Nowhere there have I said, or even implied, that science is all-knowing, even in principle. Discussions would be much easier if you were to respond to...
Who says science is all-knowing even in principle? You're criticizing science for not being able to explain consciousness from the point of view of ho...
It is not science's business to try to reproduce your sense of consciousness and feeling, but rather to attempt to explain how such phenomena could ar...
On the macro scale things proceed more or less as we expect. Water always seems to erode the land, for example, but we have no way of knowing what eff...
Yes, but even aside from the measurement problem if quantum events are uncaused, then tiny divergences from initial conditions will add up over time t...
Yeah, I disagree that we could imagine Shakespeare as a p-zombie, that any qunatity of monkeys could accidentally write his works and I also disagree ...
I guess it wouldn't make any difference to the value of scientific work. But with the arts I think it would. There was a thread recently about AI gene...
Sure, according to one way of thinking about it facts is broader than experience, since there are some facts which we don't sensorially experience, bu...
As I understand it the myth of the given is the natural, but on examination fallacious, idea that things we can talk about appear to us directly, unme...
Asserting determinism, or at least what is often referred to as "hard" or "rigid" determinism consists in claiming that from any set of conditions the...
It's also worth noting that if our measurements of initial position and velocity are inherently imperfect, so will any subsequent measurements of posi...
Given infinitesimals there seems to be no reason to conclude that an infinite amount of information could not be "held" within what we would think of ...
That's interesting thanks; I hadn't known Finland suffered such a devastating famine only 150 years ago, around 20 years after the great potato famine...
I agree that some of the worst ecological disasters occur in poorer countries. But I am looking at the global situation and this sidesteps the points ...
I don't know about those specific cases, but generally agricultural practices are leading to deforestation, destruction of habitat, species extinction...
There are only a couple of companies investigating the viability of deep ocean mining. No one has actually done it. These companies obviously would ha...
I think mining the ocean floor is a pipe dream. Think of the massive use of fossil fuels that would be required. In any case it would be undesirable e...
Yes, I think it'll be nature that does it. I mean we don't, on the broad scale, seem to be able to discuss. or even acknowledge, the issue. I agree; I...
:up: I also voted for ethics. Of course it's easy to see that, from a straight up, superficially conventional perspective, ethics is not fundamental t...
The estimates I've seen tell me that the alternative oil extraction methods are not only unacceptably detrimental to the environment and use unsustain...
Yes, that's pretty much the problem in a nutshell. Of course it's the richer nations which are the main problem. The real situation is over-use of dwi...
I agree with you that the problem is capitalism as it has been practiced. It is the growth of capitalism, and the globalism it enables; which in turn ...
Optimistic and pessimistic about the same thing at the same time? I don't confidently expect anything. I think it is a topic worthy of discussion, if ...
I agree it is rational to be optimistic, "Prepare for the worst and hope for the best". (Source unknown). Well, of course I hope you're right. But hop...
Right, if any effective solution were to be possible, everyone, or at least a good majority of people, would have to see the need and agree on the sol...
Yeah, we already have; and just restoring that alone would be a monumental task. I think one of the major problems is that most intellectuals think on...
Yes, I'm not convinced that it is practicable to bring everyone up to our current lavish level of lifestyle without irretrievably fucking the environm...
As much as I love George, I think he is wrong if he seriously (and not merely for comedic effect) suggests that we cannot fuck the planet, or at least...
Imagine if it came to be universally understood that population growth needs to be drastically reigned in if humanity is to survive in great (although...
If you are going to attempt critique then at least present a counterargument instead of merely discharging lame insults. Target something specific I h...
"Getting the filthy rich to tone down their lifestyle", and getting them to agree, or forcing them, to redistribution of their wealth would seem to be...
Maybe you're right about that, but what can we actually do to eliminate the seemingly inevitable human error and indifference involved in such wastage...
Sure, education of all (if it could be afforded and effected) may cause a downward trend in reproduction. But will the magnitude of such a trend reduc...
OK, fair enough, I guess it is a kind of moral position to impute something as a problem to those who may not care about it. It is a problem, though, ...
Again, it seems obvious that it is (potentially at least) everyone's problem. I don't know about the answer "being in ethics", but the problem is cert...
Of course "developed" nations consume much more, destroy much more biota and habitat and create much more greenhouse gases per capita than "developing...
It seems obvious they're both problems. The overarching problem seems to be how to decide what to sacrifice. If we favor saving people now over saving...
No, of course I wouldn't consider it a problem if 8 billion (and the ever-increasing numbers of) people could be fed sustainably. The fact that they (...
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