Study-leave is a paid leave for 2-4 years to get a degree, MS or PhD. So you're basically employed by the university but studying to get your degree. ...
Umm, both school and work I guess -- it's really hard to distinguish between the two when you are on study-leave. : ) They're mostly about energy/powe...
Wow, that was comprehensive. : ) I've just finished taking breakfast and morning bath at around 1:47pm local time. Stayed up all night until 3am earli...
US is the largest exporter of 'defense' equipment. No wonder they are very supportive of military 'partnerships' with the world -- war sustains their ...
Might be relevant (on hacking on a much larger scale): The real story of Stuxnet http://spectrum.ieee.org/telecom/security/the-real-story-of-stuxnet I...
I was around 25 years old when I started to inquire deeper into the question of life's purpose. I'm pretty much contented with the necessities of life...
Interesting. Now that you mention it, maybe human behavior in the internet can provide a good working model on how social norms in a new community dev...
I recall having read this article before on power politics in countries with significant Muslim populations: http://archive.frontpagemag.com/readArtic...
Yep, go big or go home. Giving a bit of food or alms would send the wrong signals. I agree, but again, the decision is on a case to case basis and one...
It may not haunt us but it may haunt others (more) in the end, increasing the overall suffering. One can only act in good faith if one decides that it...
Feeling compassion is one thing and usually a prerequisite. Acting on one's feeling is another issue altogether and depends on a case-to-case basis de...
I have a feeling that Willow is saying that 'non-procreation' is not an answer to existing suffering. I feel that this may be the source of disagreeme...
I thought it was pretty obvious that guns and bombs and what-nots mass-murder people. No guns and bombs and what-nots = no mass murder. It doesn't tak...
Yes, you can say that. Only, I have stopped actively seeking it or desiring that I'll ever find it. I only see the struggle for nothing ala Sisyphus -...
I have already accepted that we won't agree, because I think the crux of the matter ultimately falls on the question of meaning. If I get it correctly...
It sure is a false dichotomy. There's the possibility of peace talks (traditional politicking) but I think a show of force is still needed before any ...
If only certain political figures have the decency, they would have stepped out of power just for the mere fact that the situation is already out of c...
Hi Bitter Crank, Are you implying that doing nothing is better than military intervention? Or that military intervention is needed but the 'devil is i...
OK, so I guess you're saying that the decision of procreation depends on one's own circumstances. I'm assuming from here that you don't have a strong ...
But I think some sort of justification is needed, which may or may not necessarily be about morality. A simple answer to "why one would opt to procrea...
At this point, I am not ready to claim for the morality/immorality of procreation. I can only try to provide arguments why I think that procreation la...
I may agree that that 'meat of the argument' makes sense but at the same time question the claim that 'it is the only correct view'. Agreeing with a p...
I see. I usually try to look past this and just focus on the meat of the argument. If the argument makes sense, it does not matter to me whether the p...
I think that the 'predominance' of suffering in life takes secondary importance. The fact that there is suffering that we need to overcome in the firs...
Isn't this a given for everyone? Does anyone really know the 'correct' view? Aren't we all just projecting our own states of mind onto the world? The ...
Sigh. It's sad to imagine that the discussions going on in this thread is probably not a long shot away from the actual discussions in halls of power....
Thanks for responding. Here's what I get from your reply: 1. Presence of suffering in life is not sufficient reason not to procreate. 2. That it is a ...
What I get though from TheWillowOfDarkness is that what he defines as 'infinite' is something that is ;transcendent' in a way that it is beyond human ...
WARNING: Long post ahead! OK, my bad. I only responded to your immediate reply. At this point, I'm not sure if I'm ready to argue that procreation is ...
I'm not from the US but anyways... For future reference when I change my mind. :: Generalized label - unknown :: Form of government - benevolent leade...
It's OK to disagree but I think it is quite counter-productive to just call names. It would have been better if you shared the reason why you disagree...
---- First, I don't think that the complexity of human life and suffering can be captured by the simple splinter analogy you gave. For one, I think th...
Most of the time, it comes down to intuition/feeling/compassion; conditional on the information given and my personal understanding of the situation o...
From what I understand, the central focus of this thread is a comparison (which is better) between (A) the satisfaction of desire and (B) the cessatio...
I have noted earlier that accepting something as inherently bad is different from accepting something as inherently good because answering the questio...
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. What I'm getting is that for you, the inevitability of causes-of-suffering in collective human existence is a signal...
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