GENIUS FORUMS

you may wish to assign animal/human rights as independent of causality Oh, it's not that I wish for that, it's that if we were to be consistent with your suggestion to link the two, we would link everything we talk about with causality, whereas I'm not interested in turning every discussion on ever...

:-)

Yep, I get [inter]dependent origination, although I'm more than a little suspicious of your linking of animal/human rights with it! As for what I'm arguing about: it is the (im)possibility of an infinite past - it's all there in the very first post to this thread if you could be bothered to wade you...

Argh, you guys both know that for me to engage with either of you would lead to an endless, futile round of cross-talk in which none of us budged an inch and which we've all heard and been through a million times before. So, well, let's nip that nightmare in the bud now, eh? :-)

a concept like 'infinite past' [is] an idea of no substantial means OK, well, if that's your view, then there's not much point in our discussing it, is there? I didn't see anything in the remainder of your post that had a bearing on the topic of this thread, and I'm not in the mood to defend my pos...

Tomas, thanks for the tip, good to see ya too. Dennis, I don't see how defining "infinite" as "not-a-thing, not solid, an appearance" helps when discussing an infinite past, as its clearly an inappropriate definition for that purpose, and not the one we've been using in the threa...

OK, well, I won't make an attempt to defend my assertions as I don't feel like getting into an extended argument on the issue, but sure, if you do want to press me to come up with other reasons, then I'll give it a shot. I can think of two categories of reason: empirical and philosophical. Other emp...

This is my response to the opening post, I'm going to avoid the discussion of science versus philosophy. So, Orenholt, your concluding question, "what makes modern homo sapiens better than animals [...]?", involves a value judgement (due to the word "better"). We need to consider...

If you are able to see that experience continues after the destruction or death of the brain, does that not show that the world and the body are only things passing by in consciousness? There's a risk that in answering this, our exchange will end up as a repetition of our previous discussions, whic...

By the way, I'm speaking very roughly when I say I believe that the brain has the same sort of ontology as consciousness: I say this only to distinguish myself from your very radical position that consciousness is the only real thing and the brain merely an appearance - i.e. that they have radically...

Also I was surprised to read your comment to Orenholt about consciousness and the brain, it being very similar to my own. I was wondering how you hold that view as I was under the impression we were at complete odds on this subject. Oh, OK, I'll try to explain how I see our differences and similari...

They weren’t usurped; they were superseded by a society which subjected the greater mass of its constituents to autonomic units of labour where, rather than being the practical bond between them, anything “cultural” became a matter of private interest and practice within the greater productive whol...

Welcome to the forum, Orenholt, belated as my welcome is, and assuming that you're coming back - I see you haven't visited in almost exactly a week. This is just a small note to let you know that for the most part I agree with and support you in this thread. I've challenged the "woman=unconscio...

Hi John, long time no talk. Unless you have radically different definitions of "cause" and "appearance" to mine, then your surety is misplaced. Sorry to break it to ya. I'm not really sure what you're trying to get at in any case. Let's say you are right: what is the purpose/poin...

Diebert van Rhijn wrote:I think you did even better Laird, at the time.

I forgot: thank you for saying that (even though I disagree). (And yes, I know: appreciating a comment as a compliment is not really kosher on a forum dedicated to non-attachment. How rebellious of me...)

The infinite is not about a number of things but a challenge to the existence of "things" as discrete notions altogether. "The" infinite? Are you talking about the infinite past, as WLC and I are, or are you talking about "the" Totality? The same reasoning as given cou...

Hmm, that's a particularly dismissive response, Dan. I get the sense that you didn't even read the paper. The arguments in it really are powerful, not to mention that it deals well with objections made by others. Could you please do me a favour and at least read it? As for God, I seem to remember (I...

William Lane Craig's arguments against an infinite past are far better than that which I presented in my opening post. He's a powerful thinker.

(Sorry to dredge up an old thread but I really do think the article is worth it. I hope you guys agree)

I'm planning on not bringing more people into this world rather than killing any already in it...

Sushil, I understand that your response to my question is that we should abandon industrial society and return to rural living. I agree that this would solve many problems, but I don't think it would solve all problems without a massive reduction in population, because it is the clearing of land for...

Dan, you might have forgotten some of the posts in question (I'm not going to link to them, at least not publicly). I've just been taking a bit of stock recently, and deciding that humility is a quality I could do with more of. Leyla, a welcome pleasure. :-) Diebert, you're a good guy, and you're no...

This post is to acknowledge, after looking back on some of them with the benefit of distance and hindsight, that many of my past posts to this forum have been unjustifiably aggressive and combative, and, to put it bluntly, arrogant. I apologise for that, and I affirm my intention to avoid that uglin...

Thanks, sushil, that's a chunky response. It'll take me a while to get back to you as I don't have much internet time at the moment. Be well.

Thou comprehendest not: Laird has a program that 'collects' posts, like a vacuum cleaner, but it requires an active status. Really? That's interesting. I'd like to know how that works. It's basically a web scraper written in PHP. It uses the "Search user’s posts" function on the member pa...

See what I mean? reacted. Though, if no one were to "react" to anything anyone else said, none of us would post anything and we'd have a dead forum. Or do you distinguish "non-reactive" posts from "reactive" posts? If so, how? I see I misread the context, which wasn't,...