T_Clark

Thanks. I'll try it next time I quote something from an outside source.

Here's what I got: Our willingness to accept scientific claims that are against common sense is the key to an understanding of the real struggle betwe...

QED

He seemed like a smart guy.

Fairy dust is like dark matter. The only evidence that it exists is that all our theories will be wrong unless it does.

Metaphysics discussions are always contentious. The word "metaphysics" means many things to many people. As you've noted, there are many who mistake i...

GT was a feisty guy. He probably wanted to make a point.

Is that question intended as rhetorical?

I assumed it was at his request. GT was one of those posters who forced me to think twice about what I was sure of and whether my arguments were good ...

I'm pretty sure the only way that could happen is if fairy dust were involved.

Good point. I'll add another condition to the definition of OS - it is undefined if the joke is meaningless. There, now you're all set.

It seems like you are saying that, in a time-reversed universe, the system evolves from a more probable state to a less probable one. That...doesn't m...

So I guess @"Garrett Travers" has ended his relationship with the forum.

Let's define a new property, we'll call it the offensive stupidity ratio, OS. We'll also define two properties O1 - the extent that a joke is offensiv...

Alas.

I'm generally sympathetic to non-scientific ways of seeing the world and criticize scientific rigidity, but I don't find the Lewontin quote very convi...

Thanks. I still don't see what that has to do with my point. No, no... Please don't explain.

I took my best shot. Nuff said. I've decided to write "nuff said" from now on when I think the conversation is over in honor of Stanley Martin Lieber.

I think there are many ways to describe the experience of God or spirituality I'm talking about. As usual, my approach comes from an intellectual dire...

Given how much those Kabalaists use numerology, it probably should be 18 to the 18th power = 3.93464080753e+22. Given that it is estimated that about ...

From Wikipedia: The interpretation of entropy in statistical mechanics is the measure of uncertainty, disorder, or mixedupness in the phrase of Gibbs,...

Gas molecules are bound together much more weakly than solid molecules. They bounce quickly around inside any container - off the walls and each other...

There is a clear direction of time in a box full of moving steel balls. Perhaps you can hide it by continuing to add energy to the box, but the minute...

This gets my vote as the creepiest post of the year.

You're wrong. Please don't go spreading your ignorance.

I've given it my best shot, but I'll take one more swing. You're making this much more complicated than it really is. Entropy is the simplest thing in...

For the same reason I'm more likely to be dealt a pair of twos than a royal straight flush. There's no reason time couldn't "flow backwards." It's jus...

You can't write off the second law in so cavalier a fashion, not legitimately at least. Entropy just reflects probability. Higher entropy is just more...

Thanks.

I don't know what that means.

I went back and reread your posts. I don't think there is any misunderstanding between us about the issue on the table. We just disagree on the implic...

I did read your post thoroughly, Mr. Snooty. Agent Snooty. The explanation doesn't make sense to me. What difference does it make other than providing...

Don't really like pina coladas. Too sweet.

I didn't say that the idea of paradoxes goes over my head, I said the excitement about them does. I just don't see why it's a big deal. They're not th...

Not sure exactly why this came to mind. Maybe your and my shared history. Back in the mid 1970s, I lived in Cambridge Mass. There was an alternative n...

You're right. After I wrote that about language, I thought of Zeno's paradox. Now I'm trying to figure out how Zeno's and Russell's paradoxes are diff...

For almost 1,000 years, the only philosophers in Europe were in the church. The church was the main thing that unified the west between the end of the...

I don't see how your statement and mine are in conflict. Collingwood claims that western science would not be possible without a belief in a God like ...

Perhaps I am not a (real) thinker, but all the excitement about paradoxes goes over my head. I just can't see how they have any practical meaning. It ...

My knowledge about the history of philosophy is limited, so I can't provide a very good defense of this position, but it always strikes me that people...

Also - welcome to the forum. I've looked through some of your other posts. You write well.

I think what Wayfarer says makes sense. For many, physicalism/materialism is the philosophy of science, reason, and common sense.

I never liked hunting all that much, but dove hunting was the best of the bunch. Can't start shooting till noon (dawn for ducks). Nice fall weather (s...

I blame them when they doll their arguments all up in the couture of reason and philosophy. For me, philosophy is all about self-awareness.

Now you're just playing games. What a shoddy argument. Nuff said.

And yet many do, loudly and dogmatically, including here on the forum. I got no problem with atheists if they would just shut up and get on with their...

I'm on the witness stand, you're on the jury. I say "I saw the defendant shoot Joe Smith. No one else was there, so no one else saw it." Is that evide...

You asked for evidence, I gave you evidence. Now, if we wanted, we could discuss the quality of that evidence. That's not what I'm interested in. As f...

I know people who have experienced God's presence in their lives. My wife has. I have heard of many others.

Thank you for the new word: Fideism is an epistemological theory which maintains that faith is independent of reason, or that reason and faith are hos...