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TheMadFool

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Isn't this just the fine-tuning argument? You're positing a being (magician) who has meddled with the probabilities and caused the universe into exist...
May 07, 2019 at 02:26
You seem to be saying everything, including the physical, is non-physical since the only window to the world we have is our mind. It's kinda like sayi...
May 06, 2019 at 15:13
Read your reply to Devans99. What is the correct sample space in your opinion?
May 06, 2019 at 15:01
In: Rebirth?  — view comment
I'll point out a paradox in this rebirth issue. As a practising tradition reincarnation/rebirth is part of Buddhism where some unfortunate children ar...
May 06, 2019 at 10:46
Another billion years may be required or, god forbid, the physics that support life may break down in the next instant. I don't know. All I'm saying i...
May 06, 2019 at 10:14
The wheel example is perfect for the occasion. It informs us that the invention-discovery distinction is not as yet clear to us. I mean we're misapply...
May 06, 2019 at 10:10
1/52 I believe. If wrong please correct. Thanks. Yes I understand. A particular phase in the chaos could last billions of years. Just think of it in t...
May 06, 2019 at 09:58
If the time involved was 13.8 billion years (current estimated age of the universe) I'd be very cautious about inferring a better chance for it being ...
May 06, 2019 at 07:36
I'm not a musician. I like music but am not a musician. However, if I were to sit in front of a piano and press the keys at random long enough I'm sur...
May 06, 2019 at 03:31
One way could be by measuring the impact of given theorem in terms of application, practical or theoretical. Consider a theorem x. If it's applicable ...
May 06, 2019 at 03:06
Perhaps there's some truth in drugs augmenting the mental faculty. I knew somebody who claimed it helped him be creative in problem solving and he was...
May 06, 2019 at 02:58
Dangerously close to it; not to mention the fact that it closes all inquiry since the non-physical, by definition, can't be investigated in anyway. Th...
May 06, 2019 at 02:53
It's very confusing. The basic human desire, hopefully, is to understand. Maybe I'm being elitist by claiming so, afterall many people are happy to li...
May 05, 2019 at 09:48
I was just pointing out a counterexample to what was being inferred. Another thing is I remember @"unenlightened" contradicting such inferences in Psy...
May 05, 2019 at 09:24
I think the data and inference don't amount to much. Possibly the fallacy of oversimplified cause. I can think of one of the worst ''adverse childhood...
May 05, 2019 at 08:25
The brains's function (thinking) deserves special treatment is something I agree with, mainly because it hasn't yet been explicated well and understan...
May 05, 2019 at 08:10
I'm not saying you're wrong but I'm afraid there's no good alternative to religion given our present condition. I'm particularly concerned about the l...
May 05, 2019 at 07:06
:up: That's correct. Reminds me of @"Devans99"'s thread: Bottle Imp Paradox. The risk or danger is closer with human euthanasia than animal euthanasia...
May 05, 2019 at 06:16
Religion has its ills, I agree. It's exasperating to hear of people hurting and killing each other in the name of God. This is especially true now wit...
May 04, 2019 at 16:38
That seems reasonable.
May 04, 2019 at 16:26
What about an alternative to religion that isn't another religion?
May 04, 2019 at 14:26
Welcome. Astronomy (the science) evolved from astrology (the superstition). Flying machines were once mythical. I guess I'm saying the alternative to ...
May 04, 2019 at 14:23
Name me an alternative to religion that has a good side?
May 04, 2019 at 14:17
Humans will always find reasons to kill his fellow human being. Religion, has been/is/will be used to license horrible acts BUT it, simultaneously, en...
May 04, 2019 at 13:58
I've done a lot of stupid stuff in my life. Even now, after reaching some form of mental maturity, I can still opt to be irrational e.g. I can say som...
May 04, 2019 at 13:13
:up: Thanks. That comes very close to what I had in mind.
May 04, 2019 at 13:07
Thanks. Realized that after I made the post. Was hoping it'd slip by. Anyway, I don't think we can use the existence of abstraction as an argument aga...
May 04, 2019 at 13:04
Well, examining my own thoughts, whether it's real/illusory, I can choose to be illogical or deny myself the best option in a situation. In other word...
May 04, 2019 at 10:36
Philosophers and drugs Do you see any breakthroughs?
May 04, 2019 at 08:32
That there are certain patterns to the interaction of matter and that these patterns can be described mathematically doesn't undermine physicalism. Ph...
May 04, 2019 at 07:07
Hedonism is a philosophy and but philosophy is not all about pleasure is it?
May 04, 2019 at 06:03
Euthanasia is still controversial among humans. Yet we do it with little resistance in animals. I wonder why?
May 03, 2019 at 17:20
Well, the relevant point to make here is that causality is a pattern in the world at a human scale i.e. the world we experience through our naked sens...
May 03, 2019 at 16:58
I heard this somewhere I can't remember: 1. Pleasure is a drug 2. Medicine is bitter What do you make of that?
May 03, 2019 at 15:58
Hmmm...Are you sure about this? Isn't a torus a donut? What's a 4D torus? Sorry for repeating the question but I'd really like to know how you reconci...
May 03, 2019 at 07:20
A picture would help.
May 03, 2019 at 07:08
Nothing lasts forever?! We, at least I, had a beginning and will die at some point.
May 03, 2019 at 06:49
Thanks for asking that question. I don't think denying determinism/causality automatically leads us to randomness. A non-determined system that isn't ...
May 03, 2019 at 06:46
I hope we can do it - build an AI. I'm a bit worried about how they'll treat it though - imprisonment for life probably.
May 03, 2019 at 06:11
I don't think such a view is as incoherent as opposing views are speculative. If rationality is maintained evidence is a priority and that's what's la...
May 03, 2019 at 06:05
While I can't rule out such a thing completely we only have to compare fish to something that we're quite ''sure'' doesn't have sentience: computers. ...
May 03, 2019 at 05:56
Difficult to understand but ok.
May 02, 2019 at 13:23
This seems paradoxical: eternal and finite.
May 02, 2019 at 13:13
I see. Perhaps being uncaused has its own set of problems. Yet, I feel that to be completely free we must be, somehow, unaffected by causation but sti...
May 02, 2019 at 12:51
How about the set of odd numbers? We can count it as so: 1 one, 3 two, 5 three, 7 four, and so on. I don't see how quantification such as I described ...
May 02, 2019 at 11:54
Sorry to butt in like this but I think the correct term is interminable and not unmeasurable. The difference is that the former captures infinity as a...
May 02, 2019 at 10:46
Artificial intelligence is an attempt to close the gap between man and machine. I don't know if silicon will do the job because I'm not quite sure if ...
May 02, 2019 at 09:55
Does this have something to do with Godel's incompleteness theorems? Reminds me of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle - basically that we can have onl...
May 02, 2019 at 09:49
What would define a mind? Is it simply information processing? A fish can do that. Is it some form of self-awareness? A fish probably can't do that.
May 02, 2019 at 08:37