Posts by Brokeback Watchtower

583

What is the purpose of life?

by slimboyfat in

while reading the magazines the other day it occurred to me that jws never really had a very good answer to that question.

because it was aimed at young people and it said something along the lines, "if you believe in god you have a purpose, but if you don't believe in god your life has no purpose or meaning".

i think that is a faulty analysis of the situation.

Technological singularity

by Brokeback Watchtower in

jw
friends

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/technological_singularity.

the singularity" redirects here.

for other uses, see singularity (disambiguation).the technological singularity (also, simply, the singularity)[1][2] is the hypothesis that the invention of artificial superintelligence will abruptly trigger runaway technological growth, resulting in unfathomable changes to human civilization.

Brokeback Watchtower

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity

The Singularity" redirects here. For other uses, see Singularity (disambiguation).
The technological singularity (also, simply, the singularity)[1][2] is the hypothesis that the invention of artificial superintelligence will abruptly trigger runaway technological growth, resulting in unfathomable changes to human civilization.[3] According to this hypothesis, an upgradable intelligent agent (such as a computer running software-basedartificial general intelligence) would enter a 'runaway reaction' of self-improvement cycles, with each new and more intelligent generation appearing more and more rapidly, causing an intelligence explosion and resulting in a powerful superintelligence that would, qualitatively, far surpass all human intelligence.[3][4] Science fiction author Vernor Vingesaid in his essay The Coming Technological Singularity that this would signal the end of the human era, as the new superintelligence would continue to upgrade itself and would advance technologically at an incomprehensible rate.[5]
The first use of the term "singularity" in a technological context was attributed in 1958 to John von Neumann. In the same year, Stanislaw Ulam described "ever accelerating progress of technology and changes in the mode of human life, which gives the appearance of approaching some essential singularity in the history of the race beyond which human affairs, as we know them, could not continue".[6] In the 1990s, Vinge popularized the concept, linking it to I. J. Good's "intelligence explosion", and predicting that a future superintelligence would trigger a singularity.[5]
Ray Kurzweil predicts the singularity to occur around 2045[7] whereas Vinge predicts some time before 2030.[5] At the 2012 Singularity Summit, Stuart Armstrong did a study ofartificial general intelligence (AGI) predictions by experts and found a wide range of predicted dates, with a median value of 2040......
Claimed cause: exponential growth
The exponential growth in computing technology suggested by Moore's Law is commonly cited as a reason to expect a singularity in the relatively near future, and a number of authors have proposed generalizations of Moore's Law. Computer scientist and futurist Hans Moravec proposed in a 1998 book[17] that the exponential growth curve could be extended back through earlier computing technologies prior to the integrated circuit.
Kurzweil postulates a law of accelerating returns in which the speed of technological change (and more generally, all evolutionary processes[18]) increases exponentially, generalizing Moore's Law in the same manner as Moravec's proposal, and also including material technology (especially as applied to nanotechnology), medical technology and others.[19] Between 1986 and 2007, machines' application-specific capacity to compute information per capita roughly doubled every 14 months; the per capita capacity of the world's general-purpose computers has doubled every 18 months; the global telecommunication capacity per capita doubled every 34 months; and the world's storage capacity per capita doubled every 40 months.[20]
Kurzweil reserves the term "singularity" for a rapid increase in intelligence (as opposed to other technologies), writing for example that "The Singularity will allow us to transcend these limitations of our biological bodies and brains ... There will be no distinction, post-Singularity, between human and machine".[21] He also defines his predicted date of the singularity (2045) in terms of when he expects computer-based intelligences to significantly exceed the sum total of human brainpower, writing that advances in computing before that date "will not represent the Singularity" because they do "not yet correspond to a profound expansion of our intelligence."[22]
Next step of sociobiological evolution
While the technological singularity is usually seen as a sudden event, some scholars argue the current speed of change already fits this description. In addition, some argue that we are already in the midst of a major evolutionary transition that merges technology, biology, and society. Digital technology has infiltrated the fabric of human society to a degree of undisputable and often life-sustaining dependence. A 2016 article in Trends in Ecology & Evolutionargues that "humans already embrace fusions of biology and technology. We spend most of our waking time communicating through digitally mediated channels... we trust artificial intelligence with our lives through antilock braking in cars and autopilots in planes... With one in three marriages in America beginning online, digital algorithms are also taking a role in human pair bonding and reproduction". The article argues that from the perspective of theevolution, several previous Major Transitions in Evolution have transformed life through innovations in information storage and replication (RNA, DNA, multicellularity, and culture and language). In the current stage of life's evolution, the carbon-based biosphere has generated a cognitive system (humans) capable of creating technology that will result in a comparable evolutionary transition. The digital information created by humans has reached a similar magnitude to biological information in the biosphere. Since the 1980s, "the quantity of digital information stored has doubled about every 2.5 years, reaching about 5 zettabytes in 2014 (5x10^21 bytes). In biological terms, there are 7.2 billion humans on the planet, each having a genome of 6.2 billion nucleotides. Since one byte can encode four nucleotide pairs, the individual genomes of every human on the planet could be encoded by approximately 1x10^19 bytes. The digital realm stored 500 times more information than this in 2014 (...see Figure)... The total amount of DNA contained in all of the cells on Earth is estimated to be about 5.3x10^37 base pairs, equivalent to 1.325x10^37 bytes of information. If growth in digital storage continues at its current rate of 30–38% compound annual growth per year,[20] it will rival the total information content contained in all of the DNA in all of the cells on Earth in about 110 years. This would represent a doubling of the amount of information stored in the biosphere across a total time period of just 150 years".[44]

62

ls homosexuality really normal?

by atomant in

l know animals do it but their animals.they dont live by a moral code.the thought of 2 men going for it is not normal.what are your thoughts?.

Brokeback Watchtower

What turns people on sexually is biologically fixed and there is bound to be variations different from our own and so we may have a prejudice about our own sexual preferences and perhaps consider something different as not normal.

I would not consider same sex preference as un-normal, just different than mine.

583

What is the purpose of life?

by slimboyfat in

while reading the magazines the other day it occurred to me that jws never really had a very good answer to that question.

because it was aimed at young people and it said something along the lines, "if you believe in god you have a purpose, but if you don't believe in god your life has no purpose or meaning".

i think that is a faulty analysis of the situation.

Brokeback Watchtower

This is getting juicy!

6

Editorial El Periodico, "The dark practices within Jehovah's Witnesses"

by sp74bb in

jw
friends

enric hernàndez (@enric_hernandez), director of el periódico (www.periodico.es) has written an editorial this morning.

very interesting !!.

link to editorial in spanish.

Brokeback Watchtower

Yes the World is becoming more enlightened as we progress in time! Great editorial! Bravo! Excellent! and all that jazz.

Thanks for sharing. The Watchtower is doomed as Society enlightens the information age is most truly upon us, screw you lying cult WT! Go down the tubes in infamy!

They are so fucked finally!

583

What is the purpose of life?

by slimboyfat in

while reading the magazines the other day it occurred to me that jws never really had a very good answer to that question.

because it was aimed at young people and it said something along the lines, "if you believe in god you have a purpose, but if you don't believe in god your life has no purpose or meaning".

i think that is a faulty analysis of the situation.

Brokeback Watchtower

The purpose in life is(drum roll): To try to pass on your particular DNA and pay it forward.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmboo6cj8ds

25

Can a full healing from cult ever be accomplished

by Chook in

can all indoctrination leave a person , or does it linger in background till death..

Brokeback Watchtower

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UDDhZFzCxU

25

Can a full healing from cult ever be accomplished

by Chook in

can all indoctrination leave a person , or does it linger in background till death..

Brokeback Watchtower

Well time heals and full healing may be possible it really depends on the person and what they do after they leave the cult.

A study found that christian fundamentalism shrinks the brain but the brain has neuroplasticity which mean with proper stimulation and proper diet one begins making more brain cells even if older, but the younger you are the more new brain cells you make as this declines with age. So I would conclude that the younger and sooner you leave the better your chances of a full recovery and even beyond that. Big changes in your life can a have a very good effect on the brain as it forces out of ruts we have developed through boring repetition and repeated thought patterns making the brain more functional by making weaker seldom used neurons fire which makes them more healthy opening up brain processing power.

http://www.wnd.com/2012/03/study-links-being-born-again-to-brain-atrophy/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/10914137/What-God-does-to-your-brain.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroplasticity

Neuroplasticity, also known as brain plasticity, is an umbrella term that describes lasting change to the brain throughout an individual's life course. The term gained prominence in the latter half of the 20th century, when new research[1] showed many aspects of the brain remain changeable (or "plastic") even into adulthood.[2] This notion contrasts with the previous scientific consensus that the brain develops during a critical period in early childhood, then remains relatively unchangeable (or "static") afterward.[3]
Neuroplastic change can occur at small scales, such as physical changes to individual neurons, or at whole-brain scales, such as cortical remapping in response to injury; however cortical remapping only occurs during a certain time period meaning that if a child were injured and it resulted in brain damage then cortical remapping would most likely occur, however if an adult was injured and it resulted in brain damage, then cortical remapping would not occur since the brain has made the majority of its connections.[4] Behavior, environmental stimuli, thought, and emotions may also cause neuroplastic change through activity-dependent plasticity, which has significant implications for healthy development, learning, memory, and recovery from brain damage.[4][5][6]

101

Are Gods true worshippers on Earth today? If they are not JWs then who are they?

by Formerbrother in

is there gods true worshipers on earth today as jesus said there would be?

if they are not jws then who are they?.

who else comes close to being gods true followers today?.

Brokeback Watchtower

Why would a God want to be worshiped?

Good question the biblical deity seems awfully desperate and very insecure to be demanding to be worshiped, honored, and respected. How can he be considered a great person when he this personality flaw the makes him violent and petty.

The Deity's pettiness is just a psychological projection of the penmen own pettinesses who wrote the different books in the bible.

26

The bOrg Cult Tactics

by pale.emperor in

i'm wondering if the borg actually studied mind control and coercion tactics deliberately or wether they just evolved over time through trial and error.

from reading steve hassans books, studying hypnosis and methods psychopaths use it all seems very complex.

like it would never occur to me to do a, b and c in the right order at the right time in order to get control of someone or control their lives.. for example, repetition of words (the word "loyalty" was a big one in the last convention), using loaded language, encouraging people not to trust their own thoughts, restricting their information, demonising those who leave etc.

Brokeback Watchtower

I doubt they would read a book about mind control but I'm sure that probable most have read dale Carnegie's book:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Win_Friends_and_Influence_People

How to Win Friends and Influence People is one of the first best-selling self-help books ever published. Written by Dale Carnegie(1888-1955) and first published in 1936, it has sold over 30 million copies world-wide, and went on to be named #19 on Time Magazine's list of 100 most influential books in 2011.[1]
Leon Shimkin of the publishing firm Simon & Schuster took one of the 14-week courses given by Carnegie in 1934. Shimkin persuaded Carnegie to let a stenographer take notes from the course to be revised for publication. The original book contained sections providing colorful anecdotes and insightful wisdom. It gave instruction in handling people, winning friends, bringing people to your way of thinking, being a great leader, and navigating home life successfully. Carnegie combined age-old truisms with the emerging field of psychology to present a handbook in human relations which was interesting and accessible. Emphasizing the use of other's egotistical tendencies to one's advantage, Carnegie maintained that success could be found by charm, appreciation, and personality. The book sold exceptionally well from the start, going through 17 editions in its first year.