BrianW

It's a debate no one needs any extra incentive other than a starting premise. However, by defining your identity of God, we get to see the degree of u...

Agreed. But that doesn't stop the hocus-pocus. So it's best to find better control of the discourse.

No. I can only accept as valid what I validate. By valid I mean reasonable.

Knowledge of facts beyond the domain of human conduct has been of little significance to religion. There's no religion where a deity/deities uses the ...

I'm not talking about truth or falsity. Why would anyone do that when we're not dealing in facts? I'm suggesting that it's primarily about a certain r...

Big shot lawyer says to aspiring partner, "I'm sorry, but we have to let you go. It's been 3 years and you're basically still an ambulance chaser. You...

What if belief is taken to be a frame of reference. It may just be another context for perspective developed in relation to certain information. As su...

Could be true. And, "But the pendulum swings both ways — a fake-drunk subject could conceivably get a fake-hangover, Kirsch says, pointing to the "noc...

https://listverse.com/2013/02/16/10-crazy-facts-about-the-placebo-effect/ Check out number 8 on the list. How does the conscious mind impair itself wi...

I think mind over matter is an apt way of representing this phenomenon but, as Alan Wallace seems to insist (from the video link), given that we know ...

I'm reading some stuff from the net and I'm seeing ranges of 20-60%, depending on the test, and it's increasingly mystifying.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLbSlC0Pucw I found this quite illuminating, check it out.

I don't think there's a mind-body problem and why should I? Why should the mind (or any other abstract aspect) or the body be anything other than what...

It is impossible to have two distinct absolutes. The immovable object and the irresistible force are one and the same.

Ok, now I get your conundrum. To that I can only say that, existence has never been limited to what we perceive as physical or material. Some things, ...

If men shouldn't because they're too violent, should women, who are too timid be trusted with power. I think there has to be a better balance.

If women were better suited to saving the world, they would not be passive by-standers as men sank everything into oblivion. Let's face it, neither me...

Maybe even other forces whose interplay generates a host of interactive phenomena which we may eventually call a universe and such. An irreducible par...

I think having characteristics implies internal programming, otherwise, what would they be characteristics of?

Even quarks have inherent characteristics which, as far as are known, determine how they organize into various configurations. There's this concept in...

By men, I mean human beings, both men and women, who also equally succumb to power trips. I think the major difference has been the persistence of gen...

In 1750, when the world had about 10% the population it has now, it was hell bent on going through the industrial revolution which began the accelerat...

Agreed, in the sense that, the relative cannot contain the absolute. However, I also think that in any well-defined condition (with strict parameters)...

From 'nothing comes from nothing', if there's intelligence in complex configurations e.g. humans, then there's intelligence in the primordial existenc...

I have. Love the part about 10 million google servers, no wonder they're so much better than the others. And they're aiming for 100 million, whoa! Blo...

You jest, but there's great relief in accepting what we are. The harmony, power and freedom expressed in our ideas has, so far, mostly been only that,...

First, I'm pro AI. I don't think we're worried about AI, the real issue is whether we, human beings, whose intelligence is exceedingly limited can ove...

These are not things we just say, but also believe and act according to them. After we anthropomorphise existences, we tend to demote them to lesser l...

Yes, common usage has been towards anthropo-morphic/centric ends. But, we have the discipline to shade whichever meaning we choose and direct our phil...

Omniscience is an absolute quality. It is the same as omnipresence, omnipotence, etc. Whether it's possible or not, what has it to do with philosophic...

Your atheists and theists seem too caricatured for my liking. I think, just as theists believe in an absolute God(s), atheists believe in an absolute ...

I think human exceptionalism would be a better term and I'm arguing against its prominence. The main idea is not to exclude exceptionalism or anthropo...

Jack Sparrow: Clergyman, on the off chance that this does not go well for me, I would like it noted here and now that I am fully prepared to believe i...

The synonyms of the term fact include reality, certainty, actuality, etc. From these, it is clear what we try to mean by fact. Much of my knowledge ab...

Logic is an expression of the laws of nature (or the laws of life/existence, however you choose to define the components of reality). 1 + 2 = 3/a bolt...

Thanks, I'll keep working on it.

Suppose I infuse a needle-like intrusion to break the water's surface tension to prevent its meniscus from settling on that level of the groove and to...

Oh, I kind of got ahead of myself and assumed that part. Suppose at about 90% the height of the tube there's a groove to drain the water. A narrow eno...

You've lost me a little. I'm not implying the use of plants or plant material, it doesn't have to be cellulose or organic. I mean to imitate the capil...

All activities follow a preset pattern. It's what we refer to as the 'characteristic' or 'nature' of something. Because of this, I don't believe in ch...

Do you think a design alteration of the capillary tubes may help to decrease water pressure as it rises? What would the design be like? What if the ra...

So it should be built on/next to a large body of water?

What about the process requires external energy input?

I only recognise it as cold fusion and I thought, as an idea, it was long dead and buried. Though, reading about it anew as LENR is quite interesting ...

How about the self-sustaining hydro-electric power plant? Think it's possible?

This is completely new to me. Will need time to understand it.

Not the first time hearing of cold-fusion (though I'm new to the term LENR) but I thought it was a white elephant. It has certainly gained theoretical...

Exactly. So, I'm wondering how we can make our value to the common good be part of our common knowledge and not just something to agree on, but also t...

I get how circumstances can direct our perception of time, but I would also like to know what measures we can take to ensure that we provide as much u...

Is one of the characteristics of existence self-assertion? And, if so, does it explain why I am me? Coz I feel like there's a part of me which constan...