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Devans99

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By observation, I meant derived from our senses.
November 27, 2018 at 14:44
But P1 does not hold; some thoughts are inspired by our senses.
November 27, 2018 at 14:15
No, but the question remains 'is it possible to have a truly original thought?' IE one not inspired by any other earlier thought/observation.
November 27, 2018 at 13:43
We adopted the base 10 positional system some time back and we used to leave a space where zero would appear: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/0#History ...
November 27, 2018 at 13:36
In: Calculus  — view comment
Actually might be better to write: lim x->? 1/x ~> 0 That way, we preserve the information that the limit expression always evaluates to > 0.
November 27, 2018 at 13:00
1. PREMISE: Something has no temporal starting point (time=0) in time 2. DEDUCTION: Then time=1 is not defined If an object does not exist at time=0, ...
November 27, 2018 at 09:38
If a moment does not exist, the moment after it is undefined, so is the moment after that, etc... If all moments are missing then the object does not ...
November 27, 2018 at 09:33
How exactly do our minds differ from computers?
November 27, 2018 at 08:51
Thats just plain not true: - Something has no temporal starting point (time=0) in time - then time=1 is not defined - then time=2 is not defined - etc...
November 27, 2018 at 08:47
I agree with that. A group is made of indivuduals and in a well functioning group whats good for the individual is good for the group and vice versa. ...
November 26, 2018 at 18:10
It's down to willpower I think: The general rule is that you have to make a short-term sacrifices for a long-term gain in order to do a good/right act...
November 26, 2018 at 16:21
I did not present the idea that we are driven by pleasure/pain as a theory, just a self evident truth or axiom. It is a good axiom in my opinion.
November 26, 2018 at 15:34
I think you will find that such sacrifices are made to give you some form of emotional pleasure. For example, a mother may sacrifice much for her chil...
November 26, 2018 at 15:23
We can interpret phenomenon in terms of the short-term/long-term pain/pleasure they give use. So the theory is falsifiable, all we'd need is an exampl...
November 26, 2018 at 15:19
I think its a self-evident truth that the only human motivations are: - The pursuit of physical/emotional pleasure - The avoidance of physical/emotion...
November 26, 2018 at 14:32
Whatever motivates you must give you pleasure. If it gave you pain, it would not motivate you. If it gave you nothing it would not motivate you.
November 26, 2018 at 14:14
It's just about maximising pleasure for the individual and group whilst minimising pain. It mathematical. We are just computers after all that seek to...
November 26, 2018 at 14:02
When I think of dividing a field, I start to think of shapes in my mind. Where did the shape ideas come from if not from my senses? We find approximat...
November 26, 2018 at 12:27
The idea of the right angle is not created directly by the mind; the mind first solves the problem of how to divide the fields, then observes that the...
November 26, 2018 at 11:31
Immoral behaviour is about being short-sided and prioritising short-term pleasure over long-term pleasure (which makes no sense as long>short). So its...
November 26, 2018 at 09:52
It's natural for us to get an education, and once we are educated properly we become moral beings as it is in our self interest to do so. It's the une...
November 26, 2018 at 09:34
I am not making assertions, I am making deductions.
November 26, 2018 at 07:48
You can answer the question without induction: - Temporal. Would an object exist if its temporal starting point was removed? That would be like a huma...
November 25, 2018 at 22:01
We would naturally divide things up into squares of rectangles as those shapes fit together flushly without any wasted space. So we would probably arr...
November 25, 2018 at 21:40
Well the problem is that we see angles in nature, some larger than 90 degrees some smaller. Arriving at the right angle is just a matter of interpolat...
November 25, 2018 at 21:15
The internet provides far more good content than evil content. I agree we should try to get rid of the nukes. I was making the point that nukes were a...
November 25, 2018 at 20:17
Long term > Short term, so focusing on the short term instead of the long term is sub-optimal. You get less net pleasure that way. I define that as wr...
November 25, 2018 at 20:07
Humans are good if properly educated because being good is in their own self interest. Just not everyone is educated is the problem.
November 25, 2018 at 19:52
But where did the idea of shapes come from if it was not the study of form in nature? This thread is long and no-one has yet come up with a single und...
November 25, 2018 at 19:03
I did not choose where to live. The internet enhances my life. I would use it no matter where I lived. The world's information at my finger tips. It's...
November 25, 2018 at 18:28
I merely mentioned that the book Brave New World contained that solution. But there is a genuine problem beneath the consideration. As you get older l...
November 25, 2018 at 17:48
Its mathematical. Short < Long, hence the phase 'he acted short-sightedly'. Focus on short term pleasure (instead of long term pleasure) is evil for s...
November 25, 2018 at 17:33
Sorry I mean ideas are inspired by our senses. Maybe the wheel is a good example. Presumably the idea came about from seeing how circular things roll ...
November 25, 2018 at 17:29
We can be certain of our own abstract thoughts but thoughts based on the environment around us inherently rely on our senses so we can never be comple...
November 25, 2018 at 16:19
And they'd be mathematically wrong to do so. Long term > Short term so it's always mathematically wrong to do evil (evil=act in a short term manner). ...
November 25, 2018 at 15:26
But I think we pick up ideas from our senses. The first ideas would have been about things around us. The idea that a certain berry tastes good would ...
November 25, 2018 at 15:03
Nature is just a starting point from which we start the main thrust of intelligence guided evolution of the planet. In the long term, wasps could be c...
November 25, 2018 at 14:51
Tis simple: Long term > short term so Good is what's right in the long term Evil is what's right in the short term Hence Good > Evil I can't repeat th...
November 25, 2018 at 14:41
I agree, longevity is nothing without quality of life. Humans should maybe be engineered as in Brave New World. 60 healthy years was the cut off in th...
November 25, 2018 at 14:11
I've been trying to think of an example of a genuine new idea and have failed so far. Simultaneity of events being dependent on the observer fell out ...
November 25, 2018 at 13:36
No I think we should all become vegan. Bio technology probably needs to improve first before this becomes feasible or palatable. It's a long term goal...
November 25, 2018 at 13:31
Covered here I think: https://thephilosophyforum.com/discussion/4455/is-idealism-irrefutable/p1
November 25, 2018 at 13:05
God decided it was too hard to design life from scratch so he decided to evolve it instead. That's what I'd do if I was in God's shoes.
November 25, 2018 at 12:45
I think the most important metrics for human progress are quality and length of human life, both of which have been improved greatly by technological ...
November 25, 2018 at 10:08
In: Hell  — view comment
You could argue that we need at least the illusion of free will for happiness. We'd feel like slaves if we had behavioural inhibitors fitted. Free wil...
November 24, 2018 at 22:58
I wonder how we first perceived of the spirit world, the world after death. We would have no first hand knowledge of that, but I guess we just took as...
November 24, 2018 at 22:23
It's a long term project, but I believe with the help of technology, we can build an optimal world for both humans and animals. Optimal, not perfect (...
November 24, 2018 at 20:32
I think we are very immature as a race. Historically though things are heading in the right direction. We have not had another world war. Human rights...
November 24, 2018 at 19:28
Agree. Define the mind as the conscious thread of activity plus memory only. Then when in a conversation with another, you can extend "I think therefo...
November 24, 2018 at 19:03
I don't understand it either but intuitively it feels like a network of concepts. We draw links between existing concepts to create 'new ideas'. Like ...
November 24, 2018 at 18:41