Brit Girls - Fat

[Mortimer Firewood]

Just now, matelot said:

Can't help it. We seem to have given up on the idea of free will on this thread.

We still have to take responsibility for our actions and opinions.

Every emotion stems from fear 

(apart from love which is a a state of being) 

So you being racist as you have fear of a race you don't understand. 

 

[the village idiot]

5 minutes ago, matelot said:

Can't help it. We seem to have given up on the idea of free will on this thread.

You certainly can help it if you open your mind to let other ideas trickle in to the back room.

 

People often mistake determinism (the absense of free will) with fatalism (nothing can be changed).

This is not the case. Our brains and their outputs are constantly changing due to new inputs.

[AHPP]

16 minutes ago, the village idiot said:

taking steps to impregnate [the brain] with information (and in the future-technology) to increase the chances of a favourable outcome in the future.

God that's dystopian.

[AHPP]

This thread is a great example of exceptions to stereotypes btw. It started with neanderthal tree cutters talking about fat girls and now a man who calls himself an idiot is schooling us on philosophy, psychology and neuroscience.

[the village idiot]

1 minute ago, AHPP said:

God that's dystopian.

Maybe. It certainly appears to be the way we are headed. Most of us already admit to using our smartphones as our brains if we are honest.

[matelot]

13 minutes ago, Mortimer Firewood said:

We still have to take responsibility for our actions and opinions.

Every emotion stems from fear 

(apart from love which is a a state of being) 

So you being racist as you have fear of a race you don't understand. 

 

Ohhh, there's no free will but we still have to take responsibility for our actions.... That doesn't make a lot of sense to me...

 

[the village idiot]

6 minutes ago, AHPP said:

This thread is a great example of exceptions to stereotypes btw. It started with neanderthal tree cutters talking about fat girls and now a man who calls himself an idiot is schooling us on philosophy, psychology and neuroscience.

 

I can't take any credit. I am only re-telling the thoughts and discoveries of other people who have written on the subject. None of this stuff is my own work.

 

It is a fascinating subject and has the potential to transform how we relate to one another and to ourselves.

[matelot]

13 minutes ago, the village idiot said:

You certainly can help it if you open your mind to let other ideas trickle in to the back room.

 

People often mistake determinism (the absense of free will) with fatalism (nothing can be changed).

This is not the case. Our brains and their outputs are constantly changing due to new inputs.

Sorry, but I've never really went in for these academic arguments...

 

Does knowledge of determinism and fatalism help when it comes to paying your mortgage?

 

Dont get me wrong. I think things like testerone levels and upbringing influence decision making, however this discussion is really just mumbo jumbo Imho.

[openspaceman]

3 hours ago, Gary Prentice said:

Similar with motorcycle riding, moments when you're a motorcycling god, in total sync with the bike and the surroundings.......

That's the way I felt about it 50 years ago, now  whilst getting in to it again for the anniversary it doesn't quite hackle.

[the village idiot]

4 minutes ago, matelot said:

Sorry, but I've never really went in for these academic arguments...

 

Does knowledge of determinism and fatalism help when it comes to paying your mortgage?

 

Dont get me wrong. I think things like testerone levels and upbringing influence decision making, however this discussion is really just mumbo jumbo Imho.

The sense of self, and by extension free will are incredibly strong illusions, constantly being reinforced every waking moment.

 

It is almost impossible for us to see through them to how concious experience actually manifests itself by just thinking about it. Thinking tends to reinforce the sense of there being an 'I'.

 

One technique you can use is meditation. There is a common misconception that meditation is a practice for calming the mind. It does generally have this effect, but the primary motivation is to pay very close attention to how thoughts arise in conciousness. 

 

After a while - quite a long while usually- you begin to realise that thoughts just arise in conciousness unthought. There is no thinker of these thoughts. The sense of there being an 'I' somewhere inside your head drops away and you are left with just the contents of conciousness.

 

This sensation quickly gets corrupted as the constructed 'Self' muscles itself back in and you are back riding the rollercoaster of your unbidden thoughts (the state we are in 99.9% of the time)

 

It's well worth taking a bit of time to observe your thoughts for a while if you can. As Sam Harris puts it, it is as though you have been kidnapped by the most boring person on earth. You have the same conversations with yourself over and over again. Imagine what it would be like if you vocalised all your thoughts, you would appear to be completely insane. I think we probably are unless we can peek through the illusion of the Self.