Comments

  • Here's a hypothetical question:
    If you could fate the human race to its cessation, in instantaneity, would you?Aryamoy Mitra

    I think that giving the chance of a reasonable life expectancy to billions of creatures that are trying desperately to survive humanity would not be too bad a deal. Sometimes you just have to hate what we are doing to the earth.
    But maybe the younger ones that come along will try harder to repair the damage we have done, at least some of it anyway.

    Just please do not ask me to press the button.
  • What is the wind *made* from?
    The truth of that will be overshadowed by the effort required to direct anybody to it.Mww

    Can you explain a bit better please.
  • What is the wind *made* from?
    Wind is not made from anything. It is the name of a movement of the air.
  • What is the greatest good one can do?
    By your own definition of good, what is the greatest action or doing (maybe even undoing) one can do?thelonecuriosity

    Don't screw up other peoples' lives.
  • The Wheel
    Sounds like politics.
  • A copy of yourself: is it still you?
    It's here where I see problems. The first statement here conflicts with statement A; it seems to suggest that a person is just the total of the atoms arranged to form them.InPitzotl
    No it does not. That is why it was stated that a person is NOT JUST the sum of the particles that make up the person, but it is obvious that they are included.

    Also, given the problem statement in the original post, it's quite reasonable to presume that Person #2 would have the same memories as Person #1; i.e., that Person #2 would have the same acquired knowledge and "remembered" experiences as the person who stepped into the machine (Person #1). Under that reasonable presumption, your second statement conflicts with statement B; Person #2 would be a result of the same experiences and knowledge that Person #1 (again being the person who entered the machine) had.InPitzotl

    Therefore they cannot be the same person because Person #2 does not have the experience of going into the machine.

    Also, I find the "different place" thing a bit confusing.InPitzotl

    You went to maybe a million different places in your journey to the kitchen, but it was the same set of molecules that went along with you, not a completely new set.

    perhaps you're missing a time element in your analysis?InPitzotl

    I left that part out so at not to confuse people. But I guess that your journey to the kitchen was not instantaneous and you changed very few molecules even though the distance covered was god knows how many microns in length. If you had instantly appeared a thousand miles away made up of completely different pieces, even managing to retain the memories walking into the machine, you would not have actually done the act of walking into the machine. The memories and experiences are not all of it either, a person is made up of both molecules and memories.

    Another part of you is actually changing as you grow old, your reconstructed body would be brand new but aged according to the old one. In the art world that would be called a fake.
  • A copy of yourself: is it still you?
    That's not obvious to me.InPitzotl

    So please enlighten me how it was possible.

    Person #1 walked into a machine, but never walked out of the other machine. Person #2 is not the same person as Person #1 because he has been reconstructed in in the shape of Person #1 but in a different place and from different molecules. Person #2 walked out of the machine but had never walked into it.
  • A copy of yourself: is it still you?
    Is there any reason to deny that the person who steps out of the machine at the other end is the person who steps into it.Aoife Jones

    The "person" is not just the total of the atoms that are arranged to form them. The person is the result of the years of experiences and knowledge acquired. It is obvious that the person stepping out of the machine never experienced going into it, and the person going in has no experience of getting out. Therefore they are not the same people.
  • Do atheists even exist? As in would they exist if God existed?
    You call out a generic universal God here? we, atheists, usually claim we do not belief the existence of certain definitions of God depending on the religion to talk about (Dawkins usually refers to christianity).
    If we start like playing with the word God, and say... God is the laws of physics or God is what has
    created the quarks... then the basis of the argument change...
    Raul

    Nope. We do not claim that we do not believe in a specific god, we do not believe in any god when the word god is used correctly. Gods are creators of mankind and the rest of the universe, in some religions they have gods for almost everything.

    My personal reason for not believing in them is that I find it hard to imagine that some being would go to all of the trouble to build the universe and them let a plague like mankind lose to destroy it. That is sort of like me spending years building a monster model railway in my basement and then let the little bastard next door go in there and play football with his mates. makes no sense at all.

    Most atheists never even claim to be atheists. They just get labeled that when they say that they do not believe there is a god.

    And I know the real truth behind the universe, Murphy.
  • How old are you?
    Now its ruined, the youngster have arrived. :rage:
  • What are you listening to right now?
    If anything, as someone who didn't grow up with classic 60-80's records,Noble Dust

    Most of the time I listen to 50- 70's stuff, but not very much in the pop charts caught my interest after maybe 75.

    There are some modern things I like, country is more or less timeless, reggae and calypso are almost eternal, and there are still some rock groups that produce interesting stuff.

    But honestly, I would rather listen to the older the older music and songs. I still play Led Zeppelin, Cream, Black Sabbath and Johnny Cash at high volume, lucky I don't have neighbors.
  • How old are you?
    :lol: :rofl: Best results I have ever seen. :lol: :rofl:

    I am part of a majority at last.
  • What are you listening to right now?
    Like everything else, they have there place in the world. :wink:

    I heard some really old tapes from a club in New Orleans a few years ago, and they were hard to listen to. Someone did a recover/remaster of them and the sound was great after that, the guy was promoting his digitizing business, but the effect was fantastic.
  • Who has the most followers on here?
    So now I am going to follower my follower.

    Does that sound weird to anyone else?
    What does that make me, a double stalker?
  • Who has the most followers on here?
    Sign in on a PC,The Opposite

    The only way I ever sign in.:wink:

    go to your profile and click on 'Connections'The Opposite

    Found it.
    :lol: :rofl: :lol: :rofl: :lol: :rofl: :lol: :rofl: :lol: :rofl: :lol: :rofl: :lol: :rofl:

    I have one follower. Brilliant.
  • What are you listening to right now?

    Have you every listened to vinyl records? I still do. Even the best of them played on a really good stereo had some quirky imperfections. I personal think that was better.

    Not many of the old groups and singers made very complicated music back then, so there was not that much information to cram into the mix. That was the beauty of the old stuff, they did wonderful things simply.
    There are some Jimi Hendrix live concerts that came out on 33 albums, the noise of the crowds was part of the magic. One one of them you could hear him dancing across the stage as the music went from one speaker to the other and back again. I heard a remastered version of it and I can honestly say it was crap. they had down toned the background sounds and it sounded more like a studio recording than a live one.
  • Who has the most followers on here?
    So where the freaking hell is it??
  • The art of the salon
    And I feel sorry for every single one of them.frank

    They are nearly all happy about my classes and I really doubt that they would welcome your pitying them. They had to work hard for the knowledge they acquired but were happy with the results.
  • Who has the most followers on here?
    But I don't think it's a bad thing, it's the same as reading certain philosophers over others.The Opposite

    Enabling what is not a bad thing? Do we actually have a follow function here?
  • Who has the most followers on here?
    Who has the most followers on here?The Opposite

    That would imply that there are leaders for people to follow.
  • Who has the most followers on here?
    What happens when you follow someone, beside instantly becoming a stalker?praxis

    That someone then leads you around like an idiot.
  • The art of the salon
    Experience with mandatory diversity training, yes.

    My co-workers and I had reason to use the training with respect to a person in our care. They had various issues we had to address regarding their chronic health problems.
    frank

    I have 28 years of teaching English experience, with a lot of diversity. And a lot of students.
  • What are you listening to right now?
    Climate Of Hunter was released in 1983; off the top of my head there's a small chance it could've been recorded digitally, but highly unlikely. I just meant Scott went from the Walker Brothers to his weird stuff.Noble Dust

    Look at the title of the video,

    Remastered 2006 :wink:
  • Here is what I think. Am I wrong?
    Am I wrong?Ken Edwards

    You told a long, very long, story in short semi romantic prose. If omitting millions of pieces of important information is not taken into account them I guess you are not wrong.

    But I ask again, what is the question?
  • What are you listening to right now?
    A lot of this music gets ruined when the remove the squeaks and bumps by digitizing it. It can never sound like the jukebox down at the pub.

    But even that cannot remove the greatness of it.
  • The art of the salon
    I'm glad you get to take up a chair here instead of working.ArguingWAristotleTiff

    What do you mean? I have to have a seat here or I want be able to use the keyboard. :lol: And they won't let me stop working.

    What is the thing you like least about this pandemic and what do you like best?ArguingWAristotleTiff

    That I still have to bloody well work, but from home. I get to see the missus all day.

    What I like the best is these bacon wrapped jalapenos filled with cream cheese!ArguingWAristotleTiff

    No, I leave the chilly to the missus, I stick to black and white peppers. I made some bacon and cheese wrapped spicy sausages a while ago, cleared up my sinuses for a day or two.

    The way things are going around here we will probable be going back to work by the end of this year or the beginning of next. I am not looking forward to that.

    See you around Tiff, I have classes early tomorrow and need my beauty sleep. :wink:
  • The art of the salon
    Gender fluid people want to be talked about using the plural pronoun, and at the same time, using "they" is being used to replace "he or she", as you did in this post.

    Just saying.
    frank

    I presume that you (he/she/it) know what you are talking about, I guess you learned from experience.

    Being brought up in northern England in the early 60's our grammar books and teachers said that the rule to apply when the gender of people was not known or that a general statement was being made about a group of possibly mixed gender was to use them and they.

    It was much later that a bunch of yahoos decided that they/them should be used so at not to attach gender bias to single people.
    https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/voices/actually-we-should-not-all-use-they-them-pronouns/

    But in the end I really don't give a flying fuck what you or anyone else thinks or insinuates.
  • Here is what I think. Am I wrong?
    What do you think?Ken Edwards

    What was they question? :worry:
  • The art of the salon
    Well done! Now you know what you have to do!Gus Lamarch

    I am not going to be a security guard and escort them out, if they found their way in here they can find their own way out.

    And that goes for anyone that thinks that this place should either live up to its name or change it.
  • What are you listening to right now?
    Listening to another version. Pretty good.The Opposite

    All of their music was good, but then most of the music made in that era was. I played some of their tracks a couple of years ago for my students, they were fascinated with them.

    So little originality nowadays that does not rely on the use of electronic synthesizers. These guys had none of that stuff to work with.
  • What are you listening to right now?


    Feeling old today, remembering young loves while listening to old songs.
  • Corporate neglect turned deadly -- is it 'just business' and not personal?
    What I much admire about some non-Western cultures is their general belief in and practise of not placing their aged family members in long-term care homes.FrankGSterleJr

    You might admire these cultures for this reason, but are there other things about those cultures that you don't admire?
    I used to work for an international charity and I have read some of the reports about these non western societies.
    In a lot of these countries women's rights to employment do not exist, so they stay home and look after the kids and the in_laws or parents if they have not been forced into marriage.

    Many non western societies see having a lot of kids as a way to assure a reasonable old age, the more the better. Unfortunately not all of the survive, they don't have enough money to feed them all. In some cases when they do survive they are sold of as workers, especially the girls, to "help" maintain the brothers and sisters.

    Most big business are big because of their success at selling their service or product. When people stop paying for them the stop being big.

    So the solution, as you say, would be not to use the care homes and for everyone to keep their old folks at home. So which of the parents of the school children would have to quit their job to look after the old ones? Obviously it would be the child of the old ones wouldn't it.

    So the man of the house brings mom and dad home one day and calls out as he enters the door
    "Honey I'm home. By the way I brought mom and dad here to stay. But don't you worry about a thing, they will not be a burden to you or the kids. I quit my job to look after them."

    The next day, as the lady of the house is leaving for work. "Honey, could you pass by the supermarket and do the shopping for next week and don't forget the mortgage is due on today"

    If everyone took responsibility for themselves and made sure that they had enough money in the bank their would be no need for care home except for those that decided they needed to live in one.
    Oh, how stupid of me!! We are trying to get rid of big business, right. I forgot about that.

    So if we get rid of the money makers how is anyone going to have a chance of putting money in the bank?
  • The art of the salon
    Baden jamalrob, this is a name much closer to the reality of the "forum".Gus Lamarch

    Some people don't recognize a joke when it falls on their head.

    As a member of the original Philosophy Forum I find it delightful to be a member of its love child "The Philosophy Forum".

    I have no idea why anyone would go anywhere they are not comfortable being and stay there complaining, telling everyone that the place should change and generally putting the place down.

    To anyone who feels dissatisfied with the forum I have a word of advice.

    The exit door is the same size as the entrance door, should not not have any problems passing through either. Just do everyone else a favor while passing through.

    DON NOT FUCKING FART IN THE LOUNGE!!

    Thank you.
  • The art of the salon
    It occurs to me that this forum is an approximation to a Salon.Banno

    I like it, "The Philosophy Salon"
  • Some thoughts about fantasizing.
    Fantasizing can also be just thinking about things, such as taboo sex or not paying your tax and spending the money on a new car, without any other intention involved.

    You could fantasize about running down the road naked screaming the devil is behind me, but that does not mean yu are planning to do it.
  • Where were you before you were born?
    Is religion still satisfactory for you on this matter?Raul

    I don't have much faith in the existence of souls, but it would make sense if all of the memories were available in between each reincarnation. But that appears to be something that no religion that believes in reincarnation has taken into account.

    How advanced would humanity be today if people were really reincarnated with the memories intact, the good guys at least.
  • A (very) short tale for people tired of the next "New Discussion"
    you are right but the tale still works no matter the sophistry a reader may be willing to useRafaelsanchez53

    The reader? How come?
  • A (very) short tale for people tired of the next "New Discussion"
    “Hey! how do I get across?”Rafaelsanchez53

    Perfect example of asking the wrong question.
  • Geometrization Of Science
    Can you name a mathematician who's taken this approach to scientific equations before me?TheMadFool

    In reality I cannot think of anyone that would have wasted their time comparing scientific equations that describe the workings of the universe and down-scaling it to simple geometry. Geometry itself has a place in science, but not everything can be downgraded to it and still explained by it.