Philosophical Ramblings.

[moxco]

'How can anyone really be so stupid as to believe in god?' I asked myself. The idea that this universe was the creation of disembodied omniscient, omnipotent and benevolent human personality could be described most politely as naïve. Perhaps holding such a belief was perhaps acceptable once upon a time, when the universe was barely comprehendible to us. But in these in these times, with our current understanding, I really can’t fathom how anyone can be so stupid.

Of course people believe in god because they're not me. And who I am I to judge them? They are as they are. Who are we to judge anyone really? Through circumstance and how the molecular makeup of their brain deals with thus, people end up doing things such as murdering and raping. There is nothing inherently evil about these people, they are just how fate determined them to be. One may say they still made a conscious decision to rape and murder and that is correct, but they were more inclined then we who judge, to make that decision.

Concerning such apparently bad things, such as rape and murder, who is to say they are bad? Like people, nothing is inherently bad. Bad is something decided upon by society and apparently rape and murder are bad. Ethics however are a human created concept, nothing is naturally wrong and nothing is naturally right. Yet people of all ideologies seem to think up arbitrary ethics to which the universe should adhere.

So if nothing is inherently wrong or right, why should I vote? It's choosing between the ideas that one cluster of nerves thinks is altogether correct versus the ideas of another. But what if one politician, wanted to enslave and murder the populace, should I vote against them? I certainly wouldn't enjoy living under their regime. So is that the answer, vote for what overall makes me personally the most happy?

Also I'd like to say that philosophy degrees are stupid. How can you learn philosophy. Or learn how to think philosophically, as they are advertized. Such thoughts one must come up with by themselves. I am sure pondering the universe whilst taking a shit or pondering whilst lying in bed suffering of insomnia (as I do) would be far more philosophically valuable for me than any degree would.

Discuss philosophy and stuff.

Also I am tired so everything I just wrote might not make sense.

[Daxter King]

Rape is bad. You are a piece of shit.

[OddjobAbe]

Why?

This is my contribution.

[Wings of Fire]

MoxCo's post made me ill all over.

[Strike Witch]

They call them fingers, but I've never seen them "fing".

[Phylum]

Gee, I can tell from your post that you're just as qualified to be a philosopher as anyone with some silly little piece of paper is.

OJA forgot the rest of his question.

[MeechMunchie]

*Old duffer's going senile already*

In response to Strike Witch, what's the deal with "error"? If the verb is to "err", then shouldn't the "error" be the person at fault, with the mistake itself being an "errum" or "erri"?

[moxco]

In hindsight the comment about philosophy degrees was rather stupid. I retain all else.

[Laser]

As someone who learnt philosophy for 2 years as an A level course, I disagree that philosophy lessons are stupid. They are probably the second best way to introduce yourself to key philosophers and ideas. I say second best, the first best is perhaps teaching yourself, but that requires quite a bit of previous knowledge of certain philosophical ideas and people.

[Wings of Fire]

I am just so confused about Moxco's post, he seems to jump from one half formed thought to the other. It's difficult to read.

Also, when you go to university to study an art, it's called reading for a reason. You don;t go to study philosophy, you go there to read it.

That being said, there's a way to think critically and it's by no means a generally natural aptitude.

[Nepsotic]

To me, philosophy is the most interesting of all academic subjects. I even came up with my own philosophical quote.
*clears throat*

You do not eat a sandwich by taking out the filling.

Sweet eh?

[Manco]

Concerning such apparently bad things, such as rape and murder, who is to say they are bad? Like people, nothing is inherently bad. Bad is something decided upon by society and apparently rape and murder are bad. Ethics however are a human created concept, nothing is naturally wrong and nothing is naturally right. Yet people of all ideologies seem to think up arbitrary ethics to which the universe should adhere.

Just because morality and ethics are a man-made concept that does not mean they are unimportant. Morality and ethics are relative but when everyone around you adheres to them they have been given value.

They’re not just some rules on a piece of paper, they’re the structure that the entirety of the human race is supported by.

That being said, there's a way to think critically and it's by no means a generally natural aptitude.

Also this. I only have some high school philosophy classes under my belt but even then there was so much I learned from there that I wouldn’t have learned by myself.

[JennyGenesis]

How many times have we had a thread like this?

[Fluff [:]

Perhaps holding such a belief was perhaps acceptable once upon a time, when the universe was barely comprehendible to us. But in these in these times, with our current understanding, I really can’t fathom how anyone can be so stupid.

What understanding, in my opinion the human race is at the same level of comprehension as a bunch of headless chickens.

[Daxter King]

This thread is just too edgy for me.

[skychase2rebirth]

I have a question....

If we build a rubber band a little bit longer (so it's a bit loose) than the equator around the earth, it will fall in which direction ?

And if it fall of the earth and start drifting in space, considering which direction it's falling, can we say that we now know where is the floor of the universe ?

[Wings of Fire]

I have a question....

If we build a rubber band a little bit longer (so it's a bit loose) than the equator around the earth, it will fall in which direction ?

And if it fall of the earth and start drifting in space, considering which direction it's falling, can we say that we now know where is the floor of the universe ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity

[MeechMunchie]

And wouldn't the fact that it's a rubber band actually enforce the already inevitable result?

[Mac Sirloin]

What doth...life?

E: Wow MoxCo that's quite a post

[Bullet Magnet]

The Ship of Theseus keeps rearing it's ugly head in my life.

[Nate]

I have a question....

If we build a rubber band a little bit longer (so it's a bit loose) than the equator around the earth, it will fall in which direction ?

And if it fall of the earth and start drifting in space, considering which direction it's falling, can we say that we now know where is the floor of the universe ?

Serious answer: it would fall inwards, towards the surface (actually, towards the centre) of the Earth.

[Phylum]

The floor of the universe? That's a very colonial concept.

There's no down in open space. There's no "bottom" that we know of and if there is there would be no reason for anything to fall there. Gravity will pull it towards the nearest object with enough mass to attract it, which in that case would be the Earth and it would behave as Nate described.

[skychase2rebirth]

Seeing how the thread started, I hoped for less logical/serious/funnier answers.... i'm going back to "mods & hack" section....

[Wings of Fire]

Actually my answer is far more accurate than Nate's.

[Nate]

I never suggested it wasn't accurate. Just that it wasn't useful.

[Bullet Magnet]

You'd just have a rubber band lying across the equator, with the slack allowing for kinks, and sagging into the depths of the oceans. Tangles and so forth.

And a bitch to tidy up.

[STM]

Funny question, just look at Saturn's rings. They manage just fine in orbit around the planet.

[Bullet Magnet]

Those are made of trillions of individually orbiting particles. But a continuous ring in orbit is inherently unstable.

[MeechMunchie]

So even if they were solid ice at a point, they'd just break into loads of little bits.

Hey! Maybe that's what happened!

[STM]

It'll be there by the time I'm dead and buried, stable by my books.