bobthechef

26 ms·

61.
by bobthechef 5y ago
Right. Every epoch shows a tendency to model intelligence in terms of some favored technology. It's a mistake to take these beyond very casual and loose metaphors. It's a very difficult habit of thought to break for some people b
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by bobthechef 5y ago
There are plenty of threats to the vulnerable in the world. Should we therefore impose coercive blanket policies on everyone and across the board under the pretext of "compassion"? Is collateral damage unimportant?
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by bobthechef 5y ago
You're still not seeing the contradiction between making truth claims and having beliefs and the skeptical position you're entertaining. By your own standards, I could ask how you know there's something called a brain, that i
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by bobthechef 5y ago
Or it produces such severe distortions that it leads people to bizarre conclusions.
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by bobthechef 5y ago
How is the self-defeating skepticism lost on you? What reality? What molecules? The only explanation that doesn't lead to absurdity is that drugs corrupt your perception. They interfere with and frustrate the healthy and proper operati
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by bobthechef 5y ago
The nihilistic culture of death is well established, so I'm surprised it took this long or if this thing can truly be said to be "new".
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by bobthechef 5y ago
W.r.t. that article, while Christianity does emphasize the value of the individual (Imago Dei), individualism (emphasis on "-ism") is a feature of liberalism and therefore a Christian heresy. Human beings as social animals and ind
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by bobthechef 5y ago
Philogenetic taxonomies may suffer from this, yes. Ontological classification is a different ball game. Any "rational animal" in the universe qualifies as "human".
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by bobthechef 5y ago
An analogy with the hermeneutic of continuity is appropriate. Breaking with Tradition (typically accomplished by preserving original texts, but attaching completely new meanings to the words) wrecks that continuity and cuts people off from
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by bobthechef 5y ago
What do you mean by "classic religions"? If you mean faiths like Christianity and Islam, then they're not fading everywhere. Globally, they're growing. Only in the West do we see a decline in Christianity and the rise of
71.
by bobthechef 5y ago
Given the underlying ideological current, I don't expect a letter like this to move very many people. You want to entice them with the future possibility of career opportunities? Not very rousing or compelling in this environment. And
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by bobthechef 5y ago
I'm still waiting for the silence during which the insanity of this ideology finally clicks for those going along. We don't have to politely pretend that it isn't insane. We should pose direct questions to the lumpen commmiss
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by bobthechef 5y ago
So being a private company means no one can criticize you and the detrimental effect you're having on public life? Besides, that YouTube is a monopoly isn't the main problem. Few people complain about utilities that work well. It
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by bobthechef 5y ago
Josef Pieper[0] has written about leisure at length. What we call "rest" today is largely either idleness or recreation and something meant only to "recharge us" so that we can continue to work. But this is ass-backwards
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by bobthechef 5y ago
There is a tacit presupposition here that needs to be made explicit if we are not to betray it, namely, the distinction between properties and attributes. A property is something that follow from the essential nature of a thing. A mere attr
76.
by bobthechef 5y ago
They sometimes put "organism" in quotes, which I think is important. A far as I can tell, these aren't bona fide organisms, but appropriated tissue that has been treated in some way to incidentally behave in useful ways, sort
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by bobthechef 5y ago
Indeed, and the lockdown and other impositions have introduced numerous ills that don't necessarily register, at least not immediately, as deaths.
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by bobthechef 5y ago
What was the point of disagreement? Your average Catholic, for example, isn't going to be especially knowledgeable about liturgy, much less theology. Ask your average Catholic what the mass fundamentally is and chances are he won'
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by bobthechef 5y ago
So instead of shooting men, criminals no less, that were blatantly threatening his life, he should have filed a police report and then appear in court to make his case?
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by bobthechef 5y ago
Medieval history is often caricaturish as taught in school. I would not presume Wikipedia is free from the influence of centuries of Protestant and Enlightenment smears.
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by bobthechef 5y ago
The very notion of NPOV is problematic. It reminds me of Rawls' theory of justice: seemingly innocent and sensible under a naive, provincial reading by someone raised in a sheltered Western liberal bubble, but question begging under cl
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by bobthechef 5y ago
Counter snooping measures will likely be developed in parallel. Maybe localized EMP or something that floods sensors with infrared light or whatever.
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by bobthechef 5y ago
Right, but this correlation with "blueness" is, I think, accidental and doesn't account for small businesses. For example, I would expect more small local businesses in red states than blue states. The tech sector will favor
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by bobthechef 5y ago
Right, you'd have to back this up with numbers, but if startups are considered, the US outstrips everyone else, certainly in the West. The story is going to be more complicated. Ethos is an important factor. Some countries have culture
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by bobthechef 5y ago
I can't read the article, but the Spanish Inquisition is generally misunderstood in the historical context and innumerable myths have been spun about the affair through later Protestant leaflets and the like (outrageous claims of the g
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by bobthechef 5y ago
Ask yourself what the value is of all this additional complexity and additional “features” relative to the end sought. Do you need the damn router to be on for the stupid “smart” lightbulb to turn on? When you need the lights on to get some
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by bobthechef 5y ago
Maybe instead they should try Saxon math or Singapore math curricula? You obviously have to build up mathematical skill and intuition the right way, but there is an age-appropriate way to do this. NOT doing it seems rather backward.
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by bobthechef 5y ago
N.b. the liberal arts education, trivium, and quadrivium are experiencing a bit of a (modernized) revival, especially in Catholic circles (some examples [0]). Education traditionally was concerned with the formation of human beings as free,
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by bobthechef 5y ago
No need to be black and white about this. It's not just a battle between the rabid authoritarians and hysterical Chicken Littles on one side, and the crackpot QAnons and categorical anti-vaxxers on the other. There's a range of re
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by bobthechef 5y ago
That they could doesn't mean they will . That's why articles are dated. If the article reviews the nth generation of product p, then that's what the review is about. If you're reading the review 2-3 years afterward, c

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