly theorems. The Sunnah, however, are practices transmitted from Mosaic Judaism mentioned in the Hadith. Therefore, part of the Sunnah are also considered to be axioms.

    Hence, there is some justification to accept the view that the Hadith is often the 'vehicle' which conveys information about the 'Sunna'. ... There is a fundamental difference between the Hadith and Sunna and though often used synonymously, should be kept distinct. ...Difference between Hadith and Sunna

    But then again, the Quran mentions all axioms already, even when they were transmitted from Mosaic Judaism:

    It is clear that the Quran does not support any type of 'Sunna' that does not find sanction from the Quran.Difference between Hadith and Sunna

    That is how we arrive at the simplifying view that the Quran are the axioms while (some of) the Hadith are clarifying, derived rules as applied to practical situations, i.e. theorems.
  • Sexual ethics
    So what? Is this ‘reputation as a man’ going to affect anything except your ability to get laid?Possibility

    Well no, it may even land you in jail.

    One should not have to trade sex for opportunities in the film industry OR in the office.Possibility

    I do not think that aspiring actresses necessarily care much about that. If she is not attached, and not a virgin either, her price can drop very low. In fact, that phenomenon is not even limited to actresses. If she is thirsty, she may even do it for a glass of water; or if she is hungry, trade it for a hamburger. There is no bottom to the price, actually. For quite a few women, sex is just a tool that they happily monetize, and not necessarily for much money. Weinstein merely decided that they could bring it on. It wasn't strictly necessary to give him sex, for the actress to get the gig -- she would probably also have gotten it without -- but her price was generally, probably even lower than that. If she gives it away for free, just an hour after meeting someone in a bar, why not use it to appease a guy who picks candidates for acting gigs? She would obviously be getting more out of letting Weinstein have his way, than out of the guy from the bar, who would not even buy her a coffee in the morning. With the guy from the bar, she is probably the one paying for the condom, while Weinstein would surely allow her to put it on her expense note.
  • Sexual ethics
    Well, you’re not living in the West by my understanding - your perception of it is serving to justify your rejection of it, so I’ll take that with a pinch of salt, if you don’t mind.Possibility

    I used to live in the West. I grew up there. It is true that other societies make more sense to me. The less a society is westernized, the better I tend to like it. I saw the West becoming worse and worse, actually until it became the horror story that it is today.

    You’re only expressing a general fear and misunderstanding of womenPossibility

    Well, if a woman starts black mouthing you and even spreading outright lies about you, it can be very damaging to your reputation as a man. As I have said, better safe than sorry.

    You see, Weinstein is undoubtedly an arsehole, just like pretty much anybody who has the power to recruit or reject aspiring actresses. Power corrupts. It is so obvious that he could extract sex out of these girls, in exchange for some vague promises. Still, it takes two to tango. These candidates could also have picked something else to do, instead of pursuing a career in which they would incessantly have to trade sex for opportunities. You can see the same phenomenon at the office. Sex is a powerful tool to convince the boss to promote you or just not to fire you.

    To feel that you are only ‘safe’ in the company of your own sex.Possibility

    That is pretty much what I think it is. The indiscriminate mixing of the sexes is incredibly threatening both to men and to women. Just keep the sexes physically separate, and we would trivially avoid the horror story that is now unfolding.

    Why must we draw battle lines on the grounds of gender?Possibility

    In fact, men do not want to draw battle lines between men and women. It is just that people are misguided and even foolhardy. Instead of admitting the problem, they will just double down on the indiscriminate mixing of the sexes. They'd rather burn down the place down to the ground than to admit that they are wrong.

    particularly those of a sexual or romantic naturePossibility

    Dating has turned out to become a complete nightmare. It wasn't a good idea in the first place, but look at what it has degenerated into: Tinder hookups. In the greater light of things, arranging marriages make so much more sense. Still, people are foolhardy. They will never admit that they are wrong. The entire thing will have to crash and burn first, and even then they will insist that they still know better. I have already moved on, and moved elsewhere, because I am absolutely sure that the problem cannot be solved.
  • Sexual ethics
    If you genuinely feel threatened by women supporting each other against the actions of some men, ask yourself why.Possibility

    I think that, in the West, men increasingly distrust women and do not believe a word they say. Men have learned to safely assume that everything she says, is a manipulative lie. Even if it is occasionally not a lie, it is better to convince yourself that it is one. Better safe than sorry. In the physical space, for reasons of security, interact only with other men. Furthermore, whatever romantic ideas you thought you would act upon, go and do that in another jurisdiction. It costs usually less than $100 to fly out of the sexual danger zone of the West to the nearest-by free country.
  • Does the question of free will matter? Your opinion is asked
    I'm asking whether the question of free will and its answeres are important in any way.Example24

    As far as I am concerned, it matters for the question of what happens after this life.

    If the elusive Theory of Everything (ToE) cannot prove/predict all the facts in its model, i.e. our physical universe, because we have free will, it means that these facts are true in this model but false in other models. Hence, it would mean that there are other universes similar to our own. That is exactly the idea of heaven and hell in religion.

    In that sense, the concept of free will is directly linked to the concepts of heaven and hell.
  • You can do with numbers everything that you can do with sets, and the other way around
    Happily, public universities are free in BrazilNagase

    Well, they are not really "free". The government still has to pay for them. At first glance, that is not the individual's problem, but sooner or later, it will still be.

    The government naturally collects money from people from whom it is relatively easy to do that: the wage slaves in Brazil. In theory, they would try to mostly collect it from who has the highest income, but those are exactly the people who will most easily adjust to whatever is needed to avoid paying. For example, they avoid wage slavery. They do not receive too much income through that kind of contracts.

    The poor, on the other hand, do not have much income anyway. It does not even matter how they receive it. So, it is not the poor who can keep that system financially afloat.

    So, a strategy of large public expenditure depends on having a large middle class of easily taxable wage slaves, which is exactly the demographic that tends to disappear: smart enough to make more money than the poor in society but not smart enough to prevent the government from taxing their income away.

    so it is possible here to obtain higher education without incurring in large debt!Nagase

    In that case, it is the government which incurs the debt.

    They will try to get it back from the middle class, but only if spending on university really leads to increasing the size of the middle class of wage slaves. If the students rather graduate into working part time jobs at Starbucks, this strategy will still fail.

    The biggest problem is that university does not increase the graduate's productivity. In fact, it is bad business to waste 4+ years of your life memorizing phone books replete with unimportant trivia.

    If the government's plan fails financially, there is a real risk that their debt will still somehow end up being your problem. The funny thing is that the more money you have, the less it will affect you, because in that case, you already have lots of workarounds for the problem of the government trying to collect money from you.
  • What can we know for sure?
    Most of the things that are regarded as being known for certain (outside of mathematical conventions) are probably not known for certain.Frank Apisa

    In mathematics these certainties are known for certain inside their universe ("model"), which is never the physical universe but an abstract, Platonic construction. Hence, mathematics also does not offer certainties about the real world.

    As for "belief"...mostly that is bullshit. "Belief" and "believe" are words people use to disguise "guess"...especially in the area of "the true nature of the REALITY of existence."Frank Apisa

    According to its standard definition, knowledge is itself also a belief:

    Justified true belief is a definition of knowledge that gained approval during the Enlightenment. The concept of justified true belief states that in order to know that a given proposition is true, one must not only believe the relevant true proposition, but also have justification for doing so. In more formal terms, an agent S knows that a proposition P is true if and only if:

    * P is true
    * S believes that P P is true, and
    * S is justified in believing that P is true
    Wikipedia on 'Justified true belief' (JTB)
  • What can we know for sure?
    To "know" is to "believe" with justification, while justification is fraught with problems. Hence, the better question is: what do you believe for sure? I believe for sure that if you do not have a strong pillar for your beliefs, that you will end up believing whatever. I am sure of that.
  • Knowledge and the Wisdom of the Crowd
    whether it can be used as an effective tool to gain knowledge or not?TheMadFool

    In "Black Swan, Impact of the highly improbable", Nassim Taleb writes about "mediocristan" versus "extremistan". An example of mediocristan is the average height of people. Adding one more person will not massively shift the existing average measured already. An example of extremistan is wealth. Adding Bill Gates will indeed massively shift the existing average measured already.

    Mediocristan is typified by variables distributed along Gaussian bell curves, while in extremistan a variable is distributed is along a fat-tailed Mandelbrotian curve.

    For example, the income of pop stars or football athletes lie in extremistan. Therefore, their average income means very little to nothing at all. According to Black-swan theory, the wisdom of the crowds is unlikely to work for variables in extremistan:

    The theory was developed by Nassim Nicholas Taleb to explain:

    [*] The disproportionate role of high-profile, hard-to-predict, and rare events that are beyond the realm of normal expectations in history, science, finance, and technology.

    [*] The non-computability of the probability of the consequential rare events using scientific methods (owing to the very nature of small probabilities).

    [*] The psychological biases that blind people, both individually and collectively, to uncertainty and to a rare event's massive role in historical affairs.
    Wikipedia on Black Swan theory

    Since the world has been rapidly shifting from mediocristan to extremistan, the wisdom of the crowds has increasingly become a less effective tool. It has become much more likely than in the past that the crowd collectively gets it completely wrong.
  • What should religion do for us today?
    check the difference between Meccanic and Medinaic versesNobeernolife

    The difference between you and me, is that I know that I have no specialized knowledge in this area, while you are clearly too arrogant to understand your own limitations. I am also not going to try to find and invite a religious scholar to clarify such details and point out what documentation to peruse because you are not polite enough either. It is just going to embarrass everyone involved, except for you, because you could obviously never feel embarrassed.