241

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: July 23, 2019, 03:08:38 PM »

Ah but if you ignore Trump it only makes him want attention more and he will do things that can't be ignored to do it.  Like nuke another country.

Well, that is a scary possibility with someone as unpredictable as a pathological egomaniac.....

Also, what would this thread be without discussing Trump's ego, right?

242

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: July 23, 2019, 02:28:48 PM »

Let's talk about Trump's personality for a minute... something that we can actually substantiate through observation and statistics.

First off, look at us all spinning our heads debating Trump's alleged crimes, false statements, outlandish and often disgusting behaviour..... We all know Trump is narcissistic, and spouts crap off the top of his head. He does a great job of distracting us from actual issues. But is this all intentional? Perhaps..... but maybe it is just a symptom of a larger problem. Politics, egomania, and narcissistic personality disorder.

There are several qualities that one must express to be clinical diagnosed with egomania according to psychologytoday (https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/in-excess/201404/long-self-life).

Meeting at least 5 of these qualities is enough to be considered an egomaniac which is also characterized by narcissistic personality disorder. Allow me to detail a few of these qualities:

1. A grandiose sense of self-importance

2. Preoccupation with success and power

3. Need for excessive admiration

4. Exploitative

5. A belief of being unique

Trump clearly meets these qualities, and then some. In fact, Trump boldly flaunts these qualities, indicating he has some form of extreme egomania. It is not uncommon for politicians to be egomaniacs (some think it is a requirement), but it is my opinion that trump has one of the most extreme cases of egomania in our history.

Couldn't this explain why trump lies about such simple facts as the weather? Trump is so preoccupied with himself that not even the weather will stand above him.

Couldn't this explain why Trump's base is what it is? People who will call him "Supreme illustrious leader", for instance - fueling Trump's ego.

Here we are arguing about Trump's supposed sexual assaults, racism, bigotry, etc, etc.... when all we are doing is subscribing to his ego. We should stop bickering about all the bullshit spewing from Trump's orifices and focus on real issues at hand. I think many American's don't even know what those issues are because we are just as preoccupied with Trump's ego as Trump is!

If you shake a stick at a dog, it will bite the stick.

Trump is an egomaniac and a pathological liar - the sooner we can all get over it, the sooner Trump will get over it as well.

243

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: July 18, 2019, 08:50:21 PM »

1 main point of all 4 women:
1) AOC - socialist whack job who auditioned for the part...

Social security is socialist.  Public schools are socialist.  Ya know, fyi.

To be fair, none of those things or people are inherently socialist. Don't fall for the trap from republican brainlets who think socialism is the government doing stuff. If it doesn't involve advocating for the workers to control the means of production, it plainly is not socialism.

I disagree.  Controlling the means of production is communism, which is a form of socialism but not socialism as a whole.  To me socialism is the government providing a service for the benefit of society as a whole.

Just pulling this right off the first google hit, so take it with a grain of salt:

so·cial·ism

noun: socialism

    a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.


If you go by this definition, socialism is not necessary government controlled, but rather communally controlled. Community can be government as well as non-government. But I think in order to truly understand socialism, some more research is in order....

244

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Is God possible?

« on: July 18, 2019, 07:13:32 PM »

Romans 01:21 .. for even though they knew God .. they did not honor him as God or give thanks ..
but they became futile in their speculations .. and their foolish heart was darkened
01:22 .. professing to be wise .. they became fools
01:23 .. and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals
and crawling creatures ....... [ aliens ?? ]
01:24 .. therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity .. so that their bodies would be dishonored among them
01:25 .. for they exchanged the truth of God for a lie .. and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator .. who is blessed forever . . . amen
-----------------
attributing deity to anything and everything BUT the one who is worthy - the one and only God of all creation

 2 Corinthians 13:5 English Standard Version (ESV)

5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!


Is it wrong to question God's existence? I think God encourages it.

245

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: July 18, 2019, 03:47:42 PM »

IMO the 'congresswoman' who married her brother should genuinely be deported back to Somalia.

What is your proof of that?
I had a look and found people have made that allegation - just like people (Trump being one of them) made allegations about Obama being born in Kenya.
Anyone can make an allegation, where is your proof?

Proof aside, different cultures can and do have different lineage practices. Patrilineal vs. matrilineal for instance. The differences in lineage define who is acceptable to marry and who isn't. Not that I would condone it personally, but in many cultures it is acceptable to marry your first cousin. I can't think of any cultures off-hand (aside from maybe the royal family historically?) who practice marrying their siblings, but I'm sure it exists.

246

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Who created god?

« on: July 18, 2019, 03:14:15 PM »

The problem with this analogy is that this 4th dimension isn’t a spatial dimension and is perceived differently. It might mostly be a moot point.

I also think memory is a terrible proof that time exists since humans are notoriously good at constructing memories from nothing.

The 4th dimension isn't spacial when you exist within the 3rd dimension. Just like a square isn't spacial to a line, and line isn't spacial to a dot, yet we (being in 3rd dimension) know that these objects ARE spacial. The lesser dimension knows nothing about the spacial qualities of the greater dimension. So, are you SURE that the 4th dimension isn't spacial? If so, how can you be sure?

Sorry for the curt reply, but it is not spatial because that is how it is defined. If it were spatial, we would no longer be talking about the same thing.

Hmmm... I don't follow... just because we have defined the 4th dimension as time does not prove or disprove that it isn't also spacial. My whole point is that we perceive it as time because we have no other way to describe it - just like a dot has no other way to describe a line other than iterating itself through time. Just as we do in our 3rd dimension.

Edit: I think I added a bit in my previous post as an edit that you might not have read that helps further explain how time interacts with dimensions....

247

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Who created god?

« on: July 18, 2019, 02:59:26 PM »

The problem with this analogy is that this 4th dimension isn’t a spatial dimension and is perceived differently. It might mostly be a moot point.

I also think memory is a terrible proof that time exists since humans are notoriously good at constructing memories from nothing.

The 4th dimension isn't spacial when you exist within the 3rd dimension. Just like a square isn't spacial to a line, and line isn't spacial to a dot, yet we (being in 3rd dimension) know that these objects ARE spacial. The lesser dimension knows nothing about the spacial qualities of the greater dimension. So, are you SURE that the 4th dimension isn't spacial? If so, how can you be sure?

Edit: Another way to look at it might be to take a dot, and iterate it (over time) to a point in the future. That dot has now traversed a line. Take a line and iterate it (over time) to a point in the future, and that line has now traversed a square, and so on...... each dimension when factoring in time, begins to perceive the higher dimension.

Regarding memory as proof of time, I agree, memory is only proof that we can hallucinate.

248

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: July 18, 2019, 01:51:42 PM »

Why don't you care that he's literally on tape admitting sexual assault? There are a bunch of allegations but other women but forget that, he's literally on tape admitting he assaults women.

He's not on tape admitting sexual assault. No matter how many times people such as yourself repeat the same lie over and over again, it will not become true.

Actually, I have heard said tape recording of Trump admitting to grabbing a woman by the "pussy". I know we have our disagreements, but I'm sure even you can admin that grabbing a woman by their genitals is sexual assault.

Edit: After reading the exact quote that AATW posted below, I will correct myself.... Trump technically didn't admit to grabbing women by their genitals. He DID admit to kissing them (which is still sexual assault), and he insinuates that grabbing their genitals is 'OK'. He also implies that he has done this himself.

Trump is simply speaking out loud what every sane person in the US feels at the moment.

MLK, Jr. would disown every single one these supposed Democrats.

Seriously? "Every sane person" feels the way trump speaks? This is a testament to just how divided this country is. You have anti-trumpers calling the other side idiots, and you have idiots, I mean pro-trumpers, calling the other side insane.

249

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Who created god?

« on: July 18, 2019, 01:19:48 PM »

However, from a 4-dimensional perspective, there is no time and no beginning or end. Everything is seen all at once: past, present, and future are known all at once. So where is free will? How can you change the future if it is already in the picture?

I never understand this argument.
I've said this before but if I offer you the choice of two activities, one you hate doing and one you really enjoy, you're going to choose the one you enjoy.
If I know your preferences well enough I might know what you're going to choose, but I'm still giving you the same choice.
The only difference is my knowledge, nothing else about your experience of the choice changes. You are free to choose whichever you wish.

Let's say you're watching a sports event live on TV and I am watching it on an internet stream which is delayed from the TV broadcast by a minute.
You know ahead of me what is going to happen but unless you tell me my experience of watching the event is exactly the same as yours.
Your foreknowledge of what I'm about to see in no way changes what I see or how I react to it.

The argument, although fun to think about, is flawed in the sense that there is no way to prove any of it. Does the 4th dimension exist? I think it does, but that is my personal belief.

Here is a thought exercise:

Let's say you have two choices, pizza or spaghetti.

At this particular cross-road, you have a decision to make - "what will I eat?"

Suppose I choose pizza (because who wouldn't?!), and now I have gone down the pizza road. The choice was made, however, since I can never go back in time to re-evaluate that choice (at that time), did I really have a choice? Was eating spaghetti (at that junction) ever REALLY a choice? How can you say it was a choice? Regardless how many 'branches' there are on the road, you can ultimately only go down one road. So, philosophically, you will never know if you ACTUALLY had the choice, or if the choice had you.

That is another way to look at it.....

Suppose it is not us who makes the choice, but rather the choice that makes us? Maybe each pathway chooses us, rather than we choosing the pathway? Again, how can you prove or disprove such a thing?

The 4th dimension is time.  Time exists.  We know because we have memory.

And while I see the philosophical view, well... You still have a choice.  It may be predictable but its still a choice.

Correct, time does exist, but it exists to us differently than it would if you were actually in 4th dimension.

Allow me to explain:

Let's say you have a single dot in a fixed plane. This is the 0-dimension. How does a 0-dimensional object describe a 1-dimentional object? In other words, how does a dot describe a line?... As a series of dots.

Now, how does a line describe a square? As a series of lines. How does a square describe a cube? As a series of squares. I think you get the point..... In each case, you have a less descriptive object trying to describe a more descriptive object using its own narrow perspective. Now what about other 3-dimensional objects such as ourselves? How do we describe the 4th dimension? As a series of 3-dimensional objects. We call this time. But just as a 3-dimensional object sees other 3-dimensional objects as 3 dimensions, wouldn't 4th dimensional objects see themselves as 4th dimensional objects, and NOT as time? Imagine what we would look like if we could see ourselves in 4th dimension..... that would just be weird.  So what is 'time' to a 4th dimensional object? Time is nothing more than a way to describe a dimension that is outside of your perspective.

250

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: July 17, 2019, 04:08:29 PM »

I was discussing with a friend earlier whether Trump is actually stupid or just pretending to be.
We were talking about Trump and Boris Johnson.
The way I see it, Boris's bumbling buffoon is a thin veneer beneath which lies a very cunning and intelligent person.
Trump is just a proper idiot. He knows how to whip up a crowd and he says things which superficially appeal to a certain demographic but I don't think it's an act.
I don't think he's shrewd, he's just a boarish oaf.

I've pondered along those lines a time or two.....

This is a double-edged sword. I would like to think Trump is literally just an idiot, and not pretending to be, but then roughly half of the US are also idiots because they voted for him. If Trump is pretending to be an idiot, that would hint at a larger conspiracy for which Trump is nothing more than a smoke screen to capture the American media along with the majority of American's influenced by media. That is a scary thought.... what is REALLY going on behind the curtain if our government has engineered this chaos?

251

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Who created god?

« on: July 17, 2019, 03:52:50 PM »

However, from a 4-dimensional perspective, there is no time and no beginning or end. Everything is seen all at once: past, present, and future are known all at once. So where is free will? How can you change the future if it is already in the picture?

I never understand this argument.
I've said this before but if I offer you the choice of two activities, one you hate doing and one you really enjoy, you're going to choose the one you enjoy.
If I know your preferences well enough I might know what you're going to choose, but I'm still giving you the same choice.
The only difference is my knowledge, nothing else about your experience of the choice changes. You are free to choose whichever you wish.

Let's say you're watching a sports event live on TV and I am watching it on an internet stream which is delayed from the TV broadcast by a minute.
You know ahead of me what is going to happen but unless you tell me my experience of watching the event is exactly the same as yours.
Your foreknowledge of what I'm about to see in no way changes what I see or how I react to it.

The argument, although fun to think about, is flawed in the sense that there is no way to prove any of it. Does the 4th dimension exist? I think it does, but that is my personal belief.

Here is a thought exercise:

Let's say you have two choices, pizza or spaghetti.

At this particular cross-road, you have a decision to make - "what will I eat?"

Suppose I choose pizza (because who wouldn't?!), and now I have gone down the pizza road. The choice was made, however, since I can never go back in time to re-evaluate that choice (at that time), did I really have a choice? Was eating spaghetti (at that junction) ever REALLY a choice? How can you say it was a choice? Regardless how many 'branches' there are on the road, you can ultimately only go down one road. So, philosophically, you will never know if you ACTUALLY had the choice, or if the choice had you.

That is another way to look at it.....

Suppose it is not us who makes the choice, but rather the choice that makes us? Maybe each pathway chooses us, rather than we choosing the pathway? Again, how can you prove or disprove such a thing?

252

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Who created god?

« on: July 13, 2019, 04:17:32 PM »

Been a while since I read this thread. Good to see its still in progress!

I agree with QED that our brains are capable of making a decision before we consciously realize we have a decision to make. If you disagree with this notion, I suggest you read Daniel dennetts "consciousness explained".... The brain is not a serial processor, however our consciousness is.

Take the experience of "Deja vu". Youve experienced something that seems so familiar, it's like it already happened to you, you just can't remember when.... What is happening in the brain here?

It's actually rather simple: your brain has stored information in long term memory before your conscious brain has processed it - this is parallel processing. Thus, when you become conscious of said thing, you quickly compare the experience to the stored information in your brain and since our consciousness is serial, you assume you have already experienced it.

Regarding snoopys comment about God making himself known and then everyone would believe.... That is false as the old testiment shows us. God was all powerful and directly influential in the old testiment yet God did not have everyone believing in him. That is why God ultimately recended from physical interaction and sent his son to save our pathetic selves.

Regarding free will. This is a concept that comes from 3-dimensional perspective. We always move forward in time and we perceive that we can somehow influence this forward motion. However, from a 4-dimensional perspective, there is no time and no beginning or end. Everything is seen all at once: past, present, and future are known all at once. So where is free will? How can you change the future if it is already in the picture?

253

Flat Earth Theory / Re: We need to explore the edge!

« on: February 26, 2019, 05:01:30 PM »

Part of the problem is the idea  that science is some kind of large entity that is capable of intentionally tricking the public, but actually the scientific community is made up of a huge percentage of the worlds population of the general public. All the research is carried out by a lot of normal people who also peer-review each others work. Science isn't accepted on faith, it's accepted after review. Then the non-scientific people take on faith what the scientific consensus is, because the consensus is agreed by the professionals in that subject.

Trump is a bad example because he's not a scientist and he only knows money and business. He's otherwise not exactly smart either.

I see what you're saying, which is why my 'faith-based' argument is a hard stance to take, however let's look at this way:

Science can never actually 'prove' anything. It is sort of like in the U.S. you are innocent until proven guilty (supposedly). In science, a theory is only a theory until it is proven wrong. You do not 'prove' facts, you 'disprove' theories of fact. If you want to prove something exists, you do it by proving that it cannot not exist.

254

Flat Earth Theory / Re: We need to explore the edge!

« on: February 26, 2019, 02:31:12 PM »

I am trying to convince my prayer group that god created the earth to be flat

Good luck with that one. Why would God create the Earth to be flat..  and since the concept of God is ultimately a human creation I would put it to you that you are simply using the God concept as a means to justify your own belief in a flat Earth.

Does it matter why someone chooses to believe the earth is flat? Let's leave our presumptions behind for a moment.

To believe the earth is flat takes a leap of faith just as it does to believe in god, but that is where the two concepts diverge as far as I'm concerned.

If you go down the rabbit hole of trying to prove the earth is flat, you will ultimately end up with more unanswered questions than answered ones.

However, when you try to understand/prove how the earth is flat, you might end up understanding just how hard it is to prove the earth is round . This is why I am fascinated with FE theory - it challenges the status quo and everything you have been blindly taught your whole life.

Time to use that thinking cap!

The thing is that science is not a matter of belief, because of how the scientific method works. The conclusions we draw will always be based on the perception that we have of the universe. When one scientific theory is changed by another, it is because our perception of the universe has changed, either because we have discovered new technologies or because there was a possibility that was not taken into account in the original theory.
This is not the case of FE model, since as we know, this is how it was thought to be the land, until it was proven otherwise.

I would argue that science IS a matter of belief. For instance, take the president of the United States. Regardless how much scientific evidence there is of global warming caused by humans, he chooses to believe that it is a hoax.

Also, take the case of the atom. Science has proven that atoms and molecules exist, but beyond that, it takes a great deal of faith to actually believe in particles and sub particles that make up atoms. Afterall, we cannot (science cannot) actually prove their existence. Science can (reasonably) prove the cause and effect of sub-atomic particles, but we don't actually know much about them. And, what about sub-sub atomic particles? Surely there are particles that make up the sub-particles.... what are those? Do you believe they exist?

If science tells you that the earth is 24,901 miles in circumference, you can take that on faith because nobody is disputing that (except for FET). However, since you have not actually measured (and I can make that assumption on faith) the circumference of the earth, you must take it on faith to be true. Simply put, if you have not empirically observed something, you are taking it on faith that someone else has. Further down the rabbit hole, you can also ask whether or not your empirical observations are true - for you must take it on faith that your senses are receiving data correctly, and you must take it on faith that your brain is interpreting your senses correctly.

255

Flat Earth Theory / Re: We need to explore the edge!

« on: February 22, 2019, 04:30:17 PM »

I am trying to convince my prayer group that god created the earth to be flat

Good luck with that one. Why would God create the Earth to be flat..  and since the concept of God is ultimately a human creation I would put it to you that you are simply using the God concept as a means to justify your own belief in a flat Earth.

Does it matter why someone chooses to believe the earth is flat? Let's leave our presumptions behind for a moment.

To believe the earth is flat takes a leap of faith just as it does to believe in god, but that is where the two concepts diverge as far as I'm concerned.

If you go down the rabbit hole of trying to prove the earth is flat, you will ultimately end up with more unanswered questions than answered ones.

However, when you try to understand/prove how the earth is flat, you might end up understanding just how hard it is to prove the earth is round . This is why I am fascinated with FE theory - it challenges the status quo and everything you have been blindly taught your whole life.

Time to use that thinking cap!

256

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: December 22, 2018, 04:19:38 PM »

Syria rreminds me of Vietnam.  Except Trump loves Russia.

Afghanistan is closer to a Vietnam style war. The Soviets learned Afghanistan was a waste of time decades ago, it seems that America has still refused to read history books on the subject. We're still there in Afghanistan, fighting a fight we can literally never win, wasting resources and lives on the entire endeavor.

When America fights pointless "wars", I always ask the question: what resources does this country have that America wants?

257

Science & Alternative Science / Re: Chemtrails

« on: December 21, 2018, 03:00:05 AM »

Abstract

Aluminium is neurotoxic. Its free ion, Al3+ (aq), is highly biologically reactive and uniquely equipped to do damage to essential cellular (neuronal) biochemistry. This unequivocal fact must be the starting point in examining the risk posed by aluminium as a neurotoxin in humans. Aluminium is present in the human brain and it accumulates with age. The most recent research demonstrates that a significant proportion of individuals older than 70 years of age have a potentially pathological accumulation of aluminium somewhere in their brain. What are the symptoms of chronic aluminium intoxication in humans? What if neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease are the manifestation of the risk of aluminium as a neurotoxin? How might such an (outrageous) hypothesis be tested?

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1586/14737175.2014.915745

===========
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has just put out a grim report about Alzheimer’s disease in the United States.

Death rates from Alzheimer’s climbed 55 percent from 1999 to 2014, CDC found, and the number of Americans afflicted is likely to rise rapidly in the coming years. About 5.5 million people 65 years and older have the disease — a wretched and fatal form of dementia that erases memories and ultimately can destroy mental and physical capacity. By 2050, that’s expected to more than double to 13.8 million people.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2017/05/26/u-s-death-rate-for-alzheimers-rose-dramatically-over-15-years-why/?utm_term=.c6873818d181
===========

Don't be alarmed, it's nothing, the Devil is not spraying you.

Now go look up what your chances of having a child with major disabilities is today? That will shock the shit out of you.

Don't forget about all the chemicals that leach into our water supply from pesticides, herbicides, and the food supply that is pumped full of hormones and antibiotics. There are many plausible causes of severe disease in our current society. Radiation....

I recently read an interesting article about Alzheimers where a primitive culture was found to be nearly immune to old age mental disease even though they still had the ApoE gene (which is found to be directly linked to alzheimers), and what they found is that an individual in this society was highly likely to have some sort of parasite in their brain. The presence of the ApoE gene caused the brain to attack the parasites and the affected neurons in order to prevent illness and ultimately protect the brain. In modern societies, we live in our little sanitary boxes, so we don't have parasites; however we still have the ApoE gene. It was hypothesized that it isn't the plaque and tangled "threads" that causes alzheimers. In fact many people who have plaque present in the brain do not have alzheimers. What causes alzheimers is the brain attacking itself due to the defense response that has evolved in us (ApoE gene) to protect our brains from parasites.

258

Science & Alternative Science / Re: Chemtrails

« on: December 21, 2018, 02:16:06 AM »

https://patents.google.com/patent/US5003186

They are a figment of Hughes Aircraft Co and Raytheon Co's imagination

This is a proposal, but it is only a proposal. There have been several proposed strategies for stopping and/or reversing global warming; that doesn't mean they are good proposals, nor does it mean they will be enacted.

259

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Who created god?

« on: December 21, 2018, 01:57:23 AM »

Sounds like an amazing experience. I have had the feeling of time falling away and perceiving the totality of reality. It’s a profound experience.

Do you think it is a coincidence that when our consciousness is thwarted, or removed entirely, that we generally experience a 'connectedness' with the universe? I don't think it is a coincidence at all. I think we are actually connected to the universe in the way we perceive it during those moments of hypnotic or psychedelic trance. We are just incapable of experiencing those things during normal conscious operation because our brains are so very well adapt to perceiving reality as most of us do. In fact, some would say that our conscious reality as we know it is merely a controlled hallucination in itself. Our brains are wired to receive (and perceive) a plethora of experiences, but our normal brain chemistry keeps things pretty well contained.

260

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Who created god?

« on: December 21, 2018, 12:46:56 AM »

Did it change your life? Are you happier or more peaceful or a nicer person because of it?

I have no flipping clue! I like to think I am a better person because of it. I reconsiled with my girlfriend (with whom I had my first child) and later married her. I think the biggest change is that I can imagine a world without .... "Me". Like I said, my ego died, and without that I find many other reasons to live. Kinship included. Life is the most precious gift we have, however the hell we came to have it.