Baby Astronaut
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What measure are you using? If we go by how equipped we are to kill other animals in this environment, then we're only superior for killing in this environment. But if you took all 5 billion humans and teleported everyone naked to a wilderness planet of 5 billion lions, no trees, and only shark-infested waters, then instantly...humans are no longer superior in killing -- even when nothing's changed about their physical body or mind. It's the environment. Ophiolite gave us the answer: "I understand that many of the globergerina feel the same way." And then JillSwift gave us another one. They wouldn't all be committed to the extermination of rabbits though. And such is the environment that makes the rabbits fit to continue their existence (in Australia).
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Have you experienced something science could not explain?
Baby Astronaut replied to John Phoenix's topic in Speculations
Meant by the chain of events starting at the Big Bang (or even before then). If an observer were at that instant measuring data and performing the necessary calculations, they'd be able to say "Well, it looks as if the one star's third planet is going to have life which evolves into sentient beings, and they're going to make calculations about this episode in the Universe, like so..." Thus it was all "meant" to be. Our existence is fated (since at least 12 billion years ago). That I definitely agree with. And that. I didn't get that from the article. Good point. But I do sense gung-ho assumptions occasionally, never by all scientists though. Yes. Except the last paragraphs you quoted isn't argument, simply a fastforward to a possible outcome -
Have you experienced something science could not explain?
Baby Astronaut replied to John Phoenix's topic in Speculations
A quick interjection if you don't mind To say that determinism exists 100% is much like saying that fate exists (also 100%). Because if the universe is deterministic, then life on Earth was meant to be from the very beginning...* And hopefully will remain so by staying unpolluted from popular claims that lack substantial evidence. *and possibly, everyone will one day have a 100% accurate crystal ball if our maths improve enough to successfully determine what the population's every bitty future step is going to be. From the moment of looking into "the crystal ball" until the viewer's death....fate will be revealed in stark and utter detail. Inexorably... All reactions/movement by a viewer after witnessing their exact future is already pre-known by such viewer, and maddeningly, the crystal ball would've revealed that also. -
Just to an observer, not to the person making the decision. We can use statistics and probablility to very closely approximate what a person is going to do, but not what a person is 100% going to do voluntarily. So I think it's relative between the decider and observer whether it's random or not. My guess again is that physics has its regular determinism going on, and in the universe are islands or pockets of energy (human/sentient minds) that can interrupt the regular determinism to create an unforeseen set of deterministic variables that had no previous record. The new determinism spreads from the point in altered spacetime where the purposeful decision occurred.
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In order for a person to have functional telepathy, i.e. receive brain signals and encounter others with the same brain function, theirs would have to be mutated into a receiver. However I doubt telepaths would make claims of any telepathic "powers". The reasons are simple. First...anyone making claims of telepathy would be acting on ego. Thus wouldn't a telepath be above the need for such motivations, as they'd know everyone's most secret failures and doubts? Would you feel the need to impress or gain acceptance/praise from those who 24/7 show an inner lack of confidence and emotional baggage? Not to mention.....they might have a clear idea how people would generally react to knowing about their powers, since mind reading would likely reveal it. And if the reaction is bad for their continued survival, you can bet not many would flaunt their powers.
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Do you mean an observable reason? How could I possibly know that if we haven't yet observed either a deterministic or free will source for purposeful actions? My best guess is there's a physics mechanics reason for it, and which alters the course of events from whatever point in spacetime the human or sentient creature makes a decision.
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Well I can see the parts that entered into the juggling mix as totally (or even partially) deterministic, but the weighing of each part against the others and then arriving at a conclusion is what I think is free. However, it wouldn't become final until a purposeful decision has been made and you started to act on it. Yet a purposeful decision might be overridden by an involuntary body response, chemical or whatnot -- if strong enough.
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For me, personal will is the mental juggling that leads up to the final/actual decision made. They wouldn't be the same. Can you explain that more?
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It's possible we'd lose something as a trade-off in the process. Seems it. But even if we didn't have mutations that left behind physically strong humans, we'd build machines that have the required strength. Also, it's have to be a survival requirement, not just a convenience. Even so, this is more complex than at first appears. As one example: humans tend to aid others in need, so only a few (or just enough) humans would need to adapt to the new environment in order for the rest to survive. Thus it's no longer a survival requirement for that environment.
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If nothing's been established, how can there be alternatives to it? We don't know. Maybe, but right now it's just a possibility. Well I made no claim, but if you want my opinion it's likely caused by personal will at the very instant the decision is to become action.
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And how would I come to realize that? By accepting what's been proposed, but hasn't been proven? Here's Wikipedia's entry for deterministic.... ...the view that every event, including human cognition, behavior, decision, and action, is causally determined by an unbroken chain of prior occurrences. However since it hasn't been proven, it's just speculation. Thus mine is just as valid... Every purposeful human cognition, behavior, and action, is causally determined by the human's decision at that very instant.
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Then we simply disagree.
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You have that part backwards. It's usually in rural areas that generally are isolated where higher occurrences occur. Isolated communities with a restricted gene pool sometimes produce high proportions of color blindness, including the less usual types.Examples include rural Finland, Hungary, and some of the Scottish islands. Also, color blindness frequency would be no indicator of favorable or unfavorable genes, as it helps little in survival either way.
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The future events are set and can't be altered. No free will. Actually, I came back 18 years from now in order so that I didn't quote a 22 year old thread in the future
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I'd go back and make The Peon blink just as that camera shot went off for the avatar. I'd visit the restaurant at the end of the universe. (in only a towel) You'd catch her in the doggy style Originally Posted by yourdadonapogos a moment cannot be changed. the fact that you are alive now tells you that you will be unsuccessful if you should ever travel back in time to kill your father. So if 5 billion people tried going back to kill daddy, they'd all fail? Pretty big odds there. Originally Posted by Sayonara³ People tend to try and process the sequence of events in some kind of logical order, which usually ends up being "the order in which the traveller commits actions", rather than the order in which the actual events occur. They then find that logic falls apart and they can't resolve the problem, so they slap a paradox label on it (instead of realising that linear logic won't account for things like effect preceding cause, et cetera.) We'd have to assume everything is predetermined. The future already exists, our plans, and we have no control over it. But that's if the present would've "already" happened by a future event.
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In both cases, is work being done to the muscles system and motor themselves -- even if neither moves?
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Ahh, makes sense. But in a way, it's still problematic in one non-biological area. Let's say a tiny machine anchored in the ground is pushing against a large building. Nothing moves. Yet in a few hours, the machine's batteries are dead.
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If work is Force x Distance, what is Force x Time? Example: you're holding a large book mid-air, eventually you get tired from it -- yet no distance was covered. But since a force exerted over a measure of time doesn't fit as "work", how's it result in spent energy? What's the term if no distance was covered? --Power? Effort?
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Doesn't accurately fit your example. Occam's razor can also say, in a nutshell... "When you have two competing theories that make exactly the same predictions, the simpler one is the better" In practice shaves off redundancy. (thus doesn't affect theories with different predictions)
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Boards Community Meet for the NYC vicinity
Baby Astronaut replied to Baby Astronaut's topic in The Lounge
It's done, a whole two people showed up: mooey and I. We sat across the street from the Museum of Natural History on a bench off Central Park and just ended up talking until way late afternoon. Didn't even go into the museum except when I had to use their bathroom. I saw a big dinosaur inside by the entrance though! Anyway, mooey's a smart cookie. If you talk to her, watch out, as she might dole out some good challenges to your beliefs -- as she did me. Or perhaps I was just tired (4 hours sleep) and fell a bit into a trance for she's quite hot (being also into nerdy yet cool things!) Missed out ydoaPs! If people are interested maybe we can do this again. Dunno, I like the whole idea, however maybe someone else is better able to coordinate and organize it. But I'm a traveler by nature and if were heading midwest between Texas and Denver, I actually have two other people of the forums I'd like to meet. By the way, the Oovoo account I made is ScienceNortheastUS. If anyone wants to handle it, just post and I'll send you the password. Neither of us even took our cameras out, my new disposable's still in the package -- bought it today. Supply was high, demand low (the exclamation point did boost it some..not enough though). Damn, I must've imagined a period in there, how it's written I'm not surprised though... -
Boards Community Meet for the NYC vicinity
Baby Astronaut replied to Baby Astronaut's topic in The Lounge
Installing Oovoo later, I'll post more about it tonight, like what member name I'll be choosing. The 30-day free trial allows up to 5 people conferencing at once. Due to the laptop battery, I can maybe get a little over an hour. Not sure. Therefore, I'm going to put a time slot for it, like 3-4 pm, or 3:30-4:30. Anyone in the world liking to drop by on video: check the thread after 9 am Eastern Standard Time, if you're interested in logging on, to check schedule for any last minute changes. Merged post follows: Consecutive posts mergedI'll not be using Oovoo, its system requirements are Pentium 4.1Ghz which I don't even have close to. I'll try Skype later. If so, I'll post the member name later, so keep checking the thread after 1pm. -
Energy transfer is more correct?
Baby Astronaut replied to Baby Astronaut's topic in Classical Physics
That's my point. Energy's just energy when it's just there being energy. But when it's being used to do work (i.e. a specific use), it's energy transfer. -
When reading about energy, I'll better visualize what's going on by adding the word "transfer" to it. For example, I'd reinterpret "plants need energy from the sun to live" as "plants need energy transfer from the sun to live" "It generates energy in the form of heat" becomes "It generates energy transfer in the form of heat" Is what I'm doing accurate? Seems to me that "energy" and "energy transfer" are being used interchangeably in many cases. However, the type of energy situation needed to get things done, I believe, is only energy transfer -- as it'd do nothing otherwise.
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Virtual free energy
Baby Astronaut replied to Baby Astronaut's topic in Modern and Theoretical Physics
Huh. So what's the correct view then?