Doug Hanlon

Jake:

I was only 2/5’s listening to the critique but what i heard was shameful and lazy and BS.

Fret not. I Did the hard work of listening so that you and other thoughtful minds don’t have to. Only about 2/5s of the statements about New Atheism made sense.

Forget it, Jake. Great Britain and Continental Europe are Fishbowl World in a room f…[Read more]

Simon:

Thanks for the link. The critiques of New Atheism were kind of hit and miss. Some with validity that can help, some just based on “vibes” or “feelz.”

One the speakers said New Atheism was “performative”. If “performative” means the dictionary definition–“being enacted as it is said”–does this mean the movement is speaking God out of…[Read more]

Reg:

Environment: CNN’s scary plastics report should be tossed into the recycling bin.

This reminds me of the scare talk of last decade when people were alleging that the bread used by Subway Sandwiches™ contained the same plastics used in yoga mats.

I responded by going to my quiet space and said “OOOhm! Best Yoga mats I’ve ever t…[Read more]

Fellow Unbelievers:

Bobby Brainworm and some rotten people in the State of Denmark are repeating a version of the infamous Tuskeegee Syphillis Experiment:
Controversial vaccine trial touted by RFK Jr gets go-ahead in Guinea-Bissau
Recommended dose of hepatitis B vaccine will be withheld from thousands of newborns by Danish researchers
Melody…[Read more]

Reg, Jake, Simon, and Fellow Unbelievers:

To expect AI to practice Philosophical thought and to act ethically first requires creators and owners who do the same. For once, here’s some words from both the “Godfather” of AI and from a AI component manufacturer.

AI godfather Geoffrey Hinton: ‘We’re creating alien beings. I’m willing to be selfi…[Read more]

Reg:

Sorry, I meant Thomas Nagel. But while I’m thinking of it, “What is it like for Earnest Nagel to be Thomas Nagel?”
😁

Reg, Simon, and Jake:

“Mister Earnest Nagel, call your office! A bat,a bee, and a flying squirrel are waiting on the Party Line! The flying squirrel says: ‘Again?'”
📞📵📱📠😁

If the philosophy is descriptive, then the main question is whether the description is accurate, not whether the describer has personally lived the experience. You cannot fully know what it is like to be another human being either. Even a complete objective description of a bat’s physiology and behavior will likely fail to capture what being that…[Read more]

Reg and Simon:

Will artificial intelligence change how philosophy is conducted?

While I would never want to farm out philosophy to AI or any other intelligent being, once they have a level of intelligence equal to or exceeding humans, they can all be partners in better understanding concepts in Metaphysics, Epistemology, Ethics, Political…[Read more]

Jake:

“I have to praise you like I should” since you pay more attention to writing than Turning Point-ers* pay attention to their own Bibles.

But Turning Point-ers are too busy reading The Daily Mail’s latest…[Read more]

But can philosophers handle AI?

Jake:

Enco,

“If TPUSA comes to your town, Please, I abhor you:”

Reimagine that sentence. I implore you.

Great catch! ⚾

A little ‘Inside Baseball” from a fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000:

Whenever Joel and/or the Bots are making an empassioned plea, They’ll always say: “Please, I abhor you…”

One of their many humorous tics of spe…

Fellow Unbelievers:

Evidently, the Turning Point-ers like eating parts of living beings like the Zombies of George Romero movies or like The Reavers of the Firefly/Serenity franchise, not to mention a-robbin’and a-stabbin’and a-lootin’ and a-shootin’:

‘Awkward’: TPUSA event with Jewish speaker sparks hateful MAGA…[Read more]

@Simon – I am happy  when the abyss stares back. It makes me think “Excellent. Now we’re both observing something interesting.” :-). I do not allow angst to terminate my inquiry. Rather it is a source of intellectual exhilaration. I have no loyalty to yesterday’s conclusions, only to the inquiry that produced them.

Philosophy is an inte…[Read more]

Reg:

World of Woo: How pseudoscience is duping football.

If they want to stop dementia. maybe a good place to start is not sitting in a deep-freeze, but instead not deliberately hitting the soccer ball with their heads. Repeated head blows don’t do boxers any good! So why would they be any good for soccer players?

At least with U.S.…[Read more]

Reg:

Sorry, but I just had to post this.

I’m not eating anything from that bucket after Jim Bakker ate from the ladle, gagged a little in his mouth, and dipped the ladle back in the bucket, especially since Jim Bakker also hawks some bogus cure for COVID-19!

And Tubby singing a cover of “My Girl” in praise of The End Times is just cringe-y.…[Read more]