Patryas
Chronicler
Servant of Darkness
Posts: 117
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Post by Patryas on Mar 4, 2005 19:13:01 GMT -5
Gaien, people say that the stars are just great balls of burning gas, millions of miles away. But then I look at the salt on a pretzel. What if those stars are just God's salt, and he's justing waiting to eat us?
::looks on into nothingness::
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Post by Gaien on Mar 5, 2005 10:32:19 GMT -5
Gaien, people say that the stars are just great balls of burning gas, millions of miles away. But then I look at the salt on a pretzel. What if those stars are just God's salt, and he's justing waiting to eat us? ::looks on into nothingness:: It'd be one hell of a ride...
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Post by Gaien on Mar 5, 2005 11:16:28 GMT -5
LOL, yes I meant thread/post instead of email, doh! Very cool that you know Gaelic. As for finding another avatar, you can search under Google... Images for different pictures. I'm not aware of a site with just avatars. Next questions: (1) What is good and what is evil? (2) Are we real or do we exist only in the imaginations of those around us? (3) Is there life after death? (1) See 'Term Paper' on morality on page 1 ;D (2) Descartes' statement "Cogito ergo sum" makes this very point - that one can know he exists because he is in fact concious of the fact. To put it in a trivial way, if one is in fact able to ask the question "am I real?" then he or she is in fact real. (Side note: please don't make the logical flaw that one then must be able to ask this in order to be real.) Correct:Statement A: All who question exsist. Statement B: I question. Conclusion: I exsist. Incorrect:Statement A: All who question exist. Statement B: My cat exsists. Conclusion: My cat questions his existence. It's not a supposition to assume then that I do exsist because I think. It's evidence - hard, provable, scientific evidence - that I "am". This would be the reason that much of western philosophy is built on those three latin words. If I think, then I am, and if I am, then I can observe, and if I can observe, I can define, and if I can define, then I can improve upon that which I observe, and by doing so, I improve my existence. (3) There's only one real way to find out ;D Another semi-paradoxal question that depends on your own personal beliefs, as science and logic cannot prove this other than your body does still produce energy after you die. Good questions, hope all that helps Next Question(s)?
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Post by Rhabuka on Mar 7, 2005 9:16:09 GMT -5
Nice work, Gaien. I have a few more for you: (1) Could a machine have a soul? (2) What does a fetus dream about? (3) If you ate pasta and antipasta, would you still be hungry?
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Post by Gaien on Mar 7, 2005 20:26:01 GMT -5
Nice work, Gaien. I have a few more for you: (1) Could a machine have a soul? (2) What does a fetus dream about? (3) If you ate pasta and antipasta, would you still be hungry? (1)The noun "soul" has 5 bassic definitions. 1. Soul, psyche -- (the immaterial part of a person; the actuating cause of an individual life) 2. Soul, person, individual, someone, somebody, mortal, human, soul -- (a human being; "there was too much for one person to do") 3. Soul, soulfulness -- (deep feeling or emotion) 4. Soul-- (the human embodiment of something; "the soul of honor") 5. Soul-- (a secular form of gospel that was a major Black musical genre in the 1960s and 1970s; "soul was politically significant during the Civil Rights movement") What the heck is a soul? Can you touch it? Does it have feelings? Does it laugh if you tickle it? Is it nothing more than energy resonating from our bodies that we can niether see nor detect? If you prick a soul, does it bleed? This, like so many questions, depends alot on your personal beliefs. In most Christian denominations only 'humans' have a soul, not animals or plants. But aren't humans just a higher form of animal? Will we be able to someday create machines capable of mimicking human life? Yes. Do they have a soul... In order to realy answer this question, you must first ask yourself 'What is a soul?' (2)There is even scientific evidence that babies dream in utero--they have electrical brain patterns compatible with dreaming. What does a fetus dream about? That may, perhaps never be answered completely; we surely forget our prenatal dreams, whatever they are. What does a fetus think about? It may have the first stirrings of consciousness of self, because as much as it is still a part of its mother's body, it has a brain and a mind of its own. However, the only thing a fetus could possibly think about is theology. Using this term in this context seems, at best, facetious. Obviously, a fetus does not formulate its thought in words, because the mind of a fetus is a pre-mind, not a conscious mind that uses words. Words become significant only in adulthood (and sometimes not even then). However, theology does not always mean heavy terminology written in ponderous manner (and never read). Basically, it is knowledge of self. To a fetus, who has almost no outside experience, there may be just two points of thought. One may, perhaps, be "me," and the other, "all." The only thing that exists is the wholeness. If we put it into words, it would be something like, "I am engulfed within the wholeness of existence; in me and beyond me is this wholeness. This is the food and the shelter, the matrix of everything, infinity." At a much later stage, we may say that it was the mother's womb, but for the fetus, it is the universe, the everything in which it exists. While we may not ever be able to know what exactly a fetus dreams about, does a fetus dream? Yes. What does it dream about? Ask a fetus. (3) Very funny, Rhab, No more paradoxal questions from you I do love all the interesting questions I've been asked. Keep it up guys! Next question(s)?
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Patryas
Chronicler
Servant of Darkness
Posts: 117
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Post by Patryas on Mar 8, 2005 2:44:12 GMT -5
So Gaien, when are all these books due back to the library?
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Post by Gaien on Mar 8, 2005 19:05:03 GMT -5
Actually, I don't have a library card They took it away... Good question tho' Next Question?
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Jwiz
Chronicler
Posts: 110
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Post by Jwiz on Mar 9, 2005 11:18:25 GMT -5
If something can be so hot its cold or so cold its hot then can someone be so stupid their smart or so smart their stupid?
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Post by Gaien on Mar 9, 2005 21:28:58 GMT -5
If something can be so hot its cold or so cold its hot then can someone be so stupid their smart or so smart their stupid? As far as people being so smart they’re stupid, go work for corporate America, you’ll find out the answer to that real quick. Read Dilbert for further examples, most of those comics are based off real life experiences. Being so stupid you're smart is an interesting question. There’s always the saying ‘Ignorance is bliss’ but in real life there are certain individuals who are handicapped and yet exceedingly brilliant at the same time. This is called Savant Syndrome. Savant Syndrome is an exceedingly rare but remarkable condition in which persons with serious mental handicaps, resulting from various developmental disabilities, such as Autism or Williams Syndrome, or from major mental illness, have astonishing islands of ability or brilliance that stand in stark, markedly incongruous contrast to the overall disability. Some of these individuals are talented savants. These are individuals who display savant skills that are simply in contrast to the disability. In others, with a much rarer form of the condition, the ability or brilliance is not only spectacular in contrast to the disability, but would be spectacular even if viewed in a non-disabled person. These individuals are known as prodigious savants. The fewer than 100 cases of prodigious savants reported in the world literature in the past 100 years have shown remarkable similarities within an exceedingly narrow range of abilities, given the many possible skills in the human repertoire. All people with savant syndrome have an amazing memory that is very focused in one area. The most common behaviors demonstrated by people with the syndrome are obsessive preoccupations with trivia (facts about U.S. presidents, for example), license plate numbers, maps, or obscure items. Some people have startling artistic or musical abilities. For example, one man can hear a piano concerto only once, then play it perfectly. Other people with the syndrome have outstanding mathematical skills, such as being able to perform complex calculations within a few seconds. Some can also perform calendar calculations, meaning given any date past or future the person can tell what day of the week it is. Traditionally the term "idiot savant" was used for individuals with serious mental handicaps and yet had special abilities. Historically the word "idiot" referred to those with an IQ of less than 25 while "savant" means one who is learned or wise. However, since most cases of idiot savant occur in individuals with an IQ of 40 or greater, the term "idiot" is a misnomer. In accordance with this, not to mention the negative nature of the term "idiot", "savant syndrome" has begun to replace the older term. The condition can be congenital or be acquired by an otherwise normal individual following CNS injury or disease. It occurs in males more frequently than in females in an approximate ratio of 6:1. The skills can appear suddenly, without explanation, and can disappear just as suddenly. Hope that helps answer your question. Def… def.. definitely ready for the next question, yeah… definitely ready, definitely...
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Post by Rhabuka on Mar 10, 2005 15:50:04 GMT -5
How would you describe a color to a blind person?
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Post by Gaien on Mar 10, 2005 20:25:37 GMT -5
How would you describe a color to a blind person? Now that's a tough question, and a good one Rhab! I suppose the only way to describe something like that to someone who has never seen would be through the use of feeling and emotion. One could say Red is the color of passion. Whenever you feel pasonate about something, be it love or anger, that is the color that you see. An interesting factoid is that people who are blind from birth do not have 'visual' dreams, they have auditory ones. Wish I could answer that question better! Next Question(s)?
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Patryas
Chronicler
Servant of Darkness
Posts: 117
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Post by Patryas on Mar 10, 2005 20:42:10 GMT -5
I have a friend that is partially blind and whenever I say things are blurry, he can't fully understand what I'm talking about. Basically blurry vision to him is normal, so I always have to go into detail about what I mean.
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Post by Gaien on Apr 17, 2005 12:21:05 GMT -5
(3) If you ate pasta and antipasta, would you still be hungry? Ok, more to get this thread rolling again than anything else, I've decided to answer your question. Assuming that you ate equal amounts of both Pasta and Antipasta then yes, you would still be hungry. Reason being is that if you ate equal amounts of Pasta and Antipasta they would essentially cancel each other out, leaving you with an empty stomach. But what if you weren’t hungry to begin with? Well your body needs fuel to provide energy to function and you are consuming energy by eating both the Pasta and Antipasta without that fuel being replenished, ergo you are loosing fuel faster than it can be replaced and you will still desire more fuel or food. Next Question(s)?
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Patryas
Chronicler
Servant of Darkness
Posts: 117
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Post by Patryas on Apr 19, 2005 0:34:03 GMT -5
Gaien, do you know what antipasta is?
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Post by Kyrinn the Black on Apr 19, 2005 17:38:35 GMT -5
Can you answer a question in few enough words that I don't lose interest and stop caring about the answer?
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