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Marshall Brain has died

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Re: Marshall Brain has died

#111

Post by panoply220 »

thr0waway001 wrote: post #109

Oh man. Sad to hear that. I remember in the early '2000s before Wikipedia printing out those tutorials to read before I'd take these long bus rides out of town to work at the meat (slaughter) plant. I was trying to educate myself so I would not have to work at the meat plant for long. That job kinda sucked but at least it got my mind straight. I was debating whether or not to save up for college. Working there for a…

Wow, thanks for sharing this story! As a long time friend of Marshall’s it’s fascinating to hear folks share their encounters with his work.

What are you up to now?

Re: Marshall Brain has died

#112

Post by sd8f9iu »

yrral wrote: post #19

Wow, when I was a kid back in the early 2000s, howstuffworks was my favorite website. I bet I read every article on how various things work (there were many hundreds). I found that the knowledge from that website helped me understand how everything in the world worked and satisfied my curious mind. I attribute my knack for understanding new things and fixing things to this website. Back then, the site was clean and h…

Same story for me. I got into electronics as a kid, and he had articles on how components such as the capacitor worked[1]. It opened up a whole new world for me. Sad news to hear.

[1] Which is still incredibly up: https://electronics.howstuffworks.com/capacitor.htm

Re: Marshall Brain has died

#113

Post by vineyardmike »

robertlagrant wrote: post #74
vineyardmike wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is innovation and sharing mutually exclusive?

They aren't. But for full sharing to occur every time you invented anything you'd have to stop inventing until the population of the world had one.

What? How does that make sense?

Is that genuinely what you think sharing means? Everyone everywhere has everything? Obviously that’s not the case. And even if it was, why can’t independent inventors create thing in the meantime?

Have you heard anyone genuinely espouse this view? Is this what you think socialized healthcare means too? Everyone gets the exact same medical procedure at the same time too?

Just be clear, that’s not even what “communism” is. This feels like a misinformed understanding of “sharing” based on American propaganda. That’s just American propaganda derived from Soviet era rationing. Read the story this thread is about first.

Re: Marshall Brain has died

#114

Post by WorkerBee28474 »

slfnflctd wrote: post #101
WorkerBee28474 wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It may not exactly be the most highbrow philosophical or theological treatise you've ever encountered It's worse than that, it's bad theology on a topic that has been discussed for millennia.

I've studied a fair amount theology, it was my original college major. I am aware of this. The most salient point he made as far as I'm concerned is that there are very specific claims made throughout the Bible and other Christian literature about what exactly prayer does-- and there is an overwhelming amount of evidence that many if not most of those particular claims are false. I am not opposed to people praying, a…

> there is an overwhelming amount of evidence that many if not most of those particular claims are false

Most, but not all, of these claims are, theologically, untestable.

Here's an analogy: Would you find a guy walking down the street, ask him to take part in your science experiment measuring how high guys can jump, hear him say "no I don't want to take part", then conclude that because he did not jump for you he is unable to jump? You wouldn't. In fact, you might get disciplined by your university's ethics review board for experimentation without consent. In the same way, for most tests, the Bible says that God does not want to be tested. You should assume that your unwilling test subject will not cooperate, or even work to frustrate, your tests.

The talk about observations over longer times can seem persuasive. I think an analog would be hiring a PI to tail the unwilling guy test subject for years. But if you don't see him jump in 5 years, does that mean he can't? What more if he knows you're following him and that you want to see him jump, is years of not jumping valid evidence then? That's not evidence at all, much less overwhelming evidence.

Re: Marshall Brain has died

#115

Post by CoastalCoder »

slfnflctd wrote: post #101
WorkerBee28474 wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It may not exactly be the most highbrow philosophical or theological treatise you've ever encountered It's worse than that, it's bad theology on a topic that has been discussed for millennia.

I've studied a fair amount theology, it was my original college major. I am aware of this. The most salient point he made as far as I'm concerned is that there are very specific claims made throughout the Bible and other Christian literature about what exactly prayer does-- and there is an overwhelming amount of evidence that many if not most of those particular claims are false. I am not opposed to people praying, a…

As an agnostic, this is a topic that greatly interests me.

One challenge I've found in navigating this is determining the extent to which (interpretation from an untrained but intelligent layperson) == (interpretation from someone with a lot more historical, linguistic, and theological training).

I.e., how much research is needed before one can reasonably conclude that the "promise" being evaluated isn't just a straw man.

Re: Marshall Brain has died

#116

Post by gus_massa »

monocasa wrote: post #53
gus_massa wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The hairless apes that are in charge have a very long and consistent history of power abuse. [spoiler alert] Everyone has a remote kill switch in their spinal cord. Once the goverment decides to be evil, any rebel will get their legs instructed to walk to a pea facility for "reeducation". Compared to this scenario, 1984 is almost as optimistic as Equilibrium.

Which is why there wasn't really a set of hairless apes that were in charge. They had a fully direct democracy.

Who selects the questions people vote? What happens when they get something like this in the screen in the middle of a football match:

> We have preliminary evidence that XYZ is a terrorist and we are sending him to a nice special house with a swimming pool to protect everyone until the investigation finishes. [OK] [Ask me later]

Re: Marshall Brain has died

#117

Post by WorkerBee28474 »

CoastalCoder wrote: post #115
slfnflctd wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've studied a fair amount theology, it was my original college major. I am aware of this. The most salient point he made as far as I'm concerned is that there are very specific claims made throughout the Bible and other Christian literature about what exactly prayer does-- and there is an overwhelming amount of evidence that many if not most of those particular claims are false. I am not opposed to people praying, a…

As an agnostic, this is a topic that greatly interests me. One challenge I've found in navigating this is determining the extent to which (interpretation from an untrained but intelligent layperson) == (interpretation from someone with a lot more historical, linguistic, and theological training). I.e., how much research is needed before one can reasonably conclude that the "promise" being evaluated isn't just a straw…

You could reach out to someone with knowledge in that area and ask to talk. Like a theology professor, nerdy pastor, or even a local Jesuit.

Re: Marshall Brain has died

#118

Post by rafram »

goodmunky wrote: post #22

He was 63 and wrote this a few years ago, “You’ve Had Your Turn –The Case for Euthanizing Everyone at Age 65” https://marshallbrain.com/youve-had-your-turn-the-case-for-e...

His premise seems to be that life past 65 averages out to suffering and a slow decline toward death, which I think many active and happy older people (who don’t wish to be killed!) would argue is very mistaken.

Misanthropic environmentalism isn’t environmentalism at all. Environmentalism designed by humans should be good for humans, not give them scheduled death dates.

Re: Marshall Brain has died

#119

Post by CoastalCoder »

WorkerBee28474 wrote: post #117
CoastalCoder wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an agnostic, this is a topic that greatly interests me. One challenge I've found in navigating this is determining the extent to which (interpretation from an untrained but intelligent layperson) == (interpretation from someone with a lot more historical, linguistic, and theological training). I.e., how much research is needed before one can reasonably conclude that the "promise" being evaluated isn't just a straw…

You could reach out to someone with knowledge in that area and ask to talk. Like a theology professor, nerdy pastor, or even a local Jesuit.

Yup, that's my m.o.

Let's hear it for 3-hour breakfast convos at a local greasy spoon :)

Re: Marshall Brain has died

#120

Post by dredmorbius »

schiffern wrote: post #84
dredmorbius wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have an approximate time point for that comment? Brain makes a comment beginning at about the 30 minute point, I'm listening to that now, though it doesn't seem to match your description. The bit a couple of minutes later (32m) beginning "I have four children now in college..." seems closer. I have to comment that the song about how bright the future was (by Timbuk3) was absolutely satiric and ironic, though t…

I can do, but I warn you it's long. Be careful what you wish for! YAFIYGI. :-) I didn't use a direct timecode link because 1.) it's not really all in one place, and 2.) I feel the entire interview is almost a microcosm of his thought. But if you insist... -- @12:20: (on climate change) "We know we have to do something, but how do you get an entire planet of people to decide on a direction and start doing it together?…

In-depth response appreciated.

(I did listen to the full interview, and most of those points stood out to me as well.)

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