Down The Rabbit Hole

Buying meat contributes to suffering and death. Are you arguing that, like other animals, we are too stupid to make moral decisions?

If a Carnot cycle is, by definition, 100% efficient, isn't saying "perfect Carnot cycle" redundant too?

As you say, the word "lift" has its job in the name. Would any lift that can lift be a perfect lift? I don't think most people would call a really slo...

While value judgments are ultimately subjective, including perfection, you can say something is objectively perfect for a specific goal. In the Carnot...

You could be facing an enemy with the same value for civilian life, that is only attacking your military targets, or beat an enemy that is willing to ...

I think the least problematic answer to these type of thought experiments is that the object goes where the parts go, and only where the parts go. How...

Do you still contribute to the animal farming industry though, or have you walked away from Omelas?

I think The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas can be applied to many moral questions. "The city's constant state of serenity and splendor requires that a...

The problem is there being so many different definitions. I searched "moral nihilism definition" on Microsoft's AI and it replied "Moral nihilism is a...

I enjoyed it. I'm a bit of a fanboy and have a copy of all the volumes of his autobiography too. He wrote History of Western Philosophy in the last tw...

I was going to say Russell's "History of Western Philosophy". I've been meaning to start it again.

I would have said this: Is a flavour of this: Maybe the literature considers them separate.

Our moral values are just the result of our emotional state, which is no reason to believe anything - especially when we have competing values with ot...

I wouldn't have thought that there is much difference. A self-aware machine would have to have a feedback mechanism. Experts are looking to create thi...

Not only would you expect better of your own elected representatives that have been voted in by you and your peers, this is the most realistic thing y...

Mereological nihilism? I've been meaning to look into it if you could recommend any books or resources.

Fair enough. From a utilitarian point of view, you could say the sympathiser is worth less on the basis that they hold more negative utility, and from...

Yes. It's complicated as you have to measure not only the likely consequence of each course of action (or lack thereof), but how certain you are of th...

The second question is an interesting one - think the difference between it being a Palestinian hostage or an Israeli hostage. Would and should both h...

What if bombing runs where civilians were going to be killed as a by-product, were necessary to win WW2? I don't see evidence that they were, but I th...

As long as we are all opposed to death and suffering, advocates of a course of action that causes it have to provide justification. Is there justifica...

The USSR's huge contribution to the war was one of things at the forefront of my mind, along with it beating the west to space. The answer to why it f...

From the link provided by @"Vera Mont" it doesn't look like Venezuela was given a fair chance either. That might be where we first see UBI. Even if a ...

Yes, that's what complicates the question even more - all of the communist countries mentioned in my OP were being undermined by the western capitalis...

While it's a matter of perspective, some examples are more explicit. Considering the USSR ceased to exist, I think it is safe to say that it failed. T...

Even if The Chinese Communist Party is now only communist in name, The Chinese Communist Party proper survived for around 70 years, as did the USSR. D...

Given an infinite duration, if the same matter combines in the same pattern, maybe we keep being reborn.

I think it would depend on your position: (1) There is no basis to say that anything is good or bad OR (2) Good and bad are relative to the individual...

The outcomes are merely not to our taste. I don't see a basis for saying that they're wrong, bad, or evil. There could also be a God who commands what...

If there are no right and wrong answers to moral questions, how can we say god is wrong, bad, or evil? I can see the point hiding underneath the quest...

I would think a nomadic lifestyle is similar to travelling/backpacking. While I enjoyed the experience, I eventually missed the comforts and security ...

Even the cogito could be wrong? We could be il-logical and therefore mistaken that to think we must exist. Or we could be in some kind of illusion suc...

Yes, that's a strong objection. Disembodied brains can exist, but they don't last long. I think I read that upon decapitation consciousness lasts for ...

Good question. It may be that density has no meaning within infinity.

I think consciousness is most likely either a property of matter or arises from it. Some people believe there is a non-material substance (such as a s...

I'm not of that generation, but I can respect the nostalgia. As your tastes are similar to mine, you must be a Stargate fan. SG1 if my favourite Sci-f...

I enjoyed TNG the most, followed by Voyager I think. I was just getting into Discovery and Netflix took it off :sad: I won't spoil Picard Season 3 for...

Well, Shatner's a classic, but Patick Stewart is my favourite captain of all time. Have you finished the new Star Trek: Picard? I've still got two epi...

You'll have to fight @"universeness" for it.

Yes, I think our meaning of "equally likely to occur" is pivotal. A more agreeable meaning may be from The Principle of Indifference: "A rule for assi...

I don't see how we will be able to prove what gives rise to consciousness. You're not suggesting substance-dualism are you?

This is the basis for my suggestion that Boltzmann brains and human-life are equally likely to occur. Despite the latter's pattern being more complex....

Yes, I think this is the point raised by Sean Carroll. And it is the same kind of paradox that faces epistemological nihilism - if we can't know thing...

Yes, the part about all outcomes being equally likely within infinity, is my challenge to the paradox. It would be good to have your thoughts. I have ...

That's what I was thinking! Thoughts @"noAxioms"?

Professor Chomsky, as a millennial I have increasingly lost hope in politics. The Conservative Party here in Britain win election after election, and ...

Thank you for your response. I have now read through "If You Must Give Them a Gift, Then Give Them the Gift of Nonexistence". I don't accept Benatar's...

What he is proposing is different to negative utilitarianism, which is the minimisation of suffering, and is similar to the way we generally make ethi...

Depending on the country, the offender/s may not only be liable for repayment of the money taken, but for any additional damage their illegal action/s...

We create our own values and purpose. This could be helping people as @"universeness" has said, or improving ourselves, such as by learning as much as...