TD

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Posts by TD

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  43

  Remind re: The "Cult" Label

  by Simon in

  1. forum
  2. announcements

  if you accuse people of being stuck in jw mindset or "cult-like" mentality simply because someone has a different view of politics than you, you'll be deleted.. it's insulting and a lazy substitute for having any real argument for a proper debate.. what next ... "you smell" ?.

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  TD

  It doesn't really matter what the belief is.

  If it's coming from a place of emotion rather than reason, there are going to be similarities to the JW's.
  

  This is a human thing that all of us are susceptible to because we're all human,
  
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  42

  Elders accused of playing rape tape to victim, 15; case goes to Utah Sup. Court

  by Corney in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  a woman is suing a local congregation ("kingdom hall of jehovah’s witnesses, roy, utah, an unincorporated association"), individual elders and watchtower ny after, she claims, a judicial committee forced her to listen an audio recording of her own rape.

  the trial court summarized the facts as alleged by the plaintiff as follows:.

  at the time of the judicial committee, plaintiff was fifteen years old.

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  TD

  I would sue the elders for obtaining, having and exposing a child to child pornography.

  Right?

  Why are there not accompanying criminal charges in addition to the civil suit?
  
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  70

  A Growing Problem for Materialists

  by Sea Breeze in

  1. social
  2. current

  the famous double-slit experiment proves that light travels both in individual particles called photons and also as a mathematical probability wave.

  matter itself exhibits this particle-wave duality which allows objects to exist in two different places at the same time, depending on whether of not you are looking (testing) at it.

  scientists have recently been able to get molecules as large as 2000 atoms to exhibit this duality!.

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  TD

  A bifurcation is a logical fallacy when the dichotomy is false or in some other sense, needless. The distinction here is one you've set up yourself via your initial questions, so the difference between data and thought is important.
  

  I think we're veering off from the original question, which was about the origin of information, but in response, I would say that information still exists regardless of whether there is a sentient being to interpret it. As I pointed out, DNA does its thing in the absences of sentience and even were this not the case, tree rings, ice cores and other naturally occurring records of the past would still exist regardless of whether anyone bothered to decipher them or not.
  
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  70

  A Growing Problem for Materialists

  by Sea Breeze in

  1. social
  2. current

  the famous double-slit experiment proves that light travels both in individual particles called photons and also as a mathematical probability wave.

  matter itself exhibits this particle-wave duality which allows objects to exist in two different places at the same time, depending on whether of not you are looking (testing) at it.

  scientists have recently been able to get molecules as large as 2000 atoms to exhibit this duality!.

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  TD

  Seabreeze,

  But with all due respect, there is no such thing as a primitive form of life. A single cell has thousand of functions, parts.....

  In the context of the questions you posed (i.e. "Where does information come from if not from a mind??" and "In whose mind did the information originate?") coupled with your observation about cats, my use of the word, primitive was meant strictly in the sense of sentience.

  I think this is a good example of how slippery and imperfect a communication medium language can be sometimes and why it's important to qualify terms like "primitive" and "information" so that other people know exactly what we're talking about.
  

  I'm still not sure if we're talking about information in the sense of data, which does not require an intelligent mind or in the sense of communication which does.
  
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  20

  You know you're really dim-witted when? (You actually think a defeated President can successfully REFUSE to step down)

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when you're easily convinced about a total impossibility.. such as what?.

  such as a defeated president actually being able to refuse.

  to step down from office.

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  TD

  Yes, taken in isolation, Trump refusing to leave office if he's voted out is very bad.
  But the context of this is that there are legitimate concerns that Democrats will use postal votes to commit voting fraud.

  But doesn't that speak to the root of the problem? That (judging from his suggestion earlier this year that the election be postponed) Trump believes he would continue to be president in the interim while the results of a contested election are sorted out?
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  70

  A Growing Problem for Materialists

  by Sea Breeze in

  1. social
  2. current

  the famous double-slit experiment proves that light travels both in individual particles called photons and also as a mathematical probability wave.

  matter itself exhibits this particle-wave duality which allows objects to exist in two different places at the same time, depending on whether of not you are looking (testing) at it.

  scientists have recently been able to get molecules as large as 2000 atoms to exhibit this duality!.

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  TD

  Seabreeze

  We could just as easily replace the cat with a gust of wind from an open window....
  

  In neither case is the shattering of glass information in the sense that language, codes, cyphers, hieroglyphics, paintings, pictograms. knotted strings, story sticks and all other products of intelligent minds are.

  When physicists speak of an information wave vs a matter waved, they're talking about theoretical states at the quantum level. Neither is information in the specific sense above, which we reserve to describe the transmission of thought.

  We could, I suppose, argue that the molecular arrangement of carbon in your example is the information contained in the wave, but that doesn't really get us anywhere, as it's simply a circular prior assumption of the intelligent design of carbon.

  DNA comes a little closer to making your point because there's no question that the instructions to encode proteins are in a sense, information, but it's also equally true that were talking about biochemical reactions that happen all on their own even in the most primitive forms of life

  Resolving that question would require us to go back to the source of life itself, which is the million dollar question and what the whole debate is about.

  --Interesting patio conversation over a beer, but not a question that can be resolved with a magic bullet.
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  70

  A Growing Problem for Materialists

  by Sea Breeze in

  1. social
  2. current

  the famous double-slit experiment proves that light travels both in individual particles called photons and also as a mathematical probability wave.

  matter itself exhibits this particle-wave duality which allows objects to exist in two different places at the same time, depending on whether of not you are looking (testing) at it.

  scientists have recently been able to get molecules as large as 2000 atoms to exhibit this duality!.

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  TD

  With respect, Seabreeze, you're still bouncing back and forth between abstract and specific definitions of information.

  When my cat knocks a drinking glass off the counter and it shatters on the tile floor in the kitchen, the auditory wave striking my eardrums is, in a sense, information.

  But that is not information in the sense of the encoding of thought. It was an accident, where purely natural forces took over.

  Similarly, when physicists quibble over the difference between a matter wave and an information wave, they're not saying what you seem to think they're saying.
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  193

  My Prediction: Trump Wins Big

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a month ago it might have been questionable.

  not now.

  after bader’s death and biden’s inability, this shouldn’t be close.

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  TD

  Now that's scary.

  It certainly is.

  Equally concerning is the fact that Trump doesn't seem to realize it.

  Don't misunderstand. I prefer Trump to Biden, but his basic lack of understanding of our Constitution, which even conservative groups like the Heritage and Second Amendment foundations have pointed out is a problem.
  
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  193

  My Prediction: Trump Wins Big

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a month ago it might have been questionable.

  not now.

  after bader’s death and biden’s inability, this shouldn’t be close.

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  TD

  Some folks escape a cult only to be ensnared by another...

  I don't know about cult, but there are some curious similarities shared by all mass movements:

  You can't trust scientists who keep changing their minds all the time. Let's trust (Insert name) instead.

  You can't trust doctors who are all in the pocket of big Pharma / the AMA Medical Combine / Blood banking industry. Let's trust (Insert name) instead.

  You therefore can't trust formal studies (See above) that don't further the interests of (Insert name) Let's trust YouTube quacks that support (Insert name) instead
  

  You can't trust the media who are all part of a conspiracy against (Insert name.) Unless of course they're saying something positive about (Insert name.)

  (Insert name) is sometimes a little rough around the edges and unpolished in a worldly sense, but he speaks the truth. Let's trust him

  Criticism of (Insert name) is automatically opposition against (Inset name) and support of someone else. Don't listen to it.

  When (Insert name) violates and/or otherwise fails to live up to the core principles he/she/it claims to follow, it's okay (See above)
  
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  193

  My Prediction: Trump Wins Big

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a month ago it might have been questionable.

  not now.

  after bader’s death and biden’s inability, this shouldn’t be close.

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  TD

  So are any of you here conservative in the academic sense? As in you follow conservative scholars, attorneys and think tanks; the history and interpretation of the Constitution or one of its amendments is a personal hobby, or something along these lines?