GENIUS FORUMS

All you seem to be saying here is that sometimes you find that it’s better to visualize (whether it’s the trajectory of a space shuttle launching, or the statistics of human behavior over many years) phenomena using mathematical concepts, rather than the concepts of nouns animated by verbs and ...

I still dn’t agree. Some concepts are much clearer when expressed mathematically than visually. You can say “mere” words as if language were somehow incidental to the process of complex thought, but I think it is integral to this process in many cases, and certainly to the communication about ...

I have to say I disagree with your implication that there is a right way to teach concepts. I happen to be a very verbal/auditory learner, and the spoken word is the way I best grapple with difficult concepts. Images are helpful, but secondary. My girlfriend, on the other hand, needs something visua...

Simon: How else could you understand the totality? How do you personally understand it? I understand it as NOT being a Total of infinite things, but literally as ALL that there is that consciousness has to offer, and absolutely nothing beyond that. Ok, but isnt it the other way around? Isnt it, the...

I didnt express myself well, so I'm going to address some of my own points: What I'm puzzled about is how this is in anyway practical or useful. It prevents entropy maybe? Entropy is revealed as an illusion, created by egocentricism. Entropy only exists relative to a center. By overcoming illusion, ...

But time, change, cause & effect can happen only relative to a center, a point. If we were to define the totality as I have done in the original post, then a center would be an impossibility - the concept points to that which is beyond 'odd' and 'even'. It's impossible to wrap your mind around ...

Simon: If we were to define the totality as I have done in the original post, then a center would be an impossibility… Sapius: Yes, if you see it as understood through the Russian doll type of logic How else could you understand the totality? How do you personally understand it? The only alternat...

Is it nonsensical? Sure the universe is big, really big, infinite maybe. However we bother to tack on the things we perceive to be important, time, change, cause, and effect, why? For that is the systems we have put in place on our little speck in this gigantic universe. We apply the notions we hol...

The totality and its relationship to time and change is mind boggling to think about. Let's examine what empiricism tells us. The earth, ever changing, is a large container, holding smaller constituents, ever changing. But then again, the earth is also a small constituent, a small dot among many oth...

The irony of course is the excessive degree that Kierkegaard was lampooned and made a parody of in paper that was distributed community-wide. I guess the competitive instinct in the herd moved the community to band together to re-generate the sense of oneness that Kierkegaard's work was destroying,...

I think we can resolve this problem by considering the roles of identification in contrast to competition, and the dynamic the two create. Joy and happiness result from winning, sorrow from losing, and so, it seems that we laugh at human weakness because unconsciously we are celebrating a win. We l...

Aaron, why the lion? It's better than the scarecrow, but it's certainly no tin man (which would be appropriate for this forum). Aaron chooses the lion because he is a coward who always needs to be exciting himself and others. He functions to distract people from being comfortable with greater truth...

Jamesh, You may find this interesting, one of the reasons I'm analyzing Darwin so closely is that I have to write a paper called: "Why Darwin felt he had to break away from Larmarkian theory." Darwin originally had Larmarkian inclinations, but some evidence convinced him Larmark was wrong....

Simon: In other words, human intervention creates less competitve conditions, where food is more abundant for the variety. This allows more pronounced variations of the variety to survive. This has apparently resulted in a myriad of sub-varieties (poodles, pugs, boxer's, etc). Katy: While I'm sure ...

Carl: Of what use is it to you? Simon: Well, aside from getting a good grade in class, I think Schopenhauer, at least in this fragment, might help you resolve this sort of question: Carl: I didn't ask for "help" to "resolve this sort of question." I asked you personally I'm sorr...

The following is a record of an exchange between me and Carl G on my science thread analyzing Chapter 1 of Darwin's origin of species. I felt that Carl's inquiries and my answers deserve their own thread, as I'd also like to keep my science thread focused on merely an analytical discussion of evolut...

Simon: Then why are species in the wild so uniform? Everyone, at least on the surface, practically looks identical. Katy: they don't look practically identical I should have said, "why do species in the wild appear relatively more uniform compared to domesticated varieties?" and their gen...

Simon, What interests you about Darwin's work? Well, for class, I have to read his book, write an essay on it and write an exam based on alot of it. I'm also interested in truth, and so for that reason I am motivated to understand Darwin's work. Do you think there's any truth in it? Yes. Of what us...

Katy, S: Well, your assertion about being murdered by the conformists can only be true in a collective society which really forms the minority of species out there. A: But the fact is that even that isn't overly likely or common. Animals want their own genes to survive. Killing their offspring isn't...

I invite you to read along with me, Darwin's, On the Origin of Species

It seems that, in Chapter 1, Darwin is implying that variation is very minimal when a species if functioning in its natural environment, but when you bring a species into captivity, it generally produces offspring that show a great deal more of variation. Am I on the right track here? - Simon I hav...

And Aaron, I prefer a less asinine and more existential depiction of our man pinocchio:



But yeah, we'll still regard Katy as the Cricket.

Never mind this silly triviality people - please don't let yourself be taken over in astonishment by the dramatic unveiling.

Let's just get back on topic here.

I invite you to read along with me, Darwin's, On the Origin of Species Does anyone here recall reading, Chapter 1 - Variation under domestication ? When it comes to understanding evolution, or at least the first chapter of Darwin's book, my confusion is related mainly to the factor of 'random variat...

David, Simon: My being aware that I am conscious of making distinctions, is an empirical reality that becomes a concept when my awareness feels a need to conceptualize it. Likewise, my being aware of a door is an empirical reality that becomes a concept when my awareness feels a need to conceptualiz...