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Agent Smith

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If atheism is fallibilistic + probabilistic, I have no issues. It's just that some/most atheists don't make that aspect of their position explicit. He...
April 06, 2022 at 15:05
Oh! So, we assume no connection between God and existence (H0) and then try to disprove that assumption i.e. prove that there's a connection between G...
April 06, 2022 at 14:57
I wasn't clear enough then. Let's say we're going to assess whether a certain phenomenon (p) has a reason or not. I first think of a list of possible ...
April 06, 2022 at 12:53
You're too quick to pass judgment. The precision is there, it's just that your way of looking at math (without infinity and infinitesimals) doesn't al...
April 06, 2022 at 12:47
You got me! Just a hunch. Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris seem happy and late Christopher Hitchens seemed most pleased with how he rocked ...
April 06, 2022 at 11:34
Well, this is hard to explain. I'll give it my best shot. Suppose there are things that happen for no rhyme or reason. How would we know? We'll have u...
April 06, 2022 at 11:32
Can you please expand and elaborate on the Null Hypothesis. Is it like assuming there's no God and then making an attempt to prove God's existence, fa...
April 06, 2022 at 11:10
How much of meaning do we depend on the divine for? Atheists seem as happy as theists if not more. Where is that void in the hearts of unbelievers tha...
April 06, 2022 at 10:51
I never could wrap my head around the claim that atheism is a lack of belief and therefore, these very same atheists go on to say, the onus probandi f...
April 06, 2022 at 10:46
:up:
April 06, 2022 at 10:32
As emancipate pointed out, one possibility is the PSR's axiomatic. However, I suspect there are empirical grounds for the PSR: at a minimum, 99% of th...
April 06, 2022 at 09:55
Originality is not something I'm known for. Plus, why reinvent the wheel. Tried and tested theories are preferrable to novel ideas that haven't been v...
April 06, 2022 at 09:30
:fire: https://youtu.be/OWwOJlOI1nU https://youtu.be/MF9SBT3ozxs
April 06, 2022 at 08:44
April 06, 2022 at 08:18
Really? What seems to be the issue with my position?
April 06, 2022 at 08:17
What's so different about a terrified woman trying to prove to disbelieving cops that there's an invisible man who's framing her and a priest claiming...
April 06, 2022 at 08:11
Everybody has a picture of the life they want to live and compares that to the life they're living. That's normal, rare are those for whom the two are...
April 06, 2022 at 07:25
I was thinking more along the lines of... and and Chance as a manifestation of God. God intervenes by manipulating chance. The objective? Probably not...
April 06, 2022 at 06:59
:up:
April 06, 2022 at 06:44
I concur, the light that once was, of some metaphors, has clearly gone out. Panta rhei: it's an ineluctable consequence of the larger process of chang...
April 06, 2022 at 06:44
Yep, I remember how I tried to modernize Plato's Allegory of the Cave and simply couldn't find anything in today's world that could replace "shadows" ...
April 06, 2022 at 06:11
Indeed! Maybe metaphors occur as systems e.g., I juat found out, theatrical metaphors ("All the world's a stage..."; Shakesepeare) could limit one's u...
April 06, 2022 at 06:03
Metaphors are, as presented in the OP, basically analogies - comparing one thing to another, emphasizing how they resemble each other (so much). The p...
April 06, 2022 at 05:51
Immanuel Kant, if accounts of him are accurate, was averse to God as traditionally understood, an idea we could mentally manipulate with the aid of lo...
April 06, 2022 at 05:19
Sam Harris: Mostly focuses on the ills of religion (terrorism, oppression of women, and so on) Christopher Hitchens: Ditto Daniel Dennett: Haven't see...
April 06, 2022 at 05:11
Gandhi demonstrated the falsity of the ol' adage fight fire with fire. Violence has a tendency to spiral out of control i.e. it eventually devolves in...
April 06, 2022 at 05:03
All I'm saying is, it just dawned on me, alcohol (and tobacco) is/are (a) WMD(s)s, you just don't realize it. Like nuclear power, it has its pros (man...
April 06, 2022 at 04:47
I did come across that view before; it was Socrates/Plato/Aristotle who said that the body is a prison for the soul, trapping us in the imitation, fla...
April 06, 2022 at 04:25
It's a tough call. What should I do? Treat nonsense as philosophy or give up philosophy altogether. These are the two choices that are available, oui?
April 06, 2022 at 04:09
:lol: God is a conspiracy theory, oui? There's an invisible, bearded ol' fogey who's pulling all the strings - we're mere puppets and YHWH is the pupp...
April 06, 2022 at 03:59
So, 1. Information is fundamental to your philosophy. 2. Your aim is to develop a framework or system that allows you to make sense of the world and n...
April 06, 2022 at 03:49
Read a book baker, preferrably one that doesn't end with the deaths of all the characters.
April 05, 2022 at 20:32
I dunno why you're trying to say alcohol is not (that) bad, at least not as bad as a WMD. It (alcohol) does have a soothing effect though and soldiers...
April 05, 2022 at 20:31
Not all stories end in physical death. Exciting stuff happen before we cross the river Styx.
April 05, 2022 at 20:20
Thanks for SMART, smarty pants.
April 05, 2022 at 19:59
Yup. I was thinking more in terms of exhilarating stuff that happen before we kick the bucket.
April 05, 2022 at 19:58
You're a perfectionist and so the mathematics of infinity and infinitesimals won't make any sense to you.
April 05, 2022 at 19:53
Would you say the following is an accurate characterization of your Both/And Principle.? Theism: God Atheist: No God Deist: Yes God but not in the the...
April 05, 2022 at 19:50
Goals! I recall a video clip in which Daniel Bonevac (philosopher) claims that a goal-oriented mindset may not be the best way to live life. Did he me...
April 05, 2022 at 11:26
:lol: Not in the least sense interested in the live fast, die young crowd, eh? Look at how Mayflies live (life expectancy 5 mins for females - 2 days ...
April 05, 2022 at 11:22
In: Belief  — view comment
All delusions are beliefs. That, to me, is the nub of the issue.
April 05, 2022 at 10:01
:up: I like what you did there. Declare a variable (x) and delineate its functions (job description). The audience is free to assign any value to x. G...
April 05, 2022 at 08:40
Life is, much to my dismay, one helluva funny joke! My suffering, alas, all for nought! We're straw dogs (chogou) in front of the Tao! X: We need to h...
April 05, 2022 at 08:05
Weapons are ambiguous in that they can be used both for defense and offense. This rather simple fact underpins the rationale of the arms race. Don't f...
April 05, 2022 at 07:30
Well, if we view philosophy as simply a conversation, then it doesn't matter much whether we agree or not, right? If, on the other hand, we deem philo...
April 05, 2022 at 06:15
:up: This takes us back to what Wittgenstein said about ostensive definitions. Suppose X has the "essential" features a, b, c. I point to a coupla ins...
April 05, 2022 at 05:48
Well, I could never wrap my head around Wittgenstein's "meaning is use" statement. How does one explain the overlap zones that aren't empty? People ha...
April 05, 2022 at 05:13
Disjunction instead of Conjunction? Yeah, that explains a lot, but, sadly, it amounts to violating the rules of good definitions (as a list of suffici...
April 05, 2022 at 05:10
Can I get back to you later. Thanks. Have a good day.
April 05, 2022 at 04:42
Polysemy is necessary, our memory can't handle so many words as there would've been if it were not a feature of human language. Ambiguity, a result of...
April 05, 2022 at 04:41