Olivier5

We're talking ultrasounds here, but similar "clicks" emitted by the infamous death's head hawk moth are audible to humans: https://youtu.be/efyufhtO7V...

I suppose Timothy Mcveigh was a weak mind, then. Or perhaps his victims?

There is dynamic "measure-counter measure" dimension to inter-species communication and perception. Consider the case of the tiger moth. Moth Blocks B...

This means that there is a broad biological (ecological) meaning to the perception of a red apple by a potential apple consumer, human or animal. The ...

Fair enough, apologies for not reading the thread. Still, the point remains that the apple's color is far more than a passive sensation by some animal...

The difference is that here, the Republicans could possibly pull it out and keep the White House. Should any of this lead to riots, another difference...

I suppose for a naïve realist it is just a meaningless absence of light.

Nonsense. The only reason apples and other fruits exist in the first place as sugary edible stuff, and are colored in a way that makes them stand out ...

I think Iranians are also wondering whether to invade the US or not, to help Americans get rid of their fascist regime.

You have some data to back this up?

What I could find: Pope Sylvester II (c.? 946–12 May 1003), a French-born scholar and teacher who ended up ruling the Papal States from 999 to his dea...

I agree many Americans still believe it. They even believe that what Trump is now evidently trying to do is impossible to achieve, that the Republic c...

You got a) and d). Trump has got more than passive support, he's got 70 million votes and a host of extreme right militia armed to the teeth, and bidi...

He's got that covered. As soon as they start to see that he could possibly pull it off, dozens of Republicans will flock by his side. Keep in mind tha...

Trump wants to stay in power, by whatever means. He is not posturing. He is doing it.

And that's why he was fired, to give way to people who will not object. Maybe Putin is doing the thinking...

This isn't over. He is trying to stay in power by any means necessary. First he tried to weaken US Postal, now he is blocking the transition, putting ...

In other words, they are preparing a coup...

There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration," said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo after a reporter asked whether the State Depa...

I recommend cauliflower.

If I may, a perspective as close to objective reality as possibly conceivable would include history, which encompasses the history of people's thought...

Is there a coup d'état going on, or what? Official who once called Obama a 'terrorist leader' takes over Pentagon policy The departure of James Anders...

I want a Sunday kind of love A love to last past Saturday night And I'd like to know it's more than love at first sight And I want a Sunday kind of lo...

In my experience, they are still some "Monsignor Ingoli" in this world, and they do easily get irate. So I shamelessly plagiarized the joke...

An anecdote about "usefulness": When Galileo discovered the four largest moons of Jupiter thanks to his newly invented telescopes, it made a big sensa...

Well yes, otherwise you could not annoy them.

The concept of qualia is useful to annoy would-be automatons. That must count for something...

So you have a way to distinguish garlic from cinnamon through "distinct tastes". Amazing! You are not saying that these tastes are qualitatively disti...

I don't think that's what he is doing. Because many around here are Dennett readers and they don't propose any alternative conceptual framework or the...

With time goes... Everything goes We forget the face and we forget the voice The heart, when it doesn't work, There is no need to go further Just let ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmfZDt8wvcs

I never loved nobody fully Always one foot on the ground And by protecting my heart truly I got lost In the sounds I hear in my mind All of these voic...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1gMyv3Qmzs

It's a wonder man can eat at all When things are big that should be small Who can tell what magic spells we'll be doing for us And I'm giving all my l...

One book can dispel all these slightly weird views and give you a better sense of what's really happening: The Open Universe, by Karl Popper. Popper i...

By abstract, do you mean "quantitative"? There is the quality-quantity lens mentioned above by @javra. We can apprehend the world through quality and ...

Ah the simple pleasures of life! They are the most enjoyable: the first sip of a beer on a hot, dry day; a song that catches you when you need it; a k...

If that was true, he would try and propose an alternative conceptual framework, better than the one he criticizes. But this does not appear to be the ...

In my mind, it's more that we shouldn't go around denying other species possible abilities. W can speak for ourselves of course, but not for others.

It is important to realize that theory emerges from a non-theoretical background, for instance that infants learn how to speak through observation, co...

We are talking about mental stuff, so there's no avoiding mental stuff, as much as some would like to...

The good and the bad that are in human nature, The joy and grief that are found in fate and destiny-- Do not attribute them to the movement of heavenl...

I think I agree with that. Emergence thinking is not a negation of bottom-up causality, it is a reminder that causality is a two way street: it can al...

Why do you think plants synthetize pigments for their flowers, rather than keep them chlorophyll green? What Darwinian advantage is there to have your...

Galileo's mechanics are relativist and makes the point that frames of reference are key to understanding what's happening. E.g. in the experience of t...

While I agree with you on the general thrust (as always), I think you (or Nagel) may be attributing too much antisubjectivity to the scientific method...

Okay so if a star explode into a supernova and no critter every notices, did the star explode? I don't know but I tend to think yes.

Why the anthropocentric perspective? When an actual tree does fall in the forest, humans may or may not notice it but the tree seems to notice, as wel...

"Pre-theoretical" means something different from "pre-linguistic". It means stuff you do in practice without thinking about it in theory. Like when yo...

If the theory is a good one, it may give us tools to measure consciousness. Let's imagine for instance that a theory crops up, saying consciousness is...