Lars

Then we will have to wait a very long time to confirm anything.

Good ole Peaches

Without doubt there is no faith, there is just belief….and any person that doesn’t doubt doesn’t think. Faith and doubt are two sides of the same coin.

More anti-knowledge post-modernism. You have a real hangup on the difference between evidence and rationally based claims vs. intuitively based ones. As though there is no difference. Obvious…[Read more]

From observing atheists.

And the 1 billion atheists in and around China? The ones who utterly outnumber any of the kind of atheists you’ve observed?

Faith doesn’t just mean “believing things without evidence”. It also means “trust” or “confidence in”.

Simon…in this context those are the same bloody thing.

As atheists, we like to be logical

Where do you get this idea Simon?

but the bottom line is that being certain has no probative value.

A really fascinating topic. Watch how little certainty means as we go up the ladder of diminishing efficacy in convincing or assuring others:

1. I’m certain Camden market is open every day

2. I’m certain John was born in London

3. I’m certain Sarah’s favourite colour is blue

4.…[Read more]

Some people have a mental disability that causes them to hear voices.  Some of those people are aware that there is a difference between the internal and external voices, and some are not.  Are the voices real?  Impossible to say for certain, either way.  There is a wonderful TED talk by a woman who has ‘trained’ her ‘voices’ to help with rem…[Read more]

No one ever wins in a trade war.

–All the wisdom you need on the subject.

The Chinese weren’t getting away with anything. They offered good compensation to knowledgeable Westerners to come to China and help them develop their own products. They also outright bought the information they needed directly from companies, information managers or technical institutes. They got their hands on some info through nefarious means…[Read more]

By the way Ivy, the trump filter can be found here for Chrome (if you have a different browser you’ll likely find one if you google your browser and “trump filter”.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/trump-blocker/nhmckipmafnikgjnaeadpngccggobaej

I installed a Trump filter some months ago. It removes all references to Trump, all news stories and his tweets. In discussions and comments his name simply disappears but I can tell by context or a missing name who is being mentioned. I do this because I have a low tolerance threshold for people knowingly talking bullshit denying truth and full…[Read more]