Comments

  • Alternatives to 'new atheism'
    You could just say it's not a conversatoin your interested in. Then ask them about their jobs or families or hobbies. — Coben
    That seems like the most logical thing to do. I mean, defenders of a faith are usually well practiced, and will go to any lengths to argue their beliefs, even in a dishonest way. They're like trained soldiers.
  • Alternatives to 'new atheism'
    Why not just ignore the debate? Then there's no attack, no need to defend. Or, really, it's the perfect defense. — Coben
    I would if I grew up in a completely secular household, not isolated in a religious community, and not have been indoctrinated with their beliefs. I'm surrounded by religion. I can't ignore it.
  • Is god a coward? Why does god fear to show himself?
    Show the survey, or be seen as a liar. — Gnostic Christian Bishop
    :roll:
  • Is god a coward? Why does god fear to show himself?
    Poor demented fool. — Gnostic Christian Bishop
    You’re the reason nobody likes you, you retarded ugly troll.
  • What is science founded on?
    Science is based on assumptions. Scientists assume that it doesn't matter where and when you do an experiment, all else being equal. Science also assumes that similar experiments will produce similar results.
  • Alternatives to 'new atheism'
    ↪DingoJones
    All sounds good.

    Is there a specific argument you are encountering? — DingoJones
    All sorts. I don't remember them on the top of my head. I recall a bad experience: I let it slip to a religious person that I don't believe in god, and he, and his friend who joined in, started rapid firing arguments for why there must be a god. I didn't have much time to think about, let alone understand, what they were saying. It was awful. From then on, I avoided telling people about my beliefs. I don't want to be like that. I want to be proud of my beliefs.
  • Alternatives to 'new atheism'
    What is it about being an atheist that you think needs reinforcing? — DingoJones
    My ability to defend against arguments for theism. Any argument for theism, or creationism for that matter, is an indirect attack on atheism.

    Are you talking about how you can debate or defend your atheism? — DingoJones
    Not necessarily doing the debate. I sometimes passively come across anti-atheistic information, such as on websites, and I don't always have an answer.
  • Is god a coward? Why does god fear to show himself?
    Our gods do not speak to us. Ever wonder why not? — Gnostic Christian Bishop
    Can someone please shut this Bishop?! God speaks to me every day, you immoral lying piece of garbage. Also, I now need a new chess set because all my pawns are damaged and sticky. I should have never left them in the same box with Bishop.
  • Gobbledygook Writing & Effective Writing
    How do I avoid gobbledygook writing? — Joseph Walsh
    Take English classes. And avoid taking classes on goblin language.
  • The mild torture of "Do something about it!" assumptions
    When Heidegger was thrown into the world, I think he must have hit his head. — S
    When Heidegger [thought he] was thrown into the world, I think he must have hit [the nail on the] head.

    There, fixed it.
  • The mild torture of "Do something about it!" assumptions
    we are thrown into the world — schopenhauer1
    I believe you got that idea from Heidegger. Link. :grin:
  • The mild torture of "Do something about it!" assumptions
    Why are we assuming it is good to "deal with" anything at all? Why is this such an ingrained baseline notion that this is a right/good existential state, besides the fact that it is inescapable? — schopenhauer1
    In my opinion, there are three components “to dealing with it": the agony of having the problem, the cost of dealing with that problem, and the satisfaction having dealt with the problem. The first two components are usually associated with negative feelings. The third component is usually the only positive one. I think it is often the case that the displeasure of having a problem and dealing with it, is greater than the brief pleasure of solving the problem. So I would agree with you that having to deal with problems is overall not a good thing. (Or I might have totally misunderstood you.)
  • On suicide "you're not alone" publications on Facebook.
    ↪Alan
    If you do a google search "What to do when someone is suicidal", you will find websites that tell you what to do. Is that helpful to you?

    It seems like you want to have a philosophical discussion about suicide, but the OP consists of you merely asking for practical advice. I see that schopenhauer1 is helping you make this discussion more philosophical. I'll leave you two to it.
  • On suicide "you're not alone" publications on Facebook.
    Why do you ask? Do you know someone specifically who wants to commit suicide? If so, providing the suicide prevention telephone number seems like the best way to go about it.
  • Can you ever correctly determine if someone is saying the truth when they share their opinions?
    Actions speak louder than words. If someone says they love you, you know they love when they act that way. Likewise, if someone says that a particular movie is good, you know that they like it if they watch it again, or watch very similar movies.
  • The Population Bomb Did Not Disappear
    Malthus said that 200 years ago and Erlich said it in the 1960's. Both turned out to be wrong. Why should I believe you today? — fishfry
    Never heard of them. But if it’s true that they said the same thing, how were they wrong? There would have to be an instance when the population went past its capacity, and the percentage of deaths did not increase.

    Of course from a numeric perspective, there are more deaths every day since the population is increasing. But that's not an argument, it's just an observation that everyone dies and the more people there are, the more people die in absolute numbers. Did you have a more nuanced point to make? — fishfry
    I meant percentage-wise.
  • The Population Bomb Did Not Disappear
    Delete.
  • The Population Bomb Did Not Disappear
    At this point, however, births are about double the rate of death. To paraphrase Ebenezer Scrooge, "If more people are going to die, then they had better get on with it." — Bitter Crank
    That’s how it is now, but it won’t go on like this indefinitely. When the population overreaches its capacity, there’s going to be much more deaths.
  • The Population Bomb Did Not Disappear
    Furthermore there are no natural predators to keep our population in check, meaning the only historically significant ways large scale population reductions could occur--and they will occur--are famine, war, and disease. — Pathogen
    Those factors you mentioned that reduce human populations are still significant. Natural predators are replaced by human predators in the form of warfare, and arguably much more devastating. There’s also loss of habitat for humans, which menifests itself in homelessness.
  • The Population Bomb Did Not Disappear
    I remember learning a brief introduction to ecology in college. There are factors that will limit the population growth, such as lack of food, lack of water, loss of habitat, predators, and diseases. Human procreation will increase, but so will its mortality rate.
  • Is god a coward? Why does god fear to show himself?
    No. Persistent. — Gnostic Christian Bishop
    Obsessive.

    Don't you know that one of the greatest joys in life is learning something new? — Gnostic Christian Bishop
    Not if it isn't interesting.

    Do you expect to learn much from dull minds? — Gnostic Christian Bishop
    No, and that's why I don't expect to learn anything from you. :razz:
  • Is god a coward? Why does god fear to show himself?
    I seek good minds and as here, they are hard to find. — Gnostic Christian Bishop
    It seems like you're trying real hard to find these "good minds". For someone who posted this topic on the GameFAQs forum, you must be really desperate. :lol:
  • Is god a coward? Why does god fear to show himself?
    aving trolled this forum and getting the inevitable heckling, the 'Bishop' is now trolling Able2Know as the pompous 'Greatest I Am', preaching exactly the same parasitic drivel. — fresco
    He hasn't only trolled that site. I googled his last topic: "Do logic and reason say that God is our servant?" (verbatim search). I found like twenty websites with the very same topic.
  • Is god a coward? Why does god fear to show himself?
    And then they came for the Gnostic Christian Bishops! But then they realised that there was only one, and they decided just to left him be, in his mother's basement, frantically typing up yet more of the same old hyperbolic antichristian rhetoric on his PC. — S
    Is Gnostic Christian Bishop a coward? Why does he fear to get out of his mother's apartment? (Just a joke, no offense Bishop.)
  • Is god a coward? Why does god fear to show himself?
    ↪Gnostic Christian Bishop
    Yeah, that's a problem. If god is all powerful, he can do anything. But how can a non-physical god do physical things?
  • Is god a coward? Why does god fear to show himself?
    Is god a coward? Why does god fear to show himself? — Gnostic Christian Bishop
    All actions are physical, and god is non-physical. So he can't do anything. Which means he can't show himself.
  • Do you run out of feelings?
    That same addict starts betting more and more money the more addicted he is and the whole thing starts getting less and less satisfying. — khaled
    Does it really? I think a gambler only get's his dose of satisfaction when he wins, which happens rarely. He's not exactly raking in good feelings. His compulsion is to keep chasing that feeling. And as Skinner showed, animals will keep doing an activity even if they don't get an award every time.
  • What exactly is an addiction?
    I’ve been thinking about it for a while and the best definition I could come up with is that an addiction is a hobby that’s seen by someone else as a waste of time, and so calls it an addiction. — khaled
    I think it's a matter of degree in that an addiction is much more stronger than a hobby. A person with a hobby is drawn to an activity, while a person with an addiction is glued to it.
  • The beliefs and values of suicide cases
    I think there enough suicides warrant an investigation into the phenomenon and factors that might cause it (outside of sociology text books) — Andrew4Handel
    Investigations on the causes of suicide are empirical issues. It's hard to see how it wouldn't involve any science.

    It could be that social circumstances and values are leading to suicide because there are communities and countries where suicide rates are significantly lower such as the difference between catholic and protestant suicide rates. — Andrew4Handel
    I don't see why you can't find social circumstances and values predisposing people to suicide, but they will never be the whole story.
  • The beliefs and values of suicide cases
    Here's what I think: People who commit suicide are like anyone else trying to avoid negative experiences. The only difference is how desperate the person is. Humans have a strong self preservation instinct and will do almost anything to avoid death. Humans are also known to do things that they will normally not do, out of desperation. If a person is so desperate to avoid really painful negative experiences, they will surrender the self preservation instinct as it's seen as their only option.
  • Do you run out of feelings?
    Also our brains are wired to reduce dopamine releases for the same activity so we don't end up playing hide and seek to death as a child for example. — khaled
    That's interesting because there are addicts who won't stop their compulsive behavior until they are forced to. For example, a compulsive gambler will go to a casino and only stops gambling when he runs out of money.
  • What makes you do anything?
    But what do you use to justify what it is you decide to prioritize? — schopenhauer1
    I'm not sure what you mean.

    It seems obvious that I should do those things that do me the most good, all the while being considerate of other people. Also, the happier I am, the better off I'll be. Put those two together and there's my justification for me prioritizing things that make me happy (albeit taking into account how my actions affect other people). Does that answer your question?

    That aside, I don't usually do things that are most important (i.e priorities). I often do things that will make me feel better in the short term, while ignoring all the things that will benefit or hurt me in the long run.
  • How Important is Reading to the Philosophical Mind? Literacy and education discussion.
    Have you considered the reality perhaps mental illness does affect your focus? — Grre
    I do have mental illnesses: depression, anxiety, and perhaps ADHD (psychiatrist asked me if I got evaluated), and that may well be the cause of my lack of focus. Although, my lack of focus may also be due to any number of things I mentioned in my last post. There's so many things that can affect your focus.
  • On Antinatalism
    This is what I have a problem with, that the bar is set at “miserable life”. “It’s ok Timmy at least you’re not suffering as much as those Chinese sweatshop workers making your clothes”. — khaled
    There is no bar set because there's no theoretical limit to the amount of suffering a person can experience. It's all about tolerating risk. Is it worth the risk to produce an offspring? Like I said, it depends.

    Would you imagine if someone invested all your life savings on a mediocre deal that lost you money without your consent then had the nerve to say “hey, at least you’re not broke amirite?” — khaled
    I'm finding it very difficult to make sense of this analogy. A potential baby is nothing, has nothing. So you can't deprive it of anything.
    Having a child while knowing there is a RISK they suffer tremendously (in spite of your best care and effort) is pretty bad. — khaled
    I disagree. If there's a good chance that the child will grow up to live happy healthy life, and a very small chance that they will suffer tremendously, it's worth the risk.

    Why are you taking the risk for someone else in the first place? Because YOU like life? That’s no good reason. — khaled
    How about because you want a child? Children can give lots of joy to the parents. It also happens to be very likely that the child is grateful to be born, so it isn't selfish.
  • Do you run out of feelings?
    ↪DingoJones
    The description that you concurs with mine? Sure, why not?
  • Do you run out of feelings?
    What would you call whats happening there, when one feeling amidst mixed ones becomes the motivator for action? — DingoJones
    I call that being human. If you consciously consider every feeling you possess when choosing an action, it would drive you crazy. Only the most dominant feelings reach the surface of conscious experience. There's only so much a person can be conscious of at one time. The one or two dominant feelings that make it to the conscious mind serve as a basis to make a conscious decision. For all that it's worth, these are only my speculations.
  • Do you run out of feelings?
    ↪DingoJones
    I agree that one feeling can come into focus where other feelings go to the back of the mind. I'm not convinced that the original feeling, however, gets overridden in that people usually feel mixed feelings. You can love your child to death, and at the same time you can be very irritated by that child having tantrum.
  • On Antinatalism
    I don't think this is good enough still. Would you agree to someone betting all of your life savings on some random business that has a 4 or 5% chance of failing miserably? Sure the chance is low but why take the bet in the first place for someone you don't know? Especially when so much is at stake — khaled
    I don't think you are considering everything. Just because a child is born with defects, she's not doomed to a miserable life. Parents can provide proper care and do the best to make their offspring's life as good as possible. For the most part, in modern society, illnesses can be treated and disabilities managed. As long as you're a caring parent and are willing and able to provide as much as you can for your child, I see no reason not to have kids.
  • How Important is Reading to the Philosophical Mind? Literacy and education discussion.
    I would love to be a reader. If I could, I'd spend most of my time reading. The problem is my mind doesn't seem to want to stay put. I'm very distractible, and I don't now if it's an IQ, anxiety, ADHD, thought disorder, learning disability, memory, overthinking, comprehension, personality, stamina, cluttered mind, mood, problem. Or maybe I'm just plain old lazy.
  • Should hate speech be allowed ?
    ↪T Clark
    I think agree with your view, although there's a huge cost (literally) letting neo-nazis marching down streets and shouting hatred. Tax-payers are left with the bill for all the police protection. Why should tax payers have to pay for all the security needed to protect the neo-nazis, especially when they entice people to attack them? If they want extra protection from the police, more than ordinary citizens, perhaps they should pay for some of it. I'm also not so happy about them disrupting the peace.
Home » Wheatley