Harry Hindu

Yeah, like when you're in grade school learning how to write your letters and put them together in words. Adults tend to take their knowledge for gran...

The question isn't rhetorical, so there wasn't really a point being made. How about answering the question?

Talking is different than writing. Moving your mouth and tongue isn't the same as moving your hands. There are people that can speak better than they ...

Knowing how to write, "dog" doesn't mean you know how to write, "cat". It requires different movements and if you never made those movements before, t...

There is knowing and there is knowing that you know. You can know how to write the word, "cat". But then how do you know you know how to write the wor...

Good point. Maybe knowledge isn't all it's cracked up to be then. Perhaps it is the process of acquiring knowledge, not the knowledge itself, that pro...

Huh? That's fine to say, but it doesn't mean that a metaphor isn't saying something useful, and therefore truthful. I don't understand "mentally throw...

How do you learn anything without making mistakes - without suffering the consequences of your actions? It seems to me that to be eternally happy mean...

Then it isn't anthropomorphic to describe other non-human systems as making decisions. Ok, then why are metaphors useful? Isn't it because there is an...

How could I predict your behavior without having first observed it? You first behaved some way for me to interpret and then use that interpretation to...

If we're using this definition, humans and some other organisms would fall into the category of "God". Actually no. Observations have shown that organ...

I find it interesting that the experience of interacting with MU and John has created this prediction in my mind that their same nonsense will be repe...

The way I take this is: "I'm going to say whatever I want and to hell with anyone who doesn't understand what I say and asks questions because they do...

For one, try answering that question that followed right after that one. Second, thinking and learning don't necessarily correlate. You can think of i...

So would you also say that computers don't make decisions? What is a decision?

There's a big difference between using rationality to discover the truths of the universe and using rationality to decide which option to choose from ...

It is also quite possible that your biases do come to play when making a decision. You have subconscious desires that come into play when making decis...

When there comes a point where you have two or more options in which you don't have any reason to choose one or the other, but you want to do one of t...

That wasn't the question, MU. Try again. Yes, thinking about the consequences, or the outcome, of your actions tends to have an effect on the kind of ...

Ridiculous. If you make decisions to do anything, one of the options available in making that decision, is to do nothing. Sometimes you end up doing n...

Uh... I have no idea what point you are trying to make here. I asked some simple questions in my last post in an effort to understand your position, o...

But it is. You are choosing to do something rather than nothing, which are based on reasons or biases.

Again, it's not irrational to make a choice when not making a choice causes you to die. In this situation, it doesn't matter if the donkey chose the h...

MU, I'm getting in the habit of responding to your posts by simply referring you to a post that I already wrote in this thread. This argument is easil...

Which is why I was asking if we are talking about the same thing when taking about "determinism" and "free will". You are making a circular argument i...

But you are making a decision. You are making a decision to make a decision. You can either do nothing, or choose one of the other two options. Time i...

in these examples the choice you make could be a result of a particular bias you have. Maybe you've taken one route but not the other so you want to e...

I can agree with this to a point. Emotions tend to hijack the decision-making process. One could say that when you aren't thinking about the outcome o...

Now we get to the point where I ask why we make decisions in the first place and what does the process of making a decision entail. Don't we make deci...

What problem is rationality failing to provide a solution to? I already used reason to solve the problem. I showed that it wasn't a paradox because th...

but it can be the case that the consequences are not severe enough. It can also be the case that there wasn't enough time to think about the consequen...

Can you provide an example where what I said wouldn't apply? LOL! You didn't disappoint me at all, MU. You finally agreed with me that knowledge of a ...

This makes no sense. Are we talking about "deterministic" differently? My determinism includes the will as a causal power in the world. It's quite obv...

This just means that consequences are subjective. What is a consequence for one, isn't for another. You have to find that negative consequence that is...

, how do you validate your beliefs and ideas? In validating them aren't you turning them from being subjective to objective? Isn't that what "validati...

That's the example of a paradox that you're providing? The "paradox" fails to take into account that I can drink the water and eat the hay before I di...

It's you that appears to be not up on the subject. Statements implying strong emergence are statements about our understanding not about the universe ...

I have no idea what you are talking about here. Please, rephrase. Maybe Andrewk could do a better job of making his own case? Give me a break, MU. You...

So you don't have reasons for what you do? You don't have intent prior to behaving in some way? My intent doesn't occur after I behave in some way. I ...

What are you, a broken record? If you ask the same question, I'm going to supply the same answer. Do you really need a "scientist" to tell you that it...

What paradoxes? Rationality has provided many solutions - evolution by natural selection being one of the best ones. Of course you can't give up on ra...

That's your response to that and the rest of my post?

How is consciousness emergent? You have colors, shapes, sounds, smells, feelings and attention. What else is there to consciousness? Consciousness its...

Again, you've avoided answering the question I posed: What solution has irrationality every provided? If I'm asking a question, I haven't shackled my ...

I'm amazed that you would agree but then be amazed at what I'm suggesting, which is what you agreed with. Why do you need papers describing what I jus...

Of course there can be rational justification for praising or blaming someone in a deterministic world. Praising and blaming causes changes in behavio...

Fine. We can substitute the word, "punishment" with "consequences". Punishment is a kind of consequence. I did use the word, "consequences" in my prev...

The scientific evidence is plain to see. Look right in front of you at what you are reading as virtually every member on this forum, in every thread, ...

Sheesh, MU. Can you use the dictionary, please? Merriam-Webster definition of "blame": 1 : to find fault with 2 a : to hold responsible b : to place r...

What things combine to make more than the sum of their parts? Examples, please.