General Philosophy

We start life as a zygote with finite mass but no energy exchange with our environment, then we progress to a state that we increase in mass and also our energy exchange with our environment increases together with our kinetic ability. To end it all, we lose our energy exchange with our environment and aggregate as residual mass. (probably of combustion). viz. death. There is a pattern to it all - first mass / then mass-energy / and lastly mass. Is energy exchange the physical basis of life? In biology protoplasm is the physical basis of life. But in Physics? What is your viewpoint? Thanks in advance.

I am a huge Seneca fan, but the other day my friend and I were bouncing our thoughts off of each other and he introduced me to the work of U.G Krishnamurti. My friend didn't have time to go into detail, but what he did say got me curious about U.G.. It seemed like U.G. Krishnamurti was above philosophy. What is your take on him?

How would we go about communicating with a species alien to our home planet? one more advanced than us. When we communicate with other species, dogs can understand verbal commands even primates can understand sign language. However could this be far more complicated with an alien species? In my book, one of my main characters invents a language of pictures. He finds constants in nature on earth, then uses that to communicate with a much more advanced species. What do y'all think? Could my idea actually work or is there a more efficient, maybe even less complicated way we could communicate?

This is just another of my random thoughts. Please bear with me. If an infinite amount of universes exists that would suggest that their are an infinite amount of beings living inside an infinite number of them, just as there would be no life in an infinite number of other universes. I come to this presumption of some universes having life and others not having life because there is an infinite number of chances for the universes to naturally have life or not have life. If infinity exists and there is other intelligent life inside these universes it is probable that one life form in another universe found a way to control how all the universes work. As long as there is a…

Wisdom is an aspect of life that I've followed with great devotion and success; over the last several years I've spent my time alone, using the internet to play online games and seek esoteric knowledge about life. I visited numerous forums about science, philosophy and religion, studying the characters with their own comments and theories, especially those I could understand. After a while, with my new found inspiration, I set out to write my own theories, most on a different route to the mainstream. Today I'm going to write an article about the human ego, with some experiences I've had on the topic. I am a perfectionist, though, I am chaotic, and sometimes random. Th…

I have dreams every night. In dreams, I experience beings that are of the same nature of things experienced in reality. Are these beings made out of energy and matter like those in reality? If not, what're they made from? If yes, how do we form them in mind, where does the extra matter and energy come from and how are they conveyed in a dream?

To begin I would like to announce that I do not believe in God, but I believe that Nature is more significant than myself, and I worship our bond. I am all the small things, I prefer to be alone, I tend to associate with one or maybe to people; I like to see how things interrelate, and often find cool representations like fire, it's effects, being related to anger and it's effects. Did humans inherit what relatives left behind? Can I be angry because fire is possible, do these two states connect? Reality, to me, is evil-- if I had my way a lot of things would change; for instance, I would be kinder to nature and prioritise it; being wise, I don't want future humanity to p…

all copy pasted from here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualia

At the risk of stealing CP's thunder, I thought I would open this topic up, since it is so current on the world stage. From my perspective, a revolution becomes ethical when a government begins to exploit its citizens - it's the definition of exploit that's the problem, really. If I had to define an ethical revolution concisely, it would be a revolt against an unethical government, based on the premise that what is legal is not always what is ethical. But this forces us to then define an unethical government. I would define such a government as having to meet four criteria: 1. It fails to adequately protect its citizens from both foreign and domestic threats,…

I believe the fact we are social animals is something scientists say to dupe us. Doesn't a sapient individual acknowledge that a person can do as they please in life? What utility do "rules" actually bring?

I'm currently thinking of a paradox where a person (usually a biased, agenda-driven witness, especially when testifying in court) essentially makes the following arguments: A (the main claim to be argued) cannot possibly be true because of B (some refutting evidence). B, the opposition argues, is discredited because of C (some flaw in B's evidence). However, the first party says that C cannot possibly be true because A is false, the very thing you're supposed to be arguing. And you're caught in this endless circle. For example, suppose you're sitting on a jury in a police brutality/racial profiling lawsuit. The Police Chief says that his officer could not p…

The universe could be real or an illusion created in our minds.Our level of perceiving things is limited and much lower than Gods.Like a small child cant easily understand some concepts so cant we.Then so it would be acceptable to say that the universe is a fantastic illusion.

What I noticed about myself from a young age is that I "knew" instinctively what logic and philosophy were without learning about them from anyone or anywhere. Anyone else feel that logic and philosophy are inborn abilities?

Can we tell the difference between arrogance and genius? And would a genius be seen as arrogant from an outside perspective in today's world?

Humans live in a finite environment, but humans waste vast amounts of the available resources. There are over one-hundred million cars on the roads around the world at one time, burning fuel into the atmosphere--not only are we polluting the air, but we are siphoning valuable oil resource that had natural functions; we also waste in other ways. Humans are abstracting the Earth to be using all this resource that powers their reality. Why is nature foolishly overlooked? We deal damage that wont heal and that causes future humans to suffer, the healthy habitat we live in Today is a desolate wasteland tomorrow; in a few hundred years, maybe even less, humans may be forced int…

Something that is going to make you think I'm more of a crazy loon than you already do - How you perceive reality is a minuscule of what is actually going on around you. Everything you know is only relative, whether it be speed, size, or anything for that matter. One revolution of the earth around the sun is a long time, however compare it to the revolution of particles like electrons around a nucleus and a blink of the eye doesn't is almost unfeasible to compare relative speeds. Nobody knows how big space is, what if were merely particles among a much larger infinitely finite structure. I'm not saying it is but open your mind. Earth is relatively small compared to everyt…

Initially, I called this paradox a "catch-22," but I don't that entirely fits. It's a logical paradox where a person, or a group of people, believe a general rule, but do not believe any one specific instance of the rule occuring. A classic example of this paradox is government corruption. Most people believe that the government is corrupt... http://www.cbsnews.com/news/global-survey-majority-feel-corruption-has-worsened-think-governments-cant-fix-it/ http://www.usnews.com/news/newsgram/articles/2013/07/10/majority-of-americans-say-corruption-has-increased http://www.examiner.com/article/new-poll-most-americans-believe-obama-government-is-corrupt ... an…

i will say that its an person who help me in all aspects of life

At any stage of life we are usually (practically) presented with at least 2 choices. This is in keeping with the dichotomy of quantum mechanics. There exists a concept in database theory where we normalize data. (remove redundant choices) and make the data the best fit. If we apply this to our everyday lives, can we not eliminate choices that offer less immediate benefit (much like heuristic chess programs) and positively influence the course of our destiny. We can also learn from our mistakes and this too will help us to make better and more informed choices. That way many of us will be spared the pains arising out of substance abuse etc. Is this…

This could also be a topic in the maths forum, but I would like to approach the philosopher Zeno and his famous paradoxes in this sub-forum Are Zeno's paradoxes logical fallacies? One paradox is about a race between Achilles and a tortoise, with the tortoise given a half way start to the finish line. According to Zeno's ,logic, Achilles will never catch up and pass the slower tortoise , because the distances between them are just subdivided smaller and smaller infinitely. There have been solutions to this paradox, but my point are his paradoxes really fallacies?

The people that believe to be smarter than ignorant people are just ignorant of others that are way smarter than themselves. Ignorance is bliss because what you don't know can't hurt you. It doesn't put a face on an overwhelming problem and it allows you to enjoy everything else. Being ignorant is not always a horrible thing, it can actually keep a person from worrying about every little detail of their lives.

Does free will exist ? Any ideas ?

Kristalris has a habit of derailing threads by shouting "BAYES' THEOREM!!!!!!111!1!11!" even when it's utterly irrelevant because no inference is even being made. So, I've decided to make this thread so he doesn't have to derail the others. He's made some hefty claims about Bayes's theorem. Some are true, some are false. Before we get into that, let's see what Bayes's theorem is. The propositional calculus tells us what is true when other things are true. The problem is, we rarely in a position to tell with the certainty that the propositional calculus demands whether or not propositions are true or false. We can do that with tautologies or contradictions (such as why w…

Time linear or otherwise have always fascinated and well as baffled me over the years Is infinity impossible in light of the past having a beginning? Without a beginning we could never reach the present? What ever approach to infinity, we take, like our universe not really been the beginning of time, all we do is push the enigma further back. Eternity and time are "impossible facts an oxymoron of sorts" or do you have a better explanation?

In what way do we differ as adults, from the time we were a small children?