Phi for All

Dude, that's amazing! Congratulations on the progress. The plunge is scary but how else could your story have ended so well? If someone had come along 10 years ago and handed all of this to you on a silver platter, it wouldn't mean as much to you as it does right now. Along with the experience, you showed yourself your own capabilities, and built the necessary levels of confidence every day. A round of applause for taking the plunge! Great to have you back, btw.

! Moderator Note And we're done.

And how do you feel about that? Whose fault is it? Progress is a positive proposition. It's doubtful you can achieve it with a predominantly negative outlook. Is there anything you can think of that makes you less bleak about your future? If you can't fix that, then it makes it look like you just enjoy whining online. Frustrating for those looking to help. Why don't you fire the current you, the one that complains all the time but won't lift a finger to change, and hire someone more effective? Nobody, including you, really cares much for that guy. He seems like he wants everything handed to him. Surely there's a version of you that cares enough about progress to actually work towards it?

! Moderator Note If you're posting about a science topic, please leave your religion out of it. It's against the rules you agreed to when you joined.

A liner for bike helmets, maybe. Also, it would be funny to challenge someone to a duel with Silly Putty gloves (they look like rubber, hit like a rock). I don't think a single material has all the properties you'd need for the kinds of stress you're talking about. Seat belts have multiple systems, including the woven straps for restraint, the tension mechanism, height adjustor, and latch mechanism. Also, the seat belt is a proven mechanism. It's ubiquitous from mass production and therefore inexpensive. Anything new has lots of hurdles to overcome in terms of cost efficiency vs lives saved. It's estimated that seat belts save about 15K lives every year in the US alone.

The problem here is that it snaps if stretched too quickly, such as in the case of a seat belt in a collision. It would make a great bumper though, wouldn't it? Or boxing gloves?

And so we're clear on this, it's never done because we don't think the topic should be discussed. It's more along the lines of insisting the OP sit down at the table and discuss the idea rather than dancing on top of it with his fingers in his ears during the presentation.

! Moderator Note You misspelled "ignorance".

IIRC, Cthulhu is the god of tooth extraction and torture.

I think your mistake lies in the phrase "love we idolize in our thoughts". This wishful state presumes we won't have to work at loving that one other person, that we'll perceive them as perfect, and that this state will be effortless to maintain. Lasting love that comes without effort probably is unattainable. But you'll find that as soon as you're willing to commit to that other person, to continually improve your relationship with the one you love, and do the actual work that makes both lives richer, easier, and more fulfilling, love like you describe in the OP becomes possible. It seems to be one of those things you can do if you believe you can and work hard to make it happen.

How does being created evil by a perfect god broaden my choices? I realize faith has little to no reason involved, but the whole free will argument pits our earthly years against eternity, and gives us nebulous, widely interpreted scripture from the Bronze Age to help us decide. And if I decide your religion condones slavery and intolerance and hypocritical behavior, and generally goes against my basic morality, for standing up against that your god wants to roast me forever. Boo! If your god created me, he made me smarter than that.

! Moderator Note You know the drill by now when you keep insisting with waving hands rather providing evidence and reasoning for your assertions and how they apply to the topic. Soapboxing is against the rules. You need more rigor and study on this one to keep it open.

! Moderator Note You don't get a pass pushing unsupported speculation just because you put this in Philosophy. If you want to make assertions like this, you're going to have to defend them in the right setting, Speculations.

He seems willing to punish us for eternity based on things done before we were born. He judged all human actions based on the first two. He's supposed to be perfect, all-knowing, all-seeing, yet he created us with a flaw he punishes us for. A creator seems like a commander in that respect. You're responsible for whatever happens, especially if you already knew it would turn out that way. And who blames their creations for imperfections in the first place? If I make a chair that wobbles, why make the chair responsible?

! Moderator Note You have a thread discussing this speculative notion. Do NOT introduce it in mainstream topics, since that's hijacking, and against the rules.

That's dangerous reasoning (or a dangerous lack). It assumes the verses, even when they sound horrific, are automatically benign and well-intentioned. Anyone who wants to manipulate your belief system just has to convince you you haven't studied them extensively enough. When it continues to sound like God turned a blind eye to His people's slaver-behavior, even though he's supposed to love all people, Pastor Doug has an interpretation that makes it all OK. It's a form of the Begging the Question fallacy.

I'm senile, he's soft, I Don't Know is on third. You're coming out of left field, so you must be Why. We've come a long way from the days when you'd just have someone sanctioned for lipping off to a mod. Nowadays, we let these threads go on so we can gather compromising intel on the offenders and sell it.

We draw some lines, and I think it's a good thing. Should we have allowed David Webb to continue his Pedophelia Ain't So Bad thread? I'm not sure we gain much with some unethical subjects.

! Moderator Note Supporting links are appreciated, but this is a science discussion site. You should use links to support your own words. Since you aren't discussing anything, it looks like you're advertising for one particular site. This is against the rules, so please feel free to participate in the conversations.

This would seem to give you the best options for keeping your work clothes out of the weather in a consistent and efficient way. Consider that an umbrella isn't the right tool when the winds get that high. As SJ points out, if the brolly doesn't break, one or both of you are off on a flight. I pictured you arriving for work in a coverall (or a diver's drysuit), stepping out of it to reveal your tuxedo like James Bond. You may have a different kind of office.

It's more efficient than non-life at using and dissipating light as energy for work, so it seems inevitable given enough time.

Believe it or not, scientists don't look for proof, they look for evidence that supports the hypothesis. When enough evidence in support piles up, and no evidence against can be found, they start calling it a theory. It's unfair to hold religious claims to a standard of proof science doesn't follow. Proof is for philosophy and maths.

Hey, wait a minute, how does an omniscient, omnipotent, perfect god mess up ALL LIFE? He knew it would happen, he had the power to fix it, he did it anyway, and now holds his creations responsible for his mistake, tormenting them for eternity because he designed them to die?! Mysterious ways indeed.

It would be expensive. What if the moon refuses to wear it?

Sorry, I stopped reading at this. How would being "really good" prevent death? Does goodness reverse aging somehow? Can you provide any evidence of this? I'll read on... Wait a minute, we're evil because we're going to inevitably die? How does that work? This makes it sound like your god designed us to be evil, because he designed us to be mortal. Why would I be held responsible? Most religious beliefs lack reasoning, but I find this really difficult to process.