GENIUS FORUMS

Coyle, A=A represents the mind's ability to isolate phenomena. In that case A=A isn't an absolute truth by any shake of the stick. I can easily imagine why the mind might not go about isolating phenomena. For instance, I'd say that phenomena are simply pretty well isolated to begin with. Different ...

Coyle,

Both describe how the mind operates. When you know how the mind functions, the process of opening up to the true nature of reality is made that much more apparent.

Okay. I have to ask. How exactly does "A=A" describe how the mind functions?

keenobserver, I think you're missing the point of what I'm saying. It means nothing to say that a thing is what it is. To know that provides one with no additional knowledge about reality, except in terms of understanding the English language. It's true because of how the word "is" gets u...

Feh. I've never seen anyone say anything about this "A=A" proposition beyond the fact that it's true. Pavlov would be quite fascinated by how well we've all learned to drool on command. Or, as the case may be, make the noises or pen the scribbles that we've been trained to do in response t...

Nick, The wealthy person is still spending four times as much, ($100,000/year) compared to the middle class person, ($25,000/year). ... and the fella (guy 1) making $250,000 a year is only being taxed on 40% of his income, compared to the guy (guy 2) who's making $50,000 a year and is being taxed o...

Keen,

The unicorn is a horse.

Not really. It's an imaginary animal. Imaginary animals obviously exist, as I can name quite a few of them.

Nick, I took such things into consideration when I suggested that the fair tax shifts the tax burden onto the middle and upper-middle classes. If it weren't for such things, the fair tax would be out-and-out regressive and predominantly tax the poor. I'll reiterate that the wealthy spend a consider...

Gravel's support for the "fair" tax eliminates whatever small chance I had of voting for him in the primary. Such a thing has always been ill-conceived nonsense that shifts the tax burden off the wealthy and further onto the middle or upper-middle class. Despite what it's proponents claim,...

If you are to say that stars don't exist, you've committed yourself to the notion that there is nothing that is star. In such a case you could not coherently say that the sun is a star, as such would entail you saying "there is nothing that is star, and the sun is a star": an outright cont...

Broken, You can imagine all you want, but I doubt animals have "fant'sies." And please, either believe in God or don't. There is little point in postulating a Deity and then attributing "uncaringness" to It. I use "God" as a term of art. I'm an atheist. No man is or ou...

Uni, I'm not going to dis you for not wanting to work, but I am a bit miffed by the degree to which you attempt to justify your own existence at the expense of understanding. Many people find that they suffer a lot less if they work for a living, and for those people, it is not idiocy or lack of th...

I imagine that all animals fancy themselves as greater then the other beasts. At least, whatever animals are capable of entertaining such thoughts. Nevertheless, it would seem, that nothing is greater to anything else in the uncaring eyes of God. I find it difficult to understand what it would mean ...

In American culture, women are generally treated as being more emotionally and physically delicate then men. Many in my culture would consider it a sign of disrespect to be treated like a women. I imagine you've heard the idiom "grow a pair"? Not that I'm directing such a sentiment towards...

It should be noted that Zeno offered up several convincing logical demonstrations of why there can be no motion. Insofar as we consider there to be essential facts about reality that can discovered through reason, there is little reason to automatically disqualify such conclusions. I find such a not...

Diebert, That's why I said the idea of someone with complete sensory deprivation from birth is a contradiction. It's a thought experiment. Your supposed to try to picture it in your head. It's an outlandish notion, of course, which is exactly my point. Which means that the idea of having 'knowledge...

Leyla,

I worded that poorly. All I meant to say was that our presence in the world is often different then what we think it to be. For instance, what you sound like to yourself isn't what you'll necessarily hear if you play back a recording of what you said.

Surely a curved plane must automatically be considered as a 3D environment. If not then why? Imagine that you were to draw something on a sheet of paper. If the paper were bent slightly, would you then say that the drawing was 3D? I imagine not. For something to be 2D it doesn't need to be flat, it...

Matt, Why assume anything about a situation that has not even occurred? Maybe there is a legitimate reason to define "fish" in that way that we haven't thought of. We don't need to cling to intellectual biases like this. If you are not interpreting what someone is saying to you, then you ...

Matt, How would you define "doubt" then? You know I was just making a point. Nevertheless, you came up with a reasonable list of things that could be doubted about definitions. If someone were to say "a fish is a flying bird", we should assume them to be jesting. But yeah, witho...

You can't doubt something that is defined. It is indubitable within the parameters that he defined it in So you can't doubt an assertion? Okay... In that case I shall define definitions as doubtable. There. Problem solved. Definitions are now doubtable by definition. Dan, There's no such thing as p...

Nick, Well I obviously wasn't talking about trivial "empirical truths". Of course not. You're a true genius who only concerns himself with the Infinite. What use have you for worldly knowledge? It's not about the term, it's about the idea the term is being used to express. How strange of ...

Knowing what is true is a rather easy attainment. All you gotta do is look around you and describe what you see. You'll then have yourself a handful of true propositions that you can feel happily confident in. If that doesn't entertain you, you could also simply say tautologies to yourself--"a ...

Leyla, I don't disagree that our conception of those things that compose ourself, and the fact that such things are often disconnected from what we imagine them to be like, is learned at some point in childhood. I can't imagine that Lacan thought such a thing to be all that revolutionary or controv...

In other words: someone becomes existent through the billions of signals, no matter their origin. Sure. I only used the term "someone" in the manner that I did to convey a point. Even when blocking the five senses their will still be the millions of more subtle feedbacks from the organs, ...

Oh? How about this Presidential Daily Briefing from August 6, 2001 which mentions the possibility of Bin Laden using hijacked aircraft to attack US targets? The document you posted didn't say anything about planes. What an amazing "smoking gun". If such a thing was considered a serious th...