zedvictor4

Horrible things happened in the past for sure, but judging the past by today's standards won't affect the past.  At best we learn lessons, which by and large we have already learned anyway.

It seems odd though that we are happy to hold onto the evidence of past atrocities, but feel that we should regard scientific evidence of the past as being inappropriate.

The biblical mythologies justify everything for some people.

Advanced species hey?

We haven't really left the cave.

The U.S. would just fuck up Panamanian lives, just like they fucked up Syrian lives and Iraqi lives. All in the greedy pursuit of natural resources, under the bogus banner of liberation.

And when Panamanians come to the U.S. motherland to seek their fortunes. You will put up a wall and tell them to fuck off.

You all need to get out more.

Selective morality is a tad hypocritical.

Exactly.

I think that the problem is your tendency to lack explanation.

Similarly, homo-sapiens didn't appear out of thin air.  We have acquired  DNA and skeletal characteristics from our hominid ancestors.

Yep I know.

My point was:

If "science" differentiates using DNA and skeletal analysis techniques, then presumably similar differentiating factors occur and can be found in homo-sapiens. For example, people that originate from East Asia and  people that originate from Central Africa are distinctly  different in appearance, so there must be an underlying  DNA and skeletal variation...... Ergo "scientific racism".

What for no reason?

Maybe you weren't being sarcastic. 

If so I will retract my previous statements.

If every new building was fitted  with solar panels, then that would be a real boost for the Chinese economy, and also very good idea...or vice versa.

And I think that the long term problems of nuclear power production in terms of decommissioning, outweigh the short term benefits.

What is not what?

The insular nature of the medium, prevents one from being overwhelmed or frustrated....It's just remains fun to antagonise right wingers.

There's a big difference between interest and hiding in the backwoods with your assault rifle and your banjo.

You can't hide from them there viruses though, nor gun the f**kers down.

Everything is nature based....Even supernatural gods like Abrahamic ones are a natural product of the human imagination.

Can we not use the same criteria to differentiate between existent hominids.

Yep. I think that for some people, that is an accurate assessment.

Though I would also say that it is not fair to tar everyone with the same brush.

I would also suggest that other sectors of American society are also  inclined to "not assimilate".

What is "free"?

British and Irish culture is the result of thousands of years of fighting....Typically we tend to focus on the more recent bits....A bit like how some like to continually focus upon one particular example of slavery....A drawback of  memory I suppose.

I personally think that it is better to focus on now and the future...... Rather than keep dwelling in the past and digging up old resentments, as all that this achieves, is to reinforce prejudices and notions of difference.

Though I think that it is fair to say, that some people enjoy being antagonists.

Just out of interest.

What are the determining factors, that allow us  to differentiate  between Us  and an extinct hominid?

In your own home maybe.

There's redecorating and then there's vandalism.

Nor me.

So why pull down a statue?

What what?

Yep. I agree with you....When it comes to brain function I think there is still a lot of guesswork/theory rather than definitive facts.  So I only suggest that  choice allows us a certain level of free will.

The A.I. issue ( I prefer the phrase Alternative Intelligence) is interesting.  Is consciousness more than awareness through perception and are humans not organic machines with inherent systems,  that have evolved higher levels of function through programming. I think that the comparisons with technological development are very similar and let's not forget that in terms of evolution A.I. is in it's early stages of development......How many hundreds of thousands of years has it taken organic intelligence to get this far?....I think that it is a tad arrogant of us to think that A.I. will not achieve as we have and perhaps even surpass the limits of our physiological capabilities.

I'm still not convinced by the wine example, especially when you introduce the word "force", which suggests a bowing to subliminal social pressure....You will nonetheless not erase zifandel from your memory and replace it with rose....You will simply modify how you utilise your acquired data base in certain situations.

Anarchy will quickly revert to hierarchically  factionalism....Which is in fact what we might regard as  popular government, though with a greater emphasis on blood and guts.

Hierarchy is  physiological disposition and socialism is the product of philosophical dreamers.

And Trump and Biden are exactly the same but also somewhat different.....Such is the conundrum. 

Venezuela is a bit of a mess......A recent failed attempt at pseudo-socialism.....Nonetheless Venezuela like everywhere else relies upon a system of social hierarchy, so like all nominally socialist states, Venezuela is not truly socialist. 

I struggle to come up with a nation that is anywhere close to being truly socialist.

Can you name me a truly socialist nation?

And not just a nation with a nominally socialist government.

There's changing ones mind...Oh I'll have rose instead of white.

Then there is changing ones mind or having ones mind changed....De-programming  and re-programming.

The vagaries of language.

And analogies can be as complex as one requires....And the human brain especially, is seemingly an amazing piece of organic development....An evolutionary necessity some might say.....But perhaps not the be all and end all of the universe and intelligence therein.

The Ultimate data....The GOD principle.....The universal resurrection.

Yep long and tedious....I gave up eventually, as it was getting late.

So was the conclusion to the exercise, that Iraqi bitumen is better than Indian bitumen?

And  was Noah an Iraqi coracle builder, who wasn't actually known as Noah?

Though what I listened to seemed to concur with my notion of a localised flood and the rescue of some local beasts.

And the fact that it is possible to accurately calculate the material needed to build a boat of any size is not particularly inspiring information...Its what any good quantity surveyor should be capable of.

And though Noah must have had an awful  lot of assistance.....Isn't there always one person that gets all the credit....Typical.

So what did you find informative and gratifying?

Well I'm "rambling" on trying to make sense of your post.

Though  you appear to be admitting that you post is "nonsense".

And "confiscating my private property" is seemingly more nonsense.... Unless you can make sense of it for me.

I was just offering my appraisal of P.C.

My ultimate goal is to have lived a reasonably long and healthy life and have an easy death. Hopefully I will have been treated fairly in the meantime, just as I will have endeavoured to treat people fairly.

And collective sportsmanship has no doubt been affected by P.C. but you probably don't even notice the effect.

And the cultural differences between "East" and "West" are what they are, because of how they became.

And Kim Jong-Un is a product of one said culture and probably not a lunatic in the true sense of the word.

P.C. is in fact, something and nothing....It's just a reference to social evolution....And you seem to be somewhat more concerned about it than I am.

In essence P.C. is good because it attempts to improve society and social equality. Opposition occurs when you try and encourage people to ditch well established ideas or methodology.

P.C. is very much a generational evolution of social behaviour and function, and is therefore probably an inevitable outcome of general species evolution.  

As individuals, how we are influenced by or react to P.C. is largely down to age and/or conditioning.

You probably don't pay much attention to it because you are currently happy to go along with it, which is probably reflective of you as a person and the social environment in which you live.... Though  as you get older you may find that P.C. does start to affect established ideas.....

P.C. doesn't really impinge upon my lifestyle or social environment either. Though I do like to keep my eye on the ball, even if just to to be able to make social comment.

Also, I think that on the whole, equality,  fairness and tolerance are quite virtuous.

As it stands, the above comment makes no sense whatsoever.

Please explain:

How freedom influences taxation, or how taxation influences freedom....And how illegal immigration, either does or doesn't influence taxation or freedom or both.

For your consideration:

Magical freewill by it's own definition would have an external influence. Ergo not free.

I would hold, that conscious effort is as free as it gets.

And I was only pointing out that de-programming and re-programming is not the same as changing ones mind or altering preferences.

Biology is certainly hardware.

Instinct/inherent data, is an operating system.

All acquired  data uploaded/downloaded to memory is software.

I think that "firmware" is an inappropriate analogy.

it could be argued that we have an instinctive operating system, but also create a conscious operating system, from memory (free will).

Further: Free will allows us to influence material evolution (technological development).

Or maybe everything is part of one big universal masterplan (GOD PRINCIPLE).

I would suggest that it is simply a case of who uses D'art and for what purpose and by what means....And certainly, not be taken too seriously.

Age and social conditioning has a lot to do with it.

Yep. Crazy brain stuff....And I wouldn't suggest for one minute that I understand how memory (database) actually works, or how the brain separates functional data (instinct) from acquired data.

Though as I see it....Cause and effect are......The difference between function and non-function....So the inevitable precursor to decision making.

Making decisions....Conscious effort (effect) stimulated by cause....Decisions by definition allow for choice (free will).

Social factors...Data input (cause) may influence your decision, though you are still free to choose....Alternative data output options/ modification of data store.

Though, can we differentiate between cause and influence?....I would say that cause (social factor) is an external stimulus (perception), whereas influence is an internally generated effect.

Paedophilia:  Same primary drive....Alternative modus operandi.....Orientation acquired at some level of development (nature or nurture)....I think that the jury is still out as to which level exactly.

The act is outlawed by an established idea of right and wrong....Just as other acts were once outlawed.

Primary drive is, whereas social condemnation or justification becomes.

I think that all of the above just goes to prove that the Ark story is probably something of an exaggerated myth.

As I suggested elsewhere, it was perhaps derived from hand me down tales, whereby some guy probably rescued a few goats from a flooded pasture in a small boat.

True.

So in simpler terms, theism and associated deities are made up and modified to suit  the demands of ignorance.

I would suggest that one cannot re-programme.

All that one can do is either expand ones database and therefore modify output, or simply re-organise ones  pre-existing data store.  (Alter ones outlook).......One cannot de-programme and re-programme at will.

I would further suggest that "free will" is at best, conscious effort as opposed to instinctively driven function. 

Social factors that have a bearing on conscious effort might impinge on freedom of expression, but do not necessarily inhibit freedom of thought....Though, nothing other than physiological malfunction will affect instinctively driven function.

Social factors  may  cause you to make alternative decisions (wine) so you  simply modify a pre-existing data programme, (conscious effort or free will)..... Therefore in this instance one can clearly make distinctions between cause and effect, and free will.

What wasn't Jesus?

#31.

Nope.    It just doesn't work like that....

Pay more = cost more.... Which isn't what the consumer wants...The consumer will happily buy cheaper Chinese imports.

Greta is as Greta does....To be taken seriously and not to be taken too seriously.

Why are you fixated on a 17 year old Swedish school girl?

Who's destroying the nation though?

China's just capitalising on the U.S's  internal disorganisation and the over expectancy of the "American" people.

If you don't want cheap labour from south of the border, then who's going to do all the cheap and dirty manufacturing work that "Americans" just  aren't  interested in any more.

Same here in the U.K....Industries such as agricultural, hospitality, healthcare, food production. etc. etc. etc. Would have ground to a halt years ago if it wasn't for the efforts of hard working people from Eastern Europe, Asia, North Africa etc.

Team China's going, and there's F all we can do about it.

And Trumps posturing ain't going to worry them much.

If the U.S. cannot produce a commodity profitably then somewhere else is going to do it....Who's fault is that?...And credit where credit's due.

And statistics is statistics and the statistics I referred to are totally pertinent...The problem for you is, they are not statistics that you want to hear.

And of course you are fearful and a tad jealous of a rapidly expanding super-power  just across the pond.

Earth is spheroid, not just round. .......A flat Earth could be round.

And everyone knows that the Earth is spheroid....It's just that some people like to make out that they are different.....Flat Earthers for the sake of it, as it were.

If and why.....Yep,  there is  always the possibility....Though, Alternative Intelligence sources might just regard us as a somewhat illogical.