131–140 of 184 posts
Math people seem to have this more than other engineering/science etc ; math, and this is actual bloody Godel, seems so perfect and beautiful that is has to have a creator. Everything else is incredibly sloppy (including most software).
> His rationale for belief in an afterlife is this: > If the world is rationally organised and has meaning, then it must be the case. For what sort of a meaning would it have to bring about a being (the human being) with such a wide field of possibilities for personal development and relationships to others, only then to let him achieve not even 1/1,000th of it? Far from my petty mind to challenge a great thinker lik…
> I wonder what Gödel would think about modern AI. He’d probably think what rational people think - it’s software and has no intelligence, no purpose, no meaning on its own.
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> I wonder what Gödel would think about modern AI. He’d probably think what rational people think - it’s software and has no intelligence, no purpose, no meaning on its own.
Though comparing GPT4 and people taking the LSAT, GPT4 has a purpose - it was built to answer questions, whereas the people - I don't know. Also GPT beats 90% of the humans on the test. To say the humans are intelligent and GPT not seems a bit speciesist;)
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Maybe this is just semantics, but the statement, "I believe my wife loves me," would necessarily be grounded in nothing? Or is that not belief?
That’s not belief. Either your wife loves you (good for you) or she does not (hooray for me). She’ll let you know, either way, so there’s no need for belief here.
I rather like to believe that the universe is infinite[1], and that the laws of physics change imperceptibly across long distances, meaning that our observable part has properties that helped life, and intelligent life, evolve[2]. There does seem to be a compelling negentropic "urge" present at almost every level of physical reality, that complexity accretes over time in a manner that almost seems designed[3]. This i…
The fun thing about infinite is that it means there are an infinite number of planets with you in it typing exactly this post.
In truth, I'm quite happy with the physical laws we have. It means that we are protected by a strong natural barrier. It gives us time to figure out how to become a great civilization without interference of a conqueror. Odds are against us[2], of course, but that need not stop us from giving it the old college try!
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Yes. Belief is grounded in nothing - hence it is belief. One could believe in moon Nazis, or Bigfoot, or god - without a shred of evidence for any of them. Knowledge is based upon rationale and testable hypotheses.
Belief that you exist, belief that free will exists, belief that others have consciousness, belief in human rights.
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Is this to say that you possess necessarily accurate knowledge about the objectively true status on an afterlife, or is this more so just standard culture war rhetoric?
The most accurate thing we can say is that no one knows what happens to consciousness after death. The evidence we have, like NDEs, doesn't support a continuation of consciousness beyond bodily disintegration.
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> He was/is correct about many things, but not about the afterlife. What method did you use to objectively determine whether there is an afterlife, in a manner that is impossible to be incorrect? > And if you have been told all your life that is reality and you 'saw' it, why question it? You arrived at this extremely popular yet epistemically unsound "fact" entirely independently did you?
> entirely independently did you? And you? Your past comments show you are religious and as such there is no point of replying with much else than this.
And me what?
> Your past comments show...
Do you play any role in this "showing" phenomenon, human not at all prone to cognitive error?
> ...you are religious...
Indeed I am - have you any interest in which religion I practice/ Because it matters.
> ...and as such there is no point of replying with much else than this.
Do you present (or even better: perceive) this as an opinion, or as a fact?
If a fact: from what source do you derive your omniscient knowledge of What Is?
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> You seem to be a person of faith, there's no arguing with people of faith. Can you describe the methodology you used to determine that this is necessarily true, with zero exceptions? > I just understand the limits of what we can actually know... Ah, a perfectly rational human....this is like the 50th or so I've encountered this week! Careful...faith is fundamental to human consciousness, and cultures, it comes in a…
my apologies, you came in late, i'm on the other side (your side) of this debate, I was debating a rationalist, using the subterfuge of pointing out the religion that is materialism. some material that was getting downvoted was removed
edit: wait a minute....wtf am I quoting from here? None of what I quoted now exists, yet there's no edit indicator on your comment....hmmmmm.
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It means there's a meditation that is supposed to provide direct spiritual realisation. As this involved a transformation of consciousness, it was known as alchemy - change. However, historically the instructions were kept secret and shared using coded language. All that philosophers stone business, changing lead into gold etc. But they were just symbols which basically refer to sexual energy and consciousness. Here'…
I read the Wikipedia article on this and it seems to suggest meditation can lead miracles like telekinesis: "Hearing this, I mentally repeated the mantra, I noticed that my breathing was getting heavier. Suddenly, I felt a great impact of a rising force within me. The intensity of this rising kundalini force was so tremendous that my body lifted up a little and fell flat into the aisle; my eyeglasses flew off. As I l…
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8417526/
Psychologists have accepted the experience as real. The American Psychiatric Association added a diagnostic category for religious or spiritual problems some time ago.