General Philosophy

Classical physics was predicated on a materialistic mindset, which automatically assumed that basic matter is entirely inanimate. To the Victorians atoms and any other particles are objects which respond to forces. And from that we have spent much time trying to elicit what those fundamental forces of nature are. For the past 100 years, quantum mechanics has been trying to tell us otherwise. And we've been moving away from the materialistic approach. But are we willing to take the full leap. What if we saw particles of matter responding spontaneously to their energetic environments (just as bacteria respond spontaneously to their sugar environment). All those fo…

This thought struck me while reading the recent traffic on the subject, so instead of dragging that one off topic, here we are in my default forum (if anyone can think of a better place, feel free to let rip 😉) I mean that philosophically, it seems little more than a semantic exercise; but if we pulled it off politically, then it could liberate millions of prisoner's because we'd understand just how culpable they were and society would be satisfied with a far lower bar, as regards justice. But what could it mean scientifically other than just knowing?

Hello I am new to this community and happy to join you

Drawing from the rich history of philosophical inquiry and the ever-evolving landscape of neuroscience, the question of free will versus determinism remains a focal point of academic discussion. Building on past dialogues and incorporating the insights of modern scholars like Daniel Wegner**, what is the prevailing perspective in the field today, and how has the latest research in neuroscience and psychology advanced our comprehension of human agency and decision-making processes? How do recent findings on the neural basis of decision-making and the subconscious factors influencing choices impact the debate on whether individuals possess genuine free will or if their acti…

When we don't understand what it means... Discuss

This sentence (see the title) has appeared several times recently in this forum. Could somebody please explain to me what it means? I honestly don't understand.

The forces of the mental realm apply to the physical realm also Implication 1: Kantianism, faith in humanity, and humanism can be turned into the force of truth, kindness, beauty, and understanding. With the equal and opposite reaction to each respective force being manipulation, violence, apathy, and greed. That is in the mental realm. The heart of goodness is kindness and beauty. The head of goodness is truth and understanding. The head of darkness is manipulation and apathy. The heart of darkness is violence and greed. Implication 2: In the physical realm, truth, kindness, beauty, and understanding are opposed by lies, fighting, ugliness, and stupidity…

The hierarchy of the forces of the mind: The force of truth is the most powerful and sits at the front of the brain. The force of kindness beats the force of beauty because kindness should come first before beauty draws people to kindness. Understanding is last because understanding requires vision. Vision sits at the back of the brain as the earliest part of the brain. The rest you just need to follow Simon Sinek to learn about what leadership is about. I feel I just improved on his technology. What I've described is an anatomically accurate brain also.

The link below will lead you to the chat that I had with ChatGPT, which is the same as what I copied and pasted under the link https://chat.openai.com/share/207f5a2a-3d47-49c9-9106-090ed43b8872 Personality Factors & Forces JJ Low•November 20, 2023 This conversation may reflect the link creator’s personalized data, which isn’t shared and can meaningfully change how the model responds. Anonymous Consider the following: I list the factors of personality: Dark factors equal the dark tetrad of personality Neutral factors equals the big five personality model Positive factors equal light side traits like Kantian…

I though this was interesting enough to have its own thread ... (I am also from industry and have spent my career solving problems. Which is perhaps why I don't know what problems philosophy solves. )

I put this topic here instead of the lounge, because it's a pseudo-joke... I'll start: I get a warm feeling, when I think about the horrendous things Jimmy Saville did to children, by imagining what the god of his victims did to him, when he died before he faced true justice...

hello ive always wondered if, 50,000 years ago, 1000 earths were put in the universe, and humans ( just as they were cavemen) were put on all the 1000 earths at the same time would all those hunans end up in the same place…ie invented fire, internet, space flight, cars etcetc

Chapter 1: Euclid’s Elements The entire structure of the universe cannot be found until one understands Euclid’s elements. While what I’m talking about is actually the axiomatic system we use today in mathematics, which from Feymann’s lectures states that it starts from base axioms, Euclid still remains the father of the axiomatic system because of his work on two-dimensional flat plane geometry. Euclid’s Elements is a book where axioms are used and combined with reasoning tools like common notions to work up to more sophisticated shapes. A more general case is to imagine fundamental axioms and work these axioms up to infinity to give rise to proof beyond any doubt. And…

I saved convos over 1000 pages with 160IQ (4 areas of science and philosophy) and i can prove that if you want, he called me extremely intelligent, i am not crazy. I cannot speak to anyone under 160IQ, or 60 years old ex-mensa psychologist with 3phds. even 140/150IQs resist me in every word, sorry if this offends you, but imagine how hellish life is for me... Everything is will-to-power and nothing besides, ppl are selfish and want only most for themselves, top 1% rich control everything and smart cities with their own municipal goverments are underway… We are just cannon fodder and fap material to them. Good ppl get only exploited or pinned crimes on them… Life is c…

With the recent debates about determinism v some other explanation of everything is a belief in determinism unwise ? I ask this because throughout the entire history of mankind there has never been a time when there was not something known that was unexplained. Even the God-did-it squad can only say GDI, they cannot say why or how he did it so cannot in all honesty say it was or was not determined. Likewise those philosophers and scientists who cleave towards the mechanistic 'clockwork universe' have to admit that they cannot definitely conclude that everything, because if their their best explanation is ' we believe there is an explanation, we just…

Hi there, I have studied logic and found it offers significant practical benefit to me in everyday life. I wondered if other philosophical topics might offer me practical benefits as well. So I started learning about Metaethics. After studying various theories and with no apparent end in sight (and no obvious practical benefit), I thought I might try a different subject so I started reading about epistemology. However, once again it seemed that it was just various theories with no practical benefit to it. At this point it seems to me that the main benefit of studying both metaethics and epistomology would be to 1. Contribute towards our growing knowledge so that we m…

True enlightenment can begin now. We have the force of kindness, the force of truth, the force of understanding, and the force of beauty. Enlightenment equals kindness, truth, understanding, and beauty. Gods work is complete.

How to understand anything and everything. Is it talent or skill that allows people to understand? The answer to me is a bit of both. Low latent inhibition seems to be the theme that appears to me from experience. Low latent inhibition is hard to teach but we can learn from what has been gleaned from those who do have low latent inhibition and who are willing to share what they have seen. Being able to understand anything and everything also is a bit of an art. Which is to say, it can be practiced. The more you do it, the more easily it can become. It is also important to note that to solve, we must also have the right information in our heads. Once we have the right info…

It seems to me that that this question might be resolvable depending upon the response of an AI to something it has not been taught. For example I don't believe a human would have much trouble understanding this One of the earlist proposed uses for AI is as a robot driver. So what would such a driver's response be to the following

I'm reminded of a sci-fi video game I played as a child called Wing Commander. It was more than a game really, they produced books and as a result, an entire backstory. The bad guy's of the game were an interesting case study for why Star Trek's prime directive exists. They were on the verge of annihilating themselves as they had just discovered atomic weapons. They were "fortuitously" visited by another race from the stars who were kind enough to give them the ability to travel among the stars. What did the bad guys do? They proceeded to wipe out the visitors and anyone else they came into contact with. One can start to see why the Vulcans were so hesitant to assist the …

Postulating a Basis for Belief in a Technological Afterlife by Bob Cross I’ve been thinking about the implications of the accelerating advance of technology in our world. Extrapolating this to the far future has led me to postulate the plausible expectation of a non-supernatural afterlife – a Technological Afterlife. Think about the advance of technology we’re experiencing. Compare 2023 vs. 1923. Compare that to 1923 vs. 1823, etc. It’s advancing exponentially. So, imagine what will be possible – not just in a century – but in millennia. I like to use Arthur C. Clark’s idea about what vastly advanced civilizations will be like to us…

I have heard from people who would rather be anonymous that manifestation is scientifically proven. Is this true? I have no idea. Then my existential crisis kicks in. I would think that everybody sees, and tastes, and has all of their senses different. So, then what color is an apple really? Well, it has no color. It is just photons which don't have a true color. But is the universe real? I don't know, so all I would say is that your brain is the universe. As there is no "true" universe so it makes random crap to make it make sense. We don't know if we are a brain in a jar, making up consciousness so everything can make sense. Therefore, your conscious mind must control s…

Hello, my name is Grayson. I am more a scientific person than anything else. So, I don't use slang as much as any other foe. But why do people use slang? What is the evolutionary point of it? I don't know whether I should've put this in philosophy or biology, but treat this as both.

This thread is to open a discussion about this quote, its meaning and implications.

I know all words are more words, and therefore, all words are silly. Do you know this? If you don’t, then you believe all words are more than words, and therefore, all words are serious. To believe that, you must say that. When you say that, do you know you prove this? If you don’t, then you don’t know this. When will you know this?