Comments

  • Abortion, other forms of life, and taking life
    Clearly I am a dumbass. What is MRM?
  • Counting squares
    You can make things from things.
    Squares. Line segments. Points.
    Anything if you zoom out far enough.
    You just need to have a split perspective.
  • Abortion, other forms of life, and taking life
    All forms of life do not have the necessary attributes to form the necessary substances. In the case of abortion, you are comparing a human fetus with that of all forms of life to where there exists no attributes in comparison to say they are similar in substance. There are no factual correspondents that can be demonstrated in any actuality. To otherwise is almost solipsistic in nature.Cobra

    My god.
  • Abortion, IT'S A Problem
    What's a two month fetus have on a 10 year old chimp?Coben
    What do you have on Nikola Tesla? What do you have on Elon Musk? How many rockets have you sent into space? What does Musk have on extra-terrestrial life forms who may possess intelligence on different orders of magnitude than our own?
    In fact, what do you have on a $3.99 calculator from Staples? Can you compute numbers faster than it? It is evidently absurdly flawed to found such ethical arguments on these metrics.
    And if that is not enough, you must produce your case as to why it is ethical to kill a ten year old chimp.
  • Dreams as gateways/windows to alternate/parallel universes
    In all these, I'm still me from what I gather. As in it's me controlling or at least interacting with the experience as opposed to just watching a movie for example.Outlander
    You watching a movie is still you... just watching a movie.

    Dreams may give you a heightened sense of control... so do video games.
  • Leading By Example
    Yo maa braws, lemme posit sumptin' for a quick secund...

    Dunning Kruger, baby
  • One must imagine Sisyphus happy
    Is this not enough struggle to fill a man's heart?
  • Was Friedrich Nietzsche for or against Nihilism?


    ooeeuuuh, you gots 'im

    1 : allegiance to duty or a person
    2 : belief and trust in and loyalty to God
    --// belief in the traditional doctrines of a religion
    --// firm belief in something for which there is no proof
    3 : something that is believed especially with strong conviction

    https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/faith
  • On the existence of God (by request)
    Would you be okay if I hunted you for meat then LOL3017amen
    Don't include me in the mess you've made of your logic LOL3017amen

    At last, I have found true love!
  • On the existence of God (by request)
    But why do you exist? All you've said so far is to eat and drink. If everyone thought that there would be no procreation hence you would not exist. I'm confused.3017amen

    Oh my! Are we going in circles?!

    Subtle distinction: I exist because I have a will to live that includes eating and drinking.Key
  • On the existence of God (by request)
    What other things consist of this will to live? In principal, if you say ' nothing', then you are essentially relegating yourself to a lower life-form, right?3017amen

    I'm cool with that.
  • On the existence of God (by request)
    In other words,you say you exist but you don't know why or how, no? The nature of your own existence seems to be somewhat of an enigma I suppose...3017amen

    Ohh, ohh, teacher, teacher I have the answer!

    If I didn't have some will to live I would not exist... See natural selection.Key
  • On the existence of God (by request)
    Subtle distinction: I exist because I have a will to live that includes eating and drinking.
  • On the existence of God (by request)
    all that's required in natural selection is instinct.3017amen

    Also I'm not entirely sure that's a super-duper accurate statement...
  • On the existence of God (by request)
    Will to live encapsulates many instincts... drink water? will to live? eat food? will to live? etc...

    The three words "will to live" may only not be instincts because they're used to describe instincts.
  • On the existence of God (by request)
    If I didn't have some will to live I would not exist... See natural selection.
  • On rejecting unanswerable questions
    One day we may be able to suspend death and live forever, yes? Does that mean we aren't dying now?
  • On the existence of God (by request)
    Are you sure? Let's see, common sense says you have a will to live. So it is true you have a will.3017amen

    What is this bs? Obviously.

    How could anyone even question your incredible logic?

    Though you might want to be a little more precise in what you are referencing... "will to live"? "will"?
  • On rejecting unanswerable questions
    Is there a question that we will never be able to answer?
  • advantages of having simulated a universe
    A fifth dimensional being might have numerous reasons to create, or go to a 3 dimensional universe. Like a fertile ground for seeding fledgling beings for example, which might occasionally require assistance, weeding.Punshhh

    In fact I am one of them 5th dimensional creatures. Unshackle your eastern imagination... Behold!
  • advantages of having simulated a universe
    I should think that an advanced civilization would have long since recognized there is at least one thing that cannot be simulated, the universe. I, myself, happen to be a member of that civilization. If you're not, can you describe just how you might go about simulating the universe?tim wood

    If we can simulate two particles bumping together, a nuclear reaction, and objects dancing through space, what abstraction separates the simulation of a universe? Size?

    Supposing we have a universe-sized chunk of universe to work with, can that not be used to house the computer that simulates the (a?) universe?

    If a 100 story building collapse can be simulated by a computer that occupies 1 floor, why can't a computer 1/100th the size of the universe simulate the universe?

    Even so, how much universe would need to be simulated before the universe could be considered a universe? How much experience of this universe led you to consider this universe to be a universe?
  • Schrödinger's ice-cream parlour
    that's because my wavefunction collapsed when I counted out the tip.Kaarlo Tuomi

    Or did it?...
  • Is the mind a fiction of the mind?
    Escaping subjectivity is probably a lot like writing a sentence without words.
  • Schrödinger's ice-cream parlour
    we assume the probability that I will pick any given flavour is equal, so that before I pick a flavour, I am assumed to have picked all ten flavours at once.

    there is also the multiverse theory, which says that for every choice I make, there is an alternative universe in which I made some other choice.

    so, if I am assumed to have picked all ten flavours at once, how many waiters do I have to tip?
    Kaarlo Tuomi

    So you can assume ten flavour timmy and a potentially infinite number of multiverses, but you can't figure out where the waiters fit in?! Interesting...
  • The destiny behind free will: boom this is deep stuff!
    Sorry; let me rephrase this more simply... you're making an unwarranted assumption.InPitzotl
    Assumptions are elicited by assertions, yes?
    The one and only assertion I made in my original post was: "there are quite a few... hazy assertions in the preceding deluge." And in following I demonstrated where gaps arose; you can look back if you must, reading is good for you.

    In my second post (replying to you) I stated that the probability of an actor existing in a universe of potentially limitless realities and being bound to a maximum of two conscious choices is less than a snowman's chance in hell.

    Laplace's demon specifies that selecting the greater option would happenInPitzotl
    I beg you to find any understanding of Laplace's demon that would remotely agree with you. Laplace's demon is a concept of causal determinism.

    Here's a few questions you should consider answering: why does your actor only possess a greater and lesser choice? Why not lesser, greater, and greatest choices? Have you ever deliberated between chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry ice cream? Or does your brain only see chocolate and vanilla?
  • The destiny behind free will: boom this is deep stuff!
    Options being considered in a choice are considerations, not "realities". (I have no qualms how you map this to "free will" one way or the other, but having a single outcome does not entail a choice was not made... all it entails is that if a choice was made, that outcome was what was chosen).InPitzotl

    If you look rather briefly at the entirety of my post and the references I made to the original post... you may note the thick, goopy sarcasm. The question mark might also help you.

    If Laplace's demon indicates the possibility for a good number of realities, the likelihood that only two of those are ever available to be chosen from isn't too hot.

    After rereading your two sentences I'm only amused that I have wasted a few moments replying to someone who didn't put very much thought into the words that their fingers tapped and brains lapsed.
  • The destiny behind free will: boom this is deep stuff!
    I think free will works in this way: we always follow our strongest desire, but we are free in our choices. You are free to choose one way or another when a genuine choice is put before you, but it's infallibly certain which one you will choose if you are looking at it from the outside like Laplace's demon. The reason is that there is no reason to choose the weaker impulse! But I think we are free none the less to choose the lesser one and although we never will choose it, we will always consider it¹. This might seem like a paradox, or it might seem perfectly clear. It probably depends where someone is in their journey. I was wondering if I should post about this because I am not sure where I am in my journey,
    or any of you.

    The question of the nature of reality is involved in this topic as well. If some people never reach their full potential while others do, it is through their fault². HOWEVER, the universe is set up such that many will fail their destiny³. So can we conclude that reality is not good? Yet it is still the fault of the people who fail that they trip themselves up.
    Gregory

    Okay, I'm infallibly certain (ha) that there are quite a few... hazy assertions in the preceding deluge. I've taken the liberty to exhibit just a handful of them.

      1. assuming there are only two possible choices is completely ignoring Laplace's demon?
      2. assuming free will
      3. you seem to have access to Laplace's demon?
  • Is Not Over-population Our Greatest Problem?
    There are studies that show that female empowerment results in the decision to have less kids.

    Regardless of the country, more empowered women desire significantly fewer children compared with their less empowered counterparts. https://bmcwomenshealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12905-019-0747-9
    Wheatley

    Interesting, a study that quantifies "desire" on the denominator that is a census.
  • Is Not Over-population Our Greatest Problem?
    Besides, women are squeezed out of their rightful contraception, away from possible emergency abortion and to give births against their will only to fuel the flames of evil, tragedies guaranteed!DrOlsnesLea

    I believe you are mistaken as to the usage of the word "contraception."
  • Joe Biden (+General Biden/Harris Administration)
    6) Reverse every rule, law, directive issued by the Trump's administration. I cannot think of one that is not rotten, obscene, disgusting, and corrupt.tim wood
    Surely this is for lack of trying? Does a broken clock not happen to coincide with a serviceable clock on occasion?
  • Donald Trump (All General Trump Conversations Here)
    No. Men and women who have "been there done that," from war to piece, business and raising families. They know when to be angry and what to be angry at, and to call out evil. Every generation of the accomplished that make it to that age has a claim to being "the greatest." And when they say Trump sucks, that's worth paying attention to.tim wood

    Is someone who has had two kids more trustworthy than someone who had one? What if you're child died when she was four, does that still count? Do Vietnam war vets beat Korean war vets? Does Trump beat the old fella who owns a jewelry shop on the corner?

    Sorry, for being cynical. Well, I'm really not that sorry.
  • Nobel (Woe)Man
    Really? Then wouldn't it make sense that homo sapien females would be produced at a much higher rate than males, and not (roughly) 50/50?
  • Nobel (Woe)Man
    It’s not that genes that allow for some doomed offspring get eliminated, it’s that genes that don’t allow for some non-doomed offspring get eliminated. Males can just make lots of offspring at no cost and let some of them be doomed so long as some others survive. Females can’t make lots of offspring at no cost, so have to be careful that their few offspring do survive.Pfhorrest

    Under the assumption that an increasing population produces no cost to the surviving genes, yes. But because there is cost, even if the cost is significantly less for males than females, it will stimulate the same selection pressure. The existence of a pressure is more significant than its actual degree (given enough time).

    In other words, while a harsher pressure will likely produce population change exponentially quicker than a milder one, in theory over enough time the outcomes should look quite similar.
  • Nobel (Woe)Man
    I think men are crazier than women. Women have 23 chronomome pairs, while men only have 22 pairs. Men have an X & Y with no back up copies (poor things).Wheatley

    I'm quite certain that is inaccurate.
  • Nobel (Woe)Man
    Due to the pressures of natural selection, genes that enable their "gene machines" to reproduce with fated partners do not propagate through the gene pool.Key
  • Nobel (Woe)Man
    Because reproduction is free for a male, and costly and dangerous (and in the worst case, fatal) for a female? From the point of view of spreading their genes, a male has no reason not to reproduce with every female they possibly can. A female can't do that, because pregnancy is taxing, dangerous and you can't do it as often, so you have to give more consideration to who you actually reproduce with; whether they have good genes, whether they're a good parent, and so on.zookeeper

    You seem to be approaching this from an organism-centric model of evolution which has been outdated since at least the mid-70s when Dawkins published "The Selfish Gene" and established gene-centric evolution as the dominant hypothesis.

    Due to the pressures of natural selection, genes that enable their "gene machines" to reproduce with fated partners do not propagate through the gene pool.
  • Nobel (Woe)Man
    I don't follow how being limited to reproducing at one rate or another makes it "[...]more important [...] to be more selective regarding their mating partners[...]"
    Is there a literary work done by an evolutionary biologist you can source?
  • Nobel (Woe)Man
    The common explanation is that there's more variability among men than there is among women. In other words, that the smartest and dumbest are more likely to be found among men. The evolutionary basis for that would be the asymmetrical biology of reproduction which made risk-taking a more favorable strategy for men than women.zookeeper

    Please explain; to my knowledge 50% of genetic material is sourced from both homo sapien parents.
  • Does this prove that God exists only because we decide that he does and we don't want to believe oth


    As far as I can tell, your observation is that the likely origin of the idea of an entity who resides in the dimensions of the unknown is spawned by the very existence of the "unknown." This is nothing new to anyone who has endured philosophy for even a short time; much of what you said in your original post is known in theology as the "god of the gaps" divine fallacy.

    The problem is you use your words in a way which disregards the due process of rationality and builds a very shaky "argument" where one of sufficient persuasion could've more handily been erected.

    I have an almost[?] indisputable explanation regarding[...]BBQueue

    It is a known fact that the first people to define or[...]BBQueue

    Don't tell us; show us.