• The Argument from Reason
    And yet, besides a disapproving squeak, you cannot point out my error/s. :roll:
  • Masculinity
    So the opening question: What is a man?Moliere
    An adult human with XY chromosomes.

    And the titular question: What is masculinity?
    Yang (re: taijitu). Unbalanced, tends to break before bending (contrary to / complementary of Yin which tends to bend before breaking). :fire:
  • The Argument from Reason
    So do we blame old Franz for creating all of this confusion?wonderer1
    Blame millennia of folk psychology (e.g. Scholastic psychologism).

    Next you'll be telling us qualia is nonsense...Tom Storm
    Not "nonsense", just (adaptive?) phenomenal noise in mammalian cognitive systems.

    So how did this entry become written? By mistake?Wayfarer
    It was written – as our exchanges are written, Wayf – by deterministic nonlinear dynamic system-agents which reflexively confabulate ex post facto intentions-of-the-gaps. :sparkle: :eyes:
  • UFOs
    If UFOs are "alien spacecraft", I suspect that they are AI-machine probes and that their parent species are either extinct or postbiological.180 Proof
    Addendum to the post excerpted above: a SciAm opinion piece by Martin Rees & Mario Livio ...

    https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/most-aliens-may-be-artificial-intelligence-not-life-as-we-know-it/?fbclid=IwAR0dyFVyIjr_xqXDklbyBdW3qzSW5WpkWV77t0s6_i-X34_aDlyIzm7qMdg#
  • Juneteenth as national holiday.
    :up:

    :up:

    In an era of deliberate, wide-spread voter suppression by GOP legistlatures, it would be far less of an empty, symbolic gesture to celebrate Voting Rights Day (August 6, 1965) rather than the folkloric "emancipation" of Juneteenth (1865), which was followed by a century of jim crow segregation – de facto disenfranchisement – which had required a federal statute to establish enforceable liberty for blacks, browns & women (that's been strategically under legistlative and judicial threat for the last two decades). Also, get rid of both "MLK, Jr Day" and "President's Day" too and at least establish a federal Election Day holiday instead.
  • US Election 2024 (All general discussion)
    That ain't news, B. For decades now national politricks in the US has been as legitimate as professional wrestling. :mask:
  • Themes in Rock and Roll
    Since the 1920s, uptight religious folks have called Blues (& sometimes Jazz) music "the Devil's music". Decades later, Rock-n-Roll mainstreamed the Blues mixed with teenage rebellion and transgressive irreverance, which shocked suburbanites & tempted rightwing televangelists to the point of equal parts hypocrisy & condemnation. :naughty:






    :fire:
  • The Argument from Reason
    Do the outputs of ChatGPT have intentionality?wonderer1
    Well, it's not altogether clear even that human thoughts "have intentionality" ... :chin:
  • The Argument from Reason
    Back in the day, I couldn't find a copy of A Materialist Theory of Mind, but I'd eventually learned much from Armstrong's A Combinatorial Theory of Possibility and Sketch for a Systematic Metaphysics which, IME, are far more consistent with both formal and natural sciences than any 'immaterialist, antirealist or supernaturalist' speculations on the world, mind, etc I've come across.
  • What is a "Woman"
    IMO, the most equitable solution would be to provide three public, multi-occupant, wheelchair-accessible restrooms designated for Men, Women & Unisex. Someone has probably already pointed out that considerations of 'chromosomal biology' or 'gender self-identification' are too reductive for pragmatically providing disambiguated public accomodations.
  • The Argument from Reason
    :up:

    At most (being charitable), the "argument from reason" only narrowly applies to reductive physicalism, otherwise a broader conclusion presupposes a false dichtomy (i.e. either "reductive physicalism" or "nonphysicalism") fallacy which invalidates the argument.
  • Juneteenth as national holiday.
    What is the reason for Juneteenth to be a national holiday?TiredThinker
    In 2021, the holiday was signed into law by newly elected President Biden in order to pander and/or keep a campaign promise to Black Americans who'd voted him into office in 2020 and are needed for his reelection in 2024.
  • US Election 2024 (All general discussion)
    All decent families are alike; each corrupt family is corrupt in its own way.

    Sleepy Joe's family:

    • Hunter Biden
    e.g. 2013 energy industry (China) & 2014 "Burisma" (Ukraine) – more than $10 million (investigated by DoJ special counsel since 2018 that has resulted in guilty plea (pending as of 20Jun2023) to two misdemeanor tax charges plus five years probation on an unrelated firearm charge)

    Traitor/Seditionist-1's family:

    • Ivanka & Jared Kushner
    e.g. $640 million jointly reported "investment" income while both were employed by the WH 2017-2021 (re: deals in China, etc – yet to be investigated)

    • Jared Kushner
    e.g. $2 billion from Saudi Arabia in 2021 for ??? (yet to be investigated)

    • Ivanka Kushner, Donald Trump Jr & Eric Trump
    e.g. along with their father, they are principles of the Trump Organization, currently facing civil lawsuit by NYS AG for over 200 documented cases of (state & federal felony) tax fraud, etc from 2011-2015 for at least $250 million (trial begins 2Oct23)

    @NOS4A2 – Like Hillary's emails, IDGAF about Hunter Biden's laptop. :victory: :mask:




    @Hanover @Wayfarer @Maw @Mikie @frank
  • It's Amazing That These People Are Still With Us
    [ ... ] Dion
    Julie Andrews
    Bob Dylan
    Frankie Valli
    Paul McCartney & Ringo Starr
    Mick Jagger & Keith Richards
    Van Morrison [ ... ]
    Mikie
    The only name of the still-living that surprises me on this list is Keith Richards. :death: :flower:
  • What's the implications of this E.M. Cioran quote?
    Well, we're not talking about the same thing.
  • Science as Metaphysics
    I can think of no examples of metaphysics becoming science.Janus
    :up:
  • What's the implications of this E.M. Cioran quote?
    :up:

    'One suffers much more from one's attitude towards suffering than from the mere fact that one can / does suffer.' That is what I meant – paraphrasing the insights of thinkers I listed in my previous post. And IME I've found that this is more often than not the case.
  • Science as Metaphysics
    Aristotle's First Philosophy (i.e. classical metaphysics) is my point of departure and, in that light, I disagree with your assessment and your (mis)reading of my previous post.
  • Science as Metaphysics
    ... we may need to specify whether we are talking about Physics (science ; energy [experimental transformations]) or about Meta-Physics (philosophy; enformation [reflective interpretations]).Gnomon
    In other words, we're talking either about hypothetical explanations for physical systems¹ or about categorical interpretations² of those explanations, respectively; the latter (metaphysics) says nothing about the objects¹ of the former (physics) but only about how to construct² a 'coherent, presuppositional / systematic synopsis' of the former. Any attempt to say 'more than physics about phusis' rather than 'generalizing from² physics about phusis' is pseudo-physics (woo) rather than metaphysics (reason). Like all X-of-the-gaps fiats (& other crackpottery), Gnomon, your so-called "Enformer" does not solve any problem in fundamental physics or cosmology and, in philosophy, merely substitutes an unknowable for a known unknown, which via infinite regress, only begs the question (Why is there anything at all? "Because the Enformer enforms all". :roll: :shade: :sweat:)
  • Culture is critical
    Maybe a new animated B5 movie will be better than no new B5?
    — 180 Proof
    I do think Mr Straczynski is trying to protect his 'baby' from the corporate profiteers, but I suppose it's hard to know who are the true good, bad and ugly characters in that world.
    universeness
    "They" all are. Though I'm not a fan of B5, I nonetheless tip my glass to Mr. Straczynski's creative struggle against Mammon.
  • Currently Reading
    Damn, man, I'm kinda jealous. :cool:
  • Culture is critical
    I agree. "Time travel" & "parallel universe" stories in "scifi" almost always have idiot plots. Anyway, I'd prefer a very faithful, high production animated adaptation (continuation or reboot) series of 1960s-era Star Trek to any live-action movies or shows such as Picard, Discovery, Strange New Worlds, etc – all of which, just like TNG, DS9, Voy & Ent, are unwatchably boring to me. Maybe a new animated B5 movie will be better than no new B5? Hopefully the writing and voice acting will be good enough to evoke the original show. :nerd:
  • Donald Trump (All General Trump Conversations Here)
    31 CHARGES OF VIOLATING THE ESPIONAGE.ACT. I'm so glad the former "leader" of "the deep state", his co-conspirators & flunkies are finally being PROSECUTED by "the deep state". For a while there, NOS, I worried that "the deep state" was broken because "45"'s regime had failed so spectacularly for four years to "lock her up" "build a wall paid for by Mexico" or "steal the 2020 election from Sleepy Joe (who wasn't in power) & some GOP-controlled states". :smirk:
  • The Indictment
    :sweat: :up: Belated Happy 59th!
  • The Indictment
    :sweat:
    [Trump's] scared shitless. This is the way he compensates for that. He gives people the appearance he doesn’t care by doing this...For the first time in his life, it looks like he’s being held accountable...Up until this point in his life, it’s like, ‘I’m not going to pay you. Take me to court.’ He’s never been held accountable before. — John Kelly, retired US Marine General and fmr WH Chief of Staff (R)
    https://twitter.com/ReallyAmerican1/status/1669008051959889920

    Crappy Birthday, Traitor-1.
  • Donald Trump (All General Trump Conversations Here)
    @NOS4A2

    [Trump's] scared shitless. This is the way he compensates for that. He gives people the appearance he doesn’t care by doing this...For the first time in his life, it looks like he’s being held accountable...Up until this point in his life, it’s like, ‘I’m not going to pay you. Take me to court.’ He’s never been held accountable before. — John Kelly, retired US Marine General and fmr WH Chief of Staff (R)
    https://twitter.com/ReallyAmerican1/status/1669008051959889920

    Crappy Birthday, Traitor-1.
  • What is self-organization?
    :clap: :up:

    Biosemiosis is based on the physics of dissipative structure. And dissipative structure is also the basis of cosmology. The Big Bang theory describes the Universe as a cooling-expanding structure of dissipation - a system falling into the very heat sink it is making.

    [ ... ]

    So reality as a whole - the entire shebang from cosmology to consciousness - can be modelled in the fundamental coin of thermodynamic theory. That is why information-entropy has become the basic metric employed by physical and mental theories. It is used in quantum theory. It is also used in Bayesian Brain theory.
    apokrisis
    :fire:

    You don't seem to tire of casting pearls ... Good. :smirk:

    Apparently, something about my information-based worldview is discomfiting for you.
    @Gnomon

    It’s the crackpottery. Simple enough
    apokrisis
    :sweat: Amen, brother!

    The significance is clear.

    "Conventional physics deals only with closed systems, i.e. systems which are considered to be isolated from their environment."
    — Ludwig von Bertalanffy, General system Theory (1968)
    Metaphysician Undercover
    Yes, von Bertalanffy is significantly confusing cosmology – the universe as a closed system – with all other phenomena – subsystems – modelled by "conventional physics". :roll:
  • A Case for Analytic Idealism
    Isn't climate change ultimately coming to liberate us from the cycle of death and rebrith? Why act to prevent it?Tom Storm
    :smirk:

    :up:

    Such is the bane of all speculative metaphysics: there’s no empirical proofs, but only internal logical consistency and strict adherence to the LNC, the only form of certainty we have to guide our contemplations.Mww
    :fire:

    Literally all of good metaphysics tries to extrapolate based off of the real world their best explanations of it and only bad metaphysics ventures so far beyond reality with merely LNC.Bob Ross
    :fire:
  • Currently Reading
    In honor of Cormac McCarthy, d. 2023 (today)

    Outer Dark
    • Blood Meridian
    • No Country For Old Men
    • The Road
    • The Passenger
    • Stella Maris
  • Where do thoughts come from? Are they eternal? Does the Mindscape really exist?
    The online reviews summarizing Jerrold Katz's platonist critiques of "naturalism", "empiricism", "pragmatism", "conceptualism", "nominalism" & "antirealism" remind me of the platonic cosmologist Max Tegmark's mathematical universe hypothesis, presented in his (speculative memoir) Our Mathematical Universe, which I'd found rigorously compelling in spite of my own (anti-platonist) philosophical naturalism.
  • Born with no identity. Nameless "being".
    Your questions don't make sense because pre-reflective cognition (re: "infancy") doesn't formulate self-reflective beliefs ("I" "who" "what" "where" ...)