jp1692

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Posts by jp1692

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  37

  My Cognitive Dissonance is Eating Me Alive (Intro Post)

  by pometerre21 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've been lurking here for a couple of weeks now.

  i'm starting to "awaken" and it is all that has been occupying my mind.

  i've always, always had doubts, some of which i expressed to family members who always had the same replies:.

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  jp1692

  Welcome!

  Please continue to voice you’re thoughts here. It’s a healthy way to reduce the dissonance.
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  142

  Panpsychism - a philosophy with a future

  by slimboyfat in

  1. social
  2. current

  at one time scientists believed that living things and non-living things were made of different material, accounting for the unique properties of living things.

  this idea is called vitalism and is no longer popular.

  what does remain popular (in fact is still the dominant view) is a similar idea that things that experience the world (humans, frogs, mice) are different from things that don't experience the world (potatoes, rocks, snowflakes).

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  jp1692

  SBF: Why are we uniquely equipped to perceive the world as it really is?

  I actually love this particular question, but you must realize it’s somewhat circular and entirely self-referential in its underlying assumption that we actually do “perceive the world as it really is.”

  When did this happen? The ancients that perceived the world as flat or the center of the universe clearly did not “perceive the world as it really is.”

  The 18th century chemists that subscribed to the theory of phlogiston didn’t “perceive the world as it really is.”

  So what makes you think we now have it all right? When did we start to “perceive the world as it really is”?

  When did this happen?

  In fact, if you want to talk about the basic equipment with which we are actually “equipped,” our innate, basic physical senses don’t perceive a great deal of how things actually are. Our eyes, for example, only perceive a very small portion of the EM band, our ears only hear a very small range of the frequencies which are audible to other animals, our sense of touch can only handle a very limited range of hot or cold without being irreparably damaged and so on.

  It’s only by using our intelligence that humans have been able to devise mechanical devices to extend our basic, stock sensory input devices enabling us to perceive so many things which formerly were unknown and unknowable to us in our native state.
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  10

  "entitled" talks

  by road to nowhere in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  one thing that bugs the heck out of me is the exclusive use of entitled when offering the name of any talk or article.

  can;t it ever be "on the subject of", named, titled, called, about or anything else.. i guess technically it is a correct usage, but entitled always (to me) means gives the idea of being in a special privelege, having a right to something or such..

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  jp1692

  It’s a First World 🌎 problem.

  All kidding aside, the Watchtower publications have always had this rather stuffy, stilted, overly-formal style of writing that—to my ear at least—sounds about a generation behind the average age of their congregants. (And no, I don’t mean an overlapping generation).

  It’s been my suspicion that they think it makes them sound smart and educated; however, if they really were educated they would know it doesn’t.

  TIP: If you’re really interested in upping your game in the writing department, pick up a copy of Steven Pinker’s book, The Sense of Style. You’ll be glad you did.

  jp
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  142

  Panpsychism - a philosophy with a future

  by slimboyfat in

  1. social
  2. current

  at one time scientists believed that living things and non-living things were made of different material, accounting for the unique properties of living things.

  this idea is called vitalism and is no longer popular.

  what does remain popular (in fact is still the dominant view) is a similar idea that things that experience the world (humans, frogs, mice) are different from things that don't experience the world (potatoes, rocks, snowflakes).

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  jp1692

  Where is the line drawn?

  At octpopus. (See my previous posts in this thread if you want/need clarification).
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  10

  backhanded compliment to Sunday speaker

  by road to nowhere in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  a couple years ago we had a speaker, better than average, give the talk.

  since i was still pretty much a believer, i commented to him how i enjoyed the talk, and how it was "entertaining".

  it was, but he got mad as it was one of the beat the fear of god (governing body) into you talks.

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  jp1692

  Brother Speaker: So how did you enjoy the talk?

  jo1692: Mostly by sleeping through it. 😉

  BS somewhat taken aback: Funny!

  jp: Seriously though, there were some parts I enjoyed more than others.

  BS feeling more confident: Oh yeah, what was your favorite part?

  jp: The part when you quit talking! 😝
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  142

  Panpsychism - a philosophy with a future

  by slimboyfat in

  1. social
  2. current

  at one time scientists believed that living things and non-living things were made of different material, accounting for the unique properties of living things.

  this idea is called vitalism and is no longer popular.

  what does remain popular (in fact is still the dominant view) is a similar idea that things that experience the world (humans, frogs, mice) are different from things that don't experience the world (potatoes, rocks, snowflakes).

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  jp1692

  OC: Can there be a consciousness without a brain?

  That was the implicit question that the panel of scientist address at the Francis Crick Memorial Conference on Consciousness in Human and non Human Animals which I linked on page 2 of this thread.

  Click here to read that post.
  
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  142

  Panpsychism - a philosophy with a future

  by slimboyfat in

  1. social
  2. current

  at one time scientists believed that living things and non-living things were made of different material, accounting for the unique properties of living things.

  this idea is called vitalism and is no longer popular.

  what does remain popular (in fact is still the dominant view) is a similar idea that things that experience the world (humans, frogs, mice) are different from things that don't experience the world (potatoes, rocks, snowflakes).

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  jp1692

  SBF, The Goff essay was interesting, although I did not find it conclusive. Thanks for sharing it.

  SBF: If you say there is no evidence for option 2, it's fair to point out that there is no evidence for option 1 either.

  It does not follow that the denial of #2 implies that #1 is false also. I completely disagree. There's a huge, repeat HUGE, gap between the two statements. I believe you know this, so your statement surprises me.
  

  SBF: It's commonly taken for granted that awareness is a special property of some beings, and it's postulated this property somehow emerges from dull matter. There is no prooof (sic) for these assertions either.

  You are (or at least seem to be) contradicting yourself here. Indeed, you began your this post by stating that "we know we are personally conscious. It's the one thing in the world we can be absolutely sure about."

  This is the fundamental premise from Descartes when he uttered his famous dictum: "Cogito ergo sum"

  Consciousness and/or awareness exists. How it arose is the question. As I wrote earlier:

  From whence does consciousness arise? That is the question.
  

  Our present lack of knowledge of how that happened does not imply or even suggest that rocks and electrons are conscious too.

  I remain unconvinced.
  
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  25

  Charles Manson Is Dead

  by Bangalore in

  1. social
  2. current

  https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/20/obituaries/charles-manson-dead.html.

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  jp1692

  At times like this I’m almost sorry there isn’t some special place in Hell for the likes of Manson.
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  26

  January 2018 Message of Judgment - What Is This?

  by dubstepped in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've now seen a couple of references to this and did a little digging before leaving for work.

  i saw someone on reddit in july saying that someone on the inside said a change was coming in 2018 with the jw message, and i've now seen two references to this in the past week.

  help a former brother out.

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  jp1692

  Nothing new here. Move along!
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  11

  stupid questions

  by road to nowhere in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  paragraph 4 today: "what are we gonna consider?

  " maybe that is the article title?

  the other is: "what will we consider next week?

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  jp1692

  Let's review what we just learned: It’s a cult!