Dale

A woman giving birth?  What kind of analogy is this?  Does she know who the father is?  Does she have a support structure?  Who is she giving birth to?  Are you just looking for an analogy for a painful process which has to happen?
Sounds to me like you’ve no idea about the variables of the birth process. Seriously, Michael, stick to what you kn…[Read more]

Michael. I don’t mind your posts so much. You sincerely believe the things you say and you aren’t here to provoke us, troll us or be snarky per your religion. That’s a very good thing. The problem is…it’s hard to know how to respond to many of your posts. Some of them are phrased in what can only be called “crazy guy language”, like a mixture of…[Read more]

All of Spain is now in shutdown. You cannot go outside except to buy groceries or go to the pharmacy facing a 3000€ fine otherwise. No travel between any towns or cities. All trains and planes grounded. Supermarket runs out of bread, water and milk by 9.30 and my local pharmacy only handles medicine through a slot in the door. Still very little p…[Read more]

Indeed. My city in Spain is under limited quarentine (very likely to be full blown in the next couple of days). But you wouldn’t notice out in the street. There is calm was even with schools shut down, people told to work from home and theatres and cinemas closed down. Flights will probably stop in a few days. There’s less bread in the supermarket…[Read more]

I actually know a couple unpretentious hipsters. They’re modest, naturally kooky and their way of being and dressing really fits them. Their hipsterness is a convincing expression of who they are. That’s two out of hundreds and hundreds I know. The rest are pretentious flaky douches.

Reminds me very much of George Carlin…who could not have put it more brilliantly:

But He loves you. He loves you, and He needs money! He always needs money! He’s all-powerful, all-perfect, all-knowing, and all-wise, somehow just can’t handle money!”

My favorite answer to this is this joke which I don’t think should be taken as a joke:

A guy w…

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Pure laziness Jake.

At this point I’m completely beyond bothering with those whose response is: “I can’t see how…” If you don’t get the analogy…you just don’t get it. If you are content to draw such absolute conclusions in a sea of ignorance so be it. Beyond analogies you’ll have to do your fucking homework and pick up books and start reading theories of mind and…[Read more]

@Robert

A worker ant may not have what we consider free will, but it still carries out the will of the colony, unlike a pile of pebbles.

You’re sort of touching on what I think is the best approach to the answer. You should note how Reg framed the question:

Just how free are our choices

In other words the answer is not necessarily one of: yes we…[Read more]