dimreepr

Of course but what's the question... Again, what is the actual question? Can I not have meaning in my life, if I choose not to improve myself or others? Why can't my life have meaning because I decide it does?

Although I'm unsure how one can stand parallel with the wall if only one foot and shoulder is pressed against it?

I succeeded on the 2nd attempt (had to adjust my balance), but I've yet to levitate.

I don't think I am given the OP, a functional brain, still functions and will give results, but if we dumb down, a computer will give a result (the brain) but the correct algorithm will give the correct result, or at least an approximation of correct (the mind).

I think Evgenia did a pretty good job as a definition between the two. In your example of someone with autism, the brain's ability to process information, sometimes, far exceeds its inherent skill of understanding/empathising with others.

They have a functional brain but not a functional mind, so yes, I think they would lack that particular instinct.

Good point +1

Just not the form we're discussing.

Yes, nobody had to tell me fire is hot I found out for myself. Some are better at it than others, that doesn't depend on knowledge.

The wise know the futility of control, but shhh, what if the politicians find out it's possible? 'You don't need to be brilliant to be wise, but without wisdom, brilliance isn't enough'.

But you can decide/change who you decide to follow/be influenced by.

How many great pyramids are there?

There go the goal posts, where they go no one knows... My post was cross posted with a far more eloquent answer, the one you've just ignored in favour of mine. However, I think it's quite possible to empathise with a different species, over my ability to do so with the extremes of my species. For instance, I have no idea what Stalin and his ilk might be thinking when he commits genocide; whereas I find it quite easy to empathise with my dog's disappointment when I show up displaying all the triggers that would suggest a walk is in the offing but doesn't happen.

Can you put yourself in the shoes of Stalin (do you imagine you understand his motives)?

Seems equally ridiculous.

Are you suggesting the snowflakes conspire to cause an avalanche?

That's like saying a stone must know how to be a mountain.

Seems to me, that they can't be answered: "through the notion of intelligence".

Why?

Why would you imagine a chaffinch has no cage, don't you?

Tell that to a chaffinch.

I don't think any creature could possibly be aware of the scale of the universe, certainly not on the conscious level; it's the best guess, which links back to iNow's Ted talk.

The poor exists in every society, what are YOU going to do about it? Don't ask what can society do for me. https://www.youtube.com/user/TEDtalksDirector

X = Who knows, the race to the moon was born of competition, so you can safely place it at some point in the future. Y = again, who knows, so again it's up to you're imagination. Z = Who cares? Radiation as we know it, is not capable of doing what you require from that distance (if we're safe from the suns radiation), but a virus might be, if it could be transmitted from the moon to Earth. Sci-fi doesn't require facts to be plausible, it requires, like all fiction, a reasonable narrative...

I'm not sure that's even possible, but it does depend on the definition; are we talking self awareness?