T_Clark

Coincidentally, I'm in Washington for my step-mother's birthday. Before we went to dinner last night, we stopped off at the Smithsonian portrait galle...

For some reason this post, and a lot of stuff on the forum, reminds me of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lvcnx6-0GhA

In what significant way do humans currently "dominate the planet." Our place on the Earth is only significant from a human perspective. So, if humans ...

I believe religion is an fundamental expression of how our minds work. Humans see patterns, project their internal world onto the external one. It is ...

Absolutely - I think consciousness is an emergent property of matter. I could have used that as my example of emergence except I thought it might comp...

Just to be clear, I wasn't finding fault with your way of seeing things, although I don't agree with it. It seems to me you and Jonathan AB have ideas...

You should get together with @"Rich". He is our, one of our, resident scientific contrarians. For me, there are two tests of such a contrarian approac...

I'll speak to my own experience of boredom. For me, it's a matter of motivation. If I'm not doing anything, my mind will start searching for something...

Well now. Everyone has been very welcoming and pleasant. Now it's time for you to make some specific assertions so we can start ridiculing you and tre...

An interesting question. Babies are not just little jugs that get filled up with knowledge once they are born, or even before. Their brains and nervou...

The best commercial ever made. Almost enough to get me to drink Pepsi....nah. I think it's from the 60s. Maybe 70s. Which means the kid in this is in ...

Just out of curiosity, is that "maw" as in "Hey, Maw, get off the dang roof" or "He fell into the maw of a vicious wildebeest?"

You're right, the behavior of a gas is not emergence, it's statistical mechanics. Emergence is something different. A commonly cited example of emerge...

To restate the above argument - There is no emergence because there is no emergence.

Welcome. I'm glad you could pass the rigorous entrance requirements. I don't find antinatalism abhorrent, I find it self-indulgent and arrogant. Still...

It's in Wikipedia, for goodness sake. That reaches more people than the OED.

Really interesting, although the light saber part is not the most important part. They give photons mass! That seems like that would change our unders...

Geez, BC, you were doing so well. Then you had to go and be mean.

I don't necessarily disagree with these statements. I don't know enough to decide. Do you? What are your qualifications for making these broad stateme...

I'm trying to decide whether or not what you've written contradicts what Jefferson and I say. Not sure. Tom was not a communist. He was an elitist and...

I have been in intermittent email contact with XandertheGrey. He is interested in building technologies that can be adapted to build inexpensive homes...

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,' is not a matter of fact, it's a matter of principal, value, one that I endo...

Correction - poetry, humor, competence, and courage. Sounds like you will be fun to have around.

This thread has meant more to me than I can say. I don't even know why. It goes straight to my heart.

I wonder if this is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. A wren?

I am not a big dog person, but these are really beautiful. Great photography too.

Have I mentioned how much I love this thread? I probably have. Every time I look it I want to cry.

I can only speak to my own experiences. What I've observed. I know what it feels like to be impotently angry - thrashing around, yelling and cursing. ...

Well, of course.

Ahem...

This is something I've paid a lot of attention to - both in myself and watching others. I see people do lots of things I don't like. Some make me angr...

I catch myself feeling contempt for someone from time to time. It is one of the darkest, ugliest emotions. I feel dirty, sick to my stomach. One thing...

Seems to me like everyone is making this more complicated than it needs to be. I'd never thought about it much until I started the Beautiful Things di...

I'm not really an animal person, but standing next to a large mammal, a horse or cow, and putting my hand on their flank. Feeling the warmth, muscles,...

Pity is the same as contempt. You are such a compassionate person, I am always surprised when you are so quick to judge those of us who do not live up...

I love these photos, are they yours. There is something about rock stratigraphy that moves me. It's one of the reasons I love the Inca structures I sh...

This is a very good description of my life.

Seems like you are responding to TimeLine, not me.

I just like Eeyore better. He has a more developed philosophy.

When I saw Piglet, I thought to myself - Eeyore would be much better.

Yes we are alive. How would you know? Not a joke, so don't send me any angry crap.

Will you please expand a bit on the attractiveness/beauty distinction.

I'm not being sarcastic here - are you sure this is a response to my post? I can't see how your comments correspond to anything I said.

I'm trying to decide whether I should get any further involved in this discussion. Calling someone "good" has a specific meaning to me, but I'm not in...

I disagree. I'd be happy to talk about it. Why don't you open a new discussion.

P1 - You can't trust people who say they're good. P2 - T Clark does not say he's good. Therefore you can trust T Clark Something's missing here.

As I said, I'm not bad, I'm just not especially good. Why would you expect me to be? Would you trust anyone who said they are good?

I think the opposite may be true, at least in the short run. Increasing acceptance leads to more anger and resentment as people feel that their most d...