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Persephone

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Everything posted by Persephone

  1. Devil's Advocate The argument really boils down to whether or not consciousness is purely physical. If it is, then its processes are chemical in nature. All chemical processes, on the atomic level, interact in an entirely deterministic way, having neither the will nor the power to move against chemical balance. If consciousness is physical, then it is completely determined by outside atomic events.
  2. I think the best idea would be a cellular system, something like Stalin's sleeper cells, but on a workable level. I'm afraid I can't see a unified society existing in secret these days.
  3. Quote from a review site This is what I mean...satire in writing is easy....satire visually is confusing
  4. I agree....I wonder if they will pull it off successfully. I can't think of one time where someone has actually managed to successfully bring satire to screen.
  5. Read the story Clawg, if you haven't already . It's supposed to be satirical. I don't know how it will work as a short film, satire is not a visually oriented genre, for the same reason why it's hard to be sarcastic in a chat room.
  6. I laughed with the Joker, for the same reason I laughed with Ellsworth Toohey. That a person or people can wish for their own destruction and not know it is a supreme irony, especially when they are given the power to unleash a person who fully knows what he wants and how to get it. Such evil integrity blinds them, they cannot understand it, they do know how to control a man like that. He doesn't want money or power, or life, or sex, or drugs. He has only one desire, one that they can't give him. As Alfred says so perfectly in the movie, he just wants to see the world burn. That's why I laugh when the Joker kills thugs and blows up hospitals, and why I greatly enjoyed watching the safely locked away Joker slowly erode everything around him. It is absurd to the highest agree to watch people who don't dare face their own philosophy scuttle around trying to stop two people that have. (Batman and Joker). The Greeks used to say that Tragedy and Comedy are not far removed. On another note. Who really thinks that the two-boat scenario would have really resolved itself like that in a real life scenario? I know this is an unanswerable question for the most part, but I personally think the Joker's plot was really curtailed by Warner Brother's desire for a PG-13 movie. People get killed because they are rooting for the wrong football team on the wrong side of the stadium for crying out loud! The majority of perfect strangers are not capable of reacting to harsh moral choices with that much networking. They would never chose one citizen/thug to make the choice for them. Their would be screaming and carrying on and fighting and gunshots. The portrayal of how people handled the hospital scenario was much more accurate I think.
  7. I loved it, but was it intended to be corny?
  8. Not the point, but the girl's crown means nothing. I like to dress up, and I'm 22, doesn't mean that she's spoiled. Also, I've battled depression before, and I have never been through trauma. Depression is an illness, not just an emotion. Back on topic. Being mean on the internet is not on trial here. This is a case of a person who forged a false identity and used it to target and torment a fellow human being. According to the articles above, as well as others, the woman planned from the beginning to seduce this girl into a relationship and then urge the girl to suicide, which is obviously not an ethical thing to do. Though I have to wonder what actual laws there are in place to punish these actions, and in what direction legislation should head, I have no sympathy for this woman. Also, I know from experience how easy it is to pull wool over your parent's eyes. It is so easy to lose track of your children for just a little while, and then to see them burn. Unless there is proof that her mother willfully ignored her, she deserves sympathy, not judgment. Also, I don't know anything about MySpace, but I don't remember there being an age limit on it I do accept that I might be misinterpreting the situation. The saying "two sides to every coin" is wrong. Every situation has hundreds of possible 'sides'
  9. The Matrix Soundtrack A Series of Unfortunate Events Soundtrack The Return of the King Soundtrack
  10. Welcome to funheadaches.com!! I think you'll find plenty to think about here
  11. I'm no economist, but it seems to me that water-selling businesses wouldn't do that, because their main consumer would be the lower and middle classes. Also, I think the lower classes would turn to local landowners with water on their properties, and would try to find viable sources of water themselves, which would take customers away from the major companies, not something any business wants.
  12. Again, not the point of this topic, but finite omniscience kind of is important. If an entity, no matter how unlikely, can know every finite fact, then the potential for a form of godhood does exist. You've gotten rid of the monotheist gods, but those annoying all knowing genies are still hangin' in there.
  13. Cowisms - The Ultimate Government Guide Fascism -- If you have 2 cows, you keep the cows but give the milk to the government, who then sells you the milk at a high price. Nazism -- If you have 2 cows, the government shoots you and keeps the cows. New Dealism -- (FDR Version) If you have 2 cows, you shoot one, milk the other one; then pour the milk down the drain. Capitalism -- (Reaganomics) If you have 2 cows, you sell one and buy a bull; you then sell all the excess milk to the government who in turn ships it to fascist and communist governments. Anarchism -- If you have 2 cows, your neighbor on your left takes one cow, and the one on the right takes the other; while your backyard neighbor takes the milk, the bucket and the stool. Utopianism -- If you have 2 cows, Mother Nature zaps the cows, turning their udders into eternal milk-shake dispensers. Socialism -- You have two cows. The government takes them and puts them in a barn with everyone else's cows. They are cared for by ex-chicken farmers. You have to take care of the chickens the government took from the chicken farmers. The government gives you as much milk and eggs as the regulations say you should need. Communism -- You have two cows. You have to take care of them, but the government takes all the milk. Dictatorship -- You have two cows. The government takes both and drafts you. Pure Democracy -- You have two cows. Your neighbors decide who gets the milk. Representative Democracy -- You have two cows. Your neighbors pick someone to decide who gets the milk. Bureaucracy -- You have two cows. At first the government regulates what you can feed them and when you can milk them. Then it pays you not to milk them. Then it takes both, shoots one, milks the other and pours the milk down the drain. Then it requires you to fill out forms accounting for the missing cows. Surrealism -- You have two giraffes. The government requires you to take harmonica lessons.
  14. Solid profile. Your father sounded like an interesting man.

  15. Wait, I thought omniscient meant knowing everything. If the universe is not infinite, then omniscient is not either right?
  16. Sorry, I know this is not the point of this topic, but I was wondering why omniscience is an impossible term. Not that I disagree with you, I just don't know how to prove it. (Edit: Spelling)
  17. The term "I know how you feel" can be taken in its literal sense, that you are aware of the feeling the person is experiencing on a mental level (e.g. Saying, "I know how you make a cake" does not mean that you have ever made one). I think the meaning has corrupted though, and most people assume you mean that you have experienced scenarios similar to theirs, in which you had similar feelings. This connotation is dangerous, and does lead to misunderstandings "You can't possibly know how I feel!!" When my father died, I would have preferred it if people had spoken about their emotion, and then held their peace, not venturing to explore my emotions. This may just be me though. I know when my uncle was dying of cancer he would ask people to leave if they couldn't carry on a conversation. He would say "Look at my mind, not at my cancer." Again, my uncle may be unusual, but I have heard similar things from friends who are handicapped, protesting that a quick "I know how you feel," is both shallow and untrue, and carrying on a conversation with them about topics other than their ailment actually gives more comfort. As for a quick response, I have none. I often envy the religious, who can say "I'm praying for you," which to them means something similar to "I care that you are suffering," which is of course, rather awkward to say.
  18. Some of the best authors write for teenagers, maybe because that is the last stage before adulthood, when reading might potentially diminish in exchange for a career. Robert Cormier is phenomenal as a nihilist...his The Chocolate War, is the most popular, but I prefer I am the Cheese. Douglas Adams, of course, some of his lesser known fiction is interesting. Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead are justly famous, though after those two I think he draws the story arc out to long. If you like high fantasy, try Ursula Le'Guin.
  19. I put the paper together with a study partner, and the above argument is very close to our first premise, which we turned down. The reason is that a spider web would prove the existence of a spider, but the absence of a spider web would not prove the non-existence of the spider, only show strong evidence for its non-existence. Assuming that A does not inherently cause B If A causes B and B exists, A exists If A causes B and B does not exist, the existence of A is unknown In Pseudo-Techno-Logic, this means that the absence of proof for an entities' movements does not prove that the entity itself does not exist if the movement is not inherent to the entities' nature (whew). For example, a woman's husband may smoke a pipe. If the woman comes home and does not smell pipe-smoke, that does not mean her husband is not in the house, because her husband does not eternally smoke a pipe (ignoring the fact that a pipe smoker’s house always smells like pipe-smoke). Whether or not a god has a natural motion or force is a question of definition. Our next point was that of definitions. One can, assumably, define a spider to the point where it can be easily identified. A definition of a god is much harder. We brought this up in class and it was turned down, under the basis that the real purpose of the assignment was to argue against the principle of the fallacy of the universal negative, which is, according to my Professor, naturally impervious to the definition of the entity being looked for. The real point is the absence of omniscients in the person seeking, not the entity being sought. We were free to disagree if we wanted too, and the professor did not tell us that what he claimed was true, or whether or not he believed it. He did say that, if we continued to use the argument of definition, we would have to defeat his argument. Unfortunately, as is so often the case with liberal art colleges, the ideal platonic education gave way to time constraints and the need to keep a good grade. We decided to ignore him. We finally got an A+ with the same premises as Nyronus, Clawg, and softwareNerd. (All misinterpretations entirely the fault of this author) Our paper had three main points 1. Inductive logic is based off of sensory data, but is useful as a means of extrapolation of that data to demonstrate as logical things that cannot be experienced personally 2. Assuming an accurate definition of God (a task of a lifetime in itself) one need only look for “ripples of deity,” movements close to his nature that are always present when he is present (assuming “he” for ease of use) 3. One does not need to be omnipotent about every aspect of every entity, just the identity of the entity. As long as it is not God, it does not need to be further explored Disagree with me!! I’m begging you!! As to Vista, it has clearly declared war on me and my writing. It often changes whole sentence meanings because "Auto Correct Grammar" spots an error. No comparison here, but Tom Sawer would never have seen the light of day if Twain was using a Vista system (Edit: Fixing Generic Stupidity)
  20. But what if Turing was delivered was delivered c-section? Happy belated birthday!!
  21. Will the recordings for this seminar be available for free like the last seminar's recordings were?
  22. I love comments...

  23. Forgive me if this thought has been voiced before... Assuming both the mother and the son believe that there is no afterlife after death, telling her a truth on her deathbed is no more immediately traumatic than telling her over a nice cup of tea. The only danger is that her physical pain, combined with an uncomfortable truth, will lead to a broken relationship, which is a horrible thing to look back on. On the other hand, being dishonest leads to a schism between a person’s belief of reality and reality itself. If she is dying, having a schism like that seems hardly important.
  24. Correction: The original argument read omniscient, spellcheck changed it for me. Once again Windows Vista demonstrates it's disdain for man.
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