This is the modern malaise most young people also understand, given the roulette wheels of fleeting pleasures available at our finger tips. If AI can help sustain attention/commitment to the working topic, to dig in rather than just glide over the surface and onto the next thing, it surely is useful. But as folks have said, is it just another modern crutch that makes us weak and dependent and not very good, logical thinkers. — Nils Loc
Why "consider" this when "God's truth" about "quantum physics" is not revealed in ANY of thousands extant sacred texts? :eyes: — 180 Proof
Quantum Field Theory is by far the most successful truth in the history of science, its scientific model very well showing what goes on.
The quantum 'vacuum' has a base zero-point energy that is never zero and a base zero-point motion that is never zero. Philosophically, we would also conclude that Nothing and Stillness wouldn't have prayer of being so. — PoeticUniverse
My father didn't know his father who died in a mining accident about 1912. Dad had several siblings but he was the only one to leave the coal mines behind. He had his mother save his pay for tending the underground donkeys and after he graduated high school he attended Penn State for a year, then went into the deep south to continue his education, working as a campus cop to support himself.
Dad's mother was a resourceful woman. She turned her shotgun house into a small grocery store and supported herself and her children for years. The store was still open in the 1960s. She lived to 94 or so. I only met her once when we drove from Alabama to Pennsylvania for a visit in the late 1940s. That was considered a big deal and the local newspaper had an article about our adventure.
I don't recall either of my parents complaining bitterly about the Depression. They minimized their needs and adjusted as best they could. When WWII came along Dad was offered a commission in the Navy, but he had a health problem and turned it down. After the end of the War he became chief statistician for the War Assets Administration for a brief period. Then on to academia. — jgill
In the early 1900s, coal companies sometimes operated company towns that included general stores, but specific instances of a company helping a widow create her own grocery store are not widely documented. While not a definitive answer to a specific 1910 event, several historical patterns show how this may have occurred.
Mary G. Harris Jones (1837 (baptized) – November 30, 1930), known as Mother Jones from 1897 onward, was an Irish-born American labor organizer, former schoolteacher, and dressmaker who became a prominent union organizer, community organizer, and activist. She helped coordinate major strikes, secure bans on child labor, and co-founded the trade union, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).
Psychology Today
https://www.psychologytoday.com › attraction-evolved
Oct 16, 2018 — Bendas' findings show that odor is central to our sexual experiences. In fact, a satisfying sex life may simply be a case of following your nose.
Obviously, I am sure that many people in philosophy circles would scorn the process superstition. For those who pray, it is to whichever God one believes in but prayer is central to the Judaeo-Christian tradition. — Jack Cummins
Research shows prayer and meditation can increase certain brainwave patterns, such as alpha and theta waves, which are associated with relaxation and emotional experience.
Alpha waves (8-14 Hz) are brainwaves associated with states of deep relaxation, calm, and focused attention, like meditation or daydreaming. Theta waves (4-8 Hz) are slower brainwaves linked to light sleep, deep relaxation, heightened creativity, and memory processes, often occurring at the threshold of sleep. Both types of waves are neural patterns of electrical activity in the brain that change with different mental states and activities.
If telepathy is real, why wouldn't it be physical, given that both sender and receiver are physical? To assume there's something nonphysical means the brain can have a causal relation to the nonphysical. More assumptions = weaker justification. — Relativist
Reach for the hand of a loved one in pain and not only will your breathing and heart rate synchronize with theirs, your brainwave patterns will couple up too, according to a new study.
https://www.aau.edu/research-scholarship/featured-research-topics/holding-hands-can-ease-pain-sync-brainwaves#:~:text=Reach%20for%20the%20hand%20of,according%20to%20a%20new%20study.
Electromagnetism is the fundamental force describing the interaction between electrically charged particles, encompassing both electricity and magnetism. It explains how moving electric charges create magnetic fields, and how changing magnetic fields can, in turn, generate electric fields. This force is responsible for everyday phenomena like static cling and magnets sticking to refrigerators, as well as holding atoms and molecules together, forming the basis for chemical bonds. https://www.google.com/search?q=what+is+electromagnetism&rlz=1C1GCEA_enUS990US990&oq=what+is+electro&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqEAgAEAAYkQIYsQMYgAQYigUyEAgAEAAYkQIYsQMYgAQYigUyDQgBEAAYkQIYgAQYigUyDQgCEAAYkQIYgAQYigUyDQgDEAAYkQIYgAQYigUyDAgEEAAYFBiHAhiABDIMCAUQABhDGIAEGIoFMgYIBhBFGDkyDAgHEAAYQxiABBiKBTIMCAgQABhDGIAEGIoFMgcICRAAGI8C0gEJODE2M2owajE1qAIMsAIB8QUnuNeVOJFJjvEFJ7jXlTiRSY4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Electromagnetic waves have two physical components: a propagating electric field and a magnetic field. These fields are perpendicular to each other and also perpendicular to the direction of the wave's travel, forming a transverse wave. The fields oscillate in phase and are in a fixed ratio of strengths, creating a disturbance that carries energy through space. https://www.google.com/search?q=what+are+the+physical+components+of+electromagnetic+waves&sca_esv=f67f5be7214373bb&rlz=1C1GCEA_enUS990US990&sxsrf=AE3TifMOu1HVsffl-x3KoT3wD51UccnPDg%3A1756751983807&ei=b-i1aN2HMYbw0PEPuZ-bkA4&oq=what+are+the+physical+components+of+electrom&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiLHdoYXQgYXJlIHRoZSBwaHlzaWNhbCBjb21wb25lbnRzIG9mIGVsZWN0cm9tKgIIBzIHECEYoAEYCjIHECEYoAEYCjIHECEYoAEYCjIHECEYoAEYCjIHECEYoAEYCjIFECEYnwUyBRAhGJ8FMgUQIRifBTIFECEYnwUyBRAhGJ8FSPOIAVCAEVidUnABeAGQAQCYAV-gAbUHqgECMTG4AQHIAQD4AQGYAgygAucHwgIKEAAYsAMY1gQYR8ICChAjGIAEGCcYigXCAgUQABiABMICBhAAGBYYHsICCxAAGIAEGIYDGIoFwgIIEAAYgAQYogTCAgUQABjvBcICCBAAGKIEGIkFmAMAiAYBkAYIkgcEMTEuMaAHiWGyBwQxMC4xuAfiB8IHBjAuMS4xMcgHKw&sclient=gws-wiz-serp
According to quantum field theory, the "non-physical" or abstract causes of electromagnetic energy arise from the fundamental properties of the vacuum itself. These are phenomena that are not the result of moving or accelerating physical, charged particles but are intrinsic to the quantum nature of space. The main non-physical causes include: https://www.google.com/search?q=none+physical+causes+of+electromagnetic+energy&rlz=1C1GCEA_enUS990US990&oq=none+physical+causes+of+el&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqCQgDECEYChigATIGCAAQRRg5MgkIARAhGAoYoAEyCQgCECEYChigATIJCAMQIRgKGKABMgkIBBAhGAoYoAEyBwgFECEYqwIyBwgGECEYqwIyBwgHECEYqwIyBwgIECEYjwIyBwgJECEYjwLSAQoxOTIwOWowajE1qAIMsAIB8QVCzvEybOpHy_EFQs7xMmzqR8s&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
↪Athena Perhaps there was a telepathic event as the man was dying, that planted the words in your mind. Or perhaps you received it telepathically from his wife's subsconscious, stimulate by her mental state. These seems more plausible to me than your receiving this cryptic message from him, after his brain ceased functioning. — Relativist
I appreciate your interest in this, for it weighs on my mind as well. But thoughts here get so bound up in extraneous and historical content that has no business in this matter of God. Before moving forward, onw has to ask what God IS first, and then a great deal of what troubles this issue simply vanishes. So what do you think God IS? — Constance
The medical evidence demonstrates that memories are "stored" (in some sense) in the brain. Disease and physical trauma can result in memory loss. So even if a "soul" lives on, if the individual's memories are absent, it seems irrelevant to me. I regard myself as the person who was shaped by my experiences, including the memories that were formed along the way. — Relativist
The thought of an afterlife is certainly appealing, but wishful thinking seems to me a poor guide to truth. And AFAIK, there's no evidence of it (unless you buy into claims about houses being haunted). Still, believing in an afterlife is not usually harmful (unless it leads one to risk or forgeit his life, or that of others), and it could be emotionally beneficial. — Relativist
"Personal pain and suffering" define you? — 180 Proof
Whether one's ideas about reality are 'delusions' or not is culture dependent. The standard idea of delusion is if one's ideas are not shared by others. For example, if someone believes oneself to be a Messiah it is usually thought to be delusional. Generally, those with unusual beliefs are regarded as eccentric, or referred to a psychiatrist.
Even within psychiatry, mental health professionals ideas vary, ranging from fundamentalists to hardcore atheists. This affects the way the professionals interpret the ideas of psychosis and delusions. Nevertheless, one common ground is thinkers about the impact of the ideas. If a person is seen as a risk to oneself or others there is more concern about delusional beliefs.
Of course, it is possible for people in power or an entire nation to be delusional, in a 'harmful' way. Politics involves ideas about reality, ranging from leaders fighting for religious beliefs to Marxism based on dialectical materialism. — Jack Cummins
In the 1930s and 1940s, Nearing and Helen Knothe, a lifelong vegetarian, lived together in Winhall in rural Vermont, where they had purchased a large forest tract for $2200 and a moderate-sized farm for $2500.
Scott Nearing, an economics professor who at 45 had made himself unemployable because of his socialist-pacifist views. https://www.google.com/search?q=scott+nearing+vermont+house&rlz=1C1GCEA_enUS990US990&oq=Scott+Nearing+&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqCAgHEAAYFhgeMgoIABBFGBYYHhg5MgcIARAuGIAEMgcIAhAAGIAEMgcIAxAAGIAEMgcIBBAAGIAEMgcIBRAAGIAEMgcIBhAAGIAEMggIBxAAGBYYHjIICAgQABgWGB7SAQs4NTg1NzBqMGoxNagCALACAA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Followup question: are we still a nation anymore? We all know the state is alive and kicking, but when's the last time somebody bothered to check on her brother? Civic nationalism (the US' chosen type of unifying ideology) is much more intellectually demanding than ethnic nationalism, which threatens to divide pluralist nations into factions. Enlightenment ideals like you mentioned, an emphasis on individual liberty, personal responsibility, active citizenship and pride in duty, rule of law, diversity of opinions, backgrounds, and cultures, and reverence of constitutional foundations all seem to be core tenets of our national identity. It's fundamental for liberal democracies to remain united behind these or adjacent ideals so that solidarity can prevail even in times of crisis or division. Without them, the only common denominators would geography and a prevailing political authority, while sub-national factions jockey for political dominance without much restraint — finarfin
children of nine could be called upon to work sixty-nine hours a week. "The hours of black slaves' labor in our colonies were at that very time carefully limited by law (Orders in Council, November 2, 1831) to nine per day for adults, and six for young persons and children, while night work was simply prohibited". Not until 1847 was a ten-hour day for women and children secured.
6. Laisez-Faire Justified
The debate in Parliament over the early factory acts sounds weird and uncanny in twentieth-century ears. The Unspeakable working and living conditions of the industrial population were explained and justified in the name of liberty and individual freedom.
The revolting conditions surrounding the lives of the working population were more than offest, in the eyes of English statemen, by the cheapness of the product, the profits of the industries to the manufacturers, and the splendid trade balances that were growing in favor of England.
"Certainly Dewey does not offer us final or settled solutions but this is not the issue; at various times in his long career, he thought seriously and deeply about many social and moral problems, and it is our contention that he provided his liberal followers with some answers to some of these problems. His social and political activities were a lived extension of his political theorizing. From the First World War to the end of the Depression and after-as long as he was actively involved in social and political movements-he applied his theory to practice in concrete engagements. Dewey's appeal for the use of intelligence in social change can easily lend itself to caricature as long as intelligence retains its scholastic connotation." BY EDWARD J. BORDEAU
https://digitalcommons.sacredheart.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1077&context=rel_fac
That double negative indicates non-dogmatic uncertainty and moderate skepticism. I too, am uncertain about The Hard Problem of Consciousness, because the (yes/no) empirical & reductionist scientific method is inadequate to the task of objectively observing the subjective (self-conscious) observer. Yet some scientists & philosophers are using holistic (both/and) methods to make sense of the simplicity in complexity, and the order in chaos*1*2. They hope to shed light on the mystery of how Life & Mind emerged from the random roilings of matter. — Gnomon
I too have developed a philosophical theory, based primarily on Information Science (Complexity, Systems, Holism, etc). It postulates that the "unifying energy" of evolution is a combination of Information (direction) and Causation (Energy) : like a guided missile instead of an aimless bomb. It's not Deterministic (absolute certainty), but Probabilistic (optional). The theory has little to do with proving the existence of God. But it does point toward the necessity of a First Cause/Prime Mover/Programmer of some kind to light the fuse of the Big Bang bomb. :smile: — Gnomon
Indeed it did. My wife fell under its spell and I supported her by attending meetings with her. As frequently happened during that time we ended up divorcing. We drew up the papers ourselves. It was painful at the time, but good for both in the long run. — jgill
We've led different lives. Mine was more traditional middle class. The usual trek through the education system; working factory jobs to help pay the way. I'm a younger Boomer, and they stopped using the draft lottery with those born the year before I was, so even Vietnam didn't sufficiently radicalize me (or frighten me). I see how the recession impacted you more than it did me.
And I've always been cynical, alas. So, it didn't surprise me that much when Boomers fell under the spell of filthy lucre. But the extent to which the elites want to control our choices and lives as well as profit from them does surprise me. — Ciceronianus
Children can grow up to be open to the always-changing world, to new music ("All music was once new"), new art, new science, new technology, and so on, while also being open to the past. I have no idea of how, exactly, parents should go about that other than to be open themselves both to the ever changing present and the past. And they should do that with as much taste and selectivity as they can manage. New fashion might be hideous, and some new technology might be insidious. We don't have to rush out and buy it. — BC
To ask what happens philosophically if people cannot handle reality is to explore some of the most fundamental questions in human thought. Philosophers have addressed this topic for millennia, from Plato’s metaphor of the cave to modern existentialism and nihilism. The different responses offered reveal a core tension between humanity's desire for meaning and the universe's apparent indifference.
Book Overview
There can be no doubt that as a matter of fact a religious life, exclusively pursued, does tend to make the person exceptional and eccentric. I speak not now of your ordinary religious believer, who follows the conventional observances of his country, whether it be Buddhist, Christian, or Mohammedan. His religion has been made for him by others, communicated to him by tradition, determined to fixed forms by imitation, and retained by habit. It would profit us little to study this second-hand religious life. We must make search rather for the original experiences which were the pattern-setters to all this mass of suggested feeling and imitated conduct. These experiences we can only find in individuals for whom religion exists not as a dull habit, but as an acute fever rather. But such individuals are "geniuses" in the religious line; and like many other geniuses who have brought forth fruits effective enough for commemoration in the pages of biography, such religious geniuses have often shown symptoms of nervous instability. Even more perhaps than other kinds of genius, religious leaders have been subject to abnormal psychical visitations. Invariably they have been creatures of exalted emotional sensibility. Often they have led a discordant inner life, and had melancholy during a part of their career. They have known no measure, been liable to obsessions and fixed ideas; and frequently they have fallen into trances, heard voices, seen visions, and presented all sorts of peculiarities which are ordinarily classed as pathological. Often, moreover, these pathological features in their career have helped to give them their religious authority and influence.