General Philosophy

when I'm talking about magic I'm not talking about a street magician or anything like that,I'm talking about real magic.which is more scientific from where I found then you might think. first off,you are psychics who can do amazing things and knows things have been proven but how do they do that? I have a clue how. psy energy or Magi.,in some religions,they say that everything is made of energy,but what if that was true? well that would explain why psychics can do what they do,take the energy out of the environment and then turn it into psychic energy(or I like to call it magic) and if everything is made of energy than energy would be the smallest th…

you often hear the "why is there something rather than nothing?" idea being discussed with relation to the origins of the universe. but is "nothing" even possible? Our rudimentary brains tend to associate 'nothingness' with empty space , but apparently scientists have come to think that even empty space is "something" . there is activity there. there is something going on that is enabling that empty space to exist. to me, a layman, that can only suggest that nothingness is not even possible. It is an abstract concept. than therefore that is why there is "something, rather than nothing" because there HAS to be. am i on the right track?

Is science scientific, when it favors one hypothesis over another, even if they have an equal "lack of evidence"? If we take the example of sting theory. It has gained the title 'theory', despite the lack of evidence, and it's discussed widely and openly in the scientific community. But a hypothesis saying we are simulated is frowned upon, and any discussion is quickly silenced, by demanding evidence. Evidence that is not demanded from string "theory"! When such evidence is presented, it is dismissed as moot. Is the scientific community discriminating between hypotheses, and thereby abandoning its core principles in favor of physicalism? Are most scie…

im not religious or spiritual or any of those things. Im an atheist. im also not a scientist, but i love science. i was listening to a podcast with some scientists/cosmologists/physicists talking about the universe today. and i heard them mention the theory that in the infinite universe, in infinite time, anything that can happen basically WILL happen. this led me to a question. does that mean that you or i could be born again? i mean even if the universe itself had to go on for ever, or even be born and die itself an enormous number of times in order to achieve this , if the number truely was infinity, then by the law of probability, it has to eventually happe…

Does matter give rise to mind? Does atoms, arranged in the right way make sentience? Does lifeless objects, like atoms, make life? If we imagined Lego blocks had atom properties, could be build a person?

Here’s a ridiculous question....and I bet it will get loads of abuse....This is hard for me to put into writing, If different colours of light are different frequency’s of light that we can see, and higher frequencies are ultra violet and microwaves that we can’t see. Maybe aliens look at earth, and all they see are ultra violet light and radio waves as their eyes have a different frequency response. They look at our plannet and think it’s all blurry and weird..... kind of what Jupiter looks like to us.... maybe when we look at Jupiter we’re actually seeing their WiFi network or something.

Why should I tolerate their intolerance and hatred when I can get them back, for what they've done... On the face of it, such a seductive argument... So why, or, is it wrong?

Is there an analogy, and is there a difference, between the ability to perform a task based on stored information, that can be called knowledge, and the ability to perform work based on stored work, that can be called energy?

Hi everyone, Let me know what you think about the following. Is Change Possible? If something is red, circle and existent, and becomes a square, then something red, circle and existent is red, circle, existent and square. If it becomes green, then something red, circle, existent, square is red, circle, existent, square and green. If it becomes non-existent, then something red, circle, existent, green is red, circle, existent, green and non-existent.

Hi everyone, I just have a question about contradictions. Is there any proof that contradictions are not possible?

Hi everyone, I just want to know your opinions on this. LINK DELETED Thank you.

Hi everyone, This post is about the edge of space. I have attached a picture to make it easier to understand. Suppose someone claims that space B in the picture is the beginning of the left side of space A. The part D of space B is to the right of part C, therefore part D of space B cannot be the beginning of left side of space A, therefore space B cannot be the beginning of the left side of space A. Suppose someone claims that space B in the picture is the end of the left side of space A. The part C of space B is to the left of part D, therefore part D of space B cannot be the end of space A, therefore space B cannot be the end of space A. In conclu…

Aren't you sometimes tired of... eating and shitting? Of getting older? Of headaches, nausea and bad sleep? What if you could get a mechanical body, that could last forever. One that could imitate sex, eating and even using drugs. Would you say yes or no? And why?

Carl Sagan once argued about the improbability of aliens having visited Earth. He cited two main reasons: 1. the vast distances aliens would have to travel to get to Earth would be an almost insurmountable obstacle 2. the vast amount of time that separates civilizations during their rise and fall would make it unlikely that any intelligent civilizations would exist simultaneously On the other hand, Sagan has argued that he believes alien life is inevitable due to the vast numbers of planets and star systems that exist in the universe; he just doesn't think that intelligent beings have visited Earth, for the aforementioned reasons. I propose a coun…

This is sphere for all to know. This may not seem like it ,but it is let me tell you how. You see sphere's are well the prefect shape by the fact you can't drawl it. Trust me all those shapes with the spheres are only shaded circles not a true circle by when you draw on paper you only can draw in 2D for the most part. Unless doing 2 or 3 point drawings. A sphere is one of the only shapes to have only a start not an end, hey sometimes not even a start. Why is it prefect? Look into space or you cells or matter, by the fact what shape are they? Spheres they are always spheres so I ask one question to end off. Why? why is it that we can't draw it but it is every wh…

If our Universe is infinite in time and space and physical reality preserves its key elements forever, does it mean that all people who once died are destined to resurrect somewhere in space and time and will practically never die?

Human beings evolved into the best they could be. Throughout history however we have observed that inter human conflict played a large part in that evolution. But something like racism seems so absurd I doubt even science has a basis for it. For example, one can believe that wars break out over food clothing and shelter, but what possible explanation is there for an abstract concept like racism? An even abstracter, illogical explanation like 'inferiority complex' won't apply here I suppose. This is neither a speculation nor a theory, but a question to you science buffs.

Not sure where this should be whenever people talk about AI they always think of it from a western point of view. But what about advanced AI/robotics from somewhere like Saudi Arabia? With really hardline views on on religion or women. Or China for that matter with hardline views on freedom? I can change my mind about about anything anytime I want, but for AI to do that it would need to be able to re program itself and be influenced by outside sources, but would it be a good idea to allow AI to do that? Sorry if it's not proper question it's just something I was thinking about in work last night, religious AI and AI with different opinions on human right…

IQ tests are based on fallacius foundations. They take into assumption that human intelligence is based on memory and judgement rather than split second reactions to stimuli. For example, who is a genius, a guy who can solve mensa puzzle or muhammed ali (whos IQ was estimated to be 70)? I'd say Ali was the genius and here's why. Antique man, our stone age forebears, evolved to a world full of stimuli. There was no need to think much back then, merely respond to stimuli. The smart guy was the one who could climb up a tree the fastest just as the bear flashed down upon him like a lightning bolt from a clear sky. The genius scientist on the other hand wo…

I am sorry, but I feel that I really need this explained. Prompted by a very nice account that I read on math stack exchange from a parent who tried to answer questions from a 5-year old child about "infinity". The reactions turned into suggestions about whole numbers and "numbers that are larger than all numbers that you can imagine", and similarly. Numbers? I looked up the wikipedia page on "infinity". Similar story. The first sentences establish that "infinity" is a philosophical concept concerning something without any bound. Then it is said that "modern mathematics uses the general concept of infinity..." I may be a terrible example of a parent to a 5-…

The subject of life after death is a very important subject to me and it is, therefore, vital to me that I come to the right conclusion as to whether there is life after death, the paranormal, etc. or not. This would come about through researching into everything I possibly can on this topic with a truly open mind. But I have many things on my mind that I would like to point out and discuss in regards to open minded skepticism. Imagine if there was the ultimate brain created by science right now. This brain does not have the logical fallacies, errors, irrationality, and biases that we as human beings have. This brain has an absolute open mind and comes to the ri…

The North Koreans, China Churches, Governments regularly brainwash children into adulthood. Is there a way an individual could check to discover/check if he had? Could AI solve the conundrum?

Hello, I am a philosophy student and I'm in need of some information for a project I am working on. What I'm interested in is to research the origin of land property, which canonically in philosophy is thought as a peculiarity of men, but it seems to me that it can be considered more as a characteristic of predatory animals in general (the reasoning being that as far as I know if a group or a single predator gets in an area where another group of predators resides there will be confrontation), but, with this said, I'm in no way an expert, so I was hoping that someone more competent could confirm or debunk my hypothesis. Btw…

What's people's opinions on this: can AI become sentient? Taking the wikipedia definition: Sentience is the capacity to feel, perceive or experience subjectively Can a fundamentally quantitative system really experience subjectivity? Personally, given sentience has evolved at least once on Earth, i don't see why it can't manifest from a different substrate. But that's similar reasoning to given i'm alive at least once, i don't see why i can't live again...

Hi, I am new to this forum so I'm not quite sure if posting this here is the correct plcae but it seems like it this so here goes. I have been pondering this question for a while now; say if humans stopped warring with one another say, 100k years ago or so and used the higher cognitive gift that evolution has given us over othr animal, would we have made mars look like earth right now? And wouold we have the technology to physically explore our galaxy?