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In the company of new people, I suspect most of us would have no reservations in uttering the ...
WilliamFleming comments on Sep 13, 2019:
The difference is that only a tiny minority believe in a flat earth while huge numbers still believe in resurrection and virgin birth, or at least they give the ideas lip service. “There are actually people” is an opener that would be sure to offend, but you could simply give your personal ...
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 13, 2019:
@LenHazell53 Well, I politely disagree. I like MLK’s philosophy:
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
—Martin Luther King, Jr.
WilliamFleming comments on Sep 13, 2019:
The difference is that only a tiny minority believe in a flat earth while huge numbers still believe in resurrection and virgin birth, or at least they give the ideas lip service. “There are actually people” is an opener that would be sure to offend, but you could simply give your personal ...
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 13, 2019:
@LenHazell53 Well, I politely disagree. I like MLK’s philosophy:
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
—Martin Luther King, Jr.
The head of the world’s foremost weather science organization issued a surprise rebuke to ...
NoPlanetB comments on Sep 11, 2019:
Someone needs to check his Swiss bank account or his offshore accounts for a large deposit.
I agree that the alarmists do need to tone it down but that he made this statement is suspicious.
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 12, 2019:
@OwlInASack Taalas doesn’t deny climate warming, and in fact, most of his focus has been on the need for action in that regard. What he is attacking here is fear-mongering by politicians and the press, and by a group of over-zealous scientists who have turned viciously on him and his colleagues for the sin of being too serene.
I like Roy Moore’s assessment. Yes the earth has been warming, but the rate of warming is only a slight 0.13C/decade—hardly enough to detect in the background noise. An unknown part of that rise is probably due to human causes. No one knows if that rise will continue unabated. Climate models have proven to be unreliable to date. Weather events are routinely exaggerated and blown out of proportion, but only those events that feed the panic. Warming is not so serious a problem as to require radical and expensive panic-fed moves.
NoPlanetB comments on Sep 11, 2019:
Someone needs to check his Swiss bank account or his offshore accounts for a large deposit.
I agree that the alarmists do need to tone it down but that he made this statement is suspicious.
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 12, 2019:
@OwlInASack Taalas doesn’t deny climate warming, and in fact, most of his focus has been on the need for action in that regard. What he is attacking here is fear-mongering by politicians and the press, and by a group of over-zealous scientists who have turned viciously on him and his colleagues for the sin of being too serene.
I like Roy Moore’s assessment. Yes the earth has been warming, but the rate of warming is only a slight 0.13C/decade—hardly enough to detect in the background noise. An unknown part of that rise is probably due to human causes. No one knows if that rise will continue unabated. Climate models have proven to be unreliable to date. Weather events are routinely exaggerated and blown out of proportion, but only those events that feed the panic. Warming is not so serious a problem as to require radical and expensive panic-fed moves.
The head of the world’s foremost weather science organization issued a surprise rebuke to ...
NoPlanetB comments on Sep 11, 2019:
Someone needs to check his Swiss bank account or his offshore accounts for a large deposit.
I agree that the alarmists do need to tone it down but that he made this statement is suspicious.
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 12, 2019:
@OwlInASack If the report is true and Taalas is correct, wouldn’t that be good news rather than bad?
https://www.thegwpf.com/wmo-boss-says-climate-discussion-has-gone-off-the-rails/
Here’s another article, and you can listen to his words if you know Finnish. This is also not a main-line source, but no main-line news agency will report news that is contrary to their agenda if they can help it.
NoPlanetB comments on Sep 11, 2019:
Someone needs to check his Swiss bank account or his offshore accounts for a large deposit.
I agree that the alarmists do need to tone it down but that he made this statement is suspicious.
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 12, 2019:
@OwlInASack If the report is true and Taalas is correct, wouldn’t that be good news rather than bad?
https://www.thegwpf.com/wmo-boss-says-climate-discussion-has-gone-off-the-rails/
Here’s another article, and you can listen to his words if you know Finnish. This is also not a main-line source, but no main-line news agency will report news that is contrary to their agenda if they can help it.
Do we have to believe something (in order to cope with reality)?
CapriKious comments on Sep 11, 2019:
"Perhaps", Spoken as a true theist. The author is guessing and is not an atheist.
I am agnostic with regards to Muslims explaining Christian motivations, The same may be said for Christians explaining strawman Atheists.
If we must "believe" something, it would be in other humans, Either ...
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 11, 2019:
@CapriKious I can’t find where Farias expresses a belief in God. He is a very qualified psychologist with a strong interest in religion and spirituality. I feel that some of his points have validity.
It can be uncomfortable being psychoanalyzed. No pain, no gain. :-)
CapriKious comments on Sep 11, 2019:
"Perhaps", Spoken as a true theist. The author is guessing and is not an atheist.
I am agnostic with regards to Muslims explaining Christian motivations, The same may be said for Christians explaining strawman Atheists.
If we must "believe" something, it would be in other humans, Either ...
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 11, 2019:
@CapriKious I can’t find where Farias expresses a belief in God. He is a very qualified psychologist with a strong interest in religion and spirituality. I feel that some of his points have validity.
It can be uncomfortable being psychoanalyzed. No pain, no gain. :-)
The natural world is full of grisly cases of predation, parasitism, a universe of ghastly horrors ...
LiterateHiker comments on Sep 10, 2019:
What a ghoulish, negative world view!
As a born optimist, hiking is a transcendent, uplifting experience for me. Mountains are my sanctuary.
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 11, 2019:
If a bear gets ahold of you you’ll learn about the law of the jungle PDQ. :-)
Actually I greatly admire your optimism and your active lifestyle. Keep it up!
LiterateHiker comments on Sep 10, 2019:
What a ghoulish, negative world view!
As a born optimist, hiking is a transcendent, uplifting experience for me. Mountains are my sanctuary.
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 11, 2019:
If a bear gets ahold of you you’ll learn about the law of the jungle PDQ. :-)
Actually I greatly admire your optimism and your active lifestyle. Keep it up!
Do we have to believe something (in order to cope with reality)?
CapriKious comments on Sep 11, 2019:
"Perhaps", Spoken as a true theist. The author is guessing and is not an atheist.
I am agnostic with regards to Muslims explaining Christian motivations, The same may be said for Christians explaining strawman Atheists.
If we must "believe" something, it would be in other humans, Either ...
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 11, 2019:
I personally feel that an outside perspective is valuable in understanding any belief system or disbelief system. We are all basically the same—these lines of division are pretty insignificant.
CapriKious comments on Sep 11, 2019:
"Perhaps", Spoken as a true theist. The author is guessing and is not an atheist.
I am agnostic with regards to Muslims explaining Christian motivations, The same may be said for Christians explaining strawman Atheists.
If we must "believe" something, it would be in other humans, Either ...
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 11, 2019:
I personally feel that an outside perspective is valuable in understanding any belief system or disbelief system. We are all basically the same—these lines of division are pretty insignificant.
Does free will exist?
WilliamFleming comments on Sep 10, 2019:
Desire wells up in our bodies. We have no control over the welling up of desire—that desire is regulated by subconscious animal instincts inherited through ages of evolution. I am in fact, hungry right now, but I plan to dine in a restaurant tonight. I am able to consciously control my body and ...
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 11, 2019:
@callmedubious The idea is that collectively we are all the same thing. If you stop thinking of yourself as a human body and identify with universal consciousness, then whether it’s a human or a protozoa, an organism is no more than a temporary arrangement of molecules with no true existence from the higher perspective.
Edwin Schrodinger:
“Consciousness cannot be accounted for in physical terms. For consciousness is absolutely fundamental. It cannot be accounted for in terms of anything else.”
WilliamFleming comments on Sep 10, 2019:
Desire wells up in our bodies. We have no control over the welling up of desire—that desire is regulated by subconscious animal instincts inherited through ages of evolution. I am in fact, hungry right now, but I plan to dine in a restaurant tonight. I am able to consciously control my body and ...
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 11, 2019:
@callmedubious The idea is that collectively we are all the same thing. If you stop thinking of yourself as a human body and identify with universal consciousness, then whether it’s a human or a protozoa, an organism is no more than a temporary arrangement of molecules with no true existence from the higher perspective.
Edwin Schrodinger:
“Consciousness cannot be accounted for in physical terms. For consciousness is absolutely fundamental. It cannot be accounted for in terms of anything else.”
The natural world is full of grisly cases of predation, parasitism, a universe of ghastly horrors ...
RiverRick comments on Sep 10, 2019:
There is no more natural selection when it comes to humans. There hasn't been, at least in this country, for quite a while.
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 10, 2019:
@RiverRick Yes, I’d think that would have an effect. Even if some of them have children, in general they have fewer children.
RiverRick comments on Sep 10, 2019:
There is no more natural selection when it comes to humans. There hasn't been, at least in this country, for quite a while.
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 10, 2019:
@RiverRick Yes, I’d think that would have an effect. Even if some of them have children, in general they have fewer children.
The natural world is full of grisly cases of predation, parasitism, a universe of ghastly horrors ...
RiverRick comments on Sep 10, 2019:
There is no more natural selection when it comes to humans. There hasn't been, at least in this country, for quite a while.
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 10, 2019:
What about someone born with a crippling genetic disease that causes them to die without reproducing. Isn’t that natural selection?
RiverRick comments on Sep 10, 2019:
There is no more natural selection when it comes to humans. There hasn't been, at least in this country, for quite a while.
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 10, 2019:
What about someone born with a crippling genetic disease that causes them to die without reproducing. Isn’t that natural selection?
Would Elizabeth Warren's wealth tax proposal tax the wealth of America's super rich pastors like ...
WilliamFleming comments on Sep 5, 2019:
Elizabeth Warren herself is extremely wealthy, and so are many other top democrats. No one is really hurt much by some people being wealthy.
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 9, 2019:
@Normanbites The article I cited is current and the data is for 2018. Moreover, the article is specifically about “Wealth Distribution and Income Inequality by Country 2018”. You must not have even looked at it.
The article you quoted is about which country has the richest middle class. No current figures are given, but by world standards the US middle class is very well off.
https://www.thebalance.com/american-middle-class-richest-3973493
We live in one of the richest countries in the world and the standard of living is as good as it’s ever been. Jobs are plentiful. If you are not satisfied with your economic situation maybe you should think of some way to contribute more to society.
WilliamFleming comments on Sep 5, 2019:
Elizabeth Warren herself is extremely wealthy, and so are many other top democrats. No one is really hurt much by some people being wealthy.
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 9, 2019:
@Normanbites The article I cited is current and the data is for 2018. Moreover, the article is specifically about “Wealth Distribution and Income Inequality by Country 2018”. You must not have even looked at it.
The article you quoted is about which country has the richest middle class. No current figures are given, but by world standards the US middle class is very well off.
https://www.thebalance.com/american-middle-class-richest-3973493
We live in one of the richest countries in the world and the standard of living is as good as it’s ever been. Jobs are plentiful. If you are not satisfied with your economic situation maybe you should think of some way to contribute more to society.
Would Elizabeth Warren's wealth tax proposal tax the wealth of America's super rich pastors like ...
WilliamFleming comments on Sep 5, 2019:
Elizabeth Warren herself is extremely wealthy, and so are many other top democrats. No one is really hurt much by some people being wealthy.
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 9, 2019:
@dahermit If those countries redistributed wealth they didn’t do a very good job of it. Looks like from this article that those northern and Western European countries are about the same as the US in wealth distribution.
https://www.gfmag.com/global-data/economic-data/wealth-distribution-income-inequality
WilliamFleming comments on Sep 5, 2019:
Elizabeth Warren herself is extremely wealthy, and so are many other top democrats. No one is really hurt much by some people being wealthy.
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 9, 2019:
@dahermit If those countries redistributed wealth they didn’t do a very good job of it. Looks like from this article that those northern and Western European countries are about the same as the US in wealth distribution.
https://www.gfmag.com/global-data/economic-data/wealth-distribution-income-inequality
Would Elizabeth Warren's wealth tax proposal tax the wealth of America's super rich pastors like ...
WilliamFleming comments on Sep 5, 2019:
Elizabeth Warren herself is extremely wealthy, and so are many other top democrats. No one is really hurt much by some people being wealthy.
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 8, 2019:
@Normanbites You can simply look at what happened where your “redistribution” has been tried. There are several horrifying examples..
Besides that, you would not be redistributing real wealth anyway. You’d be crippling commerce and the means of production and the result would be fewer goods and services for everyone. I have no objection to higher taxes on the wealthy, up to a point, but I oppose confiscation and redistribution. Confiscation of someone’s assets is illegal and unjust and could not be done without a drastic change in our form of government.
Again, and for the last time, the fact that a wealthy person holds a lot of equities does not cause poor people to be poor. In your world someone like Bill Gates has more than his share of wealth, leaving others in need. The only way that could happen is if Bill consumed a great deal of the nation’s goods, causing shortages. Let’s say that Bill really likes cornbread and he bought most of the available supply. Prices would skyrocket and ordinary people would have to eat something else. Farmers would literally fall all over themselves to grow more corn to make up the shortage.
Looks like we are never going to agree so I’m pulling out. Have a nice evening.
WilliamFleming comments on Sep 5, 2019:
Elizabeth Warren herself is extremely wealthy, and so are many other top democrats. No one is really hurt much by some people being wealthy.
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 8, 2019:
@Normanbites You can simply look at what happened where your “redistribution” has been tried. There are several horrifying examples..
Besides that, you would not be redistributing real wealth anyway. You’d be crippling commerce and the means of production and the result would be fewer goods and services for everyone. I have no objection to higher taxes on the wealthy, up to a point, but I oppose confiscation and redistribution. Confiscation of someone’s assets is illegal and unjust and could not be done without a drastic change in our form of government.
Again, and for the last time, the fact that a wealthy person holds a lot of equities does not cause poor people to be poor. In your world someone like Bill Gates has more than his share of wealth, leaving others in need. The only way that could happen is if Bill consumed a great deal of the nation’s goods, causing shortages. Let’s say that Bill really likes cornbread and he bought most of the available supply. Prices would skyrocket and ordinary people would have to eat something else. Farmers would literally fall all over themselves to grow more corn to make up the shortage.
Looks like we are never going to agree so I’m pulling out. Have a nice evening.
Would Elizabeth Warren's wealth tax proposal tax the wealth of America's super rich pastors like ...
WilliamFleming comments on Sep 5, 2019:
Elizabeth Warren herself is extremely wealthy, and so are many other top democrats. No one is really hurt much by some people being wealthy.
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 8, 2019:
@Normanbites Since the Civil War the standard of living in this country has steadily improved. I can attest that the standard of living in my area has vastly improved over the last seventy years. Every bit of that improvement can be attributed to the creation of real wealth by entrepreneurs and through the pooling of resources as is done with companies, corporations, and with government.
You continue to equate what you call “holdings” with wealth. Three people do not “hold” as much wealth as 200,000,000. True wealth is not held—it is used or consumed and has to be continuously created anew. Three people might hold as much in equities as 200,000,000, but that has nothing to do with anything—no one is in the least harmed by their ownership of stocks and bonds.
Yes, wealth is like blood flow, if the wealth is not moving around the body isn’t doing well. Wealth is goods and services, and those things are moved around through free trade. If you want to take part in that free trade circulation find a way to contribute—create wealth or help someone else create wealth.
Sitting in a dark cave of envy and grievance and plotting to strip other people of their equities will get you nowhere. Whenever governments have confiscated holdings the result has always been catastrophic, with widespread poverty, starvation and civil strife.
WilliamFleming comments on Sep 5, 2019:
Elizabeth Warren herself is extremely wealthy, and so are many other top democrats. No one is really hurt much by some people being wealthy.
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 8, 2019:
@Normanbites Since the Civil War the standard of living in this country has steadily improved. I can attest that the standard of living in my area has vastly improved over the last seventy years. Every bit of that improvement can be attributed to the creation of real wealth by entrepreneurs and through the pooling of resources as is done with companies, corporations, and with government.
You continue to equate what you call “holdings” with wealth. Three people do not “hold” as much wealth as 200,000,000. True wealth is not held—it is used or consumed and has to be continuously created anew. Three people might hold as much in equities as 200,000,000, but that has nothing to do with anything—no one is in the least harmed by their ownership of stocks and bonds.
Yes, wealth is like blood flow, if the wealth is not moving around the body isn’t doing well. Wealth is goods and services, and those things are moved around through free trade. If you want to take part in that free trade circulation find a way to contribute—create wealth or help someone else create wealth.
Sitting in a dark cave of envy and grievance and plotting to strip other people of their equities will get you nowhere. Whenever governments have confiscated holdings the result has always been catastrophic, with widespread poverty, starvation and civil strife.
Would Elizabeth Warren's wealth tax proposal tax the wealth of America's super rich pastors like ...
WilliamFleming comments on Sep 5, 2019:
Elizabeth Warren herself is extremely wealthy, and so are many other top democrats. No one is really hurt much by some people being wealthy.
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 8, 2019:
@Normanbites If you are talking about money as in cash, you wouldn’t be able to give a few people all the money. Trading must go on, and money is nothing more than a system for facilitating that trade. People would barter or devise new money.
If you are talking about real wealth as in goods and services, then I must point out that that handful of wealthy people you mentioned consume an extremely minute percentage of the world’s annual supply of wealth. Typically a wealthy person eats no more than a person of average means. So in that regard there’s no way of giving a few people all the wealth.
You must be talking about their investments, such as stocks, bonds, real estate, etc. Investments harm no one. When a person invests they are enabling the creation of real wealth, wealth that benefits people around the world. I suggest letting people keep their investments. If you confiscated and liquidated all of Bill Gates’s assets and distributed the money equally, each person would get about a dollar—enough for a cup of coffee maybe if you choose regular brew.
WilliamFleming comments on Sep 5, 2019:
Elizabeth Warren herself is extremely wealthy, and so are many other top democrats. No one is really hurt much by some people being wealthy.
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 8, 2019:
@Normanbites If you are talking about money as in cash, you wouldn’t be able to give a few people all the money. Trading must go on, and money is nothing more than a system for facilitating that trade. People would barter or devise new money.
If you are talking about real wealth as in goods and services, then I must point out that that handful of wealthy people you mentioned consume an extremely minute percentage of the world’s annual supply of wealth. Typically a wealthy person eats no more than a person of average means. So in that regard there’s no way of giving a few people all the wealth.
You must be talking about their investments, such as stocks, bonds, real estate, etc. Investments harm no one. When a person invests they are enabling the creation of real wealth, wealth that benefits people around the world. I suggest letting people keep their investments. If you confiscated and liquidated all of Bill Gates’s assets and distributed the money equally, each person would get about a dollar—enough for a cup of coffee maybe if you choose regular brew.
The nature of our present physical form
Eldovis comments on Sep 7, 2019:
consciousness as far as we know is the property of a healthy brain, any other interpretations are empty opinions.
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 7, 2019:
As far as “we” know is not very far. The nature and origin of conscious awareness is a deep mystery that is understood by no one. A number of very eminent scientists have thought that consciousness is primary and can not be explained by the firing of neurons.
Eldovis comments on Sep 7, 2019:
consciousness as far as we know is the property of a healthy brain, any other interpretations are empty opinions.
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 7, 2019:
As far as “we” know is not very far. The nature and origin of conscious awareness is a deep mystery that is understood by no one. A number of very eminent scientists have thought that consciousness is primary and can not be explained by the firing of neurons.
Would Elizabeth Warren's wealth tax proposal tax the wealth of America's super rich pastors like ...
WilliamFleming comments on Sep 5, 2019:
Elizabeth Warren herself is extremely wealthy, and so are many other top democrats. No one is really hurt much by some people being wealthy.
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 5, 2019:
@dahermit No degree in economics, but I can spot fallacious reasoning. I mow my own lawn, but what is meant by your second sentence??
If you gave everyone a million dollars you would not accomplish one solitary thing. A dollar would be totally worthless—zilch. That’s because money is not true wealth. Real wealth is goods and services while money is only an accounting system. Real wealth has to be continuously created.
What the hell is Soylent Green? Maybe I need to get some of that.
WilliamFleming comments on Sep 5, 2019:
Elizabeth Warren herself is extremely wealthy, and so are many other top democrats. No one is really hurt much by some people being wealthy.
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 5, 2019:
@dahermit No degree in economics, but I can spot fallacious reasoning. I mow my own lawn, but what is meant by your second sentence??
If you gave everyone a million dollars you would not accomplish one solitary thing. A dollar would be totally worthless—zilch. That’s because money is not true wealth. Real wealth is goods and services while money is only an accounting system. Real wealth has to be continuously created.
What the hell is Soylent Green? Maybe I need to get some of that.
Why are we - or some of us - able to understand the universe?
skado comments on Sep 4, 2019:
“There has been a selection pressure for inventiveness, curiosity and sensitivity. Because of those traits maybe mankind developed religion, art, technology and science.”
- WilliamFleming
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 5, 2019:
@Matias My feeling is that not every attribute can be explained by random mutations and natural selection. Because we have conscious awareness we are not totally bound by genetics. Through free will we can determine our future.
The basic human traits might be innate. For example, Pythagoras must have been very pleased and excited by his mathematical discovery. Because of his curiosity and ability to feel elation he was led into a particular course of action. As a free agent he was able to choose which course to take.
skado comments on Sep 4, 2019:
“There has been a selection pressure for inventiveness, curiosity and sensitivity. Because of those traits maybe mankind developed religion, art, technology and science.”
- WilliamFleming
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 5, 2019:
@Matias My feeling is that not every attribute can be explained by random mutations and natural selection. Because we have conscious awareness we are not totally bound by genetics. Through free will we can determine our future.
The basic human traits might be innate. For example, Pythagoras must have been very pleased and excited by his mathematical discovery. Because of his curiosity and ability to feel elation he was led into a particular course of action. As a free agent he was able to choose which course to take.
Why are we - or some of us - able to understand the universe?
WilliamFleming comments on Sep 4, 2019:
There has been a selection pressure for inventiveness, curiosity and sensitivity. Because of those traits maybe mankind developed religion, art, technology and science.
Despite science, I feel that our understanding of the universe is only superficial. Those mathematical models are beautiful, and...
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 4, 2019:
@TimeOutForMe At what point in history, or pre-history? Frankly, I lean away from the idea. No human would have known how to modify DNA in earlier times—that’s a modern technology.
Through selective breeding, early humans did influence the evolution of domesticated animals, and through their choice of mates they also influenced human evolution. They also influenced human evolution through warfare. How much of that influence was made with conscious volition I don’t know.
WilliamFleming comments on Sep 4, 2019:
There has been a selection pressure for inventiveness, curiosity and sensitivity. Because of those traits maybe mankind developed religion, art, technology and science.
Despite science, I feel that our understanding of the universe is only superficial. Those mathematical models are beautiful, and...
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 4, 2019:
@TimeOutForMe At what point in history, or pre-history? Frankly, I lean away from the idea. No human would have known how to modify DNA in earlier times—that’s a modern technology.
Through selective breeding, early humans did influence the evolution of domesticated animals, and through their choice of mates they also influenced human evolution. They also influenced human evolution through warfare. How much of that influence was made with conscious volition I don’t know.
Will You Still Love You When You're No Longer Young and Beautiful?
Julie808 comments on Sep 4, 2019:
Everything in moderation. I have activities I enjoy, and a basic diet that works for me. Not a fanatic in either of those, but they keep me somewhat healthy and able to continue doing the activities I enjoy, without tiring.
I may have skated by quite a bit in my younger days, with a pretty ...
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 4, 2019:
You look like somebody who might **still** be skatin’.
Julie808 comments on Sep 4, 2019:
Everything in moderation. I have activities I enjoy, and a basic diet that works for me. Not a fanatic in either of those, but they keep me somewhat healthy and able to continue doing the activities I enjoy, without tiring.
I may have skated by quite a bit in my younger days, with a pretty ...
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 4, 2019:
You look like somebody who might **still** be skatin’.
Why are we - or some of us - able to understand the universe?
WilliamFleming comments on Sep 4, 2019:
There has been a selection pressure for inventiveness, curiosity and sensitivity. Because of those traits maybe mankind developed religion, art, technology and science.
Despite science, I feel that our understanding of the universe is only superficial. Those mathematical models are beautiful, and...
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 4, 2019:
@TimeOutForMe Do you think humans tampered with their own DNA? If no, then who or what?
It is empirically demonstrated that consciousness can direct the course of evolution. Just look at the work of animal and plant breeders. Whenever a man and woman choose each other there’s an element of intelligent design at work.
WilliamFleming comments on Sep 4, 2019:
There has been a selection pressure for inventiveness, curiosity and sensitivity. Because of those traits maybe mankind developed religion, art, technology and science.
Despite science, I feel that our understanding of the universe is only superficial. Those mathematical models are beautiful, and...
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 4, 2019:
@TimeOutForMe Do you think humans tampered with their own DNA? If no, then who or what?
It is empirically demonstrated that consciousness can direct the course of evolution. Just look at the work of animal and plant breeders. Whenever a man and woman choose each other there’s an element of intelligent design at work.
Conversion therapy leader McKrae Game comes out as gay
KKGator comments on Sep 4, 2019:
It would be too easy for me to attack his hypocrisy, and leave it there.
Instead, I'm going to commend this guy for coming out and being truthful
about EVERYTHING.
It took a lot of courage to publicly acknowledge that you have been wrong.
To admit that you caused harm because of your false ...
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 4, 2019:
Well said!
KKGator comments on Sep 4, 2019:
It would be too easy for me to attack his hypocrisy, and leave it there.
Instead, I'm going to commend this guy for coming out and being truthful
about EVERYTHING.
It took a lot of courage to publicly acknowledge that you have been wrong.
To admit that you caused harm because of your false ...
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 4, 2019:
Well said!
Catholic School Bans Harry Potter Books Because They Contain ‘Real Curses And Spells’ | Michael ...
WilliamFleming comments on Sep 3, 2019:
A school need not declare that it is banning certain books. It is the right and duty of school officials to select books for its library that they deem appropriate. I can see that parents would have input, but no one else need bother themselves about the issue. After all, the students are perfectly ...
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 3, 2019:
@surrealhoax It does seem like a publicity trick but I don’t know why a church would do such a thing. Catholics generally have a reputation for intelligence and dignity, as opposed to my old bunch of Baptists.
WilliamFleming comments on Sep 3, 2019:
A school need not declare that it is banning certain books. It is the right and duty of school officials to select books for its library that they deem appropriate. I can see that parents would have input, but no one else need bother themselves about the issue. After all, the students are perfectly ...
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 3, 2019:
@surrealhoax It does seem like a publicity trick but I don’t know why a church would do such a thing. Catholics generally have a reputation for intelligence and dignity, as opposed to my old bunch of Baptists.
Wonder what he means by this.... [agnostic.com]
WilliamFleming comments on Sep 3, 2019:
What he means is that as your perspective broadens the full impact of the human situation hits you full force and you are rendered agape with awe, appreciation and reverence.
If you don’t like the word “God” you can substitute some other undefinable word. No big deal.
Werner Karl ...
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 3, 2019:
@Mcflewster Quantum physics is quite an enigma. Some physicists are now saying that reality is not made out of matter—there are no things, only quantum fields. Time is said to be a human illusion and space is not the smooth infinite expanse that we envision but is made out of a finite number of granules. Mind boggling stuff.
WilliamFleming comments on Sep 3, 2019:
What he means is that as your perspective broadens the full impact of the human situation hits you full force and you are rendered agape with awe, appreciation and reverence.
If you don’t like the word “God” you can substitute some other undefinable word. No big deal.
Werner Karl ...
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 3, 2019:
@Mcflewster Quantum physics is quite an enigma. Some physicists are now saying that reality is not made out of matter—there are no things, only quantum fields. Time is said to be a human illusion and space is not the smooth infinite expanse that we envision but is made out of a finite number of granules. Mind boggling stuff.
Evangelical Leader Claims Teaching Kids Basic Science Causes Mass Shootings
WilliamFleming comments on Sep 3, 2019:
I watched the video and my impression of Perkins was not all negative. These articles often twist and exaggerate things in order to arouse hatred. Hatred sells.
The origin of life is a mystery, and to claim that life began as a random accident is unscientific. What should be taught in schools is ...
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 3, 2019:
@Winkiedink54 The two ministers interviewed said nothing like that! They both seem like sensitive, intelligent and reasonable people, and I for one feel nothing but respect and love for them.
Why do you suppose all the attention is on Perkins and not the other guy? They both said essentially the same things, and expressed agreement with each other. My theory is that Perkins, as a White Southerner is a politically correct figure upon which to heap derision and hatred. The Black guy, not so much.
Anyone lapping up the lies in these trashy publications is opening themselves up to stress, anger, depression and poor health.
WilliamFleming comments on Sep 3, 2019:
I watched the video and my impression of Perkins was not all negative. These articles often twist and exaggerate things in order to arouse hatred. Hatred sells.
The origin of life is a mystery, and to claim that life began as a random accident is unscientific. What should be taught in schools is ...
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 3, 2019:
@Winkiedink54 The two ministers interviewed said nothing like that! They both seem like sensitive, intelligent and reasonable people, and I for one feel nothing but respect and love for them.
Why do you suppose all the attention is on Perkins and not the other guy? They both said essentially the same things, and expressed agreement with each other. My theory is that Perkins, as a White Southerner is a politically correct figure upon which to heap derision and hatred. The Black guy, not so much.
Anyone lapping up the lies in these trashy publications is opening themselves up to stress, anger, depression and poor health.
Catholic School Bans Harry Potter Books Because They Contain ‘Real Curses And Spells’ | Michael ...
WilliamFleming comments on Sep 3, 2019:
A school need not declare that it is banning certain books. It is the right and duty of school officials to select books for its library that they deem appropriate. I can see that parents would have input, but no one else need bother themselves about the issue. After all, the students are perfectly ...
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 3, 2019:
@maturin1919 I personally think the decision was mistaken but I don’t plan to let that mistake darken my day.
WilliamFleming comments on Sep 3, 2019:
A school need not declare that it is banning certain books. It is the right and duty of school officials to select books for its library that they deem appropriate. I can see that parents would have input, but no one else need bother themselves about the issue. After all, the students are perfectly ...
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 3, 2019:
@maturin1919 I personally think the decision was mistaken but I don’t plan to let that mistake darken my day.
Religion & science--the topsy twins of human affairs.
nicknotes comments on Sep 2, 2019:
Republicans don't believe in Science. They believe in religious fables.
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 2, 2019:
Al Gore is a devout Baptist.
Hillary Clinton is a Methodist.
Joe Biden is a Roman Catholic.
The list goes on.
nicknotes comments on Sep 2, 2019:
Republicans don't believe in Science. They believe in religious fables.
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 2, 2019:
Al Gore is a devout Baptist.
Hillary Clinton is a Methodist.
Joe Biden is a Roman Catholic.
The list goes on.
Evangelical Leader Claims Teaching Kids Basic Science Causes Mass Shootings
WilliamFleming comments on Sep 2, 2019:
That headline is somewhat misleading. There is no proof that life came about by chance through primordial slime. Maybe Tony Perkins is onto something here.
IMO schools should foster awareness and awe in the face of the staggering implications of the mystery of existence as a conscious being. ...
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 2, 2019:
@jerry99 As I said, the origin of life is a mystery. If I chalked it up to God or space aliens it would still be a mystery wouldn’t it?
Also a mystery is every second of conscious awareness.
WilliamFleming comments on Sep 2, 2019:
That headline is somewhat misleading. There is no proof that life came about by chance through primordial slime. Maybe Tony Perkins is onto something here.
IMO schools should foster awareness and awe in the face of the staggering implications of the mystery of existence as a conscious being. ...
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 2, 2019:
@jerry99 As I said, the origin of life is a mystery. If I chalked it up to God or space aliens it would still be a mystery wouldn’t it?
Also a mystery is every second of conscious awareness.
Evangelical Leader Claims Teaching Kids Basic Science Causes Mass Shootings
WilliamFleming comments on Sep 2, 2019:
That headline is somewhat misleading. There is no proof that life came about by chance through primordial slime. Maybe Tony Perkins is onto something here.
IMO schools should foster awareness and awe in the face of the staggering implications of the mystery of existence as a conscious being. ...
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 2, 2019:
@jerry99 I am fully on board with evolution, but the beginning of life is a mystery and it is unscientific to claim that life arose by chance when no one really understands how life arose.
Also, it’s being swept under the rug in some circles, but what we were taught about evolution in school is not the whole story.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2010/mar/19/evolution-darwin-natural-selection-genes-wrong
WilliamFleming comments on Sep 2, 2019:
That headline is somewhat misleading. There is no proof that life came about by chance through primordial slime. Maybe Tony Perkins is onto something here.
IMO schools should foster awareness and awe in the face of the staggering implications of the mystery of existence as a conscious being. ...
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 2, 2019:
@jerry99 I am fully on board with evolution, but the beginning of life is a mystery and it is unscientific to claim that life arose by chance when no one really understands how life arose.
Also, it’s being swept under the rug in some circles, but what we were taught about evolution in school is not the whole story.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2010/mar/19/evolution-darwin-natural-selection-genes-wrong
This makes me glad I’ve never learned about god & scriptures.
WilliamFleming comments on Sep 2, 2019:
This is obviously a fabrication—an image made up to look like a church sign. If this arouses your ire, then something is wrong and you are being manipulated.
It’s nothing but a political statement, one that I find to be underhanded, elitist, condescending, demeaning and misleading.
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 2, 2019:
@CS60 No thanks, I choose to comment.
WilliamFleming comments on Sep 2, 2019:
This is obviously a fabrication—an image made up to look like a church sign. If this arouses your ire, then something is wrong and you are being manipulated.
It’s nothing but a political statement, one that I find to be underhanded, elitist, condescending, demeaning and misleading.
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 2, 2019:
@CS60 No thanks, I choose to comment.
Should atheists subscribe to naturalism or even scientism?
WilliamFleming comments on Sep 2, 2019:
I neither believe nor disbelieve in the existence of God, however I do seek to understand or experience the nature of ultimate reality. Whatever the nature of ultimate reality, the term “supernatural” is a poor description and is of no help.
All these various “ism’s” can be confusing. ...
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 2, 2019:
@LucasfromGR Yes, I have a copy on my iPhone but haven’t looked at it in a long time.
It requires intense attention and deep thinking, wouldn’t you say?
WilliamFleming comments on Sep 2, 2019:
I neither believe nor disbelieve in the existence of God, however I do seek to understand or experience the nature of ultimate reality. Whatever the nature of ultimate reality, the term “supernatural” is a poor description and is of no help.
All these various “ism’s” can be confusing. ...
WilliamFleming replies on Sep 2, 2019:
@LucasfromGR Yes, I have a copy on my iPhone but haven’t looked at it in a long time.
It requires intense attention and deep thinking, wouldn’t you say?
It would seem that Eve did not seduce Adam with an apple.
[thespruceeats.com]
AnneWimsey comments on Aug 31, 2019:
Cool, I learned alot fromthis post...except where to get some?
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 31, 2019:
@Petter Thanks, I’ll save that link. Sounds like quince should grow in my area.
AnneWimsey comments on Aug 31, 2019:
Cool, I learned alot fromthis post...except where to get some?
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 31, 2019:
@Petter Thanks, I’ll save that link. Sounds like quince should grow in my area.
It would seem that Eve did not seduce Adam with an apple.
[thespruceeats.com]
AnneWimsey comments on Aug 31, 2019:
Cool, I learned alot fromthis post...except where to get some?
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 31, 2019:
@Petter I am at the latitude of Cairo. Apples won’t grow here but maybe quince?
AnneWimsey comments on Aug 31, 2019:
Cool, I learned alot fromthis post...except where to get some?
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 31, 2019:
@Petter I am at the latitude of Cairo. Apples won’t grow here but maybe quince?
I love the writings of Zora Neale Hurston, author of African-American literature, anthropologist, ...
LiterateHiker comments on Aug 31, 2019:
"Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neal Hurston is a 1937 novel and the best known work by African-American writer Zora Neale Hurston. The novel explores main character Janie Crawford's "ripening from a vibrant, but voiceless, teenage girl into a woman with her finger on the trigger of her own ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 31, 2019:
I’ve already read the first two chapters—great reading!
BTW, did you know that Hurston was somewhat of a libertarian in her political views? Her refusal to play a victim’s role along with her balanced perspective, good humor and love for all got her banished from the scene by left-wing powers of the day.
LiterateHiker comments on Aug 31, 2019:
"Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neal Hurston is a 1937 novel and the best known work by African-American writer Zora Neale Hurston. The novel explores main character Janie Crawford's "ripening from a vibrant, but voiceless, teenage girl into a woman with her finger on the trigger of her own ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 31, 2019:
I’ve already read the first two chapters—great reading!
BTW, did you know that Hurston was somewhat of a libertarian in her political views? Her refusal to play a victim’s role along with her balanced perspective, good humor and love for all got her banished from the scene by left-wing powers of the day.
I love the writings of Zora Neale Hurston, author of African-American literature, anthropologist, ...
LiterateHiker comments on Aug 31, 2019:
"Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neal Hurston is a 1937 novel and the best known work by African-American writer Zora Neale Hurston. The novel explores main character Janie Crawford's "ripening from a vibrant, but voiceless, teenage girl into a woman with her finger on the trigger of her own ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 31, 2019:
Thanks for that tip. I’ll try to get a copy.
LiterateHiker comments on Aug 31, 2019:
"Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neal Hurston is a 1937 novel and the best known work by African-American writer Zora Neale Hurston. The novel explores main character Janie Crawford's "ripening from a vibrant, but voiceless, teenage girl into a woman with her finger on the trigger of her own ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 31, 2019:
Thanks for that tip. I’ll try to get a copy.
A quote from Charles Sanders Peirce, said to be America’s greatest philosopher, but whose name ...
Matias comments on Aug 31, 2019:
I always liked and admired Peirce.
Peirce had two main problems: that he was on too many fields doing too much, and that he was fairly soon classified as the father of *pragmatism*. But for many philosophers in Europe "American philosophy" was - firstly - a contradiction in terms, and secondly ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 31, 2019:
Our ancestors from that era were mostly concerned with their coonhounds and had no time for frivolous things like philosophy.
Matias comments on Aug 31, 2019:
I always liked and admired Peirce.
Peirce had two main problems: that he was on too many fields doing too much, and that he was fairly soon classified as the father of *pragmatism*. But for many philosophers in Europe "American philosophy" was - firstly - a contradiction in terms, and secondly ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 31, 2019:
Our ancestors from that era were mostly concerned with their coonhounds and had no time for frivolous things like philosophy.
There is so much wrong with Christianity, mainly the part where devotees are required to "WORSHIP" ...
Fernapple comments on Aug 31, 2019:
Coming from England also, where practicing Christians are effectively a minority, I have often noticed that they are often among the meanest and least charitable of people, at least towards the larger community. I think that, in part, this is because they are asked to give so much, time, money, ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 31, 2019:
If all those mean people were not going to church they might be burglarizing your house!
Fernapple comments on Aug 31, 2019:
Coming from England also, where practicing Christians are effectively a minority, I have often noticed that they are often among the meanest and least charitable of people, at least towards the larger community. I think that, in part, this is because they are asked to give so much, time, money, ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 31, 2019:
If all those mean people were not going to church they might be burglarizing your house!
You are comletely alone in the Universe.
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 26, 2019:
I would be better able to assess the assertion that I am completely alone in the universe if I knew what in hell I am. I lean toward thinking that my personal identity as a unique body is nothing but illusion. If that is all I am, just an illusion, then I’m not even alone—I’m not there at all....
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 31, 2019:
@Rodatheist “Well, everything is possible, but you have to present arguments to try to convince others.”
No, I do not have to present any arguments. We are not in a courtroom and you are not sitting on a jury.
As I said, if you are interested in the subject it is up to you to search for truth and understanding. Given that your mind is totally made up and cast in iron, I guess that’s not going to happen—it’s none of my business anyway.
If you are so confident as to declare the ideas of such eminent physicists as Planck, Wheeler, Bohm, et. al. as “woo”, then the discussion is over.
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 26, 2019:
I would be better able to assess the assertion that I am completely alone in the universe if I knew what in hell I am. I lean toward thinking that my personal identity as a unique body is nothing but illusion. If that is all I am, just an illusion, then I’m not even alone—I’m not there at all....
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 31, 2019:
@Rodatheist “Well, everything is possible, but you have to present arguments to try to convince others.”
No, I do not have to present any arguments. We are not in a courtroom and you are not sitting on a jury.
As I said, if you are interested in the subject it is up to you to search for truth and understanding. Given that your mind is totally made up and cast in iron, I guess that’s not going to happen—it’s none of my business anyway.
If you are so confident as to declare the ideas of such eminent physicists as Planck, Wheeler, Bohm, et. al. as “woo”, then the discussion is over.
You are comletely alone in the Universe.
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 26, 2019:
I would be better able to assess the assertion that I am completely alone in the universe if I knew what in hell I am. I lean toward thinking that my personal identity as a unique body is nothing but illusion. If that is all I am, just an illusion, then I’m not even alone—I’m not there at all....
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 30, 2019:
@Rodatheist The allusion to Dissociative Identity Disorder is not absolute proof but just an illustration to show how identity as a body **could** be illusional. It’s hard to prove anything about our cognition using our cognition. Whatever prompted the new personalities to appear is not important to the illustration. The point is that the sense of self as a body can be an illusion.
A person with Alzheimer’s disease is a perfect example of the illusional nature of personality. Their memory disappears and the sense of self gradually follows, leaving consciousness, which I maintain is primary. In no way is it demonstrated that conscious awareness is produced by the brain.
How can we be gone if we were never here you ask? How can John Wayne be gone from my television screen if he was never in my television to begin with? Because his being there was an illusion and the illusion goes away when I change the channel.
Yes, there are other arguments that point toward universal consciousness, but if you are waiting for “proof” you might wait a very long time. Here’s a quote from Huffington Post:
“Lest the idea of a unitary, group, or universal mind be dismissed as new-age woo-woo, we should note that some of the most distinguished scientists of the 20th century have endorsed this perspective. The renowned physicist David Bohm said, "Each person enfolds something of the spirit of the other in his consciousness. Deep down the consciousness of mankind is one. This is a virtual certainty... and if we don't see this it's because we are blinding ourselves to it." Anthropologist and psychologist Gregory Bateson: "The individual mind is immanent but not only in the body. It is immanent also in the pathways and messages outside the body; and there is a larger Mind of which the individual mind is only a sub-system..." Physicist Henry Margenau: "There is a physical reality that is in essence the same for all... [This] oneness of the all implies the universality of mind... If my conclusions are correct, each individual is part of God or part of the Universal Mind." Nobel physicist Erwin Schrodinger also believed that minds are united and one. He said, "To divide or multiply consciousness is something meaningless. There is obviously only one alternative, namely the unification of minds or consciousness... [I]n truth there is only one mind." https://www.huffpost.com/entry/spiritual-living-is-techn_n_600900
If you are interested in the subject I suggest researching with an open mind.
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 26, 2019:
I would be better able to assess the assertion that I am completely alone in the universe if I knew what in hell I am. I lean toward thinking that my personal identity as a unique body is nothing but illusion. If that is all I am, just an illusion, then I’m not even alone—I’m not there at all....
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 30, 2019:
@Rodatheist The allusion to Dissociative Identity Disorder is not absolute proof but just an illustration to show how identity as a body **could** be illusional. It’s hard to prove anything about our cognition using our cognition. Whatever prompted the new personalities to appear is not important to the illustration. The point is that the sense of self as a body can be an illusion.
A person with Alzheimer’s disease is a perfect example of the illusional nature of personality. Their memory disappears and the sense of self gradually follows, leaving consciousness, which I maintain is primary. In no way is it demonstrated that conscious awareness is produced by the brain.
How can we be gone if we were never here you ask? How can John Wayne be gone from my television screen if he was never in my television to begin with? Because his being there was an illusion and the illusion goes away when I change the channel.
Yes, there are other arguments that point toward universal consciousness, but if you are waiting for “proof” you might wait a very long time. Here’s a quote from Huffington Post:
“Lest the idea of a unitary, group, or universal mind be dismissed as new-age woo-woo, we should note that some of the most distinguished scientists of the 20th century have endorsed this perspective. The renowned physicist David Bohm said, "Each person enfolds something of the spirit of the other in his consciousness. Deep down the consciousness of mankind is one. This is a virtual certainty... and if we don't see this it's because we are blinding ourselves to it." Anthropologist and psychologist Gregory Bateson: "The individual mind is immanent but not only in the body. It is immanent also in the pathways and messages outside the body; and there is a larger Mind of which the individual mind is only a sub-system..." Physicist Henry Margenau: "There is a physical reality that is in essence the same for all... [This] oneness of the all implies the universality of mind... If my conclusions are correct, each individual is part of God or part of the Universal Mind." Nobel physicist Erwin Schrodinger also believed that minds are united and one. He said, "To divide or multiply consciousness is something meaningless. There is obviously only one alternative, namely the unification of minds or consciousness... [I]n truth there is only one mind." https://www.huffpost.com/entry/spiritual-living-is-techn_n_600900
If you are interested in the subject I suggest researching with an open mind.
Can bad people lead meaningful lives?
bobwjr comments on Aug 29, 2019:
Some have such gross character defects they have no redeeming qualities
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 30, 2019:
Are you talking about me? :-)
bobwjr comments on Aug 29, 2019:
Some have such gross character defects they have no redeeming qualities
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 30, 2019:
Are you talking about me? :-)
You are comletely alone in the Universe.
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 26, 2019:
I would be better able to assess the assertion that I am completely alone in the universe if I knew what in hell I am. I lean toward thinking that my personal identity as a unique body is nothing but illusion. If that is all I am, just an illusion, then I’m not even alone—I’m not there at all....
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 29, 2019:
@Rodatheist What I mean is that the sense of being a separate, unique person as a body might be an illusion. The idea is not all that far-fetched. With the mental condition once called multiple personality disorder various personalities are exhibited by a single body. No one of the personalities is the correct one—they are all illusions. Remember too that our sense of self is dependent on memory, and memory is pretty unreliable. Lose your memory and you are gone in a flash.
In the entire chain of organisms why would “I” be any particular one. No, “I” am the observer, watching and sometimes tending the entire procession. The individual organisms are nothing but robotic instruments. Robots can be programmed to interact together—send each other messages, etc.
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 26, 2019:
I would be better able to assess the assertion that I am completely alone in the universe if I knew what in hell I am. I lean toward thinking that my personal identity as a unique body is nothing but illusion. If that is all I am, just an illusion, then I’m not even alone—I’m not there at all....
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 29, 2019:
@Rodatheist What I mean is that the sense of being a separate, unique person as a body might be an illusion. The idea is not all that far-fetched. With the mental condition once called multiple personality disorder various personalities are exhibited by a single body. No one of the personalities is the correct one—they are all illusions. Remember too that our sense of self is dependent on memory, and memory is pretty unreliable. Lose your memory and you are gone in a flash.
In the entire chain of organisms why would “I” be any particular one. No, “I” am the observer, watching and sometimes tending the entire procession. The individual organisms are nothing but robotic instruments. Robots can be programmed to interact together—send each other messages, etc.
DO WE HAVE A SOUL?
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 26, 2019:
Without conscious awareness all those billions of years would be less than the blink of an eye in duration.
Maybe it’s not so much a question of whether we have a soul but rather who or what it is that has conscious awareness. IMO our sense of existence as an individual body is an illusion....
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 27, 2019:
@Remiforce We are on the same wavelength and I greatly enjoy your posts.
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 26, 2019:
Without conscious awareness all those billions of years would be less than the blink of an eye in duration.
Maybe it’s not so much a question of whether we have a soul but rather who or what it is that has conscious awareness. IMO our sense of existence as an individual body is an illusion....
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 27, 2019:
@Remiforce We are on the same wavelength and I greatly enjoy your posts.
The writings of the "New Atheists" are certainly not meant to give you a warm and cuddly feeling.
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 21, 2019:
Please don’t go to Belgium.
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 26, 2019:
@Flowerwall Just remember that we are all in the same boat.
You are not alone.
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 21, 2019:
Please don’t go to Belgium.
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 26, 2019:
@Flowerwall Just remember that we are all in the same boat.
You are not alone.
At eight years of age Helen Keller had some deep questions that she wrote down for her teacher:
...
brentan comments on Aug 20, 2019:
I'm coming across the idea a lot recently that consciousness creates reality. I first read it in William Blake's poetry. Then Iain McGilchrist chose the topic for a book he is now writing. Kant, if I understand properly, also talked about reality being a manifestation of how we think.
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 26, 2019:
@brentan *Leaves of Grass* is a collection of related poems. I might have spoken too soon here, but my memory from 25 years ago is of a an exuberant affirmation of life where Whitman speaks from a universal perspective, proclaiming himself to be all that there is. I think that idea might have come from Transcendentalism which had been popular earlier.
Now, in reading critiques I think I might have mischaracterized the book. Whatever.
brentan comments on Aug 20, 2019:
I'm coming across the idea a lot recently that consciousness creates reality. I first read it in William Blake's poetry. Then Iain McGilchrist chose the topic for a book he is now writing. Kant, if I understand properly, also talked about reality being a manifestation of how we think.
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 26, 2019:
@brentan *Leaves of Grass* is a collection of related poems. I might have spoken too soon here, but my memory from 25 years ago is of a an exuberant affirmation of life where Whitman speaks from a universal perspective, proclaiming himself to be all that there is. I think that idea might have come from Transcendentalism which had been popular earlier.
Now, in reading critiques I think I might have mischaracterized the book. Whatever.
The writings of the "New Atheists" are certainly not meant to give you a warm and cuddly feeling.
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 21, 2019:
Please don’t go to Belgium.
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 26, 2019:
@Flowerwall You exhibit a lot of strength and courage to be so open about your struggle.
My response to life is that belief or disbelief are of no significance. At heart nobody really **knows**. The only rational response that I can see is awe, appreciation and reverence, along with total and abject bewilderment in the face of the staggering implications of conscious awareness.
Slapping a label on one’s self is not useful IMO.
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 21, 2019:
Please don’t go to Belgium.
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 26, 2019:
@Flowerwall You exhibit a lot of strength and courage to be so open about your struggle.
My response to life is that belief or disbelief are of no significance. At heart nobody really **knows**. The only rational response that I can see is awe, appreciation and reverence, along with total and abject bewilderment in the face of the staggering implications of conscious awareness.
Slapping a label on one’s self is not useful IMO.
At eight years of age Helen Keller had some deep questions that she wrote down for her teacher:
...
brentan comments on Aug 20, 2019:
I'm coming across the idea a lot recently that consciousness creates reality. I first read it in William Blake's poetry. Then Iain McGilchrist chose the topic for a book he is now writing. Kant, if I understand properly, also talked about reality being a manifestation of how we think.
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 25, 2019:
@brentan Because you were talking about Blake I downloaded some of his works from Gutenberg Press. I’m having trouble relating somehow. Poetry is not my thing, but maybe if I spend more time I’ll begin to experience his poems on a deeper level.
Kant is dense and hard for me to read. If you find some pertinent passages though I would enjoy looking at them.
Speaking of poetry, *Leaves of Grass* by Walt Whitman is full of metaphysical thoughts boldly expressed.
brentan comments on Aug 20, 2019:
I'm coming across the idea a lot recently that consciousness creates reality. I first read it in William Blake's poetry. Then Iain McGilchrist chose the topic for a book he is now writing. Kant, if I understand properly, also talked about reality being a manifestation of how we think.
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 25, 2019:
@brentan Because you were talking about Blake I downloaded some of his works from Gutenberg Press. I’m having trouble relating somehow. Poetry is not my thing, but maybe if I spend more time I’ll begin to experience his poems on a deeper level.
Kant is dense and hard for me to read. If you find some pertinent passages though I would enjoy looking at them.
Speaking of poetry, *Leaves of Grass* by Walt Whitman is full of metaphysical thoughts boldly expressed.
At eight years of age Helen Keller had some deep questions that she wrote down for her teacher:
...
brentan comments on Aug 20, 2019:
I'm coming across the idea a lot recently that consciousness creates reality. I first read it in William Blake's poetry. Then Iain McGilchrist chose the topic for a book he is now writing. Kant, if I understand properly, also talked about reality being a manifestation of how we think.
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 25, 2019:
I just learned about a new Donald Hoffman book that you might enjoy:
https://www.amazon.com/Case-Against-Reality-Evolution-Truth/dp/0393254690
It’s one I have to read!
brentan comments on Aug 20, 2019:
I'm coming across the idea a lot recently that consciousness creates reality. I first read it in William Blake's poetry. Then Iain McGilchrist chose the topic for a book he is now writing. Kant, if I understand properly, also talked about reality being a manifestation of how we think.
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 25, 2019:
I just learned about a new Donald Hoffman book that you might enjoy:
https://www.amazon.com/Case-Against-Reality-Evolution-Truth/dp/0393254690
It’s one I have to read!
Thich Nhat Hanh
Matias comments on Aug 25, 2019:
There is no institution in- or outside of me that can "allow" me to be full of anxiety or peace.
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 25, 2019:
IMO we create our own anxieties by thinking things that are untrue—by embellishing and sensationalizing events and feeding our subconscious minds with those lies. Our natural state is peace and joy. By shining the light of awareness on untrue thoughts those thoughts become harmless.
Matias comments on Aug 25, 2019:
There is no institution in- or outside of me that can "allow" me to be full of anxiety or peace.
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 25, 2019:
IMO we create our own anxieties by thinking things that are untrue—by embellishing and sensationalizing events and feeding our subconscious minds with those lies. Our natural state is peace and joy. By shining the light of awareness on untrue thoughts those thoughts become harmless.
No one can tell me why I am here in this mystery.
MoonTigerII comments on Aug 23, 2019:
Seriously...The only constant is change and of all species we are the one with the LEAST self-control. We can't even stop ourselves from destroying the only planet we have. That is reality...all else is a delusion.
Our delusion is that we are a noble species when in fact, as E.O. Wilson points ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 23, 2019:
@EdEarl Wow, thanks for putting that out there. I never knew!
MoonTigerII comments on Aug 23, 2019:
Seriously...The only constant is change and of all species we are the one with the LEAST self-control. We can't even stop ourselves from destroying the only planet we have. That is reality...all else is a delusion.
Our delusion is that we are a noble species when in fact, as E.O. Wilson points ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 23, 2019:
@EdEarl Wow, thanks for putting that out there. I never knew!
An important distinction to learn as an agnostic
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 21, 2019:
I agree with the spirit of what you are saying. Christianity wants you to BELIEVE, and if you don’t, woe be unto you! And damn it, you are SINFUL!
The eastern traditions want you to be aware, to attain Self-Realization, and to live in harmony, in peace and compassion.
I do think there is a ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 22, 2019:
@JeffMesser I just finished his Gita version. What is your favorite translation of the Upanishads, well, other than your own? Are you going to publish your version?
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 21, 2019:
I agree with the spirit of what you are saying. Christianity wants you to BELIEVE, and if you don’t, woe be unto you! And damn it, you are SINFUL!
The eastern traditions want you to be aware, to attain Self-Realization, and to live in harmony, in peace and compassion.
I do think there is a ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 22, 2019:
@JeffMesser I just finished his Gita version. What is your favorite translation of the Upanishads, well, other than your own? Are you going to publish your version?
An important distinction to learn as an agnostic
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 21, 2019:
I agree with the spirit of what you are saying. Christianity wants you to BELIEVE, and if you don’t, woe be unto you! And damn it, you are SINFUL!
The eastern traditions want you to be aware, to attain Self-Realization, and to live in harmony, in peace and compassion.
I do think there is a ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 22, 2019:
@JeffMesser Eknath Easwaran, in his booklet on how to meditate recommends using the prayer of St. Francis as a mantra. I’ve never been a Catholic, and I’m not even a Christian by usual standards, yet there’s nothing in the prayer that greatly clashes with my views. I can see that it would make a great mantra, and I have in fact started using it.
I like Easwaran’s translations and interpretations very much.
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 21, 2019:
I agree with the spirit of what you are saying. Christianity wants you to BELIEVE, and if you don’t, woe be unto you! And damn it, you are SINFUL!
The eastern traditions want you to be aware, to attain Self-Realization, and to live in harmony, in peace and compassion.
I do think there is a ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 22, 2019:
@JeffMesser Eknath Easwaran, in his booklet on how to meditate recommends using the prayer of St. Francis as a mantra. I’ve never been a Catholic, and I’m not even a Christian by usual standards, yet there’s nothing in the prayer that greatly clashes with my views. I can see that it would make a great mantra, and I have in fact started using it.
I like Easwaran’s translations and interpretations very much.
An important distinction to learn as an agnostic
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 21, 2019:
I agree with the spirit of what you are saying. Christianity wants you to BELIEVE, and if you don’t, woe be unto you! And damn it, you are SINFUL!
The eastern traditions want you to be aware, to attain Self-Realization, and to live in harmony, in peace and compassion.
I do think there is a ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 22, 2019:
@JeffMesser Funny video. :-)
I get what you are saying. I tend to be analytic—probably too much so for my own good sometimes. I have to try to figure everything out, but for some questions there are no answers. It just does.
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 21, 2019:
I agree with the spirit of what you are saying. Christianity wants you to BELIEVE, and if you don’t, woe be unto you! And damn it, you are SINFUL!
The eastern traditions want you to be aware, to attain Self-Realization, and to live in harmony, in peace and compassion.
I do think there is a ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 22, 2019:
@JeffMesser Funny video. :-)
I get what you are saying. I tend to be analytic—probably too much so for my own good sometimes. I have to try to figure everything out, but for some questions there are no answers. It just does.
An important distinction to learn as an agnostic
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 21, 2019:
I agree with the spirit of what you are saying. Christianity wants you to BELIEVE, and if you don’t, woe be unto you! And damn it, you are SINFUL!
The eastern traditions want you to be aware, to attain Self-Realization, and to live in harmony, in peace and compassion.
I do think there is a ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 22, 2019:
@JeffMesser Are you saying that good might come even from blind faith?
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 21, 2019:
I agree with the spirit of what you are saying. Christianity wants you to BELIEVE, and if you don’t, woe be unto you! And damn it, you are SINFUL!
The eastern traditions want you to be aware, to attain Self-Realization, and to live in harmony, in peace and compassion.
I do think there is a ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 22, 2019:
@JeffMesser Are you saying that good might come even from blind faith?
The writings of the "New Atheists" are certainly not meant to give you a warm and cuddly feeling.
Flowerwall comments on Aug 22, 2019:
Matias, are you okay? You don't sound okay.
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 22, 2019:
He’s still making posts. Maybe he was joking.
Flowerwall comments on Aug 22, 2019:
Matias, are you okay? You don't sound okay.
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 22, 2019:
He’s still making posts. Maybe he was joking.
At eight years of age Helen Keller had some deep questions that she wrote down for her teacher:
...
Flowerwall comments on Aug 21, 2019:
There was a quote of Helen's, I wish I could recollect it. That quote held so much importance for me. Her life story should be be required reading for every human being. Not that I have read her whole biography, but I did learn some about her. You can compare her contemporaneous blindness and ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 22, 2019:
@Flowerwall OK, I will.
I respect your courage and openness. Growing in understanding is a very good thing but I personally don’t think belief is very important.
Flowerwall comments on Aug 21, 2019:
There was a quote of Helen's, I wish I could recollect it. That quote held so much importance for me. Her life story should be be required reading for every human being. Not that I have read her whole biography, but I did learn some about her. You can compare her contemporaneous blindness and ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 22, 2019:
@Flowerwall OK, I will.
I respect your courage and openness. Growing in understanding is a very good thing but I personally don’t think belief is very important.
The writings of the "New Atheists" are certainly not meant to give you a warm and cuddly feeling.
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 21, 2019:
Please don’t go to Belgium.
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 22, 2019:
@Flowerwall “Put down” is to euthanasia or kill—what you would do to an animal whose life was about over. I guess it’s legal in Belgium to euthanize humans.
I am one of the few people on this site who does not speak derisively of a belief in God. I do not think of God as supernatural however. I lean toward thinking that our true selves are one with universal consciousness. That is the awareness I was talking about.
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 21, 2019:
Please don’t go to Belgium.
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 22, 2019:
@Flowerwall “Put down” is to euthanasia or kill—what you would do to an animal whose life was about over. I guess it’s legal in Belgium to euthanize humans.
I am one of the few people on this site who does not speak derisively of a belief in God. I do not think of God as supernatural however. I lean toward thinking that our true selves are one with universal consciousness. That is the awareness I was talking about.
At eight years of age Helen Keller had some deep questions that she wrote down for her teacher:
...
Flowerwall comments on Aug 21, 2019:
There was a quote of Helen's, I wish I could recollect it. That quote held so much importance for me. Her life story should be be required reading for every human being. Not that I have read her whole biography, but I did learn some about her. You can compare her contemporaneous blindness and ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 21, 2019:
You have given me something to ponder—I think you are on to something.
Most of her books are on Gutenberg Press—that’s where I got mine. There’s the movie “Miracle Worker “ about her life that’s highly acclaimed. I’m afraid to watch it because I think Hollywood, as usual, did a hatchet job on her Alabama family, especially her father.
Flowerwall comments on Aug 21, 2019:
There was a quote of Helen's, I wish I could recollect it. That quote held so much importance for me. Her life story should be be required reading for every human being. Not that I have read her whole biography, but I did learn some about her. You can compare her contemporaneous blindness and ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 21, 2019:
You have given me something to ponder—I think you are on to something.
Most of her books are on Gutenberg Press—that’s where I got mine. There’s the movie “Miracle Worker “ about her life that’s highly acclaimed. I’m afraid to watch it because I think Hollywood, as usual, did a hatchet job on her Alabama family, especially her father.
The writings of the "New Atheists" are certainly not meant to give you a warm and cuddly feeling.
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 21, 2019:
Please don’t go to Belgium.
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 21, 2019:
@AlPastor Well sure. I’d love to drink some of their beer. But Matias is talking about going there to have himself “put down”. Matias is my very favorite person on this site and I don’t want him put down.
No supernatural mysticism is needed—just awareness.
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 21, 2019:
Please don’t go to Belgium.
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 21, 2019:
@AlPastor Well sure. I’d love to drink some of their beer. But Matias is talking about going there to have himself “put down”. Matias is my very favorite person on this site and I don’t want him put down.
No supernatural mysticism is needed—just awareness.
[sciencenews.
mongo1977 comments on Aug 21, 2019:
Man made climate change hysterics have become a cult.
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 21, 2019:
Roy Spencer
Richard Lindzen
John Christy
Roger Pielke Jr
Roger Pielke Sr
Richard Tol
Ross McKitrick
Nir Shaviv
Garth Paltridge
Nicola Scafetta
Craig Loehle
Scott Denning
Nils Axel Morner
William Cotton
Vincent Courtillot
Hendrik Tennekes
The above is a partial list of some very capable climate scientists who have been labeled as “contrarians” in a recent “Nature” article because they have sinned. Their views have sometimes not matched the official climate change dogma and they now face excommunication and shunning.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-09959-4.
Yes, “cult” is an appropriate label.
https://judithcurry.com/2019/08/14/the-latest-travesty-in-consensus-enforcement/#more-25088
mongo1977 comments on Aug 21, 2019:
Man made climate change hysterics have become a cult.
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 21, 2019:
Roy Spencer
Richard Lindzen
John Christy
Roger Pielke Jr
Roger Pielke Sr
Richard Tol
Ross McKitrick
Nir Shaviv
Garth Paltridge
Nicola Scafetta
Craig Loehle
Scott Denning
Nils Axel Morner
William Cotton
Vincent Courtillot
Hendrik Tennekes
The above is a partial list of some very capable climate scientists who have been labeled as “contrarians” in a recent “Nature” article because they have sinned. Their views have sometimes not matched the official climate change dogma and they now face excommunication and shunning.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-09959-4.
Yes, “cult” is an appropriate label.
https://judithcurry.com/2019/08/14/the-latest-travesty-in-consensus-enforcement/#more-25088
At eight years of age Helen Keller had some deep questions that she wrote down for her teacher:
...
brentan comments on Aug 20, 2019:
I'm coming across the idea a lot recently that consciousness creates reality. I first read it in William Blake's poetry. Then Iain McGilchrist chose the topic for a book he is now writing. Kant, if I understand properly, also talked about reality being a manifestation of how we think.
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 20, 2019:
It happens that I am in the midst of reading “You are the Universe”, which I think promotes that idea. I haven’t gotten to the good parts yet.
For me it’s a very exciting idea for some reason.
brentan comments on Aug 20, 2019:
I'm coming across the idea a lot recently that consciousness creates reality. I first read it in William Blake's poetry. Then Iain McGilchrist chose the topic for a book he is now writing. Kant, if I understand properly, also talked about reality being a manifestation of how we think.
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 20, 2019:
It happens that I am in the midst of reading “You are the Universe”, which I think promotes that idea. I haven’t gotten to the good parts yet.
For me it’s a very exciting idea for some reason.
At eight years of age Helen Keller had some deep questions that she wrote down for her teacher:
...
LucasfromGR comments on Aug 20, 2019:
I I don’t know much about Helen Keller. And I tend to be a skeptic, perhaps too much; but what if this whole Helen Keller thing was just a big Grift? I’m sure if it was it would’ve been debunked by now, but what if ... haha it would make a great plot twist at the end of a movie.
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 20, 2019:
She had some uncanny abilities, and like you I tend to be skeptical. But her case is well documented. It’s hard to understand how she could have written such vivid descriptions of nature as a blind person—imagination I suppose.
LucasfromGR comments on Aug 20, 2019:
I I don’t know much about Helen Keller. And I tend to be a skeptic, perhaps too much; but what if this whole Helen Keller thing was just a big Grift? I’m sure if it was it would’ve been debunked by now, but what if ... haha it would make a great plot twist at the end of a movie.
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 20, 2019:
She had some uncanny abilities, and like you I tend to be skeptical. But her case is well documented. It’s hard to understand how she could have written such vivid descriptions of nature as a blind person—imagination I suppose.
“Mental transformation takes time, but it becomes easier with familiarity.
Cutiebeauty comments on Aug 17, 2019:
What is the mind being transformed into? Is it just a matter of attaining knowledge in general or of yourself?
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 17, 2019:
@skado I had to look that up. As I read it “process orientation” is esprit de corp in its original root meaning. For an organization everyone would know what was going on, including clients.
For an individual I’m having to grapple. Maybe it would mean having an integrated, balanced personal outlook or lifestyle and going with the flow rather than getting strung out on some particular set of thoughts or actions?
There I go. Busy busy mind analyzing analyzing.
Cutiebeauty comments on Aug 17, 2019:
What is the mind being transformed into? Is it just a matter of attaining knowledge in general or of yourself?
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 17, 2019:
@skado I had to look that up. As I read it “process orientation” is esprit de corp in its original root meaning. For an organization everyone would know what was going on, including clients.
For an individual I’m having to grapple. Maybe it would mean having an integrated, balanced personal outlook or lifestyle and going with the flow rather than getting strung out on some particular set of thoughts or actions?
There I go. Busy busy mind analyzing analyzing.
“Mental transformation takes time, but it becomes easier with familiarity.
Cutiebeauty comments on Aug 17, 2019:
What is the mind being transformed into? Is it just a matter of attaining knowledge in general or of yourself?
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 17, 2019:
I think the ultimate goal is to become totally absorbed in pure consciousness so that you are unaware of your mind and body and feel oneness with ultimate reality.
I can understand and relate to the philosophical idea of oneness on an intellectual basis, but that’s easy. To achieve the actual experience, as described by advanced practitioners apparently requires a lot of work. It might be too late for someone as old as me—on the other hand, as a retired person I have lots of time.
Cutiebeauty comments on Aug 17, 2019:
What is the mind being transformed into? Is it just a matter of attaining knowledge in general or of yourself?
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 17, 2019:
I think the ultimate goal is to become totally absorbed in pure consciousness so that you are unaware of your mind and body and feel oneness with ultimate reality.
I can understand and relate to the philosophical idea of oneness on an intellectual basis, but that’s easy. To achieve the actual experience, as described by advanced practitioners apparently requires a lot of work. It might be too late for someone as old as me—on the other hand, as a retired person I have lots of time.
Huffpost has written an excellent series (three parts thus far) dealing with the problematic state ...
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 10, 2019:
I don’t think those religious schools are “paid for” by taxpayers. Rather they sometimes receive some indirect support from taxpayers through the voucher program.
https://www.edchoice.org/school_choice_faqs/are-school-choice-programs-legal/
School vouchers can legally be used for ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 16, 2019:
@Paul4747 Public funds are disbursed to private companies all the time. Road construction is almost always done by private contractors. Even the surveying and engineering parts are often contracted out, depriving government surveying and engineering departments of work. Cost-benefit analysis determines what is cheapest and best for the public.
The army contracts for aircraft maintenance—just a couple of examples.
As I see it, using your voucher to attend a church school is not a 1st amendment issue—it’s not establishing a religion, and the Supreme Court has agreed. If the vouchers were only valid for a particular religious school then that would be a violation.
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 10, 2019:
I don’t think those religious schools are “paid for” by taxpayers. Rather they sometimes receive some indirect support from taxpayers through the voucher program.
https://www.edchoice.org/school_choice_faqs/are-school-choice-programs-legal/
School vouchers can legally be used for ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 16, 2019:
@Paul4747 Public funds are disbursed to private companies all the time. Road construction is almost always done by private contractors. Even the surveying and engineering parts are often contracted out, depriving government surveying and engineering departments of work. Cost-benefit analysis determines what is cheapest and best for the public.
The army contracts for aircraft maintenance—just a couple of examples.
As I see it, using your voucher to attend a church school is not a 1st amendment issue—it’s not establishing a religion, and the Supreme Court has agreed. If the vouchers were only valid for a particular religious school then that would be a violation.
Huffpost has written an excellent series (three parts thus far) dealing with the problematic state ...
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 10, 2019:
I don’t think those religious schools are “paid for” by taxpayers. Rather they sometimes receive some indirect support from taxpayers through the voucher program.
https://www.edchoice.org/school_choice_faqs/are-school-choice-programs-legal/
School vouchers can legally be used for ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 16, 2019:
@Paul4747 I have nothing else to say about it. You make some good points.
What happens if a majority of the public wants those vouchers and they are voted in? All involved will have to adapt. It's not an end of the world scenario. Remember that we are forced to pay property taxes whether we have children in public schools or not, and that is basically for all our working lives. It seems fair that some of that tax money be refunded if the public school does not meet the needs. The citizenry will have final say.
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 10, 2019:
I don’t think those religious schools are “paid for” by taxpayers. Rather they sometimes receive some indirect support from taxpayers through the voucher program.
https://www.edchoice.org/school_choice_faqs/are-school-choice-programs-legal/
School vouchers can legally be used for ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 16, 2019:
@Paul4747 I have nothing else to say about it. You make some good points.
What happens if a majority of the public wants those vouchers and they are voted in? All involved will have to adapt. It's not an end of the world scenario. Remember that we are forced to pay property taxes whether we have children in public schools or not, and that is basically for all our working lives. It seems fair that some of that tax money be refunded if the public school does not meet the needs. The citizenry will have final say.
If a person that doesnt believe in a Higher Power (God) (Christ) do you believe that they should be...
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 16, 2019:
We should accept people period.
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 16, 2019:
@jlynn37 Yes, of course we have to protect ourselves. If there is a rabid dog in the neighborhood I’ll kill it on sight. No need for moral judgments though.
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 16, 2019:
We should accept people period.
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 16, 2019:
@jlynn37 Yes, of course we have to protect ourselves. If there is a rabid dog in the neighborhood I’ll kill it on sight. No need for moral judgments though.
If a person that doesnt believe in a Higher Power (God) (Christ) do you believe that they should be...
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 16, 2019:
We should accept people period.
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 16, 2019:
@jlynn37 Yep, even Hitler. My hating him would hurt only myself.
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 16, 2019:
We should accept people period.
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 16, 2019:
@jlynn37 Yep, even Hitler. My hating him would hurt only myself.
Here is a thought experiment for all those who claim that morality is subjective:
Imagine a world ...
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 15, 2019:
It would be morally right for those who think it was morally right. For those who think it evil it would be evil—it’s purely subjective. In other words, IMO the concept of morality has no meaning except as a personal judgment.
Hitler was thwarted in his goal, not because his goal was immoral...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 15, 2019:
@Bobby9 “I defy you or anyone to tell me how a rape and subseqent murder can be anythig except immoral.”
If you want to define immorality as that which is unacceptable to society then of course for that society certain acts are immoral. But different societies have different attitudes toward various behaviors. I doubt if any societies today condone murder, but that is just one example and says nothing about morality in general.
If you want to argue for absolute morality I think you’d have to accept some sort of higher power that controls and judges human events. I’m not saying there’s no such power, however it seems likely to me that nature is neither good nor bad and that whatever happens in the world of organisms happens for reasons and it has to happen.
If you think of the procession of life as a continuum—a single entity, the life or death of a single organism is of little significance. Walk in the woods and you’ll see death and destruction everywhere, but the forest as a unitary whole is healthy and beautiful.
Despite all my philosophical babbling, we do live in a society, and it is important to honor society’s values. Rapists and murderers have to be caught and held accountable after all.
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 15, 2019:
It would be morally right for those who think it was morally right. For those who think it evil it would be evil—it’s purely subjective. In other words, IMO the concept of morality has no meaning except as a personal judgment.
Hitler was thwarted in his goal, not because his goal was immoral...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 15, 2019:
@Bobby9 “I defy you or anyone to tell me how a rape and subseqent murder can be anythig except immoral.”
If you want to define immorality as that which is unacceptable to society then of course for that society certain acts are immoral. But different societies have different attitudes toward various behaviors. I doubt if any societies today condone murder, but that is just one example and says nothing about morality in general.
If you want to argue for absolute morality I think you’d have to accept some sort of higher power that controls and judges human events. I’m not saying there’s no such power, however it seems likely to me that nature is neither good nor bad and that whatever happens in the world of organisms happens for reasons and it has to happen.
If you think of the procession of life as a continuum—a single entity, the life or death of a single organism is of little significance. Walk in the woods and you’ll see death and destruction everywhere, but the forest as a unitary whole is healthy and beautiful.
Despite all my philosophical babbling, we do live in a society, and it is important to honor society’s values. Rapists and murderers have to be caught and held accountable after all.
"Take man's most fantastic invention - God.
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 13, 2019:
A bleak world view that I don’t share.
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 15, 2019:
@nogod4me I do understand you and I disagree.
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 13, 2019:
A bleak world view that I don’t share.
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 15, 2019:
@nogod4me I do understand you and I disagree.
Here is a thought experiment for all those who claim that morality is subjective:
Imagine a world ...
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 15, 2019:
It would be morally right for those who think it was morally right. For those who think it evil it would be evil—it’s purely subjective. In other words, IMO the concept of morality has no meaning except as a personal judgment.
Hitler was thwarted in his goal, not because his goal was immoral...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 15, 2019:
@Bobby9 I suppose morality could somehow be defined from a universal perspective but I’m not understanding how it got that way or how it is implemented. Maybe we do have some common values that are embedded somehow.
It’s easier and simpler to understand morality as a set of bodily emotions peculiar to individuals. You could be right though.
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 15, 2019:
It would be morally right for those who think it was morally right. For those who think it evil it would be evil—it’s purely subjective. In other words, IMO the concept of morality has no meaning except as a personal judgment.
Hitler was thwarted in his goal, not because his goal was immoral...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 15, 2019:
@Bobby9 I suppose morality could somehow be defined from a universal perspective but I’m not understanding how it got that way or how it is implemented. Maybe we do have some common values that are embedded somehow.
It’s easier and simpler to understand morality as a set of bodily emotions peculiar to individuals. You could be right though.
Imagine for a moment that the concept of god never existed, that no one had ever heard of such an ...
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 13, 2019:
The video states that we are the only species that has self awareness. I don’t think that’s true.
I’m not sold on the idea that religion was developed because of fear. I suppose that could be a factor, but if I were an ancient I think I’d be more afraid of Woden, Thor and the like than of...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 15, 2019:
@nogod4me “I realize your are trying to be contrary and argumentative in order to convince yourself that you are enlightened.”
Sounds like you are pretending to be a psychiatrist. It is not a valid argument to psychoanalyze your debate opponent. You have to present arguments based on substance. Offer evidence, not your psychiatric opinion. And I don’t care how I come across to you. I am speaking from the heart. Your reaction to what I say is your problem only.
And you continue to harp about proofs. No one knows or understands universal consciousness fully, and the concept might never be understood. On the other hand, someday someone might devise experiments that bring light. Sounds like you are forbidding us to talk about universal consciousness.
When Einstein introduced his theories on evolution they were met with skepticism and even scorn. People didn’t read his papers and say, “Aha! Proof!” No, it was years before physicists were persuaded.
I will continue to think about and discuss metaphysical ideas. If those ideas disturb you maybe it is time to psychoanalyze your own self.
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 13, 2019:
The video states that we are the only species that has self awareness. I don’t think that’s true.
I’m not sold on the idea that religion was developed because of fear. I suppose that could be a factor, but if I were an ancient I think I’d be more afraid of Woden, Thor and the like than of...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 15, 2019:
@nogod4me “I realize your are trying to be contrary and argumentative in order to convince yourself that you are enlightened.”
Sounds like you are pretending to be a psychiatrist. It is not a valid argument to psychoanalyze your debate opponent. You have to present arguments based on substance. Offer evidence, not your psychiatric opinion. And I don’t care how I come across to you. I am speaking from the heart. Your reaction to what I say is your problem only.
And you continue to harp about proofs. No one knows or understands universal consciousness fully, and the concept might never be understood. On the other hand, someday someone might devise experiments that bring light. Sounds like you are forbidding us to talk about universal consciousness.
When Einstein introduced his theories on evolution they were met with skepticism and even scorn. People didn’t read his papers and say, “Aha! Proof!” No, it was years before physicists were persuaded.
I will continue to think about and discuss metaphysical ideas. If those ideas disturb you maybe it is time to psychoanalyze your own self.
Imagine for a moment that the concept of god never existed, that no one had ever heard of such an ...
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 13, 2019:
The video states that we are the only species that has self awareness. I don’t think that’s true.
I’m not sold on the idea that religion was developed because of fear. I suppose that could be a factor, but if I were an ancient I think I’d be more afraid of Woden, Thor and the like than of...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 15, 2019:
@nogod4me It would be hard to know unless you were them. You are the one who wants to have everything proven to you. The burden of proof is on you.
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 13, 2019:
The video states that we are the only species that has self awareness. I don’t think that’s true.
I’m not sold on the idea that religion was developed because of fear. I suppose that could be a factor, but if I were an ancient I think I’d be more afraid of Woden, Thor and the like than of...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 15, 2019:
@nogod4me It would be hard to know unless you were them. You are the one who wants to have everything proven to you. The burden of proof is on you.
Imagine for a moment that the concept of god never existed, that no one had ever heard of such an ...
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 13, 2019:
There’s no harm in coming up with ideas, even if they can’t be proven. Ideas sometimes develop into great inventions or deep understanding. The metaphysics of today might be the physics of tomorrow.
The problem is declaring that your idea is absolute truth, and in trying to coerce people into...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 15, 2019:
@nogod4me I am not a believer in the burden of proof concept. We are not in a courtroom and you are not sitting on a jury. The only burden, if there is one, is for each interested person to examine all the available evidence with an open mind. There’s no such thing as an airtight proof because proofs are based on assumptions and definitions, however, if you ponder the evidence you might spontaneously begin to lean toward belief or disbelief, or you might remain undecided. I have a right to bring forth whatever ideas I wish. If you are sitting there waiting for me to “prove” all my assertions you might wait until doomsday.
The concepts of belief, disbelief, time, space, matter, and existence itself are all human mind things and have no meaning from a cosmic perspective. We don’t understand conscious awareness or know from whence it arises, and therefore we have little idea what we ourselves are.
All those gods and goddesses that have been invented are obviously phantasy, but because something has been wrongly described does not necessarily invalidate that thing. Ultimate Reality beyond our symbolic sense bubble is beyond our reach and can not be understood. Yet there IS an ultimate reality.
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 13, 2019:
There’s no harm in coming up with ideas, even if they can’t be proven. Ideas sometimes develop into great inventions or deep understanding. The metaphysics of today might be the physics of tomorrow.
The problem is declaring that your idea is absolute truth, and in trying to coerce people into...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 15, 2019:
@nogod4me I am not a believer in the burden of proof concept. We are not in a courtroom and you are not sitting on a jury. The only burden, if there is one, is for each interested person to examine all the available evidence with an open mind. There’s no such thing as an airtight proof because proofs are based on assumptions and definitions, however, if you ponder the evidence you might spontaneously begin to lean toward belief or disbelief, or you might remain undecided. I have a right to bring forth whatever ideas I wish. If you are sitting there waiting for me to “prove” all my assertions you might wait until doomsday.
The concepts of belief, disbelief, time, space, matter, and existence itself are all human mind things and have no meaning from a cosmic perspective. We don’t understand conscious awareness or know from whence it arises, and therefore we have little idea what we ourselves are.
All those gods and goddesses that have been invented are obviously phantasy, but because something has been wrongly described does not necessarily invalidate that thing. Ultimate Reality beyond our symbolic sense bubble is beyond our reach and can not be understood. Yet there IS an ultimate reality.
There are no words horrendous
TheMiddleWay comments on Aug 15, 2019:
In further reading, seems to me that this doesn't apply to all federal contractor but only:
"Among other changes, this proposal is intended to make clear that the Executive Order 11246
religious exemption covers not just churches but **employers that are organized for a religious
purpose, hold ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 15, 2019:
Damn Middle, people want and need issues to yell and scream about, to embellish and lie about so they can feel secure and proud in their righteousness and justified in their hateful demonization, stereotyping and scapegoating of the others. Why are you always trying to spoil their fun?
TheMiddleWay comments on Aug 15, 2019:
In further reading, seems to me that this doesn't apply to all federal contractor but only:
"Among other changes, this proposal is intended to make clear that the Executive Order 11246
religious exemption covers not just churches but **employers that are organized for a religious
purpose, hold ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 15, 2019:
Damn Middle, people want and need issues to yell and scream about, to embellish and lie about so they can feel secure and proud in their righteousness and justified in their hateful demonization, stereotyping and scapegoating of the others. Why are you always trying to spoil their fun?
Here is a thought experiment for all those who claim that morality is subjective:
Imagine a world ...
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 15, 2019:
It would be morally right for those who think it was morally right. For those who think it evil it would be evil—it’s purely subjective. In other words, IMO the concept of morality has no meaning except as a personal judgment.
Hitler was thwarted in his goal, not because his goal was immoral...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 15, 2019:
@Bobby9 Yes, from their perspective they would be doing the correct thing. Humans do have a concept of judgment but their judgments don’t alway agree. And besides it is a mistake in logic to judge others to be evil. We are all the same IMO.
Of course if someone tried to rape and murder me I’d try to defend myself. We’d have a difference in opinion and a problem of conflicting desires.
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 15, 2019:
It would be morally right for those who think it was morally right. For those who think it evil it would be evil—it’s purely subjective. In other words, IMO the concept of morality has no meaning except as a personal judgment.
Hitler was thwarted in his goal, not because his goal was immoral...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 15, 2019:
@Bobby9 Yes, from their perspective they would be doing the correct thing. Humans do have a concept of judgment but their judgments don’t alway agree. And besides it is a mistake in logic to judge others to be evil. We are all the same IMO.
Of course if someone tried to rape and murder me I’d try to defend myself. We’d have a difference in opinion and a problem of conflicting desires.
Here is a thought experiment for all those who claim that morality is subjective:
Imagine a world ...
Happy_Killbot comments on Aug 15, 2019:
Can I imagine that? Well, yes actually on account of we killed all the other species of hominids that evolved before us, along with countless other animals, no one seems to have a problem with that.
The second question show break down between the real world example and the hypothetical begging ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 15, 2019:
Where’s all the finger-pointing when it comes to the burning alive of over a hundred thousand innocent civilians in the fire-bombing of Tokyo, Dresden, etc.? The average person has never even heard of the fire-bombing of Tokyo. Not that there SHOULD be finger-pointing—awareness though.
Happy_Killbot comments on Aug 15, 2019:
Can I imagine that? Well, yes actually on account of we killed all the other species of hominids that evolved before us, along with countless other animals, no one seems to have a problem with that.
The second question show break down between the real world example and the hypothetical begging ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 15, 2019:
Where’s all the finger-pointing when it comes to the burning alive of over a hundred thousand innocent civilians in the fire-bombing of Tokyo, Dresden, etc.? The average person has never even heard of the fire-bombing of Tokyo. Not that there SHOULD be finger-pointing—awareness though.
"Take man's most fantastic invention - God.
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 13, 2019:
A bleak world view that I don’t share.
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 15, 2019:
@nogod4me There are the primitive tribes that I referenced but I haven’t personally met any of them. It doesn’t matter whether I know them personally. They demonstrate that people can live without a monetary system. People are not sustained by money. They are sustained by goods and services, produced either by themselves or by others and obtained through trade. Trade is trade whether a monetary system is used or not.
As an accounting system money is useful not only for trading but also for storing wealth as well as for lending and borrowing.
Some wily traders accumulate large amounts of credit in their monetary account. That has little effect on the population at large. Whether the figure is a million or a trillion, it’s only a figure.
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 13, 2019:
A bleak world view that I don’t share.
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 15, 2019:
@nogod4me There are the primitive tribes that I referenced but I haven’t personally met any of them. It doesn’t matter whether I know them personally. They demonstrate that people can live without a monetary system. People are not sustained by money. They are sustained by goods and services, produced either by themselves or by others and obtained through trade. Trade is trade whether a monetary system is used or not.
As an accounting system money is useful not only for trading but also for storing wealth as well as for lending and borrowing.
Some wily traders accumulate large amounts of credit in their monetary account. That has little effect on the population at large. Whether the figure is a million or a trillion, it’s only a figure.
"Take man's most fantastic invention - God.
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 13, 2019:
A bleak world view that I don’t share.
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 14, 2019:
@nogod4me Babies, toddlers, prison inmates, old folks in nursing homes, soldiers during a battle, sailors aboard ships, those confined to mental institutions. Some primitive tribes.
https://www.virgin.com/entrepreneur/societies-survive-without-money
Money is an accounting system. Real wealth consists of goods and services and has to be produced or created.
Why do you ask?
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 13, 2019:
A bleak world view that I don’t share.
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 14, 2019:
@nogod4me Babies, toddlers, prison inmates, old folks in nursing homes, soldiers during a battle, sailors aboard ships, those confined to mental institutions. Some primitive tribes.
https://www.virgin.com/entrepreneur/societies-survive-without-money
Money is an accounting system. Real wealth consists of goods and services and has to be produced or created.
Why do you ask?
Imagine for a moment that the concept of god never existed, that no one had ever heard of such an ...
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 13, 2019:
The video states that we are the only species that has self awareness. I don’t think that’s true.
I’m not sold on the idea that religion was developed because of fear. I suppose that could be a factor, but if I were an ancient I think I’d be more afraid of Woden, Thor and the like than of...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 14, 2019:
@nogod4me
Universal Consciousness
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-consciousness-universal/
http://jcer.com/index.php/jcj/article/view/565
https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/600900
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcnews.com/mach/amp/ncna772956
https://bigthink.com/the-universe-may-be-conscious-prominent-scientists-state-2604506953.amp.html
https://www.ecstadelic.net/top-stories/the-unified-field-and-the-quantum-nature-of-consciousness?
Lest the idea of a unitary, group, or universal mind be dismissed as new-age woo-woo, we should note that some of the most distinguished scientists of the 20th century have endorsed this perspective. The renowned physicist David Bohm said, "Each person enfolds something of the spirit of the other in his consciousness. Deep down the consciousness of mankind is one. This is a virtual certainty... and if we don't see this it's because we are blinding ourselves to it." Anthropologist and psychologist Gregory Bateson: "The individual mind is immanent but not only in the body. It is immanent also in the pathways and messages outside the body; and there is a larger Mind of which the individual mind is only a sub-system..." Physicist Henry Margenau: "There is a physical reality that is in essence the same for all... [This] oneness of the all implies the universality of mind... If my conclusions are correct, each individual is part of God or part of the Universal Mind." Nobel physicist Erwin Schrodinger also believed that minds are united and one. He said, "To divide or multiply consciousness is something meaningless. There is obviously only one alternative, namely the unification of minds or consciousness... [I]n truth there is only one mind." https://www.huffpost.com/entry/spiritual-living-is-techn_n_600900
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 13, 2019:
The video states that we are the only species that has self awareness. I don’t think that’s true.
I’m not sold on the idea that religion was developed because of fear. I suppose that could be a factor, but if I were an ancient I think I’d be more afraid of Woden, Thor and the like than of...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 14, 2019:
@nogod4me
Universal Consciousness
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-consciousness-universal/
http://jcer.com/index.php/jcj/article/view/565
https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/600900
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcnews.com/mach/amp/ncna772956
https://bigthink.com/the-universe-may-be-conscious-prominent-scientists-state-2604506953.amp.html
https://www.ecstadelic.net/top-stories/the-unified-field-and-the-quantum-nature-of-consciousness?
Lest the idea of a unitary, group, or universal mind be dismissed as new-age woo-woo, we should note that some of the most distinguished scientists of the 20th century have endorsed this perspective. The renowned physicist David Bohm said, "Each person enfolds something of the spirit of the other in his consciousness. Deep down the consciousness of mankind is one. This is a virtual certainty... and if we don't see this it's because we are blinding ourselves to it." Anthropologist and psychologist Gregory Bateson: "The individual mind is immanent but not only in the body. It is immanent also in the pathways and messages outside the body; and there is a larger Mind of which the individual mind is only a sub-system..." Physicist Henry Margenau: "There is a physical reality that is in essence the same for all... [This] oneness of the all implies the universality of mind... If my conclusions are correct, each individual is part of God or part of the Universal Mind." Nobel physicist Erwin Schrodinger also believed that minds are united and one. He said, "To divide or multiply consciousness is something meaningless. There is obviously only one alternative, namely the unification of minds or consciousness... [I]n truth there is only one mind." https://www.huffpost.com/entry/spiritual-living-is-techn_n_600900
Imagine for a moment that the concept of god never existed, that no one had ever heard of such an ...
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 13, 2019:
The video states that we are the only species that has self awareness. I don’t think that’s true.
I’m not sold on the idea that religion was developed because of fear. I suppose that could be a factor, but if I were an ancient I think I’d be more afraid of Woden, Thor and the like than of...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 14, 2019:
@nogod4me I agree absolutely that Christianity is all about surviving death, but Christianity is a relative newcomer. Christianity doesn’t represent the invention of religion.
You can quote Eric Hoffer all day long and you won’t persuade me of anything—I’m no fan. I rely on my own thoughts and intuitions. Hoffer himself is a kind of fanatic, clinging with religious-like zeal to his simplistic world view.
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 13, 2019:
The video states that we are the only species that has self awareness. I don’t think that’s true.
I’m not sold on the idea that religion was developed because of fear. I suppose that could be a factor, but if I were an ancient I think I’d be more afraid of Woden, Thor and the like than of...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 14, 2019:
@nogod4me I agree absolutely that Christianity is all about surviving death, but Christianity is a relative newcomer. Christianity doesn’t represent the invention of religion.
You can quote Eric Hoffer all day long and you won’t persuade me of anything—I’m no fan. I rely on my own thoughts and intuitions. Hoffer himself is a kind of fanatic, clinging with religious-like zeal to his simplistic world view.
So, here is my personal argument against free will: I did not choose to become an atheist.
dellik comments on Aug 12, 2019:
free will has been pretty effectively disproven. we have the freedom to stop ourselves from doing something, but the choice to *do* begins before the decision making section of the brain engages. your brain takes an action, and then your 'mind' has a chance to veto... nothing more.
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 14, 2019:
The ordering of how things unfold and how we remember them is beside the point. The psychologist wanted me to engage in a demonstration by winking. I wanted to participate. That wanting to participate led to action. It was free will. However the decision was executed and however I remember it is beside the point. My conscious self turned the job over to my subconscious and the task was accomplished—a clear example of free will.
You wanted to write a response. You assigned the task to your body and voila! a response—free will in action. Your will came before anything else.
Sometimes our bodies do things automatically and sometimes our higher selves exercise free will by consciously coaxing the bodies.
dellik comments on Aug 12, 2019:
free will has been pretty effectively disproven. we have the freedom to stop ourselves from doing something, but the choice to *do* begins before the decision making section of the brain engages. your brain takes an action, and then your 'mind' has a chance to veto... nothing more.
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 14, 2019:
The ordering of how things unfold and how we remember them is beside the point. The psychologist wanted me to engage in a demonstration by winking. I wanted to participate. That wanting to participate led to action. It was free will. However the decision was executed and however I remember it is beside the point. My conscious self turned the job over to my subconscious and the task was accomplished—a clear example of free will.
You wanted to write a response. You assigned the task to your body and voila! a response—free will in action. Your will came before anything else.
Sometimes our bodies do things automatically and sometimes our higher selves exercise free will by consciously coaxing the bodies.
Children Raised Without Religion Are Kinder And More Empathetic, Study Finds
(This may have been ...
TheMiddleWay comments on Aug 13, 2019:
Tons of problems with the study; here is a very detailed analysis of why:
https://wmbriggs.com/post/17238/
And why it was retracted early this month: ;)
https://wmbriggs.com/post/27817/
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 13, 2019:
@Pamscwf1 Here’s your retraction:
https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(19)30875-9
TheMiddleWay comments on Aug 13, 2019:
Tons of problems with the study; here is a very detailed analysis of why:
https://wmbriggs.com/post/17238/
And why it was retracted early this month: ;)
https://wmbriggs.com/post/27817/
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 13, 2019:
@Pamscwf1 Here’s your retraction:
https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(19)30875-9
Children Raised Without Religion Are Kinder And More Empathetic, Study Finds
(This may have been ...
TheMiddleWay comments on Aug 13, 2019:
Tons of problems with the study; here is a very detailed analysis of why:
https://wmbriggs.com/post/17238/
And why it was retracted early this month: ;)
https://wmbriggs.com/post/27817/
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 13, 2019:
@Pamscwf1 Briggs seems to have great credentials, both in statistics and climatology.
https://www.independent.org/aboutus/person_detail.asp?id=3898
TheMiddleWay comments on Aug 13, 2019:
Tons of problems with the study; here is a very detailed analysis of why:
https://wmbriggs.com/post/17238/
And why it was retracted early this month: ;)
https://wmbriggs.com/post/27817/
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 13, 2019:
@Pamscwf1 Briggs seems to have great credentials, both in statistics and climatology.
https://www.independent.org/aboutus/person_detail.asp?id=3898
Imagine for a moment that the concept of god never existed, that no one had ever heard of such an ...
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 13, 2019:
The video states that we are the only species that has self awareness. I don’t think that’s true.
I’m not sold on the idea that religion was developed because of fear. I suppose that could be a factor, but if I were an ancient I think I’d be more afraid of Woden, Thor and the like than of...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 13, 2019:
@nogod4me I was just thinking that In European mythology only the gods and goddesses were immortal for the most part. That would preclude fear of death as a reason for inventing those gods and goddesses wouldn’t it? For that matter I’m not sure if the Old Testament is all that clear about an afterlife for everyone. I’m no bible scholar though.
So far as self-renunciation, that sounds like Hindu philosophy. Self-renunciation would give scant comfort to anyone hoping to be whisked off to heaven, retaining their current sense of personhood with their unique memories and personal characteristics. A person who renounces the self has come to the realization that the thing he thought was himself is nothing at all and that what he thought was “his” conscious awareness did not belong to him but is universal. Of course there is comfort in thinking that conscious awareness is primary and indestructible I suppose, and that by identifying with that at least the only vital part of our selves lives on—was not born and can not die.
Just because a metaphysical idea brings joy and comfort doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s false. I feel drawn to the Hindu philosophy and if it gives me pleasure to think about, what of it?
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 13, 2019:
The video states that we are the only species that has self awareness. I don’t think that’s true.
I’m not sold on the idea that religion was developed because of fear. I suppose that could be a factor, but if I were an ancient I think I’d be more afraid of Woden, Thor and the like than of...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 13, 2019:
@nogod4me I was just thinking that In European mythology only the gods and goddesses were immortal for the most part. That would preclude fear of death as a reason for inventing those gods and goddesses wouldn’t it? For that matter I’m not sure if the Old Testament is all that clear about an afterlife for everyone. I’m no bible scholar though.
So far as self-renunciation, that sounds like Hindu philosophy. Self-renunciation would give scant comfort to anyone hoping to be whisked off to heaven, retaining their current sense of personhood with their unique memories and personal characteristics. A person who renounces the self has come to the realization that the thing he thought was himself is nothing at all and that what he thought was “his” conscious awareness did not belong to him but is universal. Of course there is comfort in thinking that conscious awareness is primary and indestructible I suppose, and that by identifying with that at least the only vital part of our selves lives on—was not born and can not die.
Just because a metaphysical idea brings joy and comfort doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s false. I feel drawn to the Hindu philosophy and if it gives me pleasure to think about, what of it?
So, here is my personal argument against free will: I did not choose to become an atheist.
dellik comments on Aug 12, 2019:
free will has been pretty effectively disproven. we have the freedom to stop ourselves from doing something, but the choice to *do* begins before the decision making section of the brain engages. your brain takes an action, and then your 'mind' has a chance to veto... nothing more.
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 13, 2019:
@dellik I know, but it is a mistake to think of a person as a unified single agent. In that first example the conscious self decides to wink. That is the free will part of the process. How and if that directive is carried out is left to the subconscious mind/body.
Compare it to an infantry captain ordering his company to open fire. He tells his clerk to call the platoons and relay his order. The word gets passed down through the chain of command to the men with the weapons. They in turn have to get into position, load and aim before they fire. The captain is not the one who fires so he can’t say exactly when the firing will commence or which platoon will fire first. His order might in fact be superseded by conditions unknown to him, for example, there could be friendlies down range. In that case he would be informed later. If you consider the company as a single “thing” then because of the time delay you would think that the company has no free will. The commander however certainly has power to initiate action. It’s just that there are limitations to his power.
My conscious self has power to initiate bodily action, but it has to nudge the body into action. The body is a robot with no consciousness and no free will, but it can function by itself as on autopilot. The conscious self has only limited control. It works with and influences the body.
dellik comments on Aug 12, 2019:
free will has been pretty effectively disproven. we have the freedom to stop ourselves from doing something, but the choice to *do* begins before the decision making section of the brain engages. your brain takes an action, and then your 'mind' has a chance to veto... nothing more.
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 13, 2019:
@dellik I know, but it is a mistake to think of a person as a unified single agent. In that first example the conscious self decides to wink. That is the free will part of the process. How and if that directive is carried out is left to the subconscious mind/body.
Compare it to an infantry captain ordering his company to open fire. He tells his clerk to call the platoons and relay his order. The word gets passed down through the chain of command to the men with the weapons. They in turn have to get into position, load and aim before they fire. The captain is not the one who fires so he can’t say exactly when the firing will commence or which platoon will fire first. His order might in fact be superseded by conditions unknown to him, for example, there could be friendlies down range. In that case he would be informed later. If you consider the company as a single “thing” then because of the time delay you would think that the company has no free will. The commander however certainly has power to initiate action. It’s just that there are limitations to his power.
My conscious self has power to initiate bodily action, but it has to nudge the body into action. The body is a robot with no consciousness and no free will, but it can function by itself as on autopilot. The conscious self has only limited control. It works with and influences the body.
Agnostic vs Atheist
Sorry to rake up this seemingly old one up again but there have been so many ...
IAJO163 comments on Aug 13, 2019:
I love these conversations. Sometimes I get into debates with church folk who fear that what I say will make them dissolve into dust if the listen to me. They adamantly push their opinions and beliefs on me as if being inn their presence is something that I should hold onto. I tell them the same ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 13, 2019:
Well said! I agree.
IAJO163 comments on Aug 13, 2019:
I love these conversations. Sometimes I get into debates with church folk who fear that what I say will make them dissolve into dust if the listen to me. They adamantly push their opinions and beliefs on me as if being inn their presence is something that I should hold onto. I tell them the same ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 13, 2019:
Well said! I agree.
Students at private schools consistently outperform those who attend public schools according to ...
AlPastor comments on Aug 13, 2019:
Regarding the source. The purpose of CAPE and similar organizations is laid out in this article-
https://www.au.org/church-state/september-2010-church-state/featured/sneak-attack
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 13, 2019:
That article is mainly about DeVos and church schools. CAPE has been around since 1971. Similar in what ways?
AlPastor comments on Aug 13, 2019:
Regarding the source. The purpose of CAPE and similar organizations is laid out in this article-
https://www.au.org/church-state/september-2010-church-state/featured/sneak-attack
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 13, 2019:
That article is mainly about DeVos and church schools. CAPE has been around since 1971. Similar in what ways?
So, here is my personal argument against free will: I did not choose to become an atheist.
dellik comments on Aug 12, 2019:
free will has been pretty effectively disproven. we have the freedom to stop ourselves from doing something, but the choice to *do* begins before the decision making section of the brain engages. your brain takes an action, and then your 'mind' has a chance to veto... nothing more.
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 12, 2019:
IMO those demonstrations can be understood without demolishing the concept of free will. The decision (act of will) was made before the experiment began. The conscious self just doesn’t know the precise time of action. Most of out brain activity is subconscious.
dellik comments on Aug 12, 2019:
free will has been pretty effectively disproven. we have the freedom to stop ourselves from doing something, but the choice to *do* begins before the decision making section of the brain engages. your brain takes an action, and then your 'mind' has a chance to veto... nothing more.
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 12, 2019:
IMO those demonstrations can be understood without demolishing the concept of free will. The decision (act of will) was made before the experiment began. The conscious self just doesn’t know the precise time of action. Most of out brain activity is subconscious.
Huffpost has written an excellent series (three parts thus far) dealing with the problematic state ...
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 10, 2019:
I don’t think those religious schools are “paid for” by taxpayers. Rather they sometimes receive some indirect support from taxpayers through the voucher program.
https://www.edchoice.org/school_choice_faqs/are-school-choice-programs-legal/
School vouchers can legally be used for ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 12, 2019:
@Heathenman You could be right but there’s something about the article that sets off alarms in my brain. It sounds like political propaganda. There are other studies that show that graduates from Protestant schools outperform those from public schools and are on a par with those from Catholic schools.
There is currently a huge propaganda campaign against “evangelicals” and this article mirrors that campaign. It’s based on false assumptions and definitions.
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 10, 2019:
I don’t think those religious schools are “paid for” by taxpayers. Rather they sometimes receive some indirect support from taxpayers through the voucher program.
https://www.edchoice.org/school_choice_faqs/are-school-choice-programs-legal/
School vouchers can legally be used for ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 12, 2019:
@Heathenman You could be right but there’s something about the article that sets off alarms in my brain. It sounds like political propaganda. There are other studies that show that graduates from Protestant schools outperform those from public schools and are on a par with those from Catholic schools.
There is currently a huge propaganda campaign against “evangelicals” and this article mirrors that campaign. It’s based on false assumptions and definitions.
I came across an older opinion piece by Graham Lawton (Executive Editor of 'New Scientist') and ...
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 8, 2019:
Atheism per se is not a religion, but many people who call themselves atheists have a materialist/reductionist world view not supported by science to which they cling with a religious-like fervor.
Not believing in religious dogma is such a trivial thing. I don’t understand making that your ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 12, 2019:
@yvilletom I have no quarrel with your response except that I would like to say that according to quantum gravity theory particles of matter are not “things”—they are interactions between covariant fields. Time is described as a human illusion and has no place in ultimate reality beyond the senses. Space is not the smooth infinite expanse that we take it to be, rather it is composed of a finite number of granules of planck length size.
If quantum gravity turns out to be correct the very meaning of existence is an enigma and any question about creation or immortality is meaningless. Maybe you can begin to understand my bewilderment.
Add to this the fact that no one alive understands conscious awareness—how it arises or even what it is. Because conscious awareness is so intimately tied to what we are, I am forced to conclude that I don’t even know who or what I myself am. Personal identity is indeed a very profound enigma.
Despite all this bewilderment, I must say that I am bewildered in a very pleasant way. We humans are in almost total darkness, but it is a dazzling darkness, full of promise and hope, eliciting great awe and reverence.
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 8, 2019:
Atheism per se is not a religion, but many people who call themselves atheists have a materialist/reductionist world view not supported by science to which they cling with a religious-like fervor.
Not believing in religious dogma is such a trivial thing. I don’t understand making that your ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 12, 2019:
@yvilletom I have no quarrel with your response except that I would like to say that according to quantum gravity theory particles of matter are not “things”—they are interactions between covariant fields. Time is described as a human illusion and has no place in ultimate reality beyond the senses. Space is not the smooth infinite expanse that we take it to be, rather it is composed of a finite number of granules of planck length size.
If quantum gravity turns out to be correct the very meaning of existence is an enigma and any question about creation or immortality is meaningless. Maybe you can begin to understand my bewilderment.
Add to this the fact that no one alive understands conscious awareness—how it arises or even what it is. Because conscious awareness is so intimately tied to what we are, I am forced to conclude that I don’t even know who or what I myself am. Personal identity is indeed a very profound enigma.
Despite all this bewilderment, I must say that I am bewildered in a very pleasant way. We humans are in almost total darkness, but it is a dazzling darkness, full of promise and hope, eliciting great awe and reverence.
Huffpost has written an excellent series (three parts thus far) dealing with the problematic state ...
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 10, 2019:
I don’t think those religious schools are “paid for” by taxpayers. Rather they sometimes receive some indirect support from taxpayers through the voucher program.
https://www.edchoice.org/school_choice_faqs/are-school-choice-programs-legal/
School vouchers can legally be used for ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 12, 2019:
@avron I was just relaying what I found when I googled, not really knowing much about the site.
It is often determined through cost-benefit analysis that it is cheaper and more effective for government agencies to contract for certain services. It’s not a black/white issue.
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 10, 2019:
I don’t think those religious schools are “paid for” by taxpayers. Rather they sometimes receive some indirect support from taxpayers through the voucher program.
https://www.edchoice.org/school_choice_faqs/are-school-choice-programs-legal/
School vouchers can legally be used for ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 12, 2019:
@avron I was just relaying what I found when I googled, not really knowing much about the site.
It is often determined through cost-benefit analysis that it is cheaper and more effective for government agencies to contract for certain services. It’s not a black/white issue.
Huffpost has written an excellent series (three parts thus far) dealing with the problematic state ...
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 10, 2019:
I don’t think those religious schools are “paid for” by taxpayers. Rather they sometimes receive some indirect support from taxpayers through the voucher program.
https://www.edchoice.org/school_choice_faqs/are-school-choice-programs-legal/
School vouchers can legally be used for ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 12, 2019:
@avron, @Heathenman
“What the Research Says
Researchers have conducted 42 analyses on the fiscal effects of private school choice programs. All but three found these programs generated net fiscal savings overall for taxpayers, and the other three found the programs were revenue-neutral for taxpayers.
What each analysis has found is that public schools have some fixed costs, but most of their costs are variable, meaning costs are reduced when students leave the same way costs increase when new students enroll. That was true long before school choice programs existed, and it will continue to be.”
[edchoice.org]
In most cases private schools provide superior education. A lot of public schools are failing under a morass of red tape and bureaucracy.
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 10, 2019:
I don’t think those religious schools are “paid for” by taxpayers. Rather they sometimes receive some indirect support from taxpayers through the voucher program.
https://www.edchoice.org/school_choice_faqs/are-school-choice-programs-legal/
School vouchers can legally be used for ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 12, 2019:
@avron, @Heathenman
“What the Research Says
Researchers have conducted 42 analyses on the fiscal effects of private school choice programs. All but three found these programs generated net fiscal savings overall for taxpayers, and the other three found the programs were revenue-neutral for taxpayers.
What each analysis has found is that public schools have some fixed costs, but most of their costs are variable, meaning costs are reduced when students leave the same way costs increase when new students enroll. That was true long before school choice programs existed, and it will continue to be.”
[edchoice.org]
In most cases private schools provide superior education. A lot of public schools are failing under a morass of red tape and bureaucracy.
Huffpost has written an excellent series (three parts thus far) dealing with the problematic state ...
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 10, 2019:
I don’t think those religious schools are “paid for” by taxpayers. Rather they sometimes receive some indirect support from taxpayers through the voucher program.
https://www.edchoice.org/school_choice_faqs/are-school-choice-programs-legal/
School vouchers can legally be used for ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 12, 2019:
@avron
“What the Research Says
Researchers have conducted 42 analyses on the fiscal effects of private school choice programs. All but three found these programs generated net fiscal savings overall for taxpayers, and the other three found the programs were revenue-neutral for taxpayers.
What each analysis has found is that public schools have some fixed costs, but most of their costs are variable, meaning costs are reduced when students leave the same way costs increase when new students enroll. That was true long before school choice programs existed, and it will continue to be.”
https://www.edchoice.org/school_choice_faqs/how-does-school-choice-affect-public-schools-funding-and-resources/
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 10, 2019:
I don’t think those religious schools are “paid for” by taxpayers. Rather they sometimes receive some indirect support from taxpayers through the voucher program.
https://www.edchoice.org/school_choice_faqs/are-school-choice-programs-legal/
School vouchers can legally be used for ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 12, 2019:
@avron
“What the Research Says
Researchers have conducted 42 analyses on the fiscal effects of private school choice programs. All but three found these programs generated net fiscal savings overall for taxpayers, and the other three found the programs were revenue-neutral for taxpayers.
What each analysis has found is that public schools have some fixed costs, but most of their costs are variable, meaning costs are reduced when students leave the same way costs increase when new students enroll. That was true long before school choice programs existed, and it will continue to be.”
https://www.edchoice.org/school_choice_faqs/how-does-school-choice-affect-public-schools-funding-and-resources/
The vicissitudes of naming places.
242Foxtrot comments on Aug 11, 2019:
In each case, the city was renamed following a significant political event. They are well documented if you want to look it up.
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 12, 2019:
@PontifexMarximus Easy. The local people wanted the name back the way it was in the days of their ancestors for hundreds of years. Who gets to decide what to name a city? Is it the local residents or is it some ideologues far away?
242Foxtrot comments on Aug 11, 2019:
In each case, the city was renamed following a significant political event. They are well documented if you want to look it up.
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 12, 2019:
@PontifexMarximus Easy. The local people wanted the name back the way it was in the days of their ancestors for hundreds of years. Who gets to decide what to name a city? Is it the local residents or is it some ideologues far away?
The vicissitudes of naming places.
heymoe2001 comments on Aug 12, 2019:
In Tulsa, OK they are renaming streets and buildings that once referred to men who were historically significant in the town but now must be erased because they may or may not have been racists.
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 12, 2019:
I’m waiting for the renaming of anything connected with Benjamin Franklin, a known trader of slaves.
It might be a very very long wait.
heymoe2001 comments on Aug 12, 2019:
In Tulsa, OK they are renaming streets and buildings that once referred to men who were historically significant in the town but now must be erased because they may or may not have been racists.
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 12, 2019:
I’m waiting for the renaming of anything connected with Benjamin Franklin, a known trader of slaves.
It might be a very very long wait.
Huffpost has written an excellent series (three parts thus far) dealing with the problematic state ...
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 10, 2019:
I don’t think those religious schools are “paid for” by taxpayers. Rather they sometimes receive some indirect support from taxpayers through the voucher program.
https://www.edchoice.org/school_choice_faqs/are-school-choice-programs-legal/
School vouchers can legally be used for ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 12, 2019:
@avron Every student who attends a private school is a student who does not have to be educated by the public school system, resulting in a cost savings for the public school system. Vouchers BTW are only supplements and are not enough to fully pay for private schooling.
In many cases the public schools are failing but parents are forced to pay taxes to support those failing schools whether they are useable or not. Vouchers seem fair to me.
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 10, 2019:
I don’t think those religious schools are “paid for” by taxpayers. Rather they sometimes receive some indirect support from taxpayers through the voucher program.
https://www.edchoice.org/school_choice_faqs/are-school-choice-programs-legal/
School vouchers can legally be used for ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 12, 2019:
@avron Every student who attends a private school is a student who does not have to be educated by the public school system, resulting in a cost savings for the public school system. Vouchers BTW are only supplements and are not enough to fully pay for private schooling.
In many cases the public schools are failing but parents are forced to pay taxes to support those failing schools whether they are useable or not. Vouchers seem fair to me.
Huffpost has written an excellent series (three parts thus far) dealing with the problematic state ...
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 10, 2019:
I don’t think those religious schools are “paid for” by taxpayers. Rather they sometimes receive some indirect support from taxpayers through the voucher program.
https://www.edchoice.org/school_choice_faqs/are-school-choice-programs-legal/
School vouchers can legally be used for ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 11, 2019:
@BookDeath Some of the religious schools have very high standards and produce high quality graduates. Albert Einstein attended a Catholic School.
Often the very reason that parents choose a private school is that the public schools are failing.
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 10, 2019:
I don’t think those religious schools are “paid for” by taxpayers. Rather they sometimes receive some indirect support from taxpayers through the voucher program.
https://www.edchoice.org/school_choice_faqs/are-school-choice-programs-legal/
School vouchers can legally be used for ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 11, 2019:
@BookDeath Some of the religious schools have very high standards and produce high quality graduates. Albert Einstein attended a Catholic School.
Often the very reason that parents choose a private school is that the public schools are failing.
Huffpost has written an excellent series (three parts thus far) dealing with the problematic state ...
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 10, 2019:
I don’t think those religious schools are “paid for” by taxpayers. Rather they sometimes receive some indirect support from taxpayers through the voucher program.
https://www.edchoice.org/school_choice_faqs/are-school-choice-programs-legal/
School vouchers can legally be used for ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 10, 2019:
@Triphid Now that definitely sounds unfair. I’m surprised there hasn’t been rebellion. Does the Catholic Church have a lot of political power there?
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 10, 2019:
I don’t think those religious schools are “paid for” by taxpayers. Rather they sometimes receive some indirect support from taxpayers through the voucher program.
https://www.edchoice.org/school_choice_faqs/are-school-choice-programs-legal/
School vouchers can legally be used for ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 10, 2019:
@Triphid Now that definitely sounds unfair. I’m surprised there hasn’t been rebellion. Does the Catholic Church have a lot of political power there?
Agnostic and More
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 10, 2019:
Everything is natural, but there really is an ultimate reality beyond the world of our senses, call it what you wish. In our everyday lives all we ever really experience is our own nervous system. We create our own dream world and that dream world is actually what is nebulous and supernatural. ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 10, 2019:
@jlynn37 The realization has been enmeshed in physics for a long time and has become universally understood. Beginning with Maxwells equations and then Einstein’s theories and quantum mechanics physics has become thoroughly comfortable with the idea.
Max Planck said in 1944, "As a man who has devoted his whole life to the most clear headed science, to the study of matter, I can tell you as a result of my research about atoms this much: There is no matter as such. All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force which brings the particle of an atom to vibration and holds this most minute solar system of the atom together. We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent mind. This mind is the matrix of all matter".
The point is hammered home thoroughly in “Reality is not What it Seems” by physicist Carlo Rovelli. One of the chapters is entitled “Time Does not Exist” or something like that. Any questions about creation or immortality are meaningless from a cosmic perspective, so that’s why I said ultimate reality is enduring.
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 10, 2019:
Everything is natural, but there really is an ultimate reality beyond the world of our senses, call it what you wish. In our everyday lives all we ever really experience is our own nervous system. We create our own dream world and that dream world is actually what is nebulous and supernatural. ...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 10, 2019:
@jlynn37 The realization has been enmeshed in physics for a long time and has become universally understood. Beginning with Maxwells equations and then Einstein’s theories and quantum mechanics physics has become thoroughly comfortable with the idea.
Max Planck said in 1944, "As a man who has devoted his whole life to the most clear headed science, to the study of matter, I can tell you as a result of my research about atoms this much: There is no matter as such. All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force which brings the particle of an atom to vibration and holds this most minute solar system of the atom together. We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent mind. This mind is the matrix of all matter".
The point is hammered home thoroughly in “Reality is not What it Seems” by physicist Carlo Rovelli. One of the chapters is entitled “Time Does not Exist” or something like that. Any questions about creation or immortality are meaningless from a cosmic perspective, so that’s why I said ultimate reality is enduring.
Walmart pulls violent game displays, will still sell guns
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 9, 2019:
The guns that Walmart sells are strictly hunting rifles and shotguns. They have long stopped selling the AR15 style rifles with large-capacity magazines. And If I remember correctly they no longer sell pistols.
...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 10, 2019:
@SeaGreenEyez I don’t think it is correct to use apologia or apology in the sense you are talking about as anything other than a noun, and then only as a word for a formal written defense of one’s position.
Regardless, if someone wants a part time job and Walmart wants to hire them it is no one else’s business, and their having a part time job does not cost the taxpayers a solitary dime. If anything it is SAVING the taxpayers because having income means that whatever SNAP they receive might be reduced.
https://www.incharge.org/debt-relief/snap-food-stamps-how-to-qualify-apply-and-how-much-benefit/
What costs the taxpayers money is the horde of government workers with plush union jobs. Many of those jobs contribute nothing to society.
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 9, 2019:
The guns that Walmart sells are strictly hunting rifles and shotguns. They have long stopped selling the AR15 style rifles with large-capacity magazines. And If I remember correctly they no longer sell pistols.
...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 10, 2019:
@SeaGreenEyez I don’t think it is correct to use apologia or apology in the sense you are talking about as anything other than a noun, and then only as a word for a formal written defense of one’s position.
Regardless, if someone wants a part time job and Walmart wants to hire them it is no one else’s business, and their having a part time job does not cost the taxpayers a solitary dime. If anything it is SAVING the taxpayers because having income means that whatever SNAP they receive might be reduced.
https://www.incharge.org/debt-relief/snap-food-stamps-how-to-qualify-apply-and-how-much-benefit/
What costs the taxpayers money is the horde of government workers with plush union jobs. Many of those jobs contribute nothing to society.
Walmart pulls violent game displays, will still sell guns
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 9, 2019:
The guns that Walmart sells are strictly hunting rifles and shotguns. They have long stopped selling the AR15 style rifles with large-capacity magazines. And If I remember correctly they no longer sell pistols.
...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 10, 2019:
@SeaGreenEyez Thanks, I apologize. :-)
WilliamFleming comments on Aug 9, 2019:
The guns that Walmart sells are strictly hunting rifles and shotguns. They have long stopped selling the AR15 style rifles with large-capacity magazines. And If I remember correctly they no longer sell pistols.
...
WilliamFleming replies on Aug 10, 2019:
@SeaGreenEyez Thanks, I apologize. :-)
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