But Ler

Unseen wrote:
Trump lies to see who’s loyal to him. Who’s in his cult.

L. Ron Hubbard, creator of Scientology was a science fiction author, who eventually made claims like he was a (nuclear?) physicist, Buddha in a past life, and he kept writing the most unbelievable origin stories and how people can nurture their superpowers, even learning to…[Read more]

Simon Paynton wrote:
Or, more than one dimension.  All the dimensions maybe.

In string theory they speak of 10 or 11 dimensions (I forget which). I’ll never understand the theories, but the most convincing argument to me is about how entanglement of two particles can be broken instantly, even when those particles are separated by a distance that…[Read more]

TheEncogitationer wrote:
However, I still have many questions: If we assume a single Natural Universe with nothing before it or beyond it, with all energy, all matter, all space, all time, wouldn’t this mean there can be no “balloon,” no “surface,” no “outside,” no force to expand space “inside” the “balloon?”

And if Relativity doesn’t ap…

[Read more]

TheEncogitationer wrote:
And, of course, the part of Donald Trump’s brain that pauses between thought and speech and speech and action doesn’t work at all.

This is spot on, of course. But I’m worried, in spite of the obvious harm of Project 2025 (“P2025”) as it is executed, that perhaps irrepairable harm is the goal of wannabee oligarchs. Or, may…[Read more]

Unseen wrote:
A psychiatrist explains why Trump wanting a third term (and by extenstion of his logic, to never leave office) was inevitable from the start.

He also says that the 12th and 22nd amendments together prohibit a president from becoming a president a third time, but I saw an explanation, I forget from who, saying Trump might be able to…[Read more]

Is this, or is it not outright corruption of our courts, legal establishment, and politicians in power? This explanation is from a Democratic senator.

14-1/2 minutes long

Yay, Rand Paul! I’d forgotten about him for a while.

1-1/4 minutes long

Playing with words here, but I feel there’s a kind of fundamentalish link between my consciousness and rules of the universe, or even the life around me. My consciousness is my brain operating, fine tuned to adapt to the world and life in it. I see that as a kind of “fundamental link”.

But that doesn’t automatically lead to the conclusion that…[Read more]

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:
What if Consciousness is Fundamental?

Sean Carroll also has a recent podcast with Christof Koch on this topic. When I heard Koch expressing support for panpsychism, it sadly felt like a nod to woo-woo. Fortunately, Sean kindly dissented. As much as I respect Koch, IMO, his view struck me as simply “reasoning” that…[Read more]

The video with Jason Stanley on Amanpour referred to a Guardian article on the topic of how the Trump admin wants to define university policies and practices. As Enco notes, they can do this when they have powers of the purse. (Yo MAGA, the left may have set the scene, but you made governmental interference inevitable.)

Excerpt from the…[Read more]

TheEncogitationer wrote:
Is it just me or is AI art deliberately formulaic and creepy?

LLMs and AI algorithms are designed by humans, and source data gathered from the internet that humans created and maintain. I.e. that’s where any formulae and creepiness would be originally coming from, with a dose of whatever unexpected weirdness might come…[Read more]

TheEncogitationer wrote:
In other words, it takes more than just making stupid noises on EuroVision or not furnishing the apartment for me to use the term: “Fascist.”

Same here, actually. And using that word lowers his credibility, imo, while I guess I took advantage of the clickbait opportunity when I posted it here.

However, I’m not con…[Read more]

Enco, I promise I was only reviewing this thread, starting with its first post back in December, and my purpose was not to find examples of the kind of stuff that you write. But the following comment spurred me to point out that Jason Stanley is not the only pontificator conflating “Fascism” with policies they criticize:

TheEncogitationer…

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TheEncogitationer wrote:
And now the Universities and this psycho, self-hating, suicidal egghead Jason Stanley have the nerve to scream “Fascism” when anyone–and this is not just Trump and MAGA–wants to put an end to all this nonsense???

I’ve made it a habit to just skip comments like this, so I’ve lost count. How does that come out so easily…[Read more]

TheEncogitationer wrote:
If Universities accept taxdollars, they are by definition willing instruments of the State.

OK, “by definition” according to certain idealisms, but not long-standing traditions of giving academia and upper educational institutions some freedom to define curriculum and policies. Otherwise, an “instrument of the state”, by…[Read more]

TheEncogitationer wrote:
[…]Citizens United was defending anyone’s right to express themselves via donations.

What It Takes to Speak Freely: A Defense of Citizens United Written By Eli Solomon https://hulr.org/fall-2024/what-it-takes-to-speak-freely-a-defense-of-citizens-united

That article emphasizes more than once, I’m paraphrasing, that “…[Read more]

Leftism vs Authoritarianism in America, are those the only main characters left playing now?

The 19-1/2 minute video is about Fascism taking down or converting universities into instruments of the state. Side note, “they” now want NPR and PBS to be next on the chopping block.

Here’s the best layout of a presentation I’ve seen in a long time, especially from a politician. What Trump & Company has is doing must be more corrupt, even openly corrupt than any president in history.

@Reg, if you were considering adding this video to Sunday School, I will (or you can) steer readers to it, below.

@Enco, I’d love to hear your…[Read more]