T_Clark

They're not being arrogant, they're being conventional. They're judging you by the exterior signs you present. That's not an unreasonable thing to do....

We're not going to go read it unless you give us a reason. Have you read it? Put some of its ideas out there for us to discuss.

You seem like an odd man Xander. That's not a criticism. Here's the deal - you know that using lowercase for your name and "I" is going to raise eyebr...

Ok, acceptance. But not necessarily support if by support you mean encouragement of behavior.

Relationships - families, spouses, lovers, friends - require conditions, love does not. You can love someone you can't be with. That's part of its unc...

I've experienced it. You're wrong.

I agree, but this is an interesting conversation. Let's go on and have it among ourselves. We can be true to the OP without playing John Days' game. L...

Your understanding of human motivation is naïve. Most people who meet your standard as "supremacists" are on the margins of society and don't benefit ...

Don't worry about the terminology. It is bologna and more often hides than enlightens. Tell us about Che Guevara.

I'm not a golfer, but I've heard about an approach to learning that makes a lot of sense to me. When you start learning, you get five clubs. As you ge...

People have been having this discussion as long as I've been around and I'm 65. I don't know the answer, but so far it hasn't happened. Although that'...

Are you in the United States? If so, I suggest you spend some time looking into the federal Clean Air Act and it's requirements for air discharges fro...

Electrostatic precipitators are widely used. The equipment is expensive and expensive to operate. Industry won't use them unless they are required to.

Silly. Not a condition at all. I don't expect or require their love, but I enjoy it. When my children were younger, I enforced, tried to enforce, rule...

As a partisan of physics, I've developed Clark's law of conservation of love. If it's not love now, it never was.

I wasn't endorsing it as a strategy, I was describing it as a phenomenon.

Hey, we agree on something, almost at least. I don't think it's as rare as you say. Actually, all love is unconditional. If what you feel isn't, then ...

That's not a condition, it's a definition. Unconditional love has no conditions. You're being obtuse, probably intentionally, in order to get a rise o...

It's just the way we're built, whoever or whatever built us.

A population of organisms that has greater genetic diversity is more able to change genetically in response to environmental changes better.

No point. Like I said, living things live. Evolution is just something that happens along the way. No purpose, not direction, no meaning. What's the p...

My brother is a very good uncle, but he has never had kids. Once, when my children were running around being kids - yelling, crying, making noise, he ...

From an evolutionary point of view, sex mixes up the genes, increases genetic variability. Variability is the fuel of evolution. Being able to evolve ...

They, and we, do it because we're built that way, whether we're built by God or Darwin.

Passing on the genetic code is just something that tends to happen while you're living.

No, I'm GMT -5 (actually, -4 right now)

"We'll save Australia, wouldn't wanna hurt no kangaroos. We'll build an All-American amusement park there. They've got surfing too!"

Nothing at stake in the other person's life.

Good advice for life for people who are a bit down but generally on an even keel. Probably not particularly helpful for someone who is clinically depr...

If you're interested, there is lots of stuff on the web about the technological singularity. I am a skeptic, but it is one of the ways that people spe...

Well, then the answer to "What do we need them for?" will be, "We like them."

Neither. I'm here to fight for truth, justice, and the American way. I'm here because I like to think, write, and argue. I'm here because I am a compe...

This doesn't seem like a very convincing demonstration of self-consciousness to me. Also, as far as I could tell, none of the dogs spoke Latin.

The technological singularity is already scheduled for 2045. That's when machines become sentient and start asking what they need us for.

I'm not insulted, I just don't understand why you have to attribute negative motivation. You say "prejudice," I say "belief." Why do you take our disa...

So we're both surprised.

I'm don't consider myself a materialist or determinist. I was when I was young because I love physics and that's what I thought it said, but I was wro...

I like philosophy and I like participating in this forum. Eric, you are welcome here. But this is not the place to come to learn to deal with depressi...

I don't understand the distinction you're trying to make - "non-living matter became animate" vs. "the coming into existence of living matter." Well, ...

Of course not all of philosophy deals with angst and despair, but a lot of it does and depressed people are vulnerable. A lot of the people who popula...

Not quite right. I do see how they can believe in a life force, but I don't see any evidence for it myself.

It's possible that consciousness has evolved independently twice in the history of life on Earth. Among vertebrates, several animals other than humans...

I've never denied the existence of the mind. I'm still not clear on your objections.

Well, we can talk about sports, the weather (but not global warming), Game of Thrones, your favorite recipe for Chicken Marsala, and lots of other thi...

Sorry. I don't understand your objections.

You must mean something different when you use the word "precise" than I do. They can determine the distance from a point on the earth to the moon wit...

What are called "laws" of science are not laws or rules at all, they are descriptions of how matter and energy generally behave in certain situations....

You sound depressed. This is a dangerous website to bring depression to. With the exception of a very few people, philosophy is more likely to tie you...

Exactly! But until we find life on other worlds, we'll need to do the best we can with what we have here.

I didn't realize it was a link. Now I've read it. Here is my (unfair) summary. If you take the chemicals required for life and dump them in a beaker, ...