Jake

Nicely said, and true, but um, we're not actually interested in reason and philosophy. We're interested in using the illusion of such interest to infl...

How dare you be so sensible!!! What is your problem??? Attention moderators!! :smile:

Or, when reason can say no more, reason faces that reality and embraces not having anything else to say, and explores the new realm it has discovered....

Yea, what he said. Still, we should salute Hitchen's rhetorical skill, he was no slouch at an activity all of us are engaged in here, typically with c...

Hitchens was a very skilled troll, may he rest in peace where ever he is now. I admired his skill, being a bit of a troll myself. But he did sometimes...

If it makes you feel better the mods once deleted an entire thread I'd spent a week working on, and I somehow survived the assault. :smile:

Did your post also include some of your own thoughts why the book is interesting and important etc? I'm not a mod, but my guess is that this might hel...

Hi ya Rank, Yes, that's philosophy, of course entirely appropriate here. It's also philosophy to analyze the evidence and reasonably conclude that phi...

If your post included links the auto spam filter might have killed it. If yes, mods will probably restore it. Otherwise, no idea.

To perhaps put it a bit more precisely, the myth making machinery out competed the "I don't know" perspective in the social environment. It continues ...

I'm not sure it's possible to get rid of beliefs, but it is possible to undermine them through the processes of philosophy. It seems to me that every ...

Here's an example of Judeo-Christian delusions. During WWII we Americans were fully convinced beyond doubt that we were the good guys and the Nazis we...

Wow, Karl, that was a good post, most excellent. Seriously, well done! I've been pondering this topic in general for some time (minus Nietzsche) but w...

What you guys don't understand is that the inverse relationship between parallel interpolations of the cosmic constant varies in proportion to the ele...

Yes, we aren't there yet, agreed. That's why I was interested in meat grown in a lab, it will literally be actual meat, but no animals involved in the...

Interesting Tiff, thanks for sharing that. ER is less than an hour from where I grew up. I've heard that unlike the @#$% Internutz, you can still get ...

Good point, thanks. Yes, that's essentially what I'm referring to, what happens when VR meets our psychological desires in such a compelling manner th...

It's not surprising for NEW vegans to make that comparison, which is probably what's happening here. But such comparisons are completely unnecessary. ...

As I see it, this is less a technology issue and more a human psychology issue. As example, ancient cave men sat around the fire telling each other st...

This is a noble sensible sentiment which I agree with. But it seems the accelerating emergence of virtual realities will make this ever more unlikely....

Please explain to us why morality should be our all important concern when it comes to enhancing the welfare of animals. As example, my wife has raise...

Nah, Jake nailed. Surely I should find something more interesting and useful to do. Sadly, my ego is a sucker for shooting fish in a barrel operations...

Do you seriously not get that you've been moral posturing throughout this entire thread? Please look at the title you chose for the thread. It's not a...

If you were standing up for injustice, you'd be interested in the most effective ways to do that. As best I can tell, we're on page 14 and you've expr...

I could, we all could, probably provide many examples of a more effective persuasion strategy for helping animals, and you could figure it out on your...

Yea, that was great! Here's a trailer to the documentary video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmYRi-3m6oA Full video here, but requires login. https...

Yea, more posts about Chatterbears! Fuck the animals, let them start their own darn thread.

How about a new thread which focuses on animals instead of us? Wipe the slate clean, start over from scratch, bygones be bygones, give it another go?

Before we do that, show us that you are actually interested in alternative ways of serving animals. You can do that by starting such an investigation ...

This entire thread is an exercise in your positioning yourself as being morally superior on the subject of animals. Pick any of your posts, there's yo...

I agree we have no basis of comparison. And thus, not wanting to die is not reason based. A reason based perspective would be built upon comparing A t...

I have know what I have observed, a significant pile of evidence. But you're right, I surely can't claim that NOBODY could escape their philosophical ...

Not wanting to die is based on a comparison, whether one realizes that or not. Appreciating life is not the same thing as not wanting to die.

I think my point might have been that it's the human condition that we all have egos and so if our names, even anonymous screen names, are attached to...

The reason I so often rant on this topic is that it is a very real part of my everyday life. Other than my marriage, my life is almost entirely divide...

Rewarding in comparison to what?

Which opens another huge box of worms. Where is the evidence that life is better than death? I myself routinely wail about nuclear weapons based on th...

One device that might assist this process could be for all philosophy to be done anonymously. No names attached to any statements. This would help rem...

Hi Crank, Well, yes, of course. I had to buy this computer in order to connect with you, an essentially unreal character in my experience. You're righ...

Yes, but to be fair to the priest, this is what their audience wants. If we keep talking about love, love, love and God, God, God then we can create t...

Hi Rank, The trouble starts at the moment we say the word God. The word "God" is a noun. It has to be defined so we can draw the imaginary boundary be...

Still waiting for you to shut up about yourself and shift your focus to serving animals.

And I must say, it was a fine sermon. Seriously. But as you can see, the Bible, all holy books, are just begging people to get lost in all this interp...

And we might wonder, what does all your protesting have to do with serving animals? You have a thing you want to do, that's all about you, and I'm get...

Here are your words again... I've been a vegetarian since the early 1970s. Nobody is saying any of that to me. Anyway, you're not interested in what m...

Look, I'm on your side, and just trying to help you out. You have activist disease. That's going to get in the way of you helping animals in an effect...

Here's the very start of the thread, your words. You started right in from the very beginning attacking the Bible specifically, and are now surprised ...

Imho, Kennedy was killed by the "deep state" because he brought America to the very knife edge of total destruction, truly an unforgivable failure for...

We are probably lucky that NK has some pretty awesome ability to respond to any attack. As best I can tell, much of that ability can not be taken out ...

This is interesting, thanks. I hope you'll continue to add your insights from the front lines. What was your personal experience of VR? Do you still u...