Tom Storm

You partly understand me. What you have described are cultural differences, which are a mix of nationalism, propaganda and, yes, some of this is philo...

Not sure many leftists would consider them heroes. Reminds me of the famous quote by Gore Vidal. There is only one party in the United States, the Pro...

Interesting you don't include Reagan, Bush and Bush. Also when people are talking about a 'cabal of bankers' this is often coded anti-semitism. Where ...

The leftists I have known in academia and publishing mainly renounced their support of Marxism and the Soviet project in 1956, when the Soviet tanks i...

That's tantalizing. I guess there's no way to test if this is true. One of the things people misunderstand about religion is that its dominant activit...

I thought it went: 'and those who can't teach, take gym...' Sounds like things are a bit tough for you. I'm sorry to hear that. I value your contribut...

'Those who can, do; those who can't, teach'. It's G B Shaw, not the Tao Te Ching. I've often found that the person who knows how others should live is...

Nice. I see how he incorporates Plato. I am unsure if that comparison is sustainable more broadly but he would know better than I. It does stand to re...

Somehow many discussions seem to return to the matter of fields. Which I kind of like, to be honest. Probabilistic theories with math as the key langu...

:up: I'm always terrified by anyone who thinks they know what's best for other people and what 'should' happen. Doesn't matter if it is the right, the...

Physicist Paul Davies seems to think so - he argues for Newtonian materialism the 'inert lumps' being displaced by quantum mechanics.

I don't really care for politics or utopianism but I have known many leftists over the years who would argue that Russia was never a Marxist state, ju...

I don't know why this would be odd, it has been a dominant belief for centuries.

The Koran says Jesus was just a man and not the son of God so... But yes, I was always taught in Christian school that Jesus was a Rabbi.

I agree. And I think the business man's story is a sad one also.

There's a whole thread on this and, predictably, there are different views on this.

You are quite right that consciousness can be defined in several ways, some of which might include machines. A useful definition of consciousness did ...

I'm sorry if you thought I was attacking you, Athena. That was not my intention. What I should have said was that those ideas seem to me to depict a w...

Sure. I was just trying to open up the subject a bit more.

So this is a familiar and reductive materialist argument - one I put up myself in the 1980's. People will have an issue with Premise 2. Humans are lik...

And you have solved it.

They don't yet. I think the problem is more complicated than this, N. Have you read an account of the hard problem of consciousness?

I understand that but the issue is more complex than this. Machines do not yet have consciousness. How do you explain subjective experience and consci...

But it doesn't, so why provide this as a comparison to human self-awareness?

In fairness to Searle, it holds more than water. It also holds food and alcohol - digestion is complex.

You are far too dramatic. Voting well and community solidarity does not require you read Schopenhauer or Plato or care about the nature of reality. Th...

I wasn't questioning your view, just expanding on your points for the OP. :smile:

I think this may prove an interesting angle. What models of reality are in competition with your version of physicalism? Nature of consciousness? Subj...

Thanks for this paragraph it brought be considerable pleasure. :up:

Christianity did the same thing for ages. The heretic was appropriated from religion and placed in a political context. Islamic fundamentalism is stil...

That's a nice summary of what people often believe about humanity. Is there an abyss? I think only for people with a certain cast of mind. The abyss d...

But will you be able to get hold of a plumber on Sunday mornings?

I don't disagree, but how does one determine the line between sound and awful judgement?

Of course, they are dictatorships. That's how they do things.

Yes, but you missed the entire quote - "Even in Hell, I'll be well, but I'm really, really afraid." Your posts are very familiar. J Kirshnamurti said ...

Nice. That's pretty much what I've come to think and I can see how this model can kickstart many a speculative journey.

Yes. In a prison.

Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself is often seen as exemplifying the most critical essence of Christianity (after loving God) and is closely conn...

Theists are atheists of a sort too - they disbelieve in the hundreds, thousands of gods that others do or have believed in, without being able to disp...

The reincarnation that can be told is not the eternal reincarnation; The transmigration that can be named is not the eternal transmigration. :yikes:

Yep, and sometimes the ones who think they aren't, are and the ones who think they are, aren't. Loving wisdom doesn't mean you have any. I've never be...

:up:

I hear you. I guess it depends on what 'the measure of all things' means. Protagaros aside, I am the measure of all things in my universe. As Gore Vid...

TC I have always held this as an intuitive belief. Humans think like humans for human reasons - the world and us is to some extent 'created' by our co...

That was a delightful romp, X. :cheer:

As you say, the devil is in the details. The personality side of this putative process intrigues me the most. I wonder in this scenario if you would r...

OK, I see.

That.

What reasons do you have for this belief? Universal Intelligence too...

That resonates with me. A great way to make a statement is to disguise it with a question. And naturally, the presuppositions people reveal with their...