General Philosophy

If Mathematics is supposed to describe nature perfectly then why do we sometimes get infinities as solutions. What does it mean ? Is it fine to just discard them or do we need to look deeper ?

I've read some books about buddhism. And I always thought that the "now" that those books emphasized on as the one "time" to focus on. The "time" between past and future. But it was only till I read "zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance" that this "now" actually means the picture you get before your 5 senses have a go at it. I think I understand what they mean with a priori images being the real immediate truth that is seen by humans. But when reality can only be seen when unprocessed by the human senses, how can it be sensed by a human being in the first place? Pirsig says that Phaedrus, the person he was before electroshocks, thought that an a priori imag…

Regardless of what you want to call it, brainwaves, Self, or soul, does the essence of a human individual's mind belong to something larger in relation to his fellow humans? Is there a subtle inter-pathic network connecting us, forming a backdrop for all conscious thought?

DNA is a replicator, a molecular string of information that exists out of reproductive and protein building routines or instructions. But a so called meme is a presupposed replicator of cultural inheritable units of information acting somewhat like a gene, but not always. Since the only creatures on earth that have a notion of culture are supposedly humans, the concept meme can not be other than a human invention. When a zygote is formed you can basically deem that a shuffled deck of cards consisting of both the mamma and pappa genome and an embryo will start growing accordingly. But as soon as the embryo takes on the shape of a humanoid inside the womb it soon eno…

I don't know if it belongs in philosophy or speculations, it's a series of what I hope are cohesive logical correlations, which isn't science, but it's not really something I just make up either, they are the dentition of words. Essentially, it works like this: The universe contains everything, therefore before the universe there could only have been nothing. If there is nothing, there is no thing to limit what can exist. Since there is nothing limiting what can exist, anything that has a probability to exist can exist, therefore the reason everything exists is because it has the probability to exist, because if it has 0 probability of existing it would exist, and befo…

Obviously this is a broad analogy, but it does seem to fit the development of societies in general, although the first three requires a stretch of imagination. I have my own ideas as to the possible reasons for this, which I’ll keep to myself, for now, lest I steer the discussion. The following is an analysis, of Shakespeare’s poem, from wiki... Your thoughts?

Seems to me, there must be a reason why everything on Earth and Everybody on Earth, exists in the same now, and the rest of the universe seems to exist immediately, but we know it's actual now will not "get here" 'til another later time, depending on the distance and the relative velocity of an event. Somewhere I read that a human "present moment" is about 2 and a half to 3 seconds long. Perhaps that has something to do with the round trip time of various sensory inputs plus predictive motor simulations plus motor impulses, plus the sensory inputs of the results. And we are always "in the middle" of this process. But perhaps as well, since we are used to this "leng…

What is everyone's take and theory on the human mind? Including memory, and if its possible for it to be related to our ancestory Cause I believe that there may be a connection with the human mind and our ancestral blood

A common philosophical discussion I have with people is based on the question "why are we here?" and I tend to lean towards the argument of "by complete chance". The chances of life developing (especially to such a level as to have consciousness) are very slim and require a universe with the exact right laws and physics for it to happen. The question that arises from this is why are there all the extra quirks of the universe that had no direct part in the evolution of humans yet allow us to do all sorts of complex and things. I'm talking about things like electricity and material properties which allow us to create such advanced technology. Is it just a conincidence? Or c…

Does existence have any meaning and purpose? Then if there really is a purpose behind existence, then everything exists, to allow for that meaning of existence? Thus, if there is a purpose to existence then everything must exist for that ultimate purpose. This would mean thatall things that exist are the necessary structures that allow that meaning of existence, to exist for that purpose. Thus, is existence just a meaningless grind without purpose or does the universe have some intrinsic meaning of its own?

Today I found out that reality is analog because it is simple and easy.

Some of you will recognize one of these diagrams from a thread on nothingness in the speculations forum. Here are the rest of the diagrams in the series for the forum's review and discussion (in no particular order). Let's have fun.

We think of our universe as being a whole entity, but in my theory you will see how our universe is made up of infinete small things and infinately big things at the same time.....Firstly think of our sun in our solar system this is very simalar to the structure of an Atom. The structure of our Galaxy the milkyway is also simalar... this structure is universal and aslo iconic. Now the sun in our solar system is very simalar to an Electron in a Atom, also our sun is our solar systems energy giver. Here we can see that our galaxy the Milky way has millions of suns just like electrons in a atom and round those suns are planets, these planets act in a clockwork f…

Physical matter does go on forever if you continue cutting it up.

Socrates asked "outrageous" questions to "bait people to answer". He "delighted in sowing discord". He "inspired flaming rhetoric" and "purposely provoked and pulled people into flaming discussion." He "tried to make us believe that he was a genuine skeptic with no hidden agenda," and he was "divisive and argumentative… searching for the truth". He "provoked people to insult him," and he was "an expert in reusing the same words of his opponents and in turning [their words] against them." He may have "had an agenda." Was he a troll? ----------- All quotations are from http://curezone.com/forums/troll.asp.

So recently I have been turning this over in my head. Is Eternalism correct? Or is it Presentism? It seems to me that, Special and General Relativity support Eternalism. Just look at the Andromeda Paradox and the fact that there is no preferred "frame of reference" to choose from. On the other hand, there seems to be a "arrow of time" in physics, although for all we know this might get resolved. I have considered that an argument for Presentism is that we humans experience a "flow of time." This is not convincing to me at all because if this was anything to base facts upon then Quantum mechanics and the modern model of the atom (where its mostly empty space) w…

This question occurred to me thanks to my other thread Since Eternalism says that every point in time still exists, which means that there's another me - in my past - a few keystrokes behind, doesn't that suggest eternal return. According to Eternalists, when a person dies it is trivial because they are still alive and well in the relative past. If this was correct, would this mean we all have to go through our lives, as we would perceive, ad infinitum?

Too often I hear this used as a way of belittling others, especially academics or experts who don’t happen to share a mechanical or constructional bent. For me the definition is something we all should know without an education, such as fire burns or walk in front of a moving car is dangerous, however friends insist it includes a standard education, but what is that? And when is it completed? For the average non academic most learning is done outside of the ‘school’ environment and it never ceases, so when can we say common sense is complete and therefore a term that can reasonably be used to deride others when violated: 20 40 60?

The scientific method is awesome!! I mean it really rocks. It has advanced human knowledge in the past 200 years more than the previous 20,000. However, it has a fundamental flaw that prevents it from overcoming it's own limitations. The fundamental flaw is that it is a doctrine that says truth can only be obtained by following its rigid rules. That is absoluty 100% certainly false. A discovery that advances human knowledge and understanding of nature can be made without the tool of science. Thought experiment: take a human child at an early stage of development. Provide for his needs, give him a basic understanding of nature...fire burns, cold freezes, etc. teach h…

I am here. It doesn't matter why. What matters is how ie- how it [life] can be better. And, as Gandalf the wise has said, "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us." screw god(s) or the bible(s) or any of that noise. f- tradition or fantasy or trying to please others. I am here. btiches.

Cosmicism is the literary philosophy developed and used by the American writer Howard Phillips Lovecraft in his weird fiction. He was an American author of fantastic and macabre short novels and stories, one of the 20th-century masters of the Gothic tale of terror. Howard Phillips Lovecraft was interested in science from childhood, but lifelong poor health prevented him from attending college. He made his living as a ghostwriter and rewrite man and spent most of his life in seclusion and poverty. His fame as a writer increased only after his death. The philosophy of cosmicism states that there is no recognizable divine presence, such as a god, in the universe,…

Hi, just out of curiosity I'd just like to know how people define the idea of a human soul.

Something instead of nothing? Why is there something instead of nothing? The interesting conclusion of this ultimate puzzle is that, we can be sure of, it that at least something exists. There is a Universe, we see people, and things, and light, and while we may debate what it means, how it came into being, and how it works, we can be sure that there is at least `something'. Many physicists search for the most elementary laws of physics, and believe that a law is more likely to be true, when it is simpler, more elementary. Some think that at some moment, humans will understand how the Universe and everything works, and, even more, that we find out why the Universe…

I've been thinking about Nick Bostrom's simulation argument, which basically argues that we are living inside a computer simulated universe created by our descendants. I began to wonder just how plausible this argument is, and after thinking about it for a I came up with the following idea: Assuming the first two possibilities that Bostrom proposes, which are 1) that we go extinct before becoming technologically capable of creating simulated universes and 2) That we do become capable of creating simulated universes but do not create any, are incorrect, Bostrom says that we are almost guaranteed to be living in a simulated universe inside a supercomputer, because the n…

What is the whole point of life? I want to know what people think about this. Or even if there is no point at all and we are just here. Or if there is a higher conscious level being out there with a plan? What is the Point of life?