TheMadFool

The rat example is perfect. People, like the poor rat, will do anything for pleasure, even dying just so that they can get that last microgram of dopa...

The only reason not to plug into the experience machine is if there's a non-hedonic reason not to do so. What could this non-hedonic reason be? J S Mi...

:up:

I disagree with 1. As for 2, all I'm going to say is that there's no need to posit something non-physical

So, you agree that there's nothing wrong with materialism then? After all, the way you argued your position, everything depended on explanations havin...

This reminds me of what I've been considering regarding the refutation of materialism with arguments like Mary's room. An explanation of something is ...

Unreasonable because the very idea behind the cogito ergo sum argument is the possibility of reality being an illusion. All Descartes could do was pro...

What's so special about "redness"? If materialism is true then it's nothing more than the neurons connected to a certain subcategory of retinal cones ...

What is this "intrinsic nature of consciousness"? Also, once the "how" has been answered, the explanation of consciousness in terms of the physical is...

Presumably all conscious aspects that were evoked by EBS were 1st person experiences related to the experimenters by the subject. My earlier post notw...

You should have a look at Electrical Brain Stimulation (EBS) if EBS shows anything it's that many aspects of what we call consciousness can be elicite...

Well, I meant to point out that the existence of Martin Heidegger is not necessary. Anything else wasn't implied in my statement. I probably should've...

If anyone is being inconsistent then it's probably you. A contingent thing maybe created by a contingent being.

When someone brings up the issue of language games when discussing a philosophical issue, I'm led to believe that that amounts to dismissing it as a n...

Sad but true or should I be saying true but sad. On what should I lay the emphasis on? On truth, on sadness, both or neither? Perhaps this is the wron...

Well, I thought it invalidated philosophies built around certain words that lacked an essence, the very thing philosophy seems to be about.

So I was correct in thinking you're concerned about the meaning of the word "consciousness" in a Wittgensteinian sense. Is the idea of language games ...

Thanks for the link. I wonder which of them actually got it right? Confucius was about resistance, the Buddha was about avoidance, and Lao Tze was abo...

Why do you say that? Anyway, going back to what you said earlier, intelligent life may not be the primary objective of photochemical seeding of habita...

I would've liked to take the Democritean Abderitan attitude but Heraclitean melancholy prevents me from doing so.

You're correct in that intelligent life may not be the desired end of photochemical seeding of exoplanets by advanced aliens. Nonetheless, if intellig...

Seriously, if we can master photochemistry and break the code of life-generating EM waves we could colonize other planets both within and without the ...

Let's discuss this "public" meaning then. Do you find this "public" definition of consciousness deficient/incorrect/misleading (or all of the above) o...

To answer this question in a way that makes sense of our unwillingness to accept suicide despite it being justifiable we need to view the issue from t...

For the moment if we make an effort to avoid the point of view that leads to solipsisim and confine ourselves to common sense, there is little doubt a...

I don't see how words can be evidence of mind/consciousness.

A universe without rules/laws doesn't entail a contradiction. Ergo, such a universe is possible but we're not in one. A thing to note is that a univer...

Interesting point of view, although it doesn't seem to be new in the field of consciousness. If I'm correct William James is positing parallel evoluti...

I'm curious to know how. In what sense do you make that assertion? Clearly, from a certain angle it's a contradiction but you probably have something ...

I think it's the opposite. If the universe were finite then every known possible configuration of particles, including computers and their various arr...

I don't know how politics works but the words "law of non contradiction" as used in (some) paraconsistent logical systems is like the word "government...

The whole thing reminds me of the political entity we so fondly call "government" of, say, the USA. At the end of every term, the entire team that is ...

To say that a contradiction is true implies the following: 1. The definition of the AND logical connective is different from that in classical logic b...

Is it possible that as the error is reduced, the accuracy of predictions also increases commensurably? If yes then doesn't it imply, at least in a the...

I suppose determinism/indeterminism has significance only to the extent that it bears on human freedom (free will). One problem with the notion of fre...

You're basing your argument on error. Do you mean that if there were no error, the physicist would know where each ball will land? If yes, then determ...

A couple of things... 1. Consciousness, in a very broad sense, is about awareness, awareness of the outer (all things except the self) and the inner (...

Unfortunately, I'm working with fragments, bits and pieces, of information. I can't assist you as much as I'd like. I can't quite get it right when it...

One example of something being conceivable but impossible is FTL (faster than light) speed - a favorite leitmotif of sci-fi, clearly conceived of (con...

As far as I can tell, Nagel made a big deal of consciousness being just too subjective to be objectivity-friendly. Since proofs are objective in chara...

Let me get this straight. In reference to a mathematical conjecture like the Collatz one, you mean to say, that there are two conceivable outcomes (th...

:up: Thanks. Sorry if it seemed like I was trolling. I couldn't troll anyone as efficiently and as expertly as I troll myself.

Firstly, I admit that I used the word "simple" in reference to understanding but only to characterize its nature as not something magical and beyond t...

Are you suggesting that Gettier problems are based on intuition rather than rational analysis? Gettier doesn't seem to have shared that sentiment as t...

You've failed to notice your own pattern. I never claimed understanding as simple. I said it's computable. I never brought up the notion of simplicity...

@"ssu" Made some changes according to the information you provided A back of the envelope calculation suggests that a solution for overpopulation coul...

:chin:

:smile: I've made it amply clear what understanding means to me. It simply involves 2 things: 1. Connect symbols to referents (computable). Even Googl...

Arguably, to say that Smith lacks knowledge, Gettier needs a theory of knowledge based on which he can make such a claim, no? What's this theory is al...

In other words, it's implied, you feel understanding is uncomputable i.e. there is "something special" about it and for that reason is beyond a comput...