Thy Plague Doctor

I’d do it because I’d never know the outcome.  If “I” died instantly believing I was fine, so what?  I’d never know.  The new “me” could trundle along until the next transportation when I/We would be replaced again.  Even the aging process would continue.  Sort of like a relay race with a Strega baton.

edited to add:- it’s the same thing real…[Read more]

Belle Rose wrote:
These people aren’t even literate but they are the most hospitable and happy I’ve ever seen.

Then you clearly haven’t seen a lot of indiginous people. Some of the most scariest moments of my life were while traveling in Saharan Africa, South Asia and South East Asia (not to mention Northern Canada). I’ve gone from a group of kin…[Read more]

Belle Rose wrote:
They don’t need a bunch of philosophical mumbo jumbo.

Belle, with this incredible ability of yours to just dismiss an enormous field of study you know next to nothing about…it’s one more reason I just cannot take you seriously anymore.

@bellerose I’ve globe trotted a fair bit in my life and have spent time with indigenous tribes around the planet.  They are indeed very grounded, and in touch with ‘mother earth’ having practically no carbon footprint.

They live in the moment- they don’t plan ahead further than the next meal.  Life is very fragile, there is little to no m…[Read more]

Unfortunately @ belle, common sense is a cultural construction for the most part. Common sense really varies from place to place (even within a country). For example, I think it’s really common sense to wear headphones if you want to play loud annoying music while on the bus or subway…and to let people get off the elevator before trying to get…[Read more]

Not yet, my friend, we are working on it!

Hey hey @greyfoot long time, my friend 🙂

“The conversation came to an end shortly after I asked him why the hell he was wasting his time working, when he could join the welfare recipients and have a better life.”

That made me laugh out loud!

I’d say it was abusing the system for personal gain.

@davis Hedonism has always appealed

Ha Unseen!  What is the minimum number of cats I must have to make my above post grammatically and logically correct?

There are countless moral/ethical systems that give a variety of answers. There are five rather common (often repeated answers) to this question.

Virtue ethics: It may be a reasonable move. I cannot possibly sum up virtue ethics other than saying “it’s complicated”.

Utilitarian: It may be. Just work it out on a large matrix of actions and…[Read more]

I’m favoring “Don’t worry, be happy” now, even if it’s necessary to get a bit bigger a pebble.

Murder carries by definition a wrongness. You cannot use the word without its embedded negative judgement.  It would be like having a commandment that said “Do no wrong”.  Those Christians who think the correct interpretation should be ‘murder’ rather than ‘kill’ completely miss that point.

Just think of all the time and resources that could h…[Read more]

Half my cats are at war with each other.  A good thought experiment enabled me to work out where to put the cranky ones so they never meet yet still have access to all the house.  I worked out how to inspire each of them to go into the room designated when the time came to revolve their presence without them encountering each other, and without h…[Read more]

Hey Dang, that sounds horrific – both deaths you experienced.  I’m not sure I’d have responded as delicately as you did to the nurse, mind you.

i always found it bizarre that there needed to be a commandment not to kill.  It’s as if the Jews wandered about happily stabbing anyone that irritated them – until this majestic revelation occurred to stop them.

Wow Robert that was a brilliant description of how it feels to be in a hurricane!  I almost feel I can cross it off my bucket list now!

Seriously mate, that sounds horrendous. I hope you and your family can get repaired and up and running as quickly as possible.  And yeah, this is where god comes in – it’s the fear factor that amplifies the b…[Read more]

Harris uses the tumor as an extreme example because he has less argument for fates inevitability – some of us here do subscribe to the position that everything that happens, happens inevitably due to previous events, and that humans may have no true say in how they behave.  The position that Harris is trying to start from is the same – a person…[Read more]