Joe Biden, friend. — StreetlightX
Have you met the US Government? — StreetlightX
From the person who wrote the Patriot act, yes. — StreetlightX
So I agree that legally it looks like there's no free speech violations, since the platform has power to remove whatever content they like. There is a rational kernel to the free speech argument though. Large social media sites effectively function as the social commons; they're how we chat, make friends, inform ourselves and so on. It is quite creepy that someone can be exiled from that commons with little to no oversight.
I think the free speech complaint "goes through" so to speak, but not in the terms it's originally articulated in. — fdrake
I think the original argument can be put easier with clones.
The good old teletransporter problem would have sufficed to make the point that Solar is trying to make.
... — DoppyTheElv
Materially indistinguishability is not sufficient to show dualism. All the electrons in the universe are identical, but can still be different in physical ways (state). They can also have identical state: a ground state hydrogen atom over there can have the same state as and is materially indistinguishable from a ground state hydrogen atom here. — Kenosha Kid
Sure, reincarnation could be a nice tool to convey a point which Solar might want to make. Specifically a point about personal identity. So you're kind of just red herring it. — DoppyTheElv
it still presents a problem regarding demand on the national grid. Displacing carbon emissions is not the same as not producing them. — counterpunch
In set theory, these would be the same set. Your insistence on a difference nonetheless is precisely the circularity in your argument. This is not a subtle point.
— Kenosha Kid
Let's assume that reincarnation is true.
Would it make a difference to you which creature you were reborn as? — SolarWind
I don't doubt the principle of natural selection, but I do question that it provides a basis for philosophy of mind, other than some species of utilitarianism. — Wayfarer
You simply compare the set {A*,B,C,...,X,Y,Z} with the set {A,B,C,...,X,Y,Z*}, where the star indicates which life you would live in the corresponding world.
It is possible that the persons are materially identical in pairs, i.e. A* =(material) A, B =(material) B, ... , Y =(material) Y, Z =(material) Z*. — SolarWind
I agree with you here. It’s their business, they choose. At least we know exactly where they stand. — Brett
I support terrorism. — Brett
These private services have been pressured by governments to regulate speech. — NOS4A2
To be clear, I don’t like when online communities are controlled by a central party rather than letting end-users control moderation from their end-view alone, especially when that central control is heavy-handed. But nobody has to use those kinds of communities, so I largely just don’t. Anyone else who agrees with us about that is free to do likewise, and if enough people do likewise then there goes the network effect that attracts people to those services in the first place. — Pfhorrest
Orwellian? It couldn't be more capitalistic for a publisher to not want to be associated with sedition. What a whinny bitch. — praxis
Now there's a can of worms for you. But I think we can both agree that Darwin's theory is first and foremost a biological theory regarding the origin of species, right? So it doesn't contain anything inherently referring to epistemology, or the nature of mind, except insofar as these can be understood through biological principles. Which then naturally assumes the form of 'biological reductionism' and general neo-darwinian materialism. — Wayfarer
It's also that, in our world and perhaps especially in America, the standards projected by media (and politicians - often falsely) are often far removed from the standards you can reasonably expect someone to uphold. You get constantly bombarded by incredibly beautiful people who appear to lead incredibly fulfilling lives all while being woke on race, helping poor children in Africa and only eating organic, ethically produced food.
If you're scraping along on the edge of poverty in some area culturally very removed from any of this, it doesn't take a particularily viscious person to develop a whole lot of resentment. — Echarmion
This juxtaposition of having higher status than almost every possible voter, while being a worse person than almost every voter creates a pull. — Echarmion
He thereby gives voters the feeling that all the things they feel bad about and more importantly that they are told they should feel bad about, aren't. — Echarmion
I am a greedy, lazy, dishonest miserable, angry, self-centred, racist, sexist loser. Trump represents me; he tells me he is like me, and is on my side, he makes like we are the virtuous people and anyone who supports minorities and women and children is a whining communist who wants to stop us being good old American assholes. — unenlightened
Books that helped me understand the Trumpers at the beginning of his administration were works like https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strangers_in_Their_Own_Land — praxis
The bayou area has a high concentration of petrochemical plants as well as a high level of pollution in its waterways. Hochschild wanted to understand why there was little support for environmental regulation in this area, despite what would seem to be the self-interest of its residents.
Imho, the phenomena is not limited to Republicans, as Bernie Sanders is a pretty radical departure from the norm too. One doesn't have to be a confederate states MAGA hat racist to come to the conclusion radical alternatives are now necessary. One can come to that conclusion as a liberal too. — Hippyhead
He’s simply a conman who tells them what they want to hear and in a way that they enjoy hearing it. Not just anyone can do that. Have you ever watched him speak at one of his rallies? It’s just raw divisive nonsense that only a completely unprincipled narcissist could spew. — praxis
As already mentioned, the worlds should not exist simultaneously, but alternatively. Thus the question does not arise "where" these worlds are. — SolarWind
A simple question: Would it make no difference to you whether you lead your current life or the life of another person, for example George Clooney, of course including his body and memories? — SolarWind
We can listen to people's opinions without labeling them. — Philosophim
Almost everything he did seemed to highlight him as a disastrous candidate based on prior experience.
— Kenosha Kid
In comparison to what? More decades of the same old political status quo which has failed so many people? — Hippyhead
Yes, because Trump promised an alternative to the status quo, which he then delivered on. — Hippyhead
But why be sympathetic to that and not, say, someone saying "We need universal health care, it's wrong for Americans to be left to die just because they're poor, I'm going to do something about that, there I did something?" — Kenosha Kid
Remember George Bush senior? "Read my lips, NO NEW TAXES!" Whereupon he proceeded to support new taxes. — Hippyhead
Please observe the assumption that a desire for defendable borders to one's country is a function of racism. — Hippyhead
All the Iran deal did was kick the can down the road. The Iran deal served to hand Obama's problem off to some future President. — Hippyhead
Is your goal to understand the Trump phenomena, or just be against it? — Hippyhead
Anyone else think this impeachment is a terrible idea? It's totally doomed to faliure and it will dominate Biden's first month in office while he should be focused on the economy and pandemic. It will also hold up cabinet appointments. — Count Timothy von Icarus
The guy is off social media and most media outlets won't let him on. Let him fade away. He's an obese 74 year old so its entirety possible nature takes away the 2020 threat, and in any case, it seems not improbable he might be in state prison or have fled the country by then. — Count Timothy von Icarus
Joking aside we need to engage more with people like Brett @NOS4A2 and especially @counterpunch as they are a real deal philosopher! (Joking not completely aside, I guess) — The Opposite
Reasoning will never make a Man correct an ill Opinion, which by Reasoning he never acquired. — Jonathan Swift
I have a solution, and I know it's right. I can prove it right down to the philosophical roots. I can explain where we've gone wrong and how to put it right in the same terms. I am a philosopher. My core subject is how to save the world. And I know how.
Later...
I don't know. It seems a bit immodest to start a thread to propound my own philosophy. — counterpunch
Charitably, it's a boo word for a good reason: the interaction problem is rightly considered fatal to substance dualism. — bert1
But the point about intentionality or 'aboutness', is that there's no obvious analogy to that in physics. That's the significance of the concept of intentionality, introduced to philosophy by Brentano. Intentionality seems on face value to be irreducibly mental in nature, as it requires or implies both the obvious meaning of intentionality with respect to some object, but also implies representation regarding what the object is about. That's why it suggests dualism - there's nothing that maps against that in physical laws. — Wayfarer
First, they see leadership in Trump because Trump actually did lead. He defeated the entire political establishment of both parties and defied media speculation which was convinced of Clinton's inevitable victory. — Hippyhead
Once elected Trump led by overturning a number of decisions and assumptions of the established political class. Instead of ignoring immigration and conceiving of that issue as being very complicated and sophisticated etc etc blah, blah, blah, he said, "Fuck that, let's build a wall!" — Hippyhead
He left the Iran deal, the Paris accords, the WHO. He challenged NATO to pay their own way. Same thing here. Examples of bold leadership, just not the flavor that you and I prefer. — Hippyhead
More importantly perhaps, Trump offered his base leadership on a more personal emotional level. Educated liberals such as ourselves have been looking down our snooty noses at rural and working people for decades. We are the cool smart people, they are the clueless bumpkins etc. Trump led by raising his middle finger and jamming it in our eye, thus channeling the understandable emotions of many millions of people, who then rewarded him with their loyalty. — Hippyhead
This proof supports dualism and refutes monism, since in monism world A and world Z would have to be identical, since they are materially identical. — SolarWind
Charisma is perhaps more accurately compared to the phenomena of screen presence in TV and films. It's not so much about the character being laudable as it is about their ability to hold our attention. Think of John Malkovich for example. He typically plays evil characters, but he's a very watchable actor. When he's on screen he's probably what you're looking at. — Hippyhead
Charisma is a mysterious force in human affairs. It doesn't necessarily have a logical basis, because human beings aren't fundamentally rational. — Hippyhead
His supporters had hungered for a charismatic leader like him
I think this sends the wrong message. We are here to think. We are here to listen to other's points and arguments, and logically think through them. It is not about being conservative, liberal, or political in any way. Such things often get in the way of free thought, and become arguments of ego and ideology. — Philosophim
I'm here to discuss philosophy - and frankly, you're letting the side down by dragging the conversation into the gutter of the giving and taking of personal offence. — counterpunch
There are certainly critical distinctions between the Trumpers and the BLM protesters, but there is a similarity often overlooked, and that is that both comprise a marginalized underclass, even if the Trumpers don't realize the source of their anger and even if they are members of the majority race. — Hanover
Could it be argued that society as a whole does the same thing? There are all sorts of behaviours that society finds distasteful or aberrant and tries to control through social norms rather than any concrete laws. — infin8fish
It's difficult not to take that personally. — counterpunch
I think maybe, your problem is that you assume your values are far more universal than in fact they are. — counterpunch
I'm trying to discuss those problems civilly. — counterpunch
There is no alternative to acting on the basis of belief — counterpunch
I haven't insulted you — counterpunch
It's not me playing identity politics - it's you! — counterpunch
If the US saw what the US does to the US, it would invade the US to liberate the US from US tyranny. A coup is a coup, no matter where it occurs. A fascist is a fascist, no matter who he is. — Miguel Hernández
Well, you would have to nit-pick! :cool: — jgill