I was raised to look down on philosophy, taught that it was pointless, told that it would screw with my head. I realize now why I was taught that. Because philosophy is at its root the trait of curiosity, which has turned out to be detrimental to my belief in all the things a JW is supposed to believe in. The worst part of it, though, is that I can't help anyone else to see the shortcomings of their faith because they have all been well-trained to ignore those questions as "human philosophy."
Saethydd
JoinedPosts by Saethydd
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Round and round the not so marigoround
by Coded Logic ini find most theist arguments to be either confused or dishonest at best.
and most of them i regard with mild annoyance.
but there is one track of thinking that is so stupid it really gets under my skin: when, in order to try and prop up "faith", people try and tear down reason and critical thinking.
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Saethydd
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Violent Games/Movie
by Saethydd inall through my childhood, i was told about the evils of violence (and magic) in entertainment, i doubt i could count the number of movies and video games i wasn't allowed to enjoy for that very reason.
i did always watch movies and play video games with a certain amount of violence in them, but i was careful to keep it at the teen/pg-13 rating.. in the last year or so though i've started trying out games like skyrim, fallout 3, and thief.
(since i still live with my parents i'm careful about where and when i play them.
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Saethydd
Well, I'm not an expert in human psychology, but it seems undeniable, based on our history, that humans have a certain level of natural aggression. No laws or religions are going to fully eradicate that aggression and propensity for violence. It seems to me that violent video games may provide a non-destructive outlet for that aggression, and thus keep it from building up. Now, assuming one's ability to clearly distinguish fantasy from reality has not been compromised, they will essentially be training themselves to work out their aggression in a virtual environment instead of on people in the physical world.
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The true cost of being raised as a witness
by stuckinarut2 inhow do you view your upbringing as a witness?.
most of us who were raised as witnesses would appreciate that some aspects of our upbringing were ok. a foundation and measure of stability came with it.. but, it struck me too, that we also lost so very much!
and we lost a lot of potential.. by this i mean, we need to look at not just what we lost, or what was deprived of us, but what that ended up costing us as adults into the future.. if i take $10 from you, you have lost just $10.. but, if you were going to use that $10 to buy something that would end up earning you $1000, then i actually took $1000 from you!.
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Saethydd
I've managed to wake up at a fairly young age so, fortunately, this religion didn't cost me my best shot at an education. However, I do feel like I have missed out on many social aspects that I would have enjoyed. I don't have any really good old friends that I went to high school with, I never got to have a high school sweetheart. Perhaps that won't end up having a major impact on me down the line because I am trying to make college friendships that will last beyond my school years, but as my situation stands now it's hard for me to make plans to associate with my school mates unless I pretend it's studying to my parents. With any luck though, I'll be moved out of my parents house by this time in two years.
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Violent Games/Movie
by Saethydd inall through my childhood, i was told about the evils of violence (and magic) in entertainment, i doubt i could count the number of movies and video games i wasn't allowed to enjoy for that very reason.
i did always watch movies and play video games with a certain amount of violence in them, but i was careful to keep it at the teen/pg-13 rating.. in the last year or so though i've started trying out games like skyrim, fallout 3, and thief.
(since i still live with my parents i'm careful about where and when i play them.
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Saethydd
But such cases don't even prove violent video games have a unique correlation to the violent students that is any different from the correlation to their non-violent peers, much less the video games are a causal factor.
The factors that also cause them to be low achievers or unpopular are probably just as likely, if not more likely to be the root cause of such violent outbursts. After all, gratuitous violence itself is as old as the human race, as are the basic factors that create unpopular low-achievers.
Whereas videos games are a relatively new in invention, and in the interval since their invention violence has actually gone down on a societal level according to the data I've seen. So it seems that one can safely assume that in an otherwise well-adjusted individual violent video games won't spawn violence.
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Violent Games/Movie
by Saethydd inall through my childhood, i was told about the evils of violence (and magic) in entertainment, i doubt i could count the number of movies and video games i wasn't allowed to enjoy for that very reason.
i did always watch movies and play video games with a certain amount of violence in them, but i was careful to keep it at the teen/pg-13 rating.. in the last year or so though i've started trying out games like skyrim, fallout 3, and thief.
(since i still live with my parents i'm careful about where and when i play them.
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Saethydd
All through my childhood, I was told about the evils of violence (and magic) in entertainment, I doubt I could count the number of movies and video games I wasn't allowed to enjoy for that very reason. I did always watch movies and play video games with a certain amount of violence in them, but I was careful to keep it at the Teen/PG-13 rating.
In the last year or so though I've started trying out games like Skyrim, Fallout 3, and Thief. (Since I still live with my parents I'm careful about where and when I play them.) I've found them to be quite enjoyable, and what's more, I've noticed no uptick in violent behavior. So I decided to do some research, and as is often the case, the Watchtower only considered the sources that support their opinion and ignored the many studies that contradict them.
http://videogames.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=001608
The above link has a list of articles for and against the idea that violent video games cause violence. From what I can tell, the studies that dispel the idea that violent video games are a cause for violence seem to make more sense. They tend to be broader in scope and duration. Furthermore, the articles that claim a link between the two things seem to be confusing causation with correlation, which is especially foolish when one considers how common it is to play violent video games. As one researcher put it:
These individuals are ignoring that 90% of young males play video games... Finding that a young man who committed a violent crime also played a popular video game, such as Call of Duty, Halo, or Grand Theft Auto, is as pointless as pointing out that the criminal also wore socks.
So what are your thoughts on this subject?
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Movies I'm Watching
by ILoveTTATT2 ini have, for about 6 months now, been trying to watch every single movie that was "cool" or interesting since 1960.it started out with a desire to watch as an adult all disney movies.
then it morphed into all bond movies (except for the non-canonicals).now it's turned into pretty much any and all movies.
here is my list, scratched out are ones i have seen, green are recent next-in line.turns out there was a lot i had never seen before, about 70% because of the cult restrictions!
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Saethydd
Amazon video is a decent place to rent a lot of these, and if you have Amazon Prime some movies are free. I've been renting all the Harry Potter movies and watching them when I have the house to myself. Finished up to the Half-Blood Prince.
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AI on the cusp of tremendous breakthroughs
by azor inwhat does this mean for us as individuals and our civilization?
harris, kurzweil, and musk among others have some interesting thoughts on the subject.
as do shows like westworld.
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Saethydd
I would say the big change coming in the 2020's is far more likely to be AR (augmented reality) glasses that work well, not a true AI
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AI on the cusp of tremendous breakthroughs
by azor inwhat does this mean for us as individuals and our civilization?
harris, kurzweil, and musk among others have some interesting thoughts on the subject.
as do shows like westworld.
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Saethydd
There is no AI. There is machine pattern matching that gives the illusion of intelligence, but it's not self awareness in the sense that we picture "life".
Well not yet, but our own brains are proof that consciousness can exist in constructs mad of physical matter, given the right amount of complexity, so if things continue as they are it's just a matter of time.
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This site should be called Anti-Jehovahs-Witnesses Cry-babies
by the-Question inso, you left because of a bad example(s).. why all the whining?
nothing better to do with your time?.
you at least know far more about the bible than any church-goer?.
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Saethydd
Fuck you ,this religion has deceived,lied ,caused suicides , broken marriages, took people money. These people aren't cry babies,they are sick and broken due to satanic shunning practices. Our friends on here need this site for therapy, so piss off with negative comments,we have had a life of boogie man stories and some on here would have literally killed themselves without the support on this forum , so again piss off with negativity.
What don't you recognize the "love" that marks him as a "true follower of Christ?"
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AI on the cusp of tremendous breakthroughs
by azor inwhat does this mean for us as individuals and our civilization?
harris, kurzweil, and musk among others have some interesting thoughts on the subject.
as do shows like westworld.
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Saethydd
Well, this is actually my research area (statistical methods for machine learning).
There is currently a huge increase in applications and interest in machine learning. What many don't realize is that this is the result of a gradual but steady improvement in the field since the 90s which around 2010 meant machine learning could begin to solve "real" problems (image classification, etc.). That created a huge influx of investments which has increased the rate of progress considerably, however despite the hype people should think more about it as batteries for cars where you have a steady improvement until batteries are "good enough" and then it seems like an explosion.
In terms of AI, what machine learning can do well today is classification and regression tasks of various sorts and (to some degree) control tasks in limited environments and (to a lesser extent) image/sound generation... it would be very surprising to nearly everyone in the field if the current methods that are used now will generalize to true AI.
What does seem within reach is machines that can't think but can still accomplish rich control tasks, for instance driving (nearly solved) or replacement of low-skill factory labor with robots. These robots can't "think", but at some point they will begin to replace low-skill factory jobs in large numbers and that will have a *huge* consequence.
In other words, terminator might take your job but it won't kill you
.Just so long as they don't link them together geth-style and allow them to develop a group consciousness. XD
(Mass Effect reference for those of you who don't game)
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