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Philosophy

<p>Philosophy</p>

Video: How Big Is The Universe?

Short answer: no one knows, and scientists probably know the least of all. If the age is being calculated using most Big Bang theories, it’s probably wrong. Assuming Alfvén was being truthful of what Lemaître’s said (the 3:00 mark), establishing a timeline of creation using Aquinas would be starting down the wrong path. The grammar Video: How Big Is The Universe?

Betting on Consciousness

Interesting. “Decades-long bet on consciousness ends — and it’s philosopher 1, neuroscientist 0“: The findings from one of the experiments — which involved several researchers, including Koch and Chalmers — were revealed on Friday at the ASSC meeting. It tested two of the leading hypotheses: integrated information theory (IIT) and global network workspace theory (GNWT). Betting on Consciousness

Free Speech Doesn’t Exist, Again

In light of what’s been going on with Twitter and Elon Musk recently, and the endless and exhausting go-nowhere discussions about free speech…from “Free Speech: Neither Real, Nor Your Right” (via Vox Day’s “Free Speech is Anti-Christ“): Free speech is a myth. The keepers of America’s “golden legend” of free speech have been either dishonest Free Speech Doesn’t Exist, Again

Catacomb Resident: The American Lie

Anything based on Enlightenment principles, including “human rights,” isn’t courting disaster, it’s slapping the start button on a judgement time bomb. If we want to get to the fundamentals of it, human rights are products of men’s minds, implicit agreements to use force a certain way. The bigger the parties involved, the more complex and Catacomb Resident: The American Lie

What A Woman Is

Most of us can intuitively answer the question on what a woman is, based on a bundle of personal past experiences. Yet, some people are lead to believe one needs to be a biologist to really determine what a woman is, or what have you. If you’re confused by that situation, you are probably normal, What A Woman Is

Catacomb Resident: Futile Philosophy 3

The subject of the pre-modern view of the supernatural coincides nicely with the most recent post over at History for Atheists, Jesus Mythicism 8: Jesus, History and Miracles. Humean skepticism and falsifiability is so ingrained in how we think that it’s near impossible for even reasonably intelligent people to even conceive that others in the Catacomb Resident: Futile Philosophy 3

Catacomb Resident: Futile Philosophy 2

What Catacomb Resident is explaining here is similar to Alvin Plantinga’s sensus divinatus, the faculty that senses and processes ideas about metaphysical things as a form of a priori knowledge, just as philosophically legitimate as the physical senses or logic. Our sensus divinatus is damaged by default because of the Fall, since we are tied Catacomb Resident: Futile Philosophy 2

I’m Not Saying It’s Aliens

…because it’s probably not aliens that are involved at all with this—it’s all large-scale electromagnetic stuff. I am not for or opposed either way to aliens being at least covertly mucking around; my beliefs aren’t based on what I can perceive and understand. Aliens would be a good story to come across in reality, but I’m Not Saying It’s Aliens

In-Meh-lligent Design

I never quite liked intelligent design theory completely. It has interesting points but it rationalized things in a vacuum, as we have no other universe to compare statistical notes, or, if we’re feeling actually scientific: no other universe with which we can experiment, observe, conclude, duplicate the results. The theory also implies that God is In-Meh-lligent Design

G.K. Chesterton on Health Experts

Prescience, from Eugenics and Other Evils. Granted, his time, there was no national health experts the way we have them now. They were more local, within striking distance. The scope was smaller but the observations remain the same. It was best presented perhaps by the distinguished doctor who wrote the article on these matters in G.K. Chesterton on Health Experts

God and Ontology

A part of one of Ed’s recent blog posts, and then one of his comments: Don’t be a sucker for the philosophical arguments to support any part of this conflict. Obey what your convictions demand within the context; don’t listen to any other voice. Christ is a Person, not a body of ideas. He lives God and Ontology

“You know it’s true.”

An email to Jill, re: the “you know it’s true” statements when (trying to) discuss disagreeable topics. tl;dr version: it’s not an argument but an actual claim to knowledge that could be legitimate, depending on how well one person knows another. A simple reminder that clams to knowledge can be legitimate through means other than “You know it’s true.”

Monoculture and Diversity

Ed has a great post (mirrored on archive.org) on modern Western diversity schema, which reminded me of what I was trying to say here, but from a different perspective and vocabulary. I left a comment there, the bulk of which is copied below (added numbers for clarity*): 1. The world is diverse (given, self-evident) 2. Monoculture and Diversity

Project 2501’s Speech

This scene still gives me the chills—the English version more so than the Japanese, because of the actor’s (Tom Wyner) performance in voicing the damaged android. Generally, the subtitled versions are better because they are more accurate to the original Japanese, and they often are better performers. Sometimes, as in this case, the English actor Project 2501’s Speech

Dickens on Philosophers

From Chapter 2 of Oliver Twist: The members of this board were very sage, deep, philosophical men; and when they came to turn their attention to the workhouse, they found out at once, what ordinary folks would never have discovered—the poor people liked it! It was a regular place of public entertainment for the poorer Dickens on Philosophers

Ghost in the Shell (2017) Review

tl;dr – a very good retelling of the original Possible spoilers below. See my previous posts here and here about the film. Thoughts, in no particular order: 1- Visually and aesthetically impeccable. Director Rupert Sanders did an excellent job of portraying a society figuring out its relationship with acute, mechanical, physical augmentation. He skirts the Ghost in the Shell (2017) Review

The Epistemology of Orientation in Space

There’s this video, and then there’s comments I’ve read all over that go something like this: 1) “So weird to see the Death Star upside down,” or something equally as innocent and merely observational. And someone replies with: 2) “you idiot theres no upside down in space its all relative you probably like the prequels The Epistemology of Orientation in Space

Believe Whatever You Want

One of the longest running gags in my mind staples of what I write here is that human reason is incapable of understanding a lot of what it’s purported to understand. This is exemplified best when we believe we’re being “reasonable” or “rational” concerning large, distant, complex events, involving lots of actors…basically anything seen or Believe Whatever You Want

Official Ghost in the Shell Trailer

I have to admit, it doesn’t look bad at all; they’ve mirrored some iconic scenes from the original. My only qualm is how it seems director Rupert Sanders is treating Motoko’s identity crises, and it’s important because that was the theme of the original film. How can we know ourselves? What separates us from, and Official Ghost in the Shell Trailer

You Don’t Believe in the First Place

Interesting conversation between Scott Adams and Stefan, in the early minutes before they get into the politics. I like Adams, but he’s inaccurate in the self-assessment of his childhood religious beliefs, which he describes at around the 1:20 mark. He didn’t necessarily decide to not believe. He didn’t believe in the first place because he You Don’t Believe in the First Place

The Epistemology of Belief, Revised

My entry for Ed’s Radix Fidem project has been revised (see original here). I added a concluding paragraph, and Ed had his hand in some editing. The last paragraph was a doozy for me, though you can’t really tell—it’s not Shakespeare nor St. Paul. I mulled it over, off and on, for almost a month. The Epistemology of Belief, Revised

There Is No Hippo

Azure Ides-Grey posted a video about the hippopotamus dilemma. I commented: A philosophy professor of mine came up with a similar dilemma. His solution, which I liked, was to demonstrate that 100% of the room’s capacity was taken up with non-hippopotamus objects: in this video’s case, it would be mostly air, with some books, shelves, There Is No Hippo

Addendum to Epistemology Post

There were a few extra things I had written for Ed’s Radix Fidem project that I edited out because it seemed to veer a little too much off course. It was regarding the ineffectiveness of the two logics when used outside of their scope. Have you ever seen network systems diagram, or mobile application workflow, Addendum to Epistemology Post

Analogies Are Not Arguments

As always, I don’t bother much with the political aspect (although at times it’s entertaining), but Scott Adams has some interesting “duh” insight in “Let’s Talk About Hitler”: As I have explained in this blog before, analogies are not part of reason. Sometimes things just remind you of other things. That’s the beginning and end Analogies Are Not Arguments

God and Evidence

I made a drive-by comment on a recent Stefan Molyneux video, which caused an avalanche of responses, most of which I didn’t read. I did make one more comment that clarified/reworded the original. I don’t know if it helped. It probably didn’t. In reading the video’s description, the philosophical assumptions are apparent: Question: “I consider God and Evidence

God’s Nose Wiggles

If you didn’t hear, scientists discovered some unusual gravitational waves emanating from two black holes. It’s a big deal since it strongly bolsters Einstein’s space-time theories. Mike Duran quoted astrophysicist Hugh Ross on Facebook: “The existence of gravity waves is an important prediction of Einstein’s theory of general relativity. Einstein’s theory of general relativity is God’s Nose Wiggles

Three Apologetics Videos

Please excuse the lack of substantive posts lately. I’ve been busy doing clean up work in the aftermath of Pale Blue Scratch’s release. Things will be back to normal soon…whatever that means. My friend Ben Smith did a series of talks/lectures on philosophy and basic apologetics. I haven’t listened these all the way through, but Three Apologetics Videos

Math Is Not Science

At least, I don’t think it is. From the clickbaity “According To Science, This Is The Perfect And Best Road Trip You Can Possibly Take.” WITH THE HELP OF A SOPHISTICATED ALGORITHM, THIS ROAD TRIP ALLOWS YOU TO START IN ANY STATE. JUST HOP ON AT THE POINT THAT RUNS THROUGH YOUR STATE AND KEEP Math Is Not Science

Orson Scott Card’s Myth-Language

The quote below is from Children of the Mind (free pdf here), the last book in the The Ender Quartet series, Chapter 7, page 101. This is part of a chapter of the book that stuck with me, since it describes a material and technological phenomenon in mythical language. “Myth” has been transformed into a Orson Scott Card’s Myth-Language

The Diversity Issue

After a some comments I made on one of Mike Duran’s post, “Does Christian Fiction Have a Race Problem?”, I was set to write a lot of about the politicized nature of the modern diversity concept. Stefan Molyneux beat me and saved me some writing time, so I’d advise you to watch the video below. The Diversity Issue

What You Really Love

The comments on my last post reminded me of how much scientific “stuff” we really don’t know, epistemologically, so this is just a quick reminder. Since we don’t do experiments ourselves and only learn about them after they’ve gone through many hands and eyes, and through a massive popularization filter (looking at you, I Fucking What You Really Love

Mad Max(imally)

From a letter to William Lane Craig, Craig’s response (bold mine): Your envisioned scenario is quite similar to the objection of the late philosopher J. Howard Sobel. Sobel invites us to conceive of something which, if it is possible, is a dragon in whichever world is the actual world. This is just like your “phoenix Mad Max(imally)

The Euthyphro Dumb-lemma

See here and here for reference. 1. Inference (2): “If (i) morally good acts are willed by God because they are morally good, then they are morally good independent of God’s will.” – Possibly true, but irrelevant, since there’s other things besides God’s will that morality could rest upon: i.e., God’s power or omniscience. 2. The Euthyphro Dumb-lemma

Evidence is Not Enough

Carl Sagan, as usual when it came to epistemology, was wrong. “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence” is applicable when speaking of empirical, falsifiable claims. Fine when you’re dealing with the hard sciences, or if for some reason you’re a positivist (impossible to be one, so we won’t go there today), but achieving a functional navigation Evidence is Not Enough

Doubleplusungood Thoughts on Slavery

Growing up with Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom as a favorite movie, I got the impression that slavery was all about capturing young able-bodied children for mine work. Roots sat on the head-end of my timeline but if I saw that I’d have additional prejudices about slavery. Most of us who have grown Doubleplusungood Thoughts on Slavery

The Epistemology of Road Signs

There are about four stop signs near my house on the way to the bus stop that I generally ignore. Two of them literally have no consequence if one is obedient to them or not. I guess I should explain that I’m riding my bike when I fly through these, but some people have a The Epistemology of Road Signs

Being Necessary to Create God

I’ve mentioned it before on here plenty of times, but I note the not-very-groundbreaking, Voltairean idea that a disbelief in God will necessary a man to find divine attributes in the physical or abstract—not metaphysical—universe (as such, Volataire’s quote is more accurate if we put “find” instead of “it would be necessary to invent him.”). Being Necessary to Create God

How to Stay Sane

It bears repeating: God doesn’t owe you a damn thing. That He doesn’t owe you anything doesn’t mean He doesn’t offer anything. It’s self-evident in many ways that, if you are reading this, there are some things He’s already given to you, and continues to give. There’s a reflection of this duality in the two How to Stay Sane

Physical Limits

This article raises some interesting questions. How far should a scientific discipline go in its theories of “the possible?” before it stops being a science? For all it’s been romanticized, no one mentions the study of science can be an exhausting rat race with professional jealousies and money grabs. I’m willing to believe that half Physical Limits

The Occident Is Doomed

Back in my day, I had an outspoken atheist professor who said at the start of every semester that if we didn’t like something in his class: “Tough shit. Suck it up or leave.” I didn’t care because he was funny and was good at learnin’ me logic and philosophy, and I actually got to The Occident Is Doomed

Is There an Ether or Isn’t There?

I posted these questions on Facebook and didn’t receive much response, though I should’ve known that site isn’t the greatest medium (*rimshot*) to field science questions that aren’t in meme format. I came across the article linked below while doing book research, and it’s actually an excerpt from a book called Transcending The Speed Of Is There an Ether or Isn’t There?

There’s No Arguing With Disembodied Concepts Labeled “Science”

Taking a quick break from Retardo Montalbán to mention this. Science-lite articles using “science says” verbiage are bothersome reification fallacies, since science doesn’t “say” anything; people do. On the other hand there’s a different kind of fallacious appeal smuggled through, since using “science says” doesn’t exactly invite criticism of whatever “it,” as an object, says. There’s No Arguing With Disembodied Concepts Labeled “Science”

Salvaging Some Knowledge

Good thoughts from Ed’s latest post: One of the biggest problems I run into is this knee-jerk reaction that our cultural substrate is the human default. It seems nobody wants to understand that what we have today is an anomaly, an intellectual tradition more radically different from all others than any of the rest are Salvaging Some Knowledge

The Paradox of Obedience

Jill’s post about the simpy interpretation of this survey of the hierarchy of values among religious people gave me agita—not anything Jill said but the fact that a self-styled smartypants can’t process the inapplication of the simplicity of surveys*. This is a roundabout way of saying people and their belief systems are too complex for The Paradox of Obedience

Addendum To “Correct Religion” Post

See here for the original post. To clear up any confusion, it’s important to make the distinction between gnostic and agnostic atheism. Gnostic atheists—the specific ones I addressed in the post—specifically claim knowledge of God’s non-existence. I take “knowledge” in the vaguely epistemic sense. Agnostic atheists claim a non-belief in deities but are open to Addendum To “Correct Religion” Post

Invasion of the Moral Busybodies

I don’t know much about Cody but I found him engaging, though I didn’t listen to any of the other parts of his presentation yet. Take note of the social contract as the “big other” theory he brings up. It’s a tool of what C.S. Lewis called “moral busybodies“—bureaucrats, activists, and other state-as-religion believers use Invasion of the Moral Busybodies

Give and Take

Theatrical wordplay rides the sweep of socialized assumptions but it eventually crashes. I disagree with you not because what you propose is unfashionable (it’s actually very fashionable) or not an ideal (it’s very idyllic), but because it’s a certain non-possibility—not in the theoretical realm, not through a “given set of circumstances,” but literally, existentially, by Give and Take

What Should Debates Be?

Not tied by necessity to my previous posts on the Hambone vs. Nye-larhotep debate, but wouldn’t a debate be more productive if it placed a burden of proof on one side and not on both sides? I don’t know if the Nye/Ham debate was presented in this context and I don’t know anything about proper What Should Debates Be?

Addendum To Evolution Debate Post

See previous Nye/Ham post. Thinking on evolution different belief systems, I recall deciding (very tentatively) on “biblical evolution,” which is the theory of the existence of old earth and both micro- and macroevolution, but that humans were in some form (rimshot) directly created by God. In other words, it’s God-guided evolution, or standard-issue evolution with Addendum To Evolution Debate Post

Bill Nye and Ken Ham Debate About Weird Organisms That Died A Long Time Ago

The Bill Nye vs. Ken Ham debate that happened was followed by a lot of build up and release by the likes of Time and NPR. I didn’t watch because science—evolution particularly—doesn’t interest me that much, and because Bill Nye isn’t an expert in evolutionary biology, while Ham has some credentials as a bachelor degree Bill Nye and Ken Ham Debate About Weird Organisms That Died A Long Time Ago