I’m awake. — NOS4A2

All you can do is assert it. You have no proof.

There is plenty of evidence. It’s just that some people refuse to believe their lying eyes. — NOS4A2

You're dreaming. Prove me wrong.

As soon as we come to believe both are of the same reality we have no choice but to speak of reality. — NOS4A2

Sure. There's just no way to prove they're "of the same reality.". People just do it without any evidence or sturdy reasoning. That is worth pondering.

Lawson holds that, Wittgenstein abandoned metaphysics as a direct consequence of his having concluded in the Tractatus that a realist theory of language was not possible because it falls to the self-referential paradox that it is unable to give an account of itself.

Is this problem insurmountable or overstated? — Tom Storm

I think it's insurmountable. What you can do is methodological metaphysics.

I understand in individual cases actual democracy can be inconvenient but the degree to which it is so is directly proportional to your inability to believe in it. — Baden

Sometimes democracy just doesn't work for the people. Democracy isn't an inherent good. It lasts as long as it provides minimal stability. Once things actually start breaking down, dictatorship is likely the next step since that's the only kind of government that can act swiftly and effectively to re-establish stability.

You have to boil it twice. It tastes like spinach.

Affirmative action was an attempt to force fairness by doing something that wasn't fair. Did it do more good than harm? I don't know if there's any way to quantify.

Probably unsurprising, but I'm going to say that all bodies are not disgusting. Bodies are an abstraction from the concrete perception of another individual. In the present you see a form, and that's all you can say theoretically. Your disgust is only yours, and not a society-wide disgust. I can honestly say I don't care (EDIT: in terms of disgust -- obviously I have sexual desires) about seeing naked bodies in the least regardless of their form.

The only condition I can think of in which some bodies are disgusting is that if I desire all bodies to be attractive to me, sexual or otherwise. But that's clearly a groundless desire, given how our notions of aesthetics are different from one another. — Moliere

I don't think you've over-thought this at all. Just the right amount. :up:

Yup. As a retired scientist, I know that at bottom science rests on an axiom: the outside world is knowable. — Torus34

That's a good way to put it. :up:

Science starts with assumptions rooted in worldview, so any scientific assertion is conditional. Same for most statements that are held to be known.

That brings into question whether we can truly know anything at all. — Torus34

Cogito ergo sum.

Do not worry my friend, I carry it very lightly. I have chosen much heavier metaphysical and existential loads for myself which dwarf the notion of "humanity" into absolute insignificance. — Merkwurdichliebe

Wow! What are they?

however I must say I hold it in the greatest of contempt and have little hope for it as a whole, and although it will continue getting stupider, ironically, it will survive. — Merkwurdichliebe

That's a heavy load to carry.

I'm not disgusted by all fatbodies, forgive me for speaking so generally. But, for the ones that do disgust me, it gives me something interesting to draw. — Merkwurdichliebe

In some situations you have to look at the person within the body and hold off on judgement. Then the body just becomes part of the human potential, and what you think of it reflects how you see humanity in general.

This is another video about a de-transitioned youth. She expresses some of the same concerns that a former forum member spoke about, regarding the trans community. She makes a very wise point: "heal your mental health first, and if you still feel gender dysphoria, then consider transitioning."

Unless a person can't find any beauty at all in masculinity. Then we have a pathological bias.

Oh. :chin:

Has Russia ever had an actual coup? I can't think of one.

Happy as a clam, friend. — NOS4A2

Well, this:

Your chuckling is exactly what I wanted to see. I’ll let you know if your opinion ever means anything. For now, I’m happy you’re so risible. — NOS4A2

is not happiness. It's bitterness.

You're sounding kind of bitter of late. Cheer the fuck up.

Plant consciousness is where the current edge and debate is the most interesting. — Bylaw

Unless you just ate a salad.

The studies show a low rate of transitioning regret at less than 1%. — Hanover

I wouldn't call that low. That means for every 100 surgeries, one person regretted doing it. I would tend to avoid any research that announces a political bias at the outset, as this one did, but since this survey basically affirmed a study from 1993, I don't doubt their results.

But anyway, the person in that video is an example of a woman, both biologically and in terms of self perception. As she stated, her presentation is always going to be androgenous.

I see. It's just all really strange.

I always try to give the benefit of the doubt. — Jabberwock

Me too.

Boethius and Tzeentch haven't made much sense to the rest of us since the war began. We're not really expecting that to change.

For all that's already been known, the degree of dysfunction in the power structure and the society that this episode has brought to the surface is pretty amazing. — SophistiCat

I don't understand why their military was pitted against itself to begin with. Was that on purpose to keep the military from taking over? Or what?

I have a friend who is going through the Hugo winners one by one till he's read them all. When he gets done with that, he plans to go through the Nebula winners not included on the Hugo list. — T Clark

:grin: :up:

:up: See if they have an anthology of Hugo winners. That's good stuff.

I saw the English version, which was ok. I've been thinking I should read it — T Clark

It's cool to compare the American version to the Russian one. There's a very different tone in each. The American one pays closer attention to making sense. The plot is sketchy to begin with.

The philosophical merit of the thread would go beyond the novel itself. — Noble Dust

Interesting. :up:

By "old school" are you referring to the truly old school like Wells? — Noble Dust

I was thinking more about the 1960s I guess? Like Jack Vance, Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, etc

Maybe his short stories were just a way to make money. Now that you mention the mysticism, I remember something about someone showing up to PKD's door with Christian fish necklace and it caused some epiphany in Dick? Was he struggling with mental health issues?

His later novels are anything but old school Sci-Fi. — Noble Dust

Really? That's weird that they'd diverge significantly from his short stories. How would you characterize them?

I enjoyed reading the book. I haven’t read much Dick and I’m not a big fan. — T Clark

I haven't read that, but I've read pretty much all of Philip K. Dick's short stories. He's old school science fiction. The vibe was always like you're being invited to consider something completely bizarre, but based in science somehow. PKD is known for images that stick with you. For me it's an image of this guy sitting in his living room and when he looks up at the window, there's a giant eye staring back at him. I don't remember the rest of the story, I just remember that image.

If you've ever seen the Russian version of Solaris, it captures that old school vibe pretty well.

They just fooled the whole world into seeing them as weak cowards! — Jabberwock

Plans within plans, man. It's like Dune over there.

Deal with inflation? (1) raise wages (2) raise interest rates.

(1) simply ignores inflation by feeding the wage-inflation spiral. (2) was pretty effective when Volker took the reins. But, admittedly, the country is in unexplored financial territory now. — jgill

Powell seems pretty confident that raising rates with "break the back" of inflation again. He wants it down to 2%.

Putin is weakened but what he needed most was time. Now he's got that, I presume he'll try to shore things up and pretend whatever deal he signed never happened. — Baden

That was some crazy shit, though, right?

turned out to be weaker than expected, — Jabberwock

They say he struck some sort of deal with Putin. Moscow was close to defenseless, so Prigozhin appears to be in charge now.

Perhaps that's acceptable since ageism is thriving" — jgill

I don't think the liberal response to rate hikes is ageism. It's just an impotent gesture.

I guess he was just blowing smoke