TheMadFool

Despite many experiences to the contrary, directly in our own lives and indirectly through the eyes of others, the one, the greatest, mythical creatur...

If you contradict yourself then everything becomes nonsense.

I could never remember the names and locations of the places I had to pass through on the frequent trips I had to take between my home and my school. ...

W. H. Auden's life was anything but lonely. He had two lovers, a wife and many off the record sexual liaisons. It amazes me how someone who was succes...

I don't know. Perhaps, we don't need to water our love as much as we need to love water.

To be surprised by a coincidence means, somewhere deep down in your heart, you either think or, god forbid, hope, that it's not a coincidence. It's ve...

While I fully endorse the advice that when someone says, "it's obvious that...", it should set off an alarm inside our heads, I can't shake off the fe...

I'm not quite sure about it yet. The probability that X, Y or Z is hallucinating/not hallucinating = 1/2 = 50%. By "not hallucinating" I mean the perc...

Am I in control over everything that matters to me? If no, que sera sera. If yes, are others in control over everything that matters to them? If I am ...

Do you mind explaining a bit more?

I'm unable to clarify any further. I just introduced robots and harm/injury sensors divested from pain into the discussion. Anthropomorphic?

If you identify people by the clothes they wear then aren't you making a mistake? All soldiers and police persons would be the same person by that log...

There must've been a time in your life when you put something in your mouth and immediately spat it out. By the way, where's the contradiction? Sorry....

:chin: ??

So, which godless religion are you referring to?

Well, it would lighten the burden for us but the robot probably won't make it through the day. We don't need the pain. There's no need for and it's pr...

I'm deeply intrigued. To play along with you, what I would like to do is create two lists, the first list containing scientific claims and the second ...

I'm kinda in a receptive mood. So ok.

You're kidding, right? An isolated case doesn't prove anything. Anyway, interesting.

Pain is necessary for survival but only because it's associated with harm (injury). I believe it's possible to cleave these two and sequester harm, di...

Yes, but doesn't it strike you as odd to sing praises about a, well, disease - something we were presumably trying to eradicate before the aliens show...

Yes, that crossed my mind but the disease wasn't all that harmful to humans compared to the alien threat. Isn't that why humans survived to celebrate ...

@"Outlander" @"prothero" I've made a boo-boo. Samuel Lacrampe is correct - the more people reporting a perception, the more likely is the perception t...

Your view on the matter is more realistic, plus the enemy of my enemy is my friend is a shaky foundation to build a healthy relationship on.

Indeed, you're right. However, at the small scale it is true that a common threat unites different groups even those previously hostile to each other....

It's possible to construct a robot with sensors tailored to prevent injury to the robot. The robot isn't conscious like we are but even without it, it...

Indeed they do. Firstly, what exactly do you mean probability of a false perception is 1/10? As I mentioned before, any number other than 1/2 needs to...

Hi. Sorry for the distraction. I'm sure you had better things to do. You might want to take a closer look at what I underlined.

Oh. Thanks for the info. I just remembered something. Many top-notch scientists have publicly confessed about their complete bafflement regarding the ...

Theists can be anti-theists but to the former, a brand new lifestyle would be atheism. Theism is novel.

I might want to start a thread on this. Thanks for reminding me.

That, you must be able to tell, is a contradiction. Not to be confrontational but just curious, why?

Coincidences do occur.

Choice of words is nowhere more important than in philosophy and science. I maybe completely wrong but I've never heard/read the claim "the universe w...

Hand washing was advocated as a highly effective preventive measure against infection in 1847 (173 years ago) by Ignaz Simmelweisz (1818 - 1865). Simp...

This question reminds me of the following, probably fictional, conversation that I'll try my best to recall as accurately as possible. X: Surely, I ca...

No other plot device would be more convincing.

Doesn't that still mean scientists were/are right.

Neil deGrasse Tyson: "Notice that every sci-fi horror flick begins with people ignoring scientists"

I read that. Seems to agree with my assessment of perception but for a different reason.

Humans are killing each other and the odd fact is we are the only extant life forms, apart from sharks, hippopotami, wild bufallo, the occasional croc...

Skepticism is not disprovable or so I hear. All that I wish to show you is our mutual trust in logic and thereby provide a platform for us to work our...

This is the broader issue - that of what the truth is, how we may know it to be so - that emerges from my concerns. Note, however, that my probability...

Yes, it was an argument.

I'm not sure about that.

But the notion of potential transcends what you call "current reality" for potential is always about what could be in the future. Just as a human's po...

:smile: Nothing in me that could hallucinate a man of such charm, wit, eloquence, and experience as yourself. It's impossible for a fool to hallucinat...

Aren't you talking about humans?

Look how we argue (in the logical sense). It reveals what we trust in - logic/reason. Surely then we can rely on logic to come to some agreement on th...

Not necessarily. I sought the help of skepticism just to make the point that it isn't necessarily the case that we need a reason to doubt our percepti...