Ludwig V

I take the point. I may not have stated it accurately enough, but the crucial thing, it seemed to me, is to realize that the limit is part of the defi...

But that's an issue that goes back millennia. A century ago, there was "elan vital" or "Life Force". Before that, it was the "mind", the "soul". Arist...

No, they are not just hormones. The causes of the hormones in the brain and the effects of the hormones in the body, together with their psychological...

Exactly. The contradiction follows from the fact that no final state is defined.

I understand that. What seems important to me is that the convergent series is the result of a calculation which involves 0 and 1, while "0,1, 0, 1, ....

I think you'll find that's because it makes no sense to answer the question. In other words, it also makes no sense to answer the question with "on" o...

You are quite right. Enthusiasts are fascinated by the speculative possibilities and so forget the provisos. It's really quite annoying. That's not ex...

So, the terminal state not being defined does not prevent me defining one arbitrarily? Isn't it the case that there is a requirement - that the termin...

Yes. The exact status of 1 or 0 in these cases is more complicated than I realized. So can you help me to describe the role of 1 in defining the serie...

How could the mind-body problem not be relevant if people are positing that sims might be people (and sometimes asserting that at least some people ar...

Not quite. The code specifies a process which must take time. The function does not. Thank you. I must have got confused.

I'm sorry. I was talking about the convergent series. Didn't check Perhaps not. But if the last term in the series is not defined, contradictions are ...

Temporal priority is not logical priority. Whether a proposition is obvious (self-evident) or (self-evidently) absurd are subjective. There are plenty...

My point is that I think that the disagreement between you and @"fishfry" is about different ways to make the same point. Quite so. Wittgenstein made ...

The contradiction is the result of the fact that there is no criterion set for the final step in your process - i.e., the end state is undefined. Sure...

It seems pretty clear that "same" does not have the same (!) meaning in the context of set theory that it has in the context of the law of identity. H...

Yes, freedom is about possibilities. Prison means that certain possibilities are denied. All of that is true if I am in prison. But what freedom means...

Forgive me - what the "GS"?

I'm sorry if I confused things. I'm happy to take answers from anyone who is moved to provide one. All I was saying is that it makes no difference whe...

Quite so. Can you prove that it is impossible to complete a given recursive function?

For reference:- It's just a day-dream. You can summarize this as "If determinism is true, it would be possible to predict everything". Not very exciti...

I know it is only Wikipedia, but I'm sure that more authoritative references could be found. What is wrong with that?

Nonetheless, it is treating the universe as a closed system.

Oh, I don't think it's as bad as that. No, there are only simulated storms and rain in the simulated world. I'm sorry. I'm afraid I can't re-construct...

There are two issues with this. First, the framework that I have learnt is not bounded, in the sense that it has infinite possiblities within it. Seco...

If you think of some restricted problem, such as the movements of the planets in our solar system, this seems to work. But it treats the solar system ...

The meaning of "dependent" is context-dependent. The dependence of a simulation on its deeper reality is quite different from the dependence of a crea...

I can't respond to all of this. I'll just pick out some remarks for comment. I'll try to respect their context. How do you know they are the right que...

.... and when one analyses it, it is a confused mixture of physical possibility and logical possibility, each of which are coherent on their own. A fi...

Now I'm confused. I thought you didn't know what "metaphysics" means - or what metaphysics is. I'm puzzled now about "natural". If the terminal state ...

You can. But it is the first step into a swamp that sucks you in... But then, you are mired in it anyway, so perhaps it will help to point out that th...

I don't think Berkeley would be pleased. But perhaps that's immaterial.

That could be the beginning of a long argument, which, I guess, would be a trip through very familiar territory. For me, "Apprehended world" and "cogi...

That's right. But there's nothing special about the lamp. It is impossible to complete any action an infinite number of times. I wasn't accurate enoug...

That looks to me like a valid argument to the conclusion that the Thompson lamp is a physical impossibility, because switches and electrical currents ...

I hate to say it, but I would not be able to reject an accusation of "whataboutery" if I tried to change the subject to a general philosophical discus...

We should wear our badge with pride and not let the opposition use it as a term of abuse. I it is a mistake to allow supernaturalists to pretend that ...

I guess that's so. But that would mean that the simulation is a reality of its own, independently of the "real" reality. (As a story has its own logic...

I don't know about "more important", but I agree that this is something that is addressed in all religions, and it is important to people. Yes, of cou...

RCC = Roman Catholic Church? For me, phenomena like personification and our ambivalent (or complicated?) attitude to animals is a clue. The concept of...

Yes. The trouble is that believers wouldn't buy that. They think that God is real, so the problem is to discover and describe him/her/it. I was thinki...

I'm entirely in favour of the project, but, to be honest, I don't think it is worth dying for. I think that's the first time I've encountered anyone o...

Surely, there's no problem about one acting in accordance with one's beliefs and desires (and emotions are an aspect of one's desires). That's what fr...

I think it would be better to stick with the strong claim. At least it is more comprehensible. Yes Kripke does claim that. But he waters down the mean...

At your local metaphysical beer shop, of course. I'm sure Google knows its address and will give you directions. (Shops never stock both metaphysical ...

Quite so. And we know that it is an approximation because we know what more and less accurate or precise measurement is. The exact measure, in the phy...

I expect we'll survive. Thanks for clarifying that. I find it quite hard to remember what everyone's position actually is. It gets lost in all the det...

I still can't find it. I copied the quoted passage into my message, but not the commentary. Which is a pity. There's another strictly philosophical is...

Well, I was accepting the widespread belief that the issue is empirical and trying to think through the consequences. I hope I demonstrated that, as a...

.... apart from a geometrical straight or curved line. I grant you that that is a concept of an abstract, ideal object. I grant you also that such div...