Metaphysician Undercover

Try it! Most respectable pizza parlours now offer it as an unlisted "special order" toping. It's a must, to stay competitive, just like pineapple. Ask...

The problem though, as I've read, is that this "moving apart" can be much faster than the speed of light. And since the motion of objects is limited b...

All the points I have been making are trivial, accept the point about JS's denial. The indicated problems are trivial, but denying that a trivial prob...

However, I don't think it is proper to call this "motion" because the activity known as spatial expansion is not consistent with our conceptions of "m...

What makes you think that I believe myself to be making a really important statement? That's an unjustified conclusion, and this is the lounge. I am a...

As a 'good lovin man' (Zappa) once said "keep it greasey so it'll go down easy". Merry Christmas!

From past experience, Gallo has problems, but MD20 is a delight, and Night Train is a close second. But I'll wait for the professionals to sample and ...

I don't brag about owning titles. If I was charging you a fee for my work I would show you credentials so that you'd feel confident in paying me. But ...

Most people appreciate having the gaps in their thought pointed out to them, that's a sign of healthy intellectualism, and the route to self-improveme...

Looks like "giving comfort" to me. No?

Thanks for the brief organic chemistry lesson. Umami? That's new to me. Many esters there? The evolution of our understanding of sensation, and the co...

An expression of strong feelings says much in the silent language. Do I detect a hint of social rejection, detachment?

In my experience the best eggnog is prepared in advance, and left to rot, (age? season? ferment? who knows?) in the fridge for at least a month. Usual...

All I'm talking about here, is what science does not know. I have no pretense of holding the solutions to these unknowns. Therefore it looks like I re...

Good idea! Time for you to read a bit ,instead of spouting your mouth off in ignorance. Regardless of whether you hold the degree you claim, it's neve...

Zeno's paradoxes involve problems with the human understanding (misunderstanding) of the relationship between time and space, which creates the appear...

I think this conversation has pretty much run its course. Thank you very much, I enjoyed it. I think it is a mistake to exclude the internet world fro...

The issue here is not the relationship between you and I, rather it is an issue of how Jaded Scholar and I both relate to some current problems of phy...

I complained about JS's use of ad hominem, which is abundant throughout the post, everywhere. The muppet comment I could not even grasp so it has no b...

It's really not a matter of having someone who would "miss you". For most people, if someone they are acquainted with dies, it has an affect on them. ...

I don't see your point Bylaw. Acting for one's own interests with disregard for the hurt it will cause to others is what selfishness is, whether or no...

I will happily fulfill your expectations. Your separation of maths from the mathematicians who practise the art, is a premise I cannot accept. Further...

We're talking about the hurt to others which suicide causes. For example, people who know the person who carries out the act often feel a sense of bla...

Sponge toffee, delicious, tastes like burnt sugar and gets stuck in your teeth.

Well, the method of music was important to Fosse, so I'm sure it entered his dramas. Writing allows one to talk to people without giving them the capa...

This is why I said it is hurtful, because it is a "communicative act". It conveys something to others, and that is hurt. And I said that it is inheren...

I do not think that one can correctly separate interpretation of meaning by pattern, and meaning by context. The two are too deeply intertwined, and u...

Then you gave the example, of the sun not rising tomorrow as something which appeared to be physically impossible, but isn't really physically impossi...

Well, yes, he felt uncomfortable, but notice that this is referred to in the past tense. "I have been afraid that I, in this way, may have contributed...

This would explain why you haven't addressed the point I made. Your example serves to demonstrate that your presumption of "what is physically impossi...

When you say, "what may be ... physically impossible", all you are doing is signifying a possibility. So the use of "impossible" carries no weight, ha...

If he feels comfortable in it, then he does not feel guilt. Feeling guilt is a matter of knowing oneself to have done wrong and it is an uneasy feelin...

What I called "corruption" is a part of the way that a relation between the artist and the "others" is established, and I think it is a necessary part...

This is what I don't understand. How can you accept the modal distinctions based in the present, and the psychological distinction between past and fu...

Consider the fine line between simply giving the audience what they've said they wanted, and showing the audience what they want, and giving that to t...

On your advice, I've read the speech, and will provide some suggestions of interpretation for you. To begin with, and in general the speech is loaded ...

I think what was required is that you better explain yourself. What I explained to you is that I could not make sense of your description of real poss...

Sorry Janus, I just cannot follow you. It seems like we must each have a completely different idea of what "real possibilities" means. I do not see ho...

I was trying to be careful not to provoke sensitivities, so most likely I was not actually doing either of those two. I was just trying to find a way ...

There's a word for that, it's Xmas.

I would be careful not to attempt this type of wide ranging generalization. It's bound to be flawed induction. There is clearly many different factors...

The supposedly unanswerable question was, "whether there are real possibilities that never become actual or whether all real possibilities are determi...

Put predictions aside for a moment. How would you deal with possibilities in the sense of "it is possible for me to do X, and possible for me to do Y"...

The new Americans (Europeans who overran everything) now know that the "rain follows the plow" theory is false, and that this part of North America is...

I don't see why you would say this is unanswerable. If there is real possibilities then many do not ever become actual, otherwise they would not be re...

Also known as The Dust Bowl, depicted in The Grapes of Wrath.

Yeah I know, but the imagery of the metaphor works better to talk about "planes of existence" rather than lines of existence. The representation of th...

"Two genres", I like that. The main criticism with this, or difference I would request, is that I would replace "rational" and "imaginative" with "tru...

I wonder what a cloud of uncertainty looks like. There's something essential missing from this perspective. What is the case, is that we do not in any...

How can you just leave me standing Alone in a world so cold? Prince: "When Doves Cry"