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Phi for All

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Everything posted by Phi for All

  1. I don't like the perspective from here. The selection for high intelligence brought both good and bad, which is common among traits. And some of the traits we consider good can be bad as well, and I think that's the perspective needed here. Humans form loyalties more strongly than other animals, even loyalties to other humans we've never met, and those loyalties cause us to fight beyond where other animals would run away to lick their wounds. Humans will often fight until death is the outcome, and continue to fight even then. It's our loyalty to family, friends, country, even concepts like liberty that sometimes push us to extreme behavior. Our intelligence also helps us understand how ethical treatment between humans stems from our cooperative and collaborative natures. So yes, raising children to recognize the need for caring and kindness is essential, because it's a big part of what keeps all our marvelous traits working together so productively.
  2. I'm pretty sure most men are neutrally attracted to other men, not viewing them as potential mates but not being disgusted either. What you're describing sounds like a phobia to me. Seriously, you don't look half the people on the planet in the face because they disgust you?! Is it gay men or all men? Homophobia or androphobia?
  3. It's clear you have a misunderstanding of how adverse effects are reported. But I'm not sure why you're ignoring what everyone else has been saying, that these medications do MUCH more good than harm, the dangers are well known, and when prescribed by a medical professional, the lives they save far outweighs any known risks. Rather than remove them from everyone's hands, it's more rational if we simply watch those with higher risk more carefully. Driving a car is more dangerous for teenagers than adults, but we just monitor them more rigorously, rather than removing their driving privileges altogether. Does that make sense?
  4. This is a great example of how uneducated assumptions spreading to an equally uneducated public results in complete disregard for professional medical advice.
  5. I think this is to reflect that my experimental results should match your experimental results if we follow the same test, every time.
  6. That happened to a friend of mine, except he was chopping chilis for his party, then stepped into the shower for a quick rinse and started washing his favorite parts before he washed his hands.
  7. They may try to show that your ideas are wrong. Wrong ≠ stupid. This is the perfect attitude to take. Most ideas are wrong, but if we approach them correctly, we can know how and why they're wrong, and learn where we need to learn more. And as Ophiolite mentioned, in science we don't start out calling an idea a theory. It's a hypothesis until it's been examined, tested, reviewed, discussed, supported, and so on until we can see that nothing refutes it. Only then is it referred to as a theory.
  8. ! Moderator Note We put speculative hypotheses in the Speculations section, so students understand that these are not the mainstream answers they're looking for. I've moved your thread there. Also, be prepared for criticism and review, in spite of your selfless generosity, since this is science and that's what scientific methodology demands. Your idea will be attacked, but not you personally, so please keep this in mind. Thanks for posting!
  9. I have a problem with omniscience and omnipotence. It implies that your deity can change any physical laws It chooses. If we allow for that, isn't everything else just a big guess? I mean, if the Supreme Lord could decide to snap His fingers and remove gravity from existence, what does that say about anything we think we know? And knowing EVERYTHING?! How could that possibly work? Did It know the dinosaurs would eventually die out when It created them (or did It know that It would toss an asteroid at the planet that would wipe most of them out)? If It already knows what the outcome is to every action, is It manipulating those actions in a way that removes choice, or does it simply allow whatever is going to happen to happen, and is that really omniscience if nothing is done with the knowledge? But my objections to "omni-anything" aside, this seems like the most reasonable thing to pray for. It's personal, it's not a wish list, and you're just asking for what you assume your deity is going to be doing anyway, i.e., whatever Its will is. If prayer isn't going to be used for personal enlightenment, this is the least objectionable way to pray, imo.
  10. I don't consider a package of ground beef I buy at the grocery to be "processed", although grinding meat is most certainly a process where additives and fillers can be introduced. If I buy a frozen lasagne that has ground beef in it, this is what I call "processed" meat. I have little idea of what's been done to it in order to mass-produce a fully cooked meat dish that just needs to be brought to desired temperature. I know much of the processing is to make it easier and cheaper to ship, store, merchandise, and many other reasons not related to nutrition. I also don't consider in vitro, or cultured meat, to be processed, although I don't really know what, if anything, is being introduced into the meat as it grows. I would hope there is a great deal of effort going into making meat that minimizes the bad aspects while enhancing the good. Considering there is no harm at all done to animals from cultured meats, even Vegans should be happy to at least let the rest of us omnivorate in peace.
  11. Is it more important that it be solid, or that it be dry? Because ice is an edible solid that turns to liquid when introduced to water.
  12. ! Moderator Note We can't let you promote your channel here, no matter how cleverly you conceal your identity. This is a discussion forum.
  13. Are we considering cultured meat processed?
  14. ! Moderator Note I think you're right.
  15. I remember reading some time ago that part of the problems with modern flour is that it's so heavily processed that our bodies have a hard time recognizing it as food. I'm not sure if this is correct, as it might have been from a pop-sci source, but I've always tried to limit my intake of any processed foods because of this. The quest to make food that most people find non-objectionable (which is the real goal of any processed foods maker, instead of making food everyone loves which is much harder) seems unrelated to the goals of modern culinary trends with the end-user, except possibly the convenience angle.
  16. Perhaps prayer is a reflection on the character of the believer. For someone whose religion is a very personal, individual belief, I would imagine their prayer is also reflective of that. For those who feel the need to spread their religion, prayer probably takes on a more public, inclusive type of communion. The more evangelical religions tend to want everyone to change to suit them; they're usually the ones mucking about in politics, trying to influence legislation on other people's morality. They also seem to be the ones more prone to public prayer, bowing their heads to beseech their god to forgive all the sinners everywhere. I admit to a lot of bias against those who assume they know what's best for everyone else, whether it's about religion or not. I also don't think it's right to legislate morality, or even use religious tenets as a basis for morality. The way PeterJ describes prayer as a contemplative way to learn more about yourself sounds like a much more meaningful approach. It assumes that you can't know what's best for everyone, and that your beliefs are yours alone when it comes right down to it. Most people I know that ascribe to a certain religion have a slightly different perspective on it than everyone else who follows the same religion, so it seems logical that their prayer would reflect those differences.
  17. It doesn't work if an elephant stands on their heads either.
  18. I know our internal clocks can be amazing, but I think it's important to rule out clock noise. Even digital clocks can make a small noise just before the actual alarm goes off. I experienced this myself in a couple of different ways. I used to wake up, look at the clock and have it go off the next instant. I thought it was my own internal clock being extremely accurate until one morning when I woke a little earlier, and heard a slight click just before the alarm. Also, my dog can hear my cell phone alarm just before it wakes me with pleasant tones. He jumps up on the side of the bed and then the alarm sounds, making it look like he has an great internal clock. The phone buzzes slightly just before the tones start.
  19. Dutch filmmaker and animator Floris Kaayk admitted to being "Jarno Smeets", the "inventor" of these wings. He's admitted to the hoax, so any TV episode featuring it is probably going to bring this up.
  20. Sometimes it's not really about how lightly you sleep. It's about the kind of noise you heard. If it's the house settling, or a family member moving about, normal noises, these often don't wake us up because they're part of a normal pattern. But if the same amount of noise comes from an unfamiliar source, our pattern-recognition capabilities reject it and we come awake. The other possibility with the poster falling is that one edge came undone, making a noise that was out of place (tape coming off the wall, the poster sliding along the wall at an angle) that woke you up so you could then hear the poster fall all the way to the ground, making it seem like you woke up before the incident even started.
  21. I think you're asking the questions in a way that makes them more difficult to answer. Asking for human "ancestors" is an enormous task, made more difficult because you haven't limited any parameters. Just like the chicken/egg paradox, asking for an exact creature that wasn't human but had the first human offspring is purely an intellectual endeavor. You could also go all the way back to the first ever vertebrate, in which case our first ancestors would be a fish smaller than your thumb but mobile because his skeleton is on the inside. Something like Haikuichthys paved the way for all vertebrates, at a time when every other creature was armoring itself on the outside.
  22. You really should start a different thread for each of these questions. It makes it SOOOOO much easier to keep track of what's being said about which, and the other members can focus better as well. Confirmation bias. The same kind of thing happens when you start shopping for cars. You see a car you've never seen before, and then suddenly you start seeing them everywhere. You're just filtering your keen pattern-recognition capabilities with things like "Mary Tyler Moore Show: Chuckles Bites the Dust". If it doesn't work, you forget you ever thought about it. If you do see the episode, you're convinced you're able to predict what you see on TV.
  23. That wouldn't be a straight line though. Brazil to Japan would be straighter. But as Klaynos observes, if we had the technology to do that, we wouldn't need to do that.
  24. I think, for the purposes of the OP, we have to allow that god(s) may exist, since what would you be praying to if we didn't? And we probably need to be even more specific about which, since the OP may have been talking about one or more of the Abrahamic religions (but I might be forgetting about other religions that utilize prayer).
  25. I agree completely. It's like Devansh burst into the conference room to boldly assert the exact opposite of what it took everyone in the room weeks to determine. Rigor is not optional.
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