MSC

Good point. That being said; if there had been evidence of voter fraud specifically (not foreign interference as that takes place on social media) would Hilary Clinton have went about the legal routes in the same manner as Trump? Probably not, but then since voter fraud was a non-issue in both cases, it doesn't really matter what a reasonable person would do if they justifiably suspected fraud. As it is, the reaction of MAGA toward the results have been extremely corrosive. Raffensperger, the election chief in Georgia was a Trump support and still purports to be, yet he is now a pariah in the Republican party and the president called him a RINO for certifying the result for Biden. His wife has even received death threats via text. I actually feel really bad for him, he's probably one of the few who put duty over personal politics to call the state for Biden. I can understand a Republican being suspicious of votes in Democrat run states, it makes no sense to be suspicious of Georgia though. A good comparison might be the claim that the moon landing was faked. Raffensperger is doing what Russia did in that Russia, despite having wanted to win the space race themselves, have never once claimed that the Americans faked it. The result in Georgia by comparison, ought to have been accepted by Republicans as it was one of the few races where the result could not have been more free of political bias, when even the state appointed election chief there wanted Trump to win and still called the state for Biden. If that isn't a sign of a secure election, I don't know what is. One thing I have been thinking about recently, why I don't think Trump will be able to overturn the result, even by force. Is that quite frankly the bulk of his supporters lives are just too comfortable, to actually risk it all in the violent takeover that it seems Trump is trying to seek, through political theater. If his base were actually part of an objectively deeply and historically disenfranchised, excluded and abused group, that had little to no prospects in life due to that exclusion, then maybe we'd be seeing more desperate acts en masse to overturn the results of the election. As it is, what seems to be keeping this at bay, is in fact the privilege most of the MAGA crowd claim they don't have. This puzzles me too. He won by such narrow margins in 2016 and has spent the last four years not only demonising democrats, but any type of Republican who ever so slightly disagrees with him. Someone with as tiny a lead as they had, could simply not afford to alienate any of their voters. Especially when it's only a two party system in practice but not theory. I know of a few that voted libertarian because they could not stomach voting for Trump or Biden. The libertarian party was always more likely to win votes from the Republican party than it was the democrats. It will be interesting to see how Biden plays the next four years. If he is smart, since he won electoral votes by narrow margins, if he wants a second term he will have to follow through on his Unity talk with efficacy.

Most groups enjoy testing the newbie. Not putting them down. I was the newbie here a few months ago and had similar feelings as yourself then. I took a hiatus and asked the moderators to suspend my account for a month. Which meant I could just be a fly on the wall and observe how people interact and engage on here. For example; me and INow butted heads and I even told them to "fuck off" at one point. Since being able to observe their responses without any bias of them being directed at me, while I can recognise that me and INow both have conversation styles that can be construed as abrasive to some, I've come to be appreciative of their responses in my own AOE and recognise we aren't nearly as different as I first thought we were. Admittedly aided by another member here who did a good job of helping me reach a different and fairer perspective of the other users here, including INow. What do you mean by not shoving it in your face? Shoving what in your face exactly? Disagreement with you? I really would not take anything too personally or seriously here, including yourself. I say that as someone who already made the mistake of doing just that. It only leads to stress and it isn't even constructive stress at that. Keep in mind that what good and bad manners are, tend to vary between cultures. This forum has it's own culture. If someone on here is genuinely being unhelpfully rude to you, the mods will deal with it. If they don't, it's probably because it wasn't rude by this forums standards. I think what INow was getting at, is that although it's a nice thing to try and say, it's off topic for this thread somewhat. It also comes across as virtue signalling since you are aware that you are preaching to the choir. I wouldn't feel upset about INows criticism as you yourself said you should probably delete it, so you yourself weren't even sure if it was appropriate to this thread. You are absolutely allowed to have an opinion and I commend you for being brave enough to voice it. Just save it for the appropriate threads is all. If you want to talk about how this relates to Trump stealing the election, be our guest.

Unfortunately, Trump thinks he is America. He won't concede while his 'America' is potentially going to go to prison when 'America' is no longer president next year. As for what Trump owes democrats, they had issues with the 2016 election just as Trump has issues with 2020. The Obama led democrats however, did ensure a smooth and peaceful transition to the Trump administration and they never tried to overturn the results in the manner Trump is attempting now, impeachment is not overturning an election either. Trump is not even returning that favour, without a struggle and a flail.

I think you're being a little unfair here! For example; if god exists, I like that they created stupidity for us to mock. Life might be boring without little gems, such as posts like these. it's pretty clear to me, that everything that was put in this thread has been fairly entertaining, gods creation or not, I enjoyed its specialness.

Oh absolutely I'd agree with that. I experienced it myself, except it was my mother that left. I was 5 and she walked out on us and was gone for awhile. That being said; she was still a lot more present and emotionally available than my father, who would essentially have arguments with my teachers using me as a proxy. It was like it didn't matter what I was taught, to him, he'd already decided that I was stupid and couldn't be right about anything. Kind of takes the genetic fallacy to a whole new meaning there. Irony. That's because I was working from memory and got a few details wrong. My bad. I've digged it up and attached it now. The subjective aspect of 'quality' would impact all demographics however. There is a strong likelihood that 1-5% of the present parents, from all backgrounds are abusers and I wouldn't even care to try and guess what percentage were avoidably negligent. I say avoidably as it has already been pointed out by others that it is much more difficult for working class parents to be able to spend quality time with their kids without sacrificing on their required time to earn enough for the basic needs of housing, energy, clothing and food on the table. Which I think brings us to the most important aspect of this debate. Class based demographics. I can accept that we might never have schools that don't unfairly discriminate, but I don't think I can accept a society where the ability to bring discriminating individuals to justice, is determined by how deep your pockets or your parents pockets are. Which bring us to something extremely important. Probably the barrier we should e focussing on most. Here is something that is definitely true; it is illegal to discriminate based on race, ethnicity, religion, marriage, sexual orientation, gender.. It is not currently illegal however, to discriminate based on class or caste. They are not protected characteristics. There would be little to stop me or anyone else from denying equality to people because of their socio-economic background. There are means tested scholarships available but it tends to go that either their aren't enough of them for everyone who wants one, or there is no guidance on how to apply for them when they are under applied for. It's why I really like the look of the University of Arizona in Tuscon. They are one of the few institutions that I know of that seem to go the extra mile and try their best to make sure your education is financially achievable and that funding is smooth and debtless. Sucks that it is so far away though. We'd have to uproot and move again and we are thinking of buying a house here in IL... Sorry, I'm rambling. Suffice it to say, I think this has been a constructive discussion for all involved. You know I study philosophy and ethics. So you must know by now that you've already opened up a whole can of worms in the subjects of power, control and responsibility, right? I think the stoics and taoists put it best with The Archer. You can draw the bow perfectly, do everything within your control to give yourself the best chance of hitting your mark, and still fail because you cannot control the wind. In this analogy, I see other people as wind. I know I can't control them, I don't want to control them. Yet I can't pretend it is raining when really people are pissing on all of our legs. nhsr071.pdf

A good point. Maybe OP should forward their questions on to the psychology section. Philosophy of Time isn't really an area of discussion where we look at the subjective perception of the passage of Time. That being said; OP may enjoy reading about A and B theories of time. I'm partial to the quantum block A theory myself.

This is a good suggestion. I'd add to Swansonts points by directing you to research the psychology of time perception. There are anecdotal experiences claimed by some who say they get periods where it feels like everything around them is moving super fast. Some drugs can also produce a feeling that everything has slowed down. These experiences are extremely difficult to study however and it is obviously impossible for time to be speeding up for one person while everyone else around them is experiencing the perception of time normally... I mean, unless you're moving at the speed of light I guess or if you're observing something being sucked into a black hole. None of this actually changes the passage of time. It doesn't even make sense to say "This minute was twice as long as the last" all that would mean is 3 minutes have passed. Yet the clock says only two have actually passed. It might look as if an object is slowing down as it approaches a black hole, to the object in question time is still flowing and they will be across the event horizon long before you actually witness this happening.

I'm familiar with this old study. Did you know that part of the figure for absent black fathers comes from two things; black fathers who were in prison due to racial profiling and overly punitive sentences, and black fathers who were in fact in their childrens lives but just didn't live in the same home as their children. Basically, a fair portion of that figure were actually black fathers who were sitting down to a family meal with their children almost everyday, who were being labeled as absent fathers purely because they didn't have the same address as their children. There are also similar figures for white fathers absences. In a questionnaire delivered to kids as part of a more modern study, it turned out that black fathers on average spend more quality time with their children than white fathers do. Even when that white father lives in the same household as their children. You also need to keep in mind that at the time of that particular study, racial discrimination was more rampant and the people involved in producing that study, ultimately misled people into thinking that black people were more likely to be bad fathers than white people. It's just not true, that study was extremely flawed and the intent behind it seemed to be used to justify more negative stereotypes of black people. I'm saying this as a white person too, so it's not like I am biased toward debunking this because I'm black. I've seen figures of student demographics in a number of different schools and the pass rates for historically disadvantaged people from ethnicity to disability, are truly shocking. Even if the study wasn't dubious, it's from 1965. What makes you think it is still relevant today? I misspoke slightly when I wrote that OP, owing to being pissed off at the time (I really need to stop posting things when I'm in a mood, doing no one any favours that way). On paper, most institutions are against discrimination in most forms. Which is great, except the individuals they hire, from admissions to faculty, are capable of being biased, racist and ableist and they are capable of hiding this. Which leads to a bias within the institution where staff are allowed a great deal of freedom to practice as much discrimination as they like, by citing some unrelated and irrelevant reason as to why they went ahead with a prejudicial act and since the higher ups claim that their institution is against such acts, they close ranks and double down on the discrimination in order to defend their staff. It's gotten to the point where in some schools, even suggesting that you may be being treated unfairly due to a protected characteristic, is seen as more egregious and wrong than someone who is discriminating based on those characteristics and lying about it. Personal responsibility cuts both ways. Staff and student both. Students have a personal responsibility to care about and want an education; just as staff in schools have a legal and personal responsibility to give equal access to that education and to make reasonable adjustments for students who are disadvantaged through no fault of their own. Here is what disadvantaged people have to go through to take personal responsibility for their education under the current formats; they are expected to do the same coursework as their peers with less support and less resources, they are expected to keep silent about all the little ways the school makes things harder for them vs the majority of it's students. They are expected to show tolerance toward the implicit and explicit biases and prejudices of their peers and the institution itself, even though it makes college life far more difficult for them than it does for the majority of it's other students. A simple analogy, the disadvantaged are being asked to run a race with a ball and chain in tow, against others who have no such ball and chain and they have to give the unchained a head start too. Despite the ball and chain, some people still finish the race. However if you were to ask one of the people that didn't finish why they weren't able to finish when others did, they would say this; because not everyone can finish a race with a ball and chain attached to them and it's extremely demoralising to know that you're going to be unfairly compared to someone who ran the race without that ball and chain. It is not an excuse to say "I couldn't finish the race because I had a ball and chain attached" it's a reason, it's a cause. Now I'm not saying there are not people who just can't be bothered to put the effort in when they are given a chance at education without the balls and chains. They are a minority though, so generalising every drop out, every person who does not have a degree, as not having it because they didn't want it enough, doesn't take into account the individuals who put up obstacles specifically meant for them. Now; if schools now were as inclusive as it is possible for them to be, then I'd maybe not have posted this at all, I'd maybe not have given up on physics because a teacher said I should since they thought I wasn't "PhD material". Probably because in a school that is truly inclusive, would never have deemed it acceptable for any teacher to be allowed to say such a thing to someone who was disabled and the first of their family to get into higher education. Schools aren't that inclusive though, until they are then maybe they should focus less on putting the lions share of the fault on students and more on themselves. Until they are more inclusive, blaming their students who are keen to learn and keen to contribute to society is mostly an attempt to reject any consequences to their own actions and policies when they naturally trip up the disadvantaged. Maybe I am biased toward this perspective because I am from a disadvantaged group of people in multiple ways, but that doesn't make me wrong when I say that schools could absolutely do more to produce more competent graduates from all walks of life. Maybe I've just been going to the wrong schools or have been unlucky with the staff I've ended up dealing with. It's not easy to figure out if the contributing common denominator is me or the system of education, however those figures I spoke of earlier would suggest that I can only contribute so much when the school system is failing people. It's important to keep in mind that some people aren't giving up on their education. They are giving up on the school that is failing to give them one. As Mark Twain says "Never let your schooling get in the way of your education." P.S sorry for the lateness of my response but I was on my hiatus when you commented about that study, but I've been dying to tackle it since you said it.

The middle ground here would be ethics. If you're asking questions of the meaning or distinction of positive and negative values then we are in meta-ethical territory. That's not me saying, the middle ground is being ethical, the middle ground is thinking critically about what the good and bad are and what they mean. Also, google everything you can. If I had a dime for everytime I forgot to google something or go to the library, I'd be a rich man who's probably about to forget where he left that bloody fortune. Why you should research what you're thinking before you say it out loud; to avoid calling yourself stupid later. Not other people, yourself. Which brings me to the situational context sensitivity of things like being egotistical. Sometimes, it's beneficial, other times it is not. It depends on how the ego manifests itself. Imagine this scenario, a group of students file into an exam room. Two of the students are extremely arrogant. One believes outright that he will pass, because after all they are amazing. The other, believes outright they will do the right thing and use all the time they are given to complete the exam, because after all they are amazing. Both students believe they are going to perform really well, but only one of them is going to rush through the exam and leave early without checking over anything. As INow says, it's best not to build a bias toward egotistical thinking. Just because an egoic asshole says something which is true every now and then doesn't mean they will corrupt the knowledge, just their view of themselves. They might not even be corrupting that. You should also be aware that there are some theories that speculate that every act a human does comes from a place of egoism, even if they think they are being selfless or altruistic since even those acts can have positive benefits besides financial reward or thanks. I don't actually agree with them but the work behind them is still pretty insightful amd true to a limited extent.

Classic Star Trek, always finding novel and entertaining ways to engage an audience in the deep stuff. No one quite puts it quite like Jean-Luc though; If we are all just brains in vats however, another Picard line might be more pertinent, since we can't know either way; Basically, why worry and waste time wondering if you're a brain in a vat, in someone elses dream or a bit of code in a videogame? Live in the moment, be the dream, be a bit of code. What else were you really going to do if you knew one way or the other anyway?

Fair enough. I didn't actually understand the part about the confidence level at all. I saw 87% and didn't understand the second figure so I couldn't really draw agreement or disagreement with that, as it reads like there is a high confidence level for the evidence of hawking points that falls short of 100% confidence. To the inexperienced of us, what exactly does the debunking article say? As it's conclusion seems confusing to me. Is it debunked or is it saying there is currently no way to be 100% certain that those hot patches are hawking points? The problems I see with CCC, if the universe does have evolutionary phases that would appear cyclical, that does not mean there is no end point where entropy can be reset to a low entropy universal structure. There could have been many bounces before, even if it is impossible for another contraction to occur in this phase due to expansion. This is why my questions in my OP were directed more at the image used to represent the theory. It shows a CCC universe getting larger after each contraction. Which seems really strange to me. I can understand how a big crunch contraction can happen in universes where there is far less expansion at work, that does not appear to be this one however. So if there is a cyclical universe as has been described by Penrose, can it really be an indefinite infinite one or would that universe also reach a point where it cannot contract anymore and suffers a heat death? To be very clear as well, I'm not claiming with 100% certainty that this is evidence, I'm just repeating back how it is presented elsewhere and I'm just trying to understand. This is all hypothetical and I don't have access to the same resources as you. I can only repeat what is said in science news outlets and what I can get from free resources. I already pay out of pocket for access to philosophy and ethics publications. So if I say something is evidence, it's not me saying it is that, I'm asking you if they are right to call it evidence. If it makes it at all easier to have an open discussion, what I'm really asking is how would a CCC universe exist and is it impossible for such a thing to exist? Whether that is this universe or not.

There is a link in my last, about hawking points.

How many meals a day does a mathematician eat? 9 They eat 3 squared meals a day. Good thing portion sizes are relative..

At least we've still got the big yin... Fer noo Still, fuckin miss you Draco, to the stars!

Anywhere but here

Evidence of hawking points Sorry I misspoke before, beyond SMBHs in the early universe and explaining how they grew to such a size so quickly; there is also evidence of blackhole evaporation in the CMB. Which to me presents a bit of a dilemma. If the universe is a little under 14billion years old, and it takes 10^64 years for a regular sized blackhole to evaporate, how can we explain the potential evidence of black hole evaporation in the CMB without throwing out the age of the universe? As for the voids, I double checked what I meant there and withdraw that completely. I was thinking of the bootes void and I remembered watching a documentary of some kind that probably put a bit of woo science in there for dramatic effect. It cited that the universe wasn't or isn't old enough for the bootes void to have formed to the size it is, but having double checked that myself before replying I think it might be a load of BS.

Am I Russian to conclusions or are you Gulagging behind?

Fair enough. Personally I prefer discussing simulation theory, as the brain in the vat hypothesis has a lot of problems, as a thought experiment. A brain in any kind of container that can still feel touch just strikes me as a brain with what functions as a body to house the brain. That and whomever is caretaking the vats has their own vat problem to consider... They might just be a brain in a vat inhabiting a simulated experience where they care for other brains in vats. The whole thing just becomes a great big headache. That being said, another thread on simulation theory might already be kicking around somewhere. Even though it has the same problems and the same headaches.

This would beg the question; is everyone a brain in a vat or is there just one brain in a vat hallucinating everyone else? Let's say you and I are both brains in vats. Are we occupying different simulated experiences or the same one? If it is the latter, then there would still be atomic touch interactions at a longer distance, if we bumped fists in the simulation. If it is the former, then touch between two persons is an impossibility. What would it mean for you if the hypothesis was correct? Or if simulation theory was correct?

Is that a pun?

Thanks for the response! How are you keeping MigL? I don't understand how particle decay of protons or fermions relates, admittedly. Isn't that only a problem with indefinite and infinite cyclical cosmology? There could very well be bounces without an entropic reset, how many possible bounces there are might be something with a hard limit. It could even be that the limit has already been reached and that is why expansion seems like it will overcome any ability for a contraction to take place again. Why cyclical cosmology seems relevant to me; there are black holes and voids that are described as potentially being older than the big bang. Not to mention Methuselah, if the margin for error on that approximate age calculation falls before the big bang. All that being said, maybe I'm not reading from the right sources but would be interested to hear your thoughts.

As am I! I've a few historical ones of myself to suggest in the future. Yes, the treatment worked wonders. Turned out all I had to do was try to bathe in a field of cacti and listen to Dostoyevsky insult me five or six times a sentence. Half-True story, everyone should try it! Disclaimer: The cactus stunt suggested here is fictitious and should only be performed by the professional idiots out there in the world... To YouTube!

The Big Bounce - Quantamagazine I don't know if I'm understanding this correctly. Is there no upper limit to how large the universe can bounce up to or is the image misleading? Is matter a fixed finite or is more created at each bounce? If I view it as a series of warping bubbles moving through this multiversal vacuum space, at what point is everything so spread out that it just pops? If expansion is stretching everything further apart, how can another contraction take place if there is no force great enough to overcome expansion and pull everything inwards again for a bounce? Another thing I don't understand due to the image, does the universe have some form of directionality in its expansions and contractions? How and why? Sorry if these seem like stupid questions. I'm sure someone here can help me understand.

Can I put that on a CV? Haha

My skin is thicker, or I should say the environment is no longer thinning my skin. I had a lot going on personally last month and I sincerely apologise to you and the other moderators for taking out those frustrations on this forum and causing offense. I hope I can earn your forgiveness by displaying a more relaxed attitude within this space, that you all do an excellent job of overseeing, despite the fact that it is voluntary within your own time. I'd also like to thank you for not having a knee jerk reactions to my criticisms of this space and not banning me outright, thank you for allowing me to come back. I do see your points, I did do some checks on logic threads, I also did a check on individual comments alone. While there are certainly a few instances of individuals who display a lack of understanding of what logic is, the traffic is low and the context of those dialogues usually either leads to someone correcting the logic anyway or it just not being touched with a ten foot barge pole. Should the traffic for any of these things increase, I'll make a politer petition at that time and won't make it a hill to die on. That being said; Aesthetics and History. The Sculptures made of Almonds, with a few rule tweaks could also be an area where aesthetics can feature. I think it could not only be enjoyable for users, but moderators too. If we use a broad definition of art. Music, TV, Movies, Paintings, Almond Sculptures obviously, theatre, paintings, who the fuck is banksy? Etc. You don't even have to change the name of the thread. It can just be like an inside art joke on comedy. I do also like the idea if a history section as it is such a catch all. Every field has it's history after all! It's also one of those subjects where if it was there, I think a lot of traffic would naturally flow into it more than if it wasn't there. A good analogy might be to say that a History thread would be like a new highway, as opposed to a Logic thread, which is just new footpaths. One thing that I should highlight for everyone who would want a history section and an aesthetics section; How should they be moderated and what should the rules and guidelines be for those new forums? What does a good thread and a bad thread look like in those forums? Hi MigL! Hope you are well! Can you give an example of a thread you would post in a history section? Me personally; I would use it to ask questions about history for things that I don't know but am curious about. Things like, Who built this? How did this war start? What turned this dictator into such an asshole? That sort of thing. But only if I had a hard time finding information on those things myself or conflicting accounts. As for Aesthetics; I'd probably just post things about movies, video games, the occasional painting, artists, books, music. With questions about those like, What is the moral of this story? What does this song mean? As for how they would be moderated and what the rules for these new forums should be.. *Shrugs*