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Actually, your quote is generally attributed to The Philosophical Writings of Niels Bohr, David Mermin, notes that when reviewing the three volumes of...
March 11, 2018 at 09:23
People seem to be arguing across each other because of a failure to distinguish between morality (maxims, or duties), ethics (how we work out what max...
March 11, 2018 at 07:57
I find it absolutely bizarre that people are advocating drawing a distinction between some realms of science (like vaccinations) and some metaphysical...
March 11, 2018 at 07:45
If a man is poor and he obtains a huge loan to be replayed a 400% interest in 100 year's time, is he now rich?
March 01, 2018 at 09:53
Racist bullshit. INVOICE for 1763 June Levy, Trent and Company: Account against the Crown, Aug. 13, 1763 "To Sundries got to Replace in kind those whi...
March 01, 2018 at 08:34
In: Belief  — view comment
Come on, a cursory glance over my argument will show that's not the case, you're just being disingenuous for effect. If it's come to that I've really ...
March 01, 2018 at 08:11
Sorry, I'm from England, we would never do anything as impolite as making somebody else's cheese! And now I hear () that engineers aren't that smart a...
March 01, 2018 at 07:48
Saw that coming.
February 28, 2018 at 22:55
Indeed, well said.
February 28, 2018 at 17:09
Why, because Jordan Peterson (a known capitalist supporter) says it is? Shall we see what butchers think of the rise of vegetarianism next?
February 28, 2018 at 16:46
No, go to the Global Terrorist database and search over a specific time frame, for a specific type of terrorist attack and you will find more attacks ...
February 28, 2018 at 16:44
The per capita consumption of mozzarella cheese over the last decade matches almost exactly the rise in the number of civil engineering doctorates awa...
February 28, 2018 at 16:38
Let's try another one. The tests being referred to here are done in late teenage years. Again, no one on the left is saying that men and women have ho...
February 28, 2018 at 16:25
No, all the capitalist societies that we currently have are more favourable places to currently live than any of the communist societies we have ever ...
February 28, 2018 at 16:20
In: Belief  — view comment
I don't think we're going to make any progress here. We agree that human language is worlds away from other animals, you think that distance is so sig...
February 28, 2018 at 13:20
Yes, notice the Scandinavian countries are not involved in the first study you cited, probably to give the others a chance.
February 28, 2018 at 13:06
I don't think I referred to either as 'scientific' theories. Although I'm not sure that would matter. I have quite a broad definition of what constitu...
February 28, 2018 at 10:05
So now I'm confused. Are you saying the the idea we do not have free-will or that the 'self' is an illusion is not a theory?
February 28, 2018 at 08:41
'Suggest' is listed in my thesaurus as a synonym for 'posit', so I'm not sure what the distinction is you're making here, perhaps you could clarify wh...
February 28, 2018 at 08:00
In: Belief  — view comment
How different do you consider the Met Office's Cray XC40 supercomputer (capable of over 14,000 trillion arithmetic operations per second, containing a...
February 28, 2018 at 07:39
I'm not trying to impose a law, I simply said that I didn't think it was "horrific", whether is it either practical or necessary is another question. ...
February 28, 2018 at 07:14
In: Belief  — view comment
I can find the papers for you when I am back in the office tomorrow morning, but if you studied the matter, you must at least be familiar with predato...
February 27, 2018 at 20:19
I would say 12. There is limited research in the area, but what little there is tends to show that children from the age of 11ish are by-and-large cap...
February 27, 2018 at 16:19
As is the case with the vast majority of 16 year olds. Who are nonetheless disenfranchised. And being a certain age is? I'm not arguing here in favour...
February 27, 2018 at 13:35
I don't understand your argument here. You're saying that age is not entirely arbitrary, but no-one is suggesting that IQ tests are entirely arbitrary...
February 27, 2018 at 13:21
I expect a five year old could register and choose. I think you're missing the point here. Some kind of test of intellect is being applied in deciding...
February 27, 2018 at 11:28
In: Belief  — view comment
Yes, don't let's allow evidence to get in the way of our opinions, I must have forgotten where I was for a minute.
February 27, 2018 at 11:07
It's almost as if religious people are just making this stuff up.
February 27, 2018 at 10:11
Right, so did the Native Americans generously hand over the land and then voluntarily wipe out three quarters of their own population? If you've actua...
February 27, 2018 at 09:56
No, the whole of America was stolen from the Native Americans, so every single non-native (and many natives) is trading in stolen property. The entire...
February 27, 2018 at 09:03
No it doesn't. Land, water, air, natural resources are all either "common" assets or taken by force. Unless you are advocating taking possession of th...
February 27, 2018 at 08:52
Good, that was the intention I think. If you're going to spout some racist bullshit dressed up as some socio-political theory, then you'd best be prep...
February 27, 2018 at 08:43
Because without it being incontrovertible, it is you who are attempting to shut down debate. If it's not incontrovertible, then it is just informed op...
February 27, 2018 at 08:26
In: Belief  — view comment
Try; Mitchell, Robert W.; Thompson, Nicholas S. (1986). Deception, Perspectives on Human and Nonhuman Deceit. Byrne, R.; Whiten. A. (1991). Computatio...
February 27, 2018 at 08:19
WTF! Who put you in charge of what things are proscribed by natural law?
February 27, 2018 at 08:06
Absolutely, I personally know a couple with a twenty one year age gap, a ex-student and a teacher at college. They are happily married and have been f...
February 27, 2018 at 07:54
Far more lasting than an unwanted pregnancy? I really don't think you'd have any psychologist back you up on that assertion.
February 27, 2018 at 07:51
Right, so your argument is that the age of consent should stay where it is because you "as a parent" want it there. Well I "as a parent" don't. That's...
February 27, 2018 at 07:50
In: Belief  — view comment
It is supported by strong arguments. 20 years of scientific research into animal communication. Thousands of recordings analysed and matched to very s...
February 27, 2018 at 07:33
Absolutely, that;s why I am always (well...usually) careful to make the claim that "There are evidence-based theories which suggest that free-will and...
February 27, 2018 at 07:18
Here he's providing his opinion on what makes an observation meaningful, he's not making anything like the claim you're making, that concious observat...
February 27, 2018 at 07:11
Of course it does. We've agreed that there are circumstances under which the morality of killing of an innocent person needs to be justified. The very...
February 26, 2018 at 17:48
Right, so it is either untrue to say that all killing of another person is automatically murder, or untrue to say that all murder is automatically mor...
February 26, 2018 at 17:31
So is euthanasia murder?
February 26, 2018 at 17:00
And to think I wasted so much time in long ethical debates in my career. I wish I'd just come and asked you first.
February 26, 2018 at 16:41
What's that got to do with it? No one's talking about murder.
February 26, 2018 at 16:38
No, I absolutely agree with objective morality, but you have not demonstrated objectively that once a thing has been identified as a human being it is...
February 26, 2018 at 16:08
"Of course the introduction of the observer must not be misunderstood to imply that some kind of subjective features are to be brought into the descri...
February 26, 2018 at 12:47
Very insightful comment. I hadn't thought of it like that.
February 26, 2018 at 11:42
Well I'd agree, but the only contender might be biological, which is also evidenced by study of ancient remains. How were you imagining we might appro...
February 26, 2018 at 11:18