General Philosophy

Freedom of choice and determinism has probably been discussed here before. This might be a different perspective. Bell's theorem states generally that we cant explain all of QM by hidden local variables in classical mechanics. As in Newton and macroscopic objects in motion. I assume this is correct and it is widely accepted. Less accepted is Bell's proposed solution for "spooky" superluminal action at distance between entangled systems. He proposed that an absolutely deterministic universe with no free will would explain this phenomena. Even the illusion of choice of pertinent experiments is predetermined. In essence the particles would already know when and what…

There is, in my estimation a requirement that one holds reality in an imaginary model of it, that one then compares against the input of the senses to judge change. In this internalization process the model is judged against the model and an analogous version of the universe is judged against an analogous version of the universe. The space in the brain, and the time it takes signals to reach from one area to another, allow for the a priori understanding of space and time. Comparisons and analogies are built up from these already understood concepts, and from the synthesis of various thusly built up understandings, one can visualize and comprehend the table of judgm…

Does anyone know of a comprehensive list somewhere online of all the (or many) known examples of limitations of reason?

Members; Ebola, Dinosaurs, and Deuteronomy -- is there a connection? Maybe only in my mind, but there seems to be some coincidence that may warrant further scrutiny, so please consider my following thoughts. Like most people, I followed the news articles about Ebola -- a frighteningly efficient killing disease. From what I understand, the virus that causes the disease, Ebola, is naturally carried by fruit bats, but does not infect them or turn into disease until ingested by another specie. It is thought that half-eaten food was dropped by fruit bats, then monkeys and apes picked it up, ate it, and became infected. Humans were then infected by eating the bats, mon…

I am hoping for some help thinking through the arguments for and against intelligent design. In my own thinking on the topic I'm stuck not being able to see how either premise could be true. This is where I'm stuck. Take the example of the water cycle. If there is no designer then how could this system necessary for life (along with 100s of equally interdependent systems) arise independently? Especially inorganic systems which can not use natural selection. On the other hand if there is intelligent design using the same example, why is that the same system needed for life so often goes amiss with tragic consequences with draughts and floods? A compassionate designer wou…

A human possesses the capacity, to not only learn, but to create; to create good, and evil, and with an array of different natures. In a wordless world, there would still be homes, there would still be gatherers and traders, but we would understand a silence of self that humans fail to grasp in the modern day. A worded self cannot think, the Government and academia are evil to teach stupidity. Where it cannot be thought opposite of, where generations are caused to suffer for buffoonery of today. Beneficent and revolutionary aspects of mind are demonized, and lobotomized through rotary worded education. You can think in visuals, rapid-eye-movement allows us to gen…

A NOTE TO READ BEFORE YOU CONTINUE: This is not self-promotion, this is not fiction and this not soap-boxing; what I'm looking for is help understanding what's going on, and simply to discuss this experience for discovery purposes! A piece of non-fiction, written by Shannon Green, philosophy extraordinaire, cubic scientist and shadow politician; as fictional as most of this work may sound, it's based on true events. In the beginning, I existed around the ripe age of fifteen, and I found that I had an interest in imagery. I'd collect different styles of art of what I believed to be the highest quality; these ranged from typical photographs to ancient paintings- I …

Most people on Earth, including me, are living in poverty and there is not much we can do about it. People are held captive by their own flesh and blood. The way I see it the Earth could be thought of as a prison that houses tormented souls, held captive by their very own flesh and blood and tormented endlessly with painless death not being an option for them.

Thomas Jefferson "All men and all bodies of men, have the inherent right to self government." I am of the opinion that this is one of the highest orders of truth. Opinions?

Philosophically speaking, is it possible to put a thought into a box? DE

We need to recognise the difference between a fundamental ‘human right’ and a right born of privilege and be prepared to give up a few privileges for the greater good, sometimes. So... where do we draw the line?

What do you think?

Fate Not There. But there is a probability facts. The destination does not exist. The destination does not exist the way we know it. Fate would not be a force. Fate has no power to control the course of our lives, because the destination does not exist. There trajectory. And this trajectory is not controlled by fate, simply because it does not exist. The path is influenced by the facts of Probability. However, the facts of probability also not be a dominating force acting on our paths, but a set of influences trajectories. The facts of probability can not be called Destinations, as this would be to consider that target exists the way we know it. The Facts probab…

I think that since inter-personal relationships are inevitable humans form sociological chains. These define connections. The person is successful if : 1) He connects with the right people 2) He connects in the right place 3) He connects at the right time The more solid his chain is in this respect, the more likely he is to experience positive outcomes and success. Please opine.

Technically, I am. I have a philosophy doctorate. Not seeing where I said that, or even implied it. But in the way we have divided the topics (both here and more or less in academia), "philosophy" is separate from the science sections. Science is derived from and is a subset of philosophy in a historical context but from an organizational standpoint, to me "philosophy" as a discussion topic means "philosophy that's not already categorized as science" (or, to use the historical nomenclature "philosophy that's not natural philosophy" So if you want to discuss F=ma or other laws of nature, your discussion is in some area of science, which has some implications in…

The question is simply, "Name an ability, experience, or quality of humans that artificial intelligence will have difficulty with." An example: Emotion. I am hoping the list will grow long. In fact, today I wrote to the help/info people at Wikipedia asking them the in's and out's of starting a Wiki for this. If anyone knows where the wiki should start -- Wikipedia proper vs. Wikibooks vs. wikiProjects, etc -- or, for that matter, if anyone could then start the Wiki, that would be great. So we're talkin' the list growing extremely long -- perfect for Wikipedia. Moving on, so far we have Emotion. Then there's Creativity, Imagination, Art, and Humor, each of which c…

For me it’s a means to let go of all the tension and anger that’s built up in yourself through, the thoughtless and cruel actions of others, the retention of which can only hurt you; so the act of forgiveness is all about your wellbeing and not letting the wrongdoer of the hook, in terms of karma. Anyone else have an interpretation?

I’ll hang fire on supplementary details, for now, and wait to see what direction the replies send the thread (assuming it gets any) so please discus.

Model - Connection Soul = Server Body = Computer God or Life = Internet Memory - All our memories are hosted on our server, the soul, for it use a connection that unite us to a network, the Internet, all this data traffic is processed by our computer, the body. The body alone can not bear to store all our memories, so there is a natural need to upload the entire contents to the server, so we can access these data when necessary. Forgetting is linked directly to the deterioration of our memory (ability to acquire, store, and retrieve memories), taking into account that our server has unlimited storage capacity, but to access and retrieve that data we need a skilled func…

one single eternal moment that contains inifinite possibilites? could the atom itself represent this? the nucleus standing for the moment and the electron representing the infinite possibilities? anyone?

Over the entire history of the human race even though technology has expanded drastically there humanity has fallen by the wayside. I believe we will eventually go the way of the Dinosaur to extinction. I find this most regrettable. With all our potential to change even the evolution of the universe we choose to take the shortsighted option and live only for immediate personal gain. I would be quite interested in hearing others opinions on this matter. Respectfully, Pat Hagar

Time is the number we cannot understand by myself as the number. I can define that it is not illusion, but it is feeling to know someday as the knowledge for together to get it. So we share our own number together as the Time Number.

Can the enquiring spirit in us be ever quenched? e.g. 1. Suppose, science finds the fundamental particle...next question can be...What mechanism caused this fundamental particle?....or.....How it came about? If someone says, it has been always there...one can ask...What is the mechanism through which something can be eternal? and so on.... 2. Suppose, someone finds God and says that He/She/It exists eternally/necessarily...next question can be...Why only He is a necessarily existing creature and not some other one? or What mechanism leads to necessary existence? and so on.... In a nutshell, can questions ever end? Any thoughts, not necessarily serious …

I say that physically nothing means a state which is a space(time) energy, matter and information free nothing. I say that the mathematical expression of this state is 0. I suggest that the beginning of our Universe is that state. Everything presented in our common physical reality evolved in proportion to this state. Ever since anything exist this state is impossible. There is just One set and an "infinite" subsets of this set. Zero is a conception. A reference point in our current physical reality. I suggest that lower value than the physical zero state can not exist. Because of this I suggest that it is an ever evolving positive system. …

There are many ways to imagine the world; but scientists imagine the world in line with the scientific method. Are scientists somewhat nihilistic, therefore? And what I mean by this is that the infinite nature of the mind, seems suppressed to a particular standpoint.