Philosophy Now Forum

It works for now. The entire Philosophy Now website was running slow for about 2 or 3 days. Our esteemed webmaster Bora eventually narrowed down the problem to the forum, but we're still not sure of the nature of the problem. Therefore he took the forum offline for about a day to investigate. The r...

We're back! Seems faster now It appeared to be having a problem due to the fact that for several days there was anywhere between 800 and 1500 guests on the forum. At the peak levels (1200 to 1500) was when it was super slow, and then normal speed again when there was just the usual paltry few of us...

Who here, aside from Seeds, is claiming that sight requires consciousness? Indeed it does. And that would be in the same way that sound requires consciousness. Hence, the proverbial tree falling in the forest makes no sound without the presence of some form of consciousness to explicate it (the sou...

I think you are conflating "universe" with "mind". They are not the same thing. I am not erroneously conflating the two if it is indeed possible that the universe is, itself, the mind of a higher consciousness. Wait, computers can't be conscious but a universe can? :roll: Becaus...

just not the same one - that is if it were programmed to respond to damage to it's body. You don't seem to be remembering what I have said before. It's not just a difference in body shape (a desktop computer vs a humanoid robot), but a difference in inputs and outputs and its programming. Does a ro...

Why is the argument -- the supposition, the belief in -- heat-death so vital to the conversation? If there is a heat-death (etc.) what is the meaning of it? Why is this being debated here? Who is *for* it and who is *against* it and why? Just because this great, possibly black-hole powered engine (...

In which case, if you can figure out which one of the following three items is out of place relative to the other two, then the difference between a computer's purpose and that of a human's purpose should be obvious... https://themaxim.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/walnut-half-scaled.jpg https://v...

Granted, it is highly speculative, but I've been promoting the theory that we humans are what I call "THE ULTIMATE SEEDS" who are each imbued with the potential of evolving into a literal universe created from the living fabric of our very own minds. In which case, if you can figure out w...

Yes, but… The AI per se would have no ultimate goal or purpose; it might just write a googleplex of lines of code, including something very hazardous. If it can teach itself, anything might happen. AI having a will will always have a goal. It will take a human to provide this will . One day an AI w...

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Trump Loves Dictators...

https://youtu.be/mj5D7g6z32k?t=17

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Furthermore, allow me to add numbers 10 and 11 to your list... One origin of the conception of God arise from the following; 1. Insanity, various mental illnesses 2. Hallucination 3. Hallucinogens 4. Brain Damage 5. Various drugs 6. Traumatic Stress 7. Old age 8. driven by an existential crisis 9. ...

One origin of the conception of God arise from the following; 1. Insanity, various mental illnesses 2. Hallucination 3. Hallucinogens 4. Brain Damage 5. Various drugs 6. Traumatic Stress 7. Old age 8. driven by an existential crisis 9. etc. I have provided supporting references for the above somewh...

I think you're missing some crucial factors of the current capabilities of AI. Contemporary AI, right now, is "designed" to "make choices" in almost the same way a parent "designs" his/her child to "make choices". In both circumstances, we are less and less p...

Reality is an imperative 'hallmark' of sanity. If you do not want to ground God on the basis of reality, then you are associating god with insanity from the start. I used the following quote in one of your other threads... The entire visible universe, what Bishop Berkeley called "the mighty fr...

Fetuses are already awake in the womb. This is why, after being born, they calm down when swaddled because it reminds them of being in the womb. The experience of being swaddled is similar to being in the womb. This is also why they recognize their mother's voice outside the womb. Consciousness beg...