jakelafort

@jakelafort – From the earlier article…. One more for your list…..

@Jakelafort – glad you liked the video. I would recommend  David McRaney’s book too.  I have used his ‘technique’ in debates over the last year with some positive results. It helped to fine tune some of my own approaches.

@jakelafort

I do read the majority of the books I list on Sunday School!! Here are a few more I would recommend.

@Jakelafort – Once upon a midnight dreary, when your mind is bright and cheery, I shall wait to hear your musings—ponder well and share them more.

@jakelafort – Feel free to add to this post, if you want.

@jakelafort…… But the point is as much as we may dread the unknowns associated with AI there is also reason for optimism. 

Speedy pattern recognition is a trait of high intelligence. It is seeing the patterns and associations in large data sets that make A.I. what it is. Improved underlying algorithms  and more processing power will make it e…[Read more]

Simon Paynton wrote:

@jakelafort – I’ve been asked it a few times as well. I just don’t fit the picture. My nephew is as autistic as it’s possible to be, apparently. He’s a nice young man. There was a scandal about language boards a few years ago, my nephew faced a lot of cognitive dissonance from professionals who insisted he was an imbecile.

[Read more]

@jakelafort – I’ve been asked it a few times as well.  I just don’t fit the picture.

My nephew is as autistic as it’s possible to be, apparently.  He’s a nice young man.  There was a scandal about language boards a few years ago, my nephew faced a lot of cognitive dissonance from professionals who insisted he was an imbecile.  This article is shi…[Read more]

@Jakelafort – If you have written negatively about Trump you may want to write something in public sphere that praises him.

I have a friend who is going to finish his Masters in Philosophy at a university in the USA next spring. Yesterday I suggested to him that he should write a treatise on the merits of MAGA policies with praise for it going to…[Read more]

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:

@jakelafort Can we metaphor even more? Don’t start with the similes though. I mean what would that be even like?

Yes, similes of/for similes is a matter for The Department of Redundancy Department.

@jakelafort Can we metaphor even more?

Don’t start with the similes though. I mean what would that be even like?

I think it is easier to herd cats than to organize a meeting of atheists on a Sunday 🙂 What ya reckon? @jakelafort

I reckon you’z right Reg. Alliterative license taken.

I get a visceral reaction so at least for me it is a hard no. At same time i credit Sam Harris for recognizing the void some atheists may feel in not having that community…[Read more]

@unapologetic – Re. Sunday Assembly: No thanks. I am pretty antisocial.

I went to one out of curiosity but it was more of a “I am not-religious but I am very spiritual” gathering. I asked if they could be more specific as “demons are spirits too”. They were not happy with that.

Then I noticed it. There, resting against the back wall. It was…[Read more]

@jakelafort – absquatulate, a great word to have in the vocab.

In future, in a debate with a theist, should I fail to expostulate, I will just absquatulate rather than remonstrate and I won’t care who’s looking, especially when the theist is more intransitive than the verb 🙂

@jakelafort – Reg, do you think most of the deconverted are happy to have had their world view challenged and deconstructed?

In the long run, yes.  When Andy Dufresne escaped from Shawshank prison, he may have missed the social life he had with his friends inside but he never thought that returning to jail would be a solution. Returning…[Read more]

@jakelafort – A very good smartphone would tell you that O’Brien and Dettori score a treble tonight with Greenfinch, Mountain Bear and Chief Little Rock.

@jakelafort I have for a long time thought people can be programmed with any beliefs I used to think it required early indoctrination…

It reminds me of a recent conversation I had with an Evangelical of some type. He was trying to tell me that he did not believe in Evolution. I told him I agreed with him. He looked puzzled and asked me to e…[Read more]

@jakelafort

Not sure about A.I. but I know what I do like. I am happy to share some of my bananas.