T_Clark

Yes. I do like L'ed OL.

I literally L'ed OL. LOLed?

I thought impeaching Trump was a bad idea - both times. I've also thought that prosecuting him now was going to backfire. I've changed my mind. I hope...

Now that is the most amusing thing I've seen, and heard, all day.

It was my understanding that a slap with a glove as a challenge to a duel is still as common as Krispy Kreme down there in the Land o' Cotton and Vote...

Thanks.

Yes. He lived in a creationist universe, as do we all. Final proof: https://images.ctfassets.net/cnu0m8re1exe/34CWeOwEfDnbYs1ByYEbb0/1508e23a3970253b6...

I have no trouble holding two apparently contradictory ideas in my head at the same. I remember in high school physics when we talked about particle-w...

I still have lots of thinking to do on the subject. This has been a really useful thread for me in that regard.

I learned everything I know about stone age economics from "The Flintstones."

Yes. You are one man proof of reincarnation. Or maybe the multi-verse.

Doesn't capitalism require private property? Isn't private property a form of inequality, unless everyone gets their share? Does everyone ever get the...

Yes. Always.

According to renowned planetary scientist Rick E. Pedia, there hasn't been any vulcanism on the moon in 50 million years.

For me, that's a big part of the issue with cause. To say that something is caused when we can't be certain of, or even close to knowing, what causes ...

I meant that radioactive decay seems like an instance when the idea of cause doesn't fit. Or, alternatively, that there is a bigger picture, but it do...

I think it is common, but that doesn't necessarily mean it is straight forward. And I don't think it is.

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Amusing.

Why is Bobby Hill naked on the moon? I don't think starvation is his immediate problem.

Agreed. We scale it to what is relevant to us as humans. I'm not disagreeing with you. Reading Aristotle, it struck me that, generally, when he is tal...

That's a good point. I think that's the right place to start because that's where everyone else starts. That's what people mean when they "cause" in a...

Logic schmogic. Induction works. Pragmatic logic: If it works it's true Induction works Induction is true

Thanks. I'll take a look.

Here. Take a look for yourself.

I can understand that approach, although it's a stretch for me to think about it that way. I keep wanting to keep it simple. Simpler. This is more lik...

I left out Vegas nerve and diaphragm breathing.

Blah, blah, blah. Yadda, yadda, yadda. Sis, boom, bah. Eeny, meenie, mynie, moe. E-I-E-I-O.

Both cats look deeply humiliated.

It all depends on where you place the frame and what you set as the scale. The object you're describing is travelling with the Earth's rotation at abo...

I've never understood that. It seems like a throwback to Descartes and universal doubt. Induction works...imperfectly. There isn't any other option. W...

This makes sense to me based on things you've written about biosemiotics and DNA as a kind of formal cause. I see you as walking a path between nuts a...

According to Wikipedia, Hugh Beaumont "...studied at the University of Southern California and graduated with a master of theology degree in 1946." Or...

Maybe I misunderstand what you mean by "more fundamental level." For me, whether or not we use the concept "causality" is a metaphysical question that...

That's how I approached it. I think you're right, cause is classical mechanics if it has any meaning at all. I've purposely stayed away from quantum m...

I read somewhere that there are languages which use the same word for "weakness" and "strength." Can't remember the source or which languages. It make...

Aren't all concepts tricks of usage? Not trying to be funny.

I think the reason it is "valid necessarily" is because it is a definition. Force is defined as the product of mass and acceleration. I think they cal...

I think maybe its use in physics and philosophy is metaphorical. I have read the idea arose in the context of human responsibility for human actions a...

That's what this thread is about for me. I don't see the idea of cause as having much pragmatic use except in the simplest situations or in ethical th...

At first, I was thinking you were agreeing with me that causality is not normally a useful metaphysical idea. Now I'm not sure. Your comments have bee...

Ahem...

That's what I was trying to do in my billiard ball example. I'll need to think about this.

Well, I'll try out a little literary foreshadowing... It isn't my plan to do it in this thread, but I want to be able to convincingly argue that the i...

I think the idea of cause has a very strong, intuitive power. People in general think that the fact that events are caused is self-evident. I feel the...

I neglected to respond to some of what you wrote. As I noted, this view of cause is one I also find convincing. At this point my goal is finding a mor...

I think you're right. My hope to keep things focused on simple physical causes as a way to getting an understand what causality is probably isn't goin...

I've thought about this some more and I don't think I have much more to add. Your point about causes having effects that aren't, and perhaps can't, be...

I think you're exactly right, and that's why I wanted to look at the billiard ball example at a molecular level. I wanted to bring those framing, scal...

I've been thinking about the right way to respond to your post. Your points are good ones and are at the heart of the questions I want to get to event...