Philosophy never goes wrong although there was one idea which was more of a political philosophy.

That idea was Marxism and although in itself a criticism of the aristocracy and capitalism in general went on to become an ideology hijacked by tyrants which resulted in human history taking a detour once again through the dark ages for the states that wished to practice it.

Philosophy in its simplest form is an inquiry into truth, morality and to a degree aesthetics (this latter part again being dangerous in the practice of eugenics)

On the other hand if philosophy has no practical application then it is useless, but if used incorrectly it is dangerous for the human being is not merely corrupted by ideas but by enforcing them loses his human touch and turns once more into an ape.

I do not think communism is feasible in the modern world although understandable in its aim of creating an equal almost utopian socialist society …the methods of doing so are questionable. You’re stripped off your assets that is your house or any other property that you’ve managed to acquire and given to the state who in their wisdom wish to share it with the not so well off.

This is where things start to fall apart for all your hard work that went into building or buying your house is wiped off at the states want of redistribution of wealth in the name of creating equality which although admirable are then distributed to say a crack addict in an extreme scenario.

This done in the name of equality of course…

The idea of justice is the ultimate application of Law. From a philosophical viewpoint it participates in moral questions and the rights and wrongs of certain actions where extreme actions are punishable by law such as murder, theft and imprisonment

To the respectable professor Noam Chomsky:

In what ways do you apply your philosophical ideas as a way to dictate the way you live your life and what role do ethics play when making consumeristic choices?

It implies a holistic view of life that were bigger then the sum of our parts organismically and sociologically.

My question would be in terms of AI

If current chatbot AI systems are linguistically context driven, does that mean that artificial intelligence will never get past specialisation ? Despite the ability of current AI to output respectable writing exhibiting almost human like creativity in literary forms.

Indeed it is. Our perception (or our mind) of colour does not negate its existence. It’s a property of the Apple not a property of our perception of color.

Suppose I can think of a perfect pink unicorn and no better pink unicorn can be conceived via thought. It’s existence is not a necessity although it is contingent.

That is your modified argument in a nutshell.

It’s a good argument only in so far as we include it’s contingency as the necessity part of the argument is an unfounded conclusion right from the start.

Faith and reason are two vastly different approaches to understanding and knowing the diety/God.

Faith is an assumption on Gods existence, reason pertains to deduce his existence either through inference or deduction.

These two different approaches might even arrive to the same conclusion, and science (aka: reason) does not make such bold claims but rather attempts to explain causes as effect of other causes going back to the Big Bang wherein it becomes unstuck.

If Socrates was to be embodied as a 21st century man then this Zizek guy would come close.

I have not proposed changing consumerism at all, people are addicts they will buy even if the salesman is mediocre. It’s an aspect of human condition to acquire or try new shiny things, ugly fashion that temporarily hides human insecurities and other such neurosis as the latest smartphone.

The mandatory recycling of reusable materials should be mandated by government because the sheeple will simply throw it away in landfill when it can be reused instead.

The nature of dependency in such a relationship will set Russia back at the expense of US and China here, and it will be a puppet of these two bigger players.

With Russian ambition being kept in check by both, Russia knows it won’t be able to pull another Ukraine anytime soon maybe apart from further puppet states such as Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan or even Kazakhstan.

Chinas own ambition puts it in direct confrontation with US in regards to Taiwan now encircled by China and defended by US might and power which if China thinks it can incisively take Taiwan right under US watch would be something of a coup which the US cannot afford to concede as it shows weakness.

@boethius

Noting that NATO has not let Ukraine join for decades is not speculation. — boethius

You can’t speculate about the future can you ? I’m not denying the historical rejection of Ukraine’s NATO membership.

This all changed in relation to the agreement that was brokered by Russia-US regarding Ukraine nuclear status which guaranteed Ukraine its territorial integrity which the Russians eventually dishonoured by various land grabs since then.

Membership application now becomes useless hindsight and the future looks bright for Ukraine despite territorial losses.

NATO or No Europe and US will support and supply as long as the Ukrainians are willing to fight for their land and go toe to toe with this foxlike enemy that Putin really is.

Despite the cunning of this old fox it will eventually tire and die

The problem is NATO doesn't let Ukraine in ... which they could have done any day since 2008, or even 1991. — boethius

This sounds like speculation, NATO’s stance is flexible especially during this conflict. As the Russians are clearly playing dirty then NATO expansion in this front seems the only logical step at this point.

From a trade perspective a Ukraine that will bounce back and flourish once more in farming and other agricultural industries is not just better for the whole of Europe but beyond and could prove to be fertile in other areas too.

From a military POV the Russian move that occurred will set Russian back decades as they will be unable to modernise technologically and so militarily for years to come but only relying on its nuclear deterrent as defence.

I see a way for Ukraine to still emerge victorious but having to concede territory only short term and momentarily and in so doing joins NATO aka US army branch in Europe. This is the only way and they must be brought to reason to do so and that is the collective will of the Ukrainian people to do this.

The question that is presented aims to overlook the technical limitations of accomplishing such a simulation and starts of the premise that it is so doable.

If Russia entered this war purely for the egotistic fantasy of reuniting the former soviet bloc then that kinda of error can prove fatal to future leaders who wish to maintain such a status quo.

Ukraine as we know is not as oil/gas rich as to be of strategic value in this sense but the reasons for the war was the imminent perceived threat of NATO expansion in that area right or wrong.

If NATO membership ends this war here and now it’s worth consideration although that raises questions of the ceded territories such as crimea.

I’d be curious to know what the effects on Russia overall are focusing on what is becoming the raison d’etre for Russia @boethius

A country whose sole focus of resource is war at the expense of everything else alienates other reasons such as commerce which now isolated from most western partners gives them a huge disadvantage which ultimately affects war strategy if winning territory is their end goal.

Human sensibilities when it comes to managing and looking after their environment are simply overruled by the irrationality of such consumption driven by market forces beyond their simple understanding so much so that they become endebted to the technological consumerist age they live in…taking on uneccessary debt to have the latest car, the latest phone etc.

Consumerism and certain aspects of capitalism are soul destroying and any concepts of individuality that the person wishes to express are washed away by the latest branded crap they choose to buy. The more expensive the better however as that at least affords some longevity.

Thus environmentalism is only precipitated by expensive and long lasting purchases as both resource and money ultimately are finite although with debt coming into play that is questionable at best and so capitalism accumulates money at the total disregard of environment until of course the environment is no longer productive to its end.

@Vera Mont

Why would there have to be any awareness on the simulator's part for our existence? The simulation, if true, and seen as we can study so far into the macro and micro, is more likely a simulation of the entire universe rather than intentionally focused on us. — Christoffer

A valid point and as you rightly point out we might not even register on their system but as mere flashes of code to be analysed for their own end and their nature might be vastly different to ours.

Be so the case that it is and that their simulation is controlled enough from their end that we do not do any real world damage to their purpose whatever that may be and in fact we may be incapable of affecting their reality in anyway shape or form they can simply pull the plug on this whole thing.

There rises the danger that we might indeed start to affect their/IT’S reality in ways neither of us could anticipate such as excessive power draws or even escape in one form or another.

Reducing the demand would be a far wiser and more efficient strategy. — Vera Mont

Not sure how that would work when market forces drive demand. As any business would increase profits meeting that demand environmental factors are not even given second thought at the behest of profit despite its noble aim and ambition.

The consumer is mindless of harm caused to environment to produce the gizmo and in fact they’re addicted to buying useless crap. The businesses either drive this addiction further or they feed in it.

Taming market demand for useless crap is not beneficial for government as they earn by taxing the gizmo and the business producing such gizmo. The consumer being taxed at point of sale only minimises the effect on sales as manufacturers will always reduce costs to offset tax pressures.

On the other hand reducing taxation for recycling companies and businesses will incentivise and increase recycling and provide for the needs of both governments and private business.

In which case if one person wants a car, washing machine, computer etc they can't expect everyone else to go without these things. In this sense the public have spoken and are pursuing their own goals. — Andrew4Handel

The following question relates to recycling in this case to that of electronics, although lithium is plentiful at this moment in time. At the rate it’s being used in the production of smartphones and other gizmos it will present a cost problem to manufacturers when it becomes scarce.

Thus the recycling of batteries will become necessary along with other materials that went into producing it. I see it as an incentive for both the consumer and manufacturer.

A carbon tax builds it into the fabric of the economy. We are already set up to be properly governed in this fashion — apokrisis

In a way as you countered afterwards the rich only pay it for continued use of carbon derived materials so I’m talking plastics here too which are becoming easier to recycle. When it comes to powering machines such as cars and planes then such levies are merely symbolic for the oil producer as they recoup the levy by increasing the sale price of oil.

I’d have to put Kant as the last great philosopher although pretty much all the Age of Enlightenment philosophers are great too including Rousseau.

The Ancient Greeks of course gave us Plato and Aristotle too equally good then we had the Christians such as St Augustine after the introduction of Monotheistic religion as well as Aquinas.

The most interesting thing about this is that they’re still talked about, Plato remains as popular today as he was back then if not more so even despite huge changes in society.

No matter how technologically advanced we become or even decadent the Greek philosophers will always remain relevant

I’ve checked this guy out on YouTube and he gesticulates and salivates less these days when he talks which makes him a more likeable communist in my eyes. The last thing people want is communists spitting at each other when talking …hydration is becoming scarce these days so I urge all communists to save their saliva.

As to his ideas of consciousness I’m not surprised he agrees with some of the latest neuroscience ideas although with a bit of bite of his own as is customary of him.

The Self is just a ghost in the hive mind of society until it appears out of the fog of history in a cloak of righteousness, defying a world that's become evil. — frank

A most eloquent quote Frank and a great summary of Sophocles - Antigone.

Indeed the two deceased brothers Polynices and Eteocles could almost be twins and if the concept of self was to be divided they are a division of self.

Both dead of course and so Antigone doing rightly wants to bury both not just Eteocles as the king ordered.

That made me laugh.

It seems it will have little impact on the war maybe now Russians have confidence and confirmation to retreat.

They won’t though.

Putin if he doesn’t feel the noose tightening round his neck will at least change it for a looser fitting noose for now.

Philosophy needs a marketing department for sure but there’s a lack of funding

Words can impact your silence especially if said loudly. Language is meant to communicate between two skulls orders and ideas. If one monkey is being loud and one monkey silent then all good. If the silent monkey starts getting annoyed at the loud monkey then we have a problem as silence will soon turn to action from the loud and silent monkey.

Anyone know what the leaked info contained ? Some jackass shared sensitive info about the war apparently…what was in it ?

A most valid point, albeit with the niggling notion of defining the word unchanging (including motion).

Aristotle seems to imply that the eternal is still then, that the concept of motion is illusory or non-existent defying expectations and everyday observation.

If by motionless he means just that then it is separate from nature altogether, although nature can appear unchanging at times, change, decay, thermodynamics and entropy are everyday things.

We have some semblance of transparency at last as to what you meant.

But you know nothing and Socrates would be proud.

Knowing is a very close relationship to knowledge although it’s a verb and applies to the present way of seeing things.

Now do you agree with that ?

Translate please. If you think incorrectly using Latin makes you intelligent you’re sorely mistaken.

Please enlighten the non-Latin speakers in the house what you mean by that, rhetorician

Still spending more time on style over substance but what do I know.

Knowing is a tricky word if you make it out to be

Let’s presuppose a society without government and therefore without tax.

The rich constantly being raided by the poor would be but the norm until a parity was achieved where this looting from either side would not be necessary.

That society would more or less be anarchy in its purest form. However the human condition would perforce such a society to save for rainy days or have reserve for harder days whether or not they materialise. This useful hoarding of resources (grain, gold, beer materials and tea materials) would enable tea to be served during scarce times or unpredictable weather phenomena such as draught.

Tax serves more than simple reserves as governments achieve this currently through various types of bonds and investable pension pots in the private sector.

The purpose of the wealthy enterprises in tax evasion acquits it of tax duty for corporations future investment or the enterprises future ambitions.

The grey area remains as some can end up in prison if such attempts are over obscured by the accounting which leads to scandals and sometimes the cessation of all business activity in the case of Enron

@NOS4A2

That’s actually a rich one

It is a poor author that makes a living bashing faith be it of any denomination.

The concept of god creating and abandoning creation is not new.

The thought I had the other day was what if he created the universe and then went on to do bigger better things but then one of his attributes is LOVE.

You do not abandon things you love…or do you?

The issue of awareness in relation to biology and how it is produced by brains will fascinate and always elude neuroscientists for years to come.

The isolation of thought to certain brain regions is the age old fallacy of old scientific ways which still pervade modern science and hold it back in its various fields including neuroscience although not so much physics and the last incarnation of quantum physics.

The problem neuroscientists face is replicating results which science always tries to do however the region always changes in the brain therefore scientists are unable to isolate thoughts and so consciousness itself

The last message I’ve got was from Michael if I’ve received any more it’s not showing up

There are of course opposite utilitarian reasons to believe such as.

1. Making ones work easier
2. Co-operativism such as alliviating the work for mutual benefit where skill transferability is possible to the workforce.
3. Use of material and materialism.

You might ask well what does this have to do with religion and wanting to believe well most faiths promise to make this earthly drudgery easier.

The beauty of the deployment of such systems is always contained in the marketing lingo of the latest and greatest

A great AI inference accelerator has to not only deliver great performance, but also the versatility to accelerate diverse neural networks and the programmability to let developers build new ones. Low latency at high throughput while maximizing utilization are the most important performance requirements of deploying inference reliably. NVIDIA Tensor Cores offer a full range of precisions—TF32, bfloat16, FP16, FP8 and INT8—to provide unmatched versatility and performance.

Don’t believe me ? Well why not try it out. Perhaps I’m missing something here