TheMadFool

Right! Taking x to mean apples, y to mean dollars, we get the equation for the hypotenuse (5 units) to be (3x)^2 + (4y)^2 = 5^2 which becomes 9x^2 + 1...

Firstly, how can that be? Consider the much bandied about term, worldline in the theory of relativity. If time were the x-axis and space the y-axis th...

If the mind can be reduced to chemistry and physics, there is no obstacle in the scientific study of the mind. Of all that is mind, emotions seem more...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortical_homunculus#/media/File%3ASide-black.gif Cortical homunculus (look it up) Language has something to do with th...

Do you mean the pleasure of having sex is the same as the pleasure of saving a person's life and if given a choice between them, you'd not have a pref...

:chin: If we abandon a definite earliest moment it maybe possible to say that, by sufficient reason, "it all" had an atemporal cause notwithstanding "...

Well, the answer to this question is best given from a utilitarian moral perspective, keeping in mind its hedonistic principle that happiness has intr...

To create an illusion is much much easier than creating the real. You seem to think that the illusion is an add-on feature to the real world, thus mak...

My two cents: To look good is not an easy task. I've seen men and women spending a considerable amount of time and money to make themselves more attra...

:up: :ok:

Sorry, these are my personal thoughts on reality and I have no texts to refer you to. Each time one feels one has "awakened" it implies that what one ...

:up: Thanks possibly... There's nothing that precludes two or more people having the same dream - such dreams would be consistent but still not real. ...

Having reread the OP it seems I got the wrong end of the stick. Sorry. I forgot to address the Principle of Parsimony adequately. My apologies. I real...

You seem to cast a wide net, into topics I'm not familiar with but if one were to try and establish a hierarchy for cause, change, and time then, in m...

:sad: I hope it's because the subject matter is tough, requiring more knowledge and experience than I have.

I could accept that as a possibility.

I don't see your point at all :chin:

No, they don't. Electric current is analog but a computer is digital. The same maybe true of the brain: neurotransmitter concentrations are analog but...

:chin: What do you mean?

The two of you are saying that there are analog processes involved in thinking. However, these analog processes are irrelevant because what counts her...

If what you say is true then evil is, quite possibly, the cause of suffering.

Ethics vs Morality Quite different from the link contents I believe ethics is the study of morality and morality is about what is right and wrong. The...

Let me get this straight. You seem to be saying that what you call collective hallucinations are documented facts and that they contradict the Princip...

If you ask me, radical skepticism subsumes the problem of collective hallucination: the Cartesian demon rules over all sensory perceptions, whether il...

:chin: I suspected my physics was off. How do you explain red sunsets then?

I did mention that if discrete data are sufficiently close in value then, it will appear analog. Taking that to its logical conclusion we'd have to sa...

@"Possibility" Generality is different to vagueness. The former (generality) is based off of similarities in a class of objects and this isn't true of...

To a novice like myself, the philosophical landscape is riddled with traps. Indeed Descartes' existence couldn't be doubted while he was alive but any...

What would such an argument look like? Cartesian doubt, doubt in extremis, led to the certainty of Descartes' existence. Perhaps we may doubt external...

Yes, but not because there is no objective reality. Let's just say the fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves. Fallibilism, yes.

Knowledge consists of propositions that are justified and justification lends to such propositions the quality we're discussing, to wit objectivity. S...

Is there no contradiction? We're more or less opposed in our views; let's suppose we contradict each other. Does it make sense then there could be som...

What means you by reference point? :chin:

The fact that truth can be distorted underpins the idea of objectivity. The wikipedia article cites perception, emotion and imagination as possible ca...

but the elephant is definitely not just the trunk.

You're putting the cart befor the horse. Moods are caused and as far as pessimism is concerned, certain, to put it mildly, "unsavory" facts of our wor...

Of course he did but an elephant is not a tubular structure. He failed to see the trunk was only half the picture. Note, they were given an elephant a...

Then in what sense were the blind gentlemen failing to see the truth were it not for the fact that they didn't recognize the elephant? :chin:

:up: :clap: I was just wondering...the truth here is the entire elephant which, in my view, represents the coherent whole. So, do the various branches...

@"Coben" Thank you all for your comments. I'm in a bit of a bind here. Allow me to explain 1. If the brain is digital then each perception and each th...

I know :sad:

It seems it's possible to favor Croatians even if the Croatians are at each other's throats. :chin: (no offense to Croatians and anyway it isn't true)...

Sorry, couldn't catch what you were getting at. My main concern is simply if a digital system can handle analog data. Kindly have a look at the follow...

:ok: :up:

Time is not observable in the way change is: the latter (change) instantiates continuously in the world we inhabit and is perceivable through our sens...

Indeed, if a discourse involves the special/technical meaning of a word and if you fail to use that word correctly then, it'll be a pointless affair -...

To say Croatia isn't the same as Croatians is a distinction without a difference.

That's a good suggestion. Thanks. I had my doubts about using the term "essentialism" but in defense of my usage of the term, I'd say, for example, pe...

How?

:ok: :up: