dimreepr

If you want to know what's outside the box, you have to know what's inside it; a good teacher knows that not all his student's are capable of thinking beyond their teachings, so they make sure that all are content with what they've learned; make up your own mind reminds me of the trope, fighting cancer is heroic; like we have a choice.

It's not that simple, God is a teacher and teacher's have to be trusted, if one wants to learn their lesson's. A good teacher tells believable lies, so that even the slowest among us can catch up; it's very imaginative and way more than a figment...

Congratulations, there's nothing like the sweet smell of curiosity, enjoy it while it lasts; because no matter what measures you employ, you can't protect yourself from the future... Happy learning 🤞 🖖

Here's the point:

So sorry you couldn't...

Yes, we are... But when it does, there's a chance to learn... 😉

How would that indicate the moment of conscious thought?

You're not thinking past our cultural bias, specifically the assumption that we are seperate from nature, that we're special and above other animals because we're not really an animal; it's the cancer that's eating away at our society. Ancient human's didn't suffer from this bias, they lived in harmony with nature because they couldn't ignore it, like we do; we also forget that they were just as cleaver as we are, they were just a little bit wiser. Back to the topic: Does the fact that we are unconsciously feeding our own cancer, mean that the ancient humans were more conscious than us?

My name is Dave... 😉

It was Dave, wasn't it???

I bow to your greater knowledge...

Yes, of course; consciousness exists and life exists; it doesn't matter how tight the Venn diagram is, it's never absolute... At some point the spectrum will draw a line, whatever the question... Why?

Maybe I am wrong, I don't know... But when I examine my own situation; a gun lover/owner, with a supermarket in walking distance, a few chickens, duck's and geese in the garden and a mild vermin problem. Since there are a number of way's to tackle the vermin problem, including not killing them, (even if my excuse is target practice, because an air rifle with limited power is perfectly adequate); I'm forced to conclude that I have no reason to own a gun that's capable of killing people, just excuses.

There's a reason why an excuse is not good enough...

How?

Consciousness exists on a spectrum, so there will be a point, at which, we can say there is none; for instance, I think we can safely say "a pebble isn't conscious but I am", what we can't determine, because we're not them, is where an ant sits on that spectrum.

The problem is, the only viable argument (for a civilian in a world of supermarkets) for having a gun is, in the words of Jim Jefferies, "fuck off, I like guns". So the real problem is, America has failed to educate it's populous well enough, to tell the difference between a reason and an excuse.

You've not really thought this through; an ant doesn't need conscious thought for hive intelligence to work, so an ant colony is intelligent unconsciously. What do you think that's a test of?

I just don't want to be shot or stabed... Do whatsoever you like; if you tell me to stop eating marmite with a big stick, I'll miss the taste...

The thing about stopping power is, it kills people that didn't need to be stopped; the best form of defense is to make the attacker stop, because they fear the consequences, even a large stick would suffice for most people. Most people, including me, don't want to die in order to live; it's the same argument for carrying a knife; it's scary out there and I don't want to die, so I threaten you with your death in order to stop you; then one day I meet up with me, and I have no choice.

The book they believed in, the book they taught you from and mostly wrote; as you rightly say "The problem with the rabid anti-abortion Christians is that they don't read, or conveniently ignore, the Bible." The thing we forget about teaching is, it didn't start today...

But you do have to understand what your teachers wrote, in their bible...

Some scientists suffer the same malady...

I think therefore I am, is not an axiom, it's a question; that square has four equal sides is an axiom, whatever I believe. Philosophy 101. You need to learn more about philosophy, before we can discuss it's distribution in this universe...

Indeed but we've never had to break through that glass ceiling, sure we had guns; but we've never had that solution written in law. It's a lot like the drug problem, drugs are bad M'kay except when there's money to be made and doctor's are encouraged to prescribe a legal way to diminish the pain...