You're muddling the tenses. "My past experience has proven, that in certain circumstances (ex. the laws of nature) the future has been like the past." And this says exactly nothing about what will be. — unenlightened

Well, the Law may stay the same but had shown to no longer be anything except an approximation and superceded by GTR. So apparently Laws are any mathematical equations that have practical application. Fine. It's open season on Laws even if outmoded.

I suppose you have a Law that predicts what time I get up every morning? — Rich

Can you show even one so-called Law that hasn't changed since the beginning of time? — Rich

No knowledge and no immediate experience means no evidence. So one is reduced to the inductive argument which is circular:- — unenlightened

I presuppose no such thing. The question could be meaningless, in which case there is no such thing. — Thorongil

My dear friend, this was effectively the point I was making. — Thorongil

I will grant that it is possible for a working class person with a very bright idea and drive to become a billionaire, and out of 7.3 billion people, a minuscule--no, microscopic number, less than 500, are able to do that. But then, so what? 500 out of 7 billion is hardly a groundswell of opportunity. — Bitter Crank

If a black man becomes POTUS, or a woman, this means nothing for the chances of any given black person or woman becoming president. — Bitter Crank

What matters is if 250 million working class people in the United States can gain a reasonable share of the enormous amount of wealth they produce (labor creates all wealth) and can direct that wealth into uses which bring about a sustainable future. — Bitter Crank

Yes, and the only people who have evidence of the future are Nostradamus and Jehovah's Witnesses. — unenlightened

A claim is justified by evidence of its truth or valid argument from accepted premises. — unenlightened

You've now resorted to standard determinism. If you believe in determinism, and think that you are not responsible for your acts because of determinism then so be it. That is your belief. — Metaphysician Undercover

No, even if you are for some reason not morally responsible for your actions, the actions are still in all respects, yours. Being absolved from moral responsibility does not in any way make your actions not yours. You're arguing absurdity. — Metaphysician Undercover

But make no mistake, the invasion and subjugation of the Tibetan peoples was a crime against humanity on an epic scale. — Wayfarer

I think you would be doing the community a service if you removed the post. — Wayfarer

"... the "why" question deals with the reason for there being objects of experience at all as opposed to the question of what they are ultimately composed of." — Thorongil

I did manage to get myself thrown off a counselling course, a long time ago, see here, if you want all the sordid details. — unenlightened

I think it is terribly important. It fosters exactly that openness and honesty - we are not talking about you behind your back, you are not being singled out and separated from your family/community before any intervention. We are all together trying to sort out a problem. — unenlightened

Yes, I know. I won't argue it here, I just wanted to point out that there is a big difference between the half-quote and the whole, and so between what Peterson is saying and myself. — unenlightened

I think one of the 'secrets' is that they do not operate alone. The patient is seen in their community, and the therapist also brings their community with them. — unenlightened

This partly explains why there is often a guru-like emphasis on having been trained by the originator of a therapy. And it means it is impossible to separate the GOOD therapist from the BAD in terms of their method, though one knows who is helpful to one's own situation - or does one? — unenlightened

I don't have a personal story to relate, in the sense that I have always made myself responsible for my own madness, and so have only been a witness to encounters of others with therapy, the institution and the individuals. — unenlightened

Speaking as the aspirational hoi polloi, it seems to me that this vale of tears, or whatever it is, can only be understood - personally - as something like an educational toy. In this sense, though materialism may be false as a matter of ultimate judgement, nevertheless it is the 'correct' way to play the game - as if it were real. but perhaps I am still on level one. — unenlightened

(Stoicism was purported to be the basis of Christianity). — Caldwell

I was wondering why not ask, why had Stoicism been adopted as a practical philosophy and practiced in everyday life? — Caldwell

No, it's an illusion of distinction. That I freely choose to have something in no way provides any real means for classifying whether that thing is mine or not. That assumption is ridiculous. — Metaphysician Undercover

But "freely choosing to have them" provides no real means for classifying whether a thing is mine or not. — Metaphysician Undercover

I'm not surprised. The "If you're so rich, how come you're so stupid?" phenomenon. — Bitter Crank

Political and class connections has been shown to be a part of gaining access to capital, expertise. — Bitter Crank

Most businesses fail because either no one likes what the company offers, the business doesn't find its customers, it's out-competed, or the Russian mafia blows up the store, office, warehouse, lab, what have you. — Bitter Crank

Or bad luck -- like an outbreak of food poisoning from your kitchen. — Bitter Crank

As to what rocks my world, you missed out the first half, and it is the juxtaposition that makes something non-trivial. If identity is fragmentation, then what is honesty? — unenlightened

You are right that billionaires are made, not born. You are wrong that the doors to fabulous wealth are wide open. There are certain entry level requirements that working people (most of the population) lack: the habits of middle class parents; a solid education starting in primary school and ending in one of the top ranked universities; contacts among successful, wealthy people; access to investment capital, and so on. — Bitter Crank

What's 'success' then? — Pseudonym

As I said, I find your position here to be contradictory nonsense. You claim some of your thoughts are "in one sense mine", and in another sense "not mine", and you accuse me of failing to make a distinction. It's very clear that you are the one failing to make the distinction of what is yours and what is not yours, falling back onto contradiction, as if you can justify this failure with contradiction. — Metaphysician Undercover

Yeah, they are mine by virtue of occuring in my mind, just as my perception of a tree is mine by virtue of the fact that the tree is in my visual field. They are not mine in the sense that I have freely chosen to have them. Because I have not freely chosen to have them, I cannot be morally responsible for them. — Agustino

And you know full well that you are responsible for your own immoral thoughts, as is evident from "covet", "lust", and "adultery in the heart". — Metaphysician Undercover

When you lose control of yourself in a fit of passion, you are responsible for your actions. — Metaphysician Undercover

Identity is fragmentation, and dishonesty is insanity. That alone is enough to rock my world. — unenlightened

I think it would instead lead to widespread resentment of that 1%, even if the basic needs of the other 99% were met, and this would consequently increase the likelihood of the breakdown of democracy. — Erik

The American dream says that if you want to get rich all you have to do is work hard. — Pseudonym

Therefore, statistically, the two subsets are unrelated. Ergo being in the subset 'people who want to be rich and are willing to work hard to achieve it' does not have any statistically significant relationship to being in the group 'people who actually are rich'. — Pseudonym

Would you also like to know how many African Americans made that list... 1 — René Descartes

35% of the Forbes 400 list were from lower class backgrounds. — Pseudonym

Only 35% of the Forbes 400 were from middle class-working class backgrounds so I would say the remaining two thirds actually did inherit their wealth. — René Descartes

You're a businessman, you tell me if a strategy that is supposed to achieve 95% — Pseudonym

It promises equal opportunities but those are lies which are concealed by a dream of a better future. — René Descartes

Let me ask you what Socio-economic class you would consider yourself? — René Descartes

there are 540 plunderers and extortionists worth more than s billion dollars--$2.399 trillion in all--in the United States. Whether they were self made, crawled out of a sewer, or were suckled on a 24 caret gold teat is of no concern to me. There is no reason for us proles to stare in wonder, jaws agape, at Mark Zuckerberg or Andrew Carnegie. — Bitter Crank

Working people were kept at the bottom of the class structure--not just relatively poor, but absolutely poor. Not until "disruptive" industrialism got underway, and created more routes to advancement, were working people able to make some advances -- not into the classes above them, but at least greater financial well-being within their own class of workers. — Bitter Crank

The resistance from the upper classes was fierce, and has remained fierce to the present. — Bitter Crank

Tell it to the bitcoin investors, I'm sure they'll agree. — unenlightened

Here's a reason to ground doubt: things change, trends reverse. — unenlightened

But I am consenting to play your game here, as if trends changing will continue. So even your best reason, which amounts to throwing up your hands and saying 'what else?' is double-edged to say the least. — unenlightened

Rather I'd say that your support of Trump has left you with confirmation bias given that you seem to just dismiss any serious allegations against him and pass off everything else as inconsequential. — Michael