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04-11-2015 Yep, smart folks with a hint or two, much too easy for you guys. Kirk Douglas was a famous actor, I use him and Capt. Kirk when introducing myself when people think it is Curt, or Kirt, or some other name that isn't mine. In Mexico they called me Kirke, keerrkay, and I let that one go.Interestingly enough, there is an actor with my name and some initials that was in quite a few television series and movies, like X Files. He has to be a cousin of mine because everyone with my name here in the States came from the same family, best I know. I thought my name would be unique, but I guess it isn't exactly (though I haven't put it on this blog). I once got an email from another one of his cousin's from Germany by accident, thinking it was him, I guess. Out in the country, if you ever had free-time, and this is pre-internet, one would make things of wood or metal that might help out around the farm. My grandfather would make fireplace tools, branding irons, and interesting thick wire puzzles that he would use to lock gates instead of combo or key locks which people either forgot combos for or lost keys. If you knew the trick to dismantling them, it was quick and easy, if you didn't, you almost never could figure it out. We also made flint arrowheads like the Apache that used to live in the area, and leather horse tack. I also used to compete with my brothers to see how long we could each stand in a red ant bed before flipping out and knocking them all off. I liked to plink with my 22 rifle at discarded bottles and tin cans for hours in the evening or until I ran out of ammo or the odd job money I had to buy it with. My mother used to make cloth from raw wool, and I learned sewing basics with and without a foot pedal machine and repair clothing. My great uncle was a jokester and once spent secret time on a device that would get the eggs from the chicken coop nests, and move them all the way through to the kitchen window into a bucket for his wife in the morning with a pull of a strap. I learned Morse code on a handset, built hunting platforms in trees, sat for hours watching wildlife, and rode and cared for horses (including worming and shoeing), cows, chickens, and pigs when I wasn't working driving a tractor, bringing in hay, or shoveling manure. And there were always repairs to be made on pens, fences, barns, and the house. And then went to the largest university in Texas to study things like this…(rather good basic explanation, worth 8 minutes of your time) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xo176uIPmbY |
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04-11-2015
My grandfather would make fireplace tools, branding irons, and interesting thick wire puzzles that he would use to lock gates instead of combo or key locks which people either forgot combos for or lost keys. If you knew the trick to dismantling them, it was quick and easy, if you didn't, you almost never could figure it out. This sounds cool! I know I wouldn't figure it out lol. The othe day I couldn't figure out how to unwrap the new jalousie And then went to the largest university in Texas to study things like this…(rather good basic explanation, worth 8 minutes of your time) Yes but who is this Thomas W. Campbell? His wiki page reads: "Upon completion of My Big TOE, Campbell sent copies of the book to leading physicists, and fellow scientists, but received little response. This prompted Campbell to forgo enlisting support from "the top", in favor of reaching out to lay audiences as a better way to share and spread his ideas about consciousness and the nature of reality." As I've mentioned, I only trust scientific consensus on matters I don't fully understand. Sometimes there isn't one, sometimes there's an ongoing debate and researching so the position is undecided, which is fine. Why rushing to believe in something before the majority of professionals who dedicated their lives to studying this field say 'yes, we agree, it is so, to the best of our knowledge, this is the truth'. I can see no rational reason to approach these complex questions in any other way. I'm too smart today to think that what I understand from that physics video is ALL there is to understand there. I realize I require at least a short course in basic physics before I start making judgements on quantum woo-woo, and even then it wouldn't be quite enough. I'd also need a course in quantum woo-woo :D From a reputable accredited woowooist, preferably a cute one, too, it just gets to me faster that way |
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04-11-2015 @Irina Forget Campbell if you like, this experiment is solid and has been done at increasing accuracy for many years. I studied under a noble laureate professor John Wheeler who is famous for things like black holes and the delayed choice double slit experiment. His first day of class had him holding up a picture of him with several other physicists who were working on the atomic bomb, and one of them is Albert Einstein. He was a very good teacher and somewhere in the garage is a recommendation from him when I left the university.http://www.webofstories.com/play/john.wheeler/105;jsessionid=FA20BF211D8238E9D6E629AE5F22BD37 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Archibald_Wheeler Here is another explanation to perhaps suit you better… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6HLjpj4Nt4 It's interesting to understand the experiment, but the implications, as far as I know, are still being studied and aren't truly understood yet. But the nature of this is as true as we can know, which makes reality very strange… And here is a pop culture reference to Dr. Wheeler and his experiment on a show called Big Bang Theory… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHgXJQR9tY4 --- > Edited 04-11-2015 09:14:03 |
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08-11-2015
Wheeler obviously is legit. It's interesting to understand the experiment, but the implications, as far as I know, are still being studied and aren't truly understood yet. Right, this can be as important as setting the experiement properly and proving it can be repeated with the same results. What do the results mean, what do they tell us exactly? One thing everybody knows is that there's some freaky suff happening at the micro level. Though at the macro level the world is pretty much always the same and obeying the known physical laws. But of course there will be people who take bits of knowledge and fit them into their preferred fairy tale, as with 'What the Blee do We Know' case. They'll even find some 'scientists' who are largely ignored by their own community (for a good reason) to come and speak on their shows giving credence to the ideas that sell good: that poor folks all over the world could shape their own future just by wishing hard enough! Just because a double slit experiment made us scrath our heads. I say, lets scratch them some more and see what else comes up and where it leads us. If we don't quite understand something maybe it's one of those moments in our history where the limits of our understanding have to be expanded to include something completely new, who knows? Reminded me of a moment in Futurama, btw, where, while watching the horse race, the Professor shouts: "No fair! You change the results by measuring it!" Take the Schrödinger's cat - who is both dead and alive until he is observed :D |
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09-11-2015 @Irina I've never seen the movie "What the bleep" but have heard maybe it takes some steps beyond what current science shows, I don't know.After understanding what the experiment and the results are, which is a little heady upfront anyway, then there is the interpretation. I don't know if there will be much more to know about this area too soon, but it does seem like we are scratching at the bottom of reality of the small, just like trying to find out if the universe is big, and how big. Limits always interest me, and in nature it is even more fascinating. How would I design the small so that it works without having an infinite regress of smallness, same with bigness? What does the end of little look like, and how does it work? Continuing to cut particles in half infinitely probably isn't it, and I think QM is staring straight at the bottom of the well if we can just figure it out. Nevertheless, I had found a great list of common supported interpretations of quantum weirdness that listed at least 20, but Wiki has a reasonable article and table at the end that gives an overview. Notice the column, deterministic? Check at the end after the wordiness for the table, just as a casual overview. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interpretations_of_quantum_mechanics I have a quick question for you, since I have been AN from age 4 and life has just been a slow process of confirming the predicament all living things are in. Having "discovered" the *truth* at an older age, how did you handle transitioning from societal lies to a more clear vision of the ridiculousness and pointlessness of existence, and how to live your life day to day without a reward in heaven, or knowing that god has a plan for you, or that good people have good things happen to them, or that everything you do is worth doing for the future of mankind, etc.? I ask because I have a friend that, at middle-age, is starting to glimpse the truth and is quite distraught, with tears, depression, and perhaps suicidal thoughts. Since I have been handling these thoughts and feelings for a lifetime, I really don't know how to help nor handle the situation as a friend, because I never really suspected otherwise, though I had to work through the confusing lies and traditions that exist to cover up the truth. I know she will struggle with doubling down on extra-strenght rose-colored glasses, self-help gurus, catholicism, family, etc. and she needs to find her own way, but I don't want to pull or push her beyond support and answers as I see them if she asks. Any advice on the transition for her from your experience? |
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11-11-2015
but have heard maybe it takes some steps beyond what current science shows, I don't know. " some steps beyond what current science shows" I think it's more accurately described as twisting facts to fit the story and pulling things out of you know what. There's a good critique of that movie, too, (a video on youtube) where all their claims are debunked and every authority figure they use scrutinized. How would I design the small so that it works without having an infinite regress of smallness, same with bigness? Some things we just can't imagine. We're limited, every thing we know has a beginning and an end. Guess it's also important sometimes to recognize the limits of our own possibilities and possibly come to terms with the fact we may never know enough - by whatever standard - perhaps we'll seize to exist before we grow more brain to understand some things. Like every person pretty much dies without ever finding out what the hell this life was all about (they can believe they do though). Check at the end after the wordiness for the table, just as a casual overview. I know, I've mostly heard of Copenhagen interpretation. But I myself don't understand any of them anyway, neither do I try to, haha. Maybe when I'm bored one day... Having "discovered" the *truth* at an older age, how did you handle transitioning from societal lies to a more clear vision of the ridiculousness and pointlessness of existence Not too well, but I'm still here. It's similar to grieving process, I guess, you have to live through it. After some time, you invent some new meanings for living and learn to cope. Even though it's never quite the same as when you were living in rose-tinted glasses. Support is worth a lot! I had none of that, except for online, from like-minded people, just by having a chance to talk about my views. It's a pretty unpleasant transition involving feelings of helplessness, danger, pointlessness. But owing to how dreadful suicide is to us humans, we pull through even having to experience these terrible states. |
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11-11-2015 @Irina Thanks, Irina! Even though I am a little past my youth now and on the decline, physically at least, some say I look distinguished (code word for hmmm….) or como un rico, nevertheless, maybe chock full of wisdom, who knows? Anyway, it's too bad we live on opposite sides of the world, I think we could be good friends and make living through this maze a little more tolerable, and dare I say it, a little more fun? It has been so tiring navigating through the disaster that is human society, always having to treat most people as spoiled and deluded children and never being able to really have an honest and interesting conversation without risking emotional backlash or ostracism. Finding intelligent and clear-thinking individuals as truth seekers is nigh to impossible. I respect your efforts to be one of those people, despite your aversion to Physics. Have a good day or night, as the case might be. |
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11-11-2015 "BEEP BEEP BEEP! AMBER ALERT! AMBER ALERT!".... What the heck.... oooooh! I see why my alarm bell just went off there. It was what's known in the business as a 'stage 2 - subtly hitting on Irina - warning'. It's just as well I have this high tech security system installed or god only knows what would have happened. Thankfully I got notified in time to put a halt to the proceedings and prevent Uncle Sam from another breach of foreign policy. So you take your ten gallon hat and fix your lust-ridden JR Ewing gaze on someone closer to your age bracket, mister. Here's a proud beauty for you: Mmm... Just think of those tender kisses you could share... with no possibility of bumping teeth or any other of the hazards and pitfalls that young, virile people in the prime of life, such as Rina and myself, have to contend with. Really, Kirk, you don't know how lucky you are. Not only do you have the security of a pension coming in, it's well known that Texan youngsters are very polite and willing to help their senior citizens across the street. Apart from the permanent erectile dysfunction, I envy you my friend. Heh, heh, heh. |
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12-11-2015 I just reread my post from yesterday and I sound far more obnoxious than funny. Sorry, Kirk. I was trying to be humorous and instead I've lived up to user-name. |
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12-11-2015 @Brick Don't worry about it, I get humor. It's fine. I think we both care about Irina, from what we can know por el interwebs. Being AN, atheist, etc. means one has to have a *lot* of patience with people and the world because it is full of fools and idiots, all ready to do you harm. Anyone who has enough compassion and intelligence to be AN starts in the bonus round with me compared to other yahoos on this planet.Sparring with you guys but being on the same side of things, is actually very enjoyable to me. I wish we could all meet. Irina has a sharp edge to her personality sometimes, hiding a heart of gold, I think, which is interesting and perhaps born of having to deal with idiots and the reality of existence (and maybe being too attractive for her own good ), but I have never interacted with a more intelligent and aware woman in my life. And that is saying a lot. With 25,000 young women, and 25,000 young men, at the University of Texas, all having to meet a high bar just to get accepted, I never met anyone who actually could see the clear truth completely. Maybe one or two, no more. That's depressing. And I am still fairly active, just not a superhero like when I was 30! I can still ride horseback fairly well, like to bike, hike, swim, still teach martial arts with ballistic throws, strikes, etc., play tennis, shoot when I can, and am finally shutting down most work such as physics and math and computer science tutoring, software development, teaching, etc. What's worth doing? What can I afford to do? How do I watch the destruction of the once beautiful hills and trees and animals here from the every-increasing population without vomiting on a daily basis? How do I handle aging and diminishing health, looks, skills, and capacity? How many times can I clean the toilet before I decide to walk in front of a fast-moving bus? How can I help spread the AN solution to existence? Where is anyone with half-a-brain that doesn't have 3 kids, isn't religiously deluded, doesn't want everything at everyone else's expense, doesn't think what they do is important, doesn't have their head buried in their iPhone 24 hours a day that has something to contribute to my life and understanding? Those are the things that bother me, not sarcastic posts. I do think some type of AN convention might be interesting and useful. The various groups on the internet have all types of people from all over the world, but it seems that no one is really mobilized, though there are a few more books now, examples in a few television shows, etc. But, like most people, it is easy to be too tired and busy to do much beyond making personal decisions, and I have never liked meetings, organizations, movements, initiatives, colored ribbons, etc. I am too independent a thinker, and when I want to get something done and done well, I do it myself, which makes delegation more difficult for whatever the task. And with AN, unlike Bill Gates or whomever, we aren't trying to save mankind, or build a legacy, but really the exact opposite! So working hard to convince others that they should dismantle society seems like a absurd task, why do it? But who knows, knowledge and culture seems to move in fits and starts, and I have seem *so much more* activity along the lines of compassionate AN that sometimes I do feel that people are awakening to the truth. Other times, like when shopping or driving, I think there is absolutely no hope for mankind, merely ever increasing misery spreading across the galaxy. |
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13-11-2015 @Kirk "How do I handle aging and diminishing health, looks, skills, and capacity?"If you ever figure that shit out please tell me the secret. I'm struggling with it every day even though, in a lot of ways, my life is a lot better than it used to be. I still carry a tiny hope that AN/efilism will someday become widespread but, honestly, the older I get the more that hope is dying. @Dick I'll get back to you soon, I promise. |
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13-11-2015 @Katarina It's a day to day thing. Gets harder every day. I have two adult day care facilities within blocks of my house. They wheel them in on special buses in the morning, park them in front of a TV in rows, wheel out the dead ones, wheel the rest back into the bus for yet another day. They are past the point of having options. I need a better plan than that. Living in Texas gives you almost no options, god wants you to be as miserable as possible for as long as possible, and Texas legislators want to make sure he isn't circumvented, except in the case of capital punishment, then they rush in to get 'er done. |
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13-11-2015 The failure of the usual and most common coping strategies for life, like optimism, self-deception, buying into all sorts of unrealistic hopes and fantasies (supported by cultural narratives and memes), is especially hard for (former) idealistic people. The Stoics were right when they condemned hope as cheap and actually dangerous sedative. They saw hope and high ideals as a fuel for anxiety and depression. As hope only lifts one up for the inevitable fall. And as higher one falls, the more painful and traumatizing it is as one hits the bottom. People react to such 'falls' quite differently, as they realize that their fantasy-hopes will never be fulfilled, moral ideals never (not even closely) realized. Confronted with reality, some conclude that life is evil (as it gives a fuck about our morals) and as such is not worth continuing (and are able to do what’s necessary), others become depressed and bitter cynics for rest of their life, and others adapt another philosophy that doesn’t require one to bullshit oneself and deny reality (like pessimism, nihilism, stoicism …). But there may be many others ways how things may turn out for people.Nietzsche thought, that Pessimists like Schopenhauer are still standing in 'shadow of god': Rejecting the existence of god, but gladly and proudly accept many of their values, morals and ideals. Though I think that this is only partly true, he has a point there. As I see it, our moral intuitions as well as empathy are a product of our evolutionary history. By encouraging some behaviours and mental capacities (like empathy) and condemning and punish others, it increased our chance of survival as a group animal. But as a evo-product its also quite messy, inconsistent and biased. As such, it’s hard for me to glorify moral ideals as well as empathy, although these things are quite valued (for understandable reasons) in our society. It seems to be very important to us to have positive 'moral' self-image, to be seen as a 'good person', show off our moral supremacy, and publicly condemn moral misbehaviours (on the internet for example). I speculate that such behaviours got inherited from our tribal ancestors: Someone who doesn’t accept the values of a tribe, could easily be a threat to the survival chances of tribe. So they constantly needed to rehash these values (brainwashing themselves by repeating them), and showing it off to others so they don’t get to be seen as threat to the tribe and eventually get thrown out of it (as good as a death sentence). It’s also not hard to see that empathy served as survival-enhancer: As a group animal, the survival chances of an individual heavily depends on the well-being of the tribe and its individual members. So we cared about the pains of others. As a mere by-product of this caring, we also feel empathy for other animals. Or at least if they are more like us, share some common behaviours and characteristic (so it’s easier for us to relate to them) or are at least cute (the most important criteria for sentience among animal-lovers). But however, what religion did, is that they glorified and exaggerated these values, put them on a high throne above all… So ok, I became quite Off-Topic. Sorry I got carried away. Concerning Death: For me, things could far worse, then to be thrown into nonexistence. What if, contrary to what reason and evidence suggest, death is not the end of existence but an uninterrupted continuation of life: I think about a sort of a 'Groundhog Day' scenario. You shoot yourself and still wake up in the morning and are very much alive. Forever and ever trapped in life and no way to escape from it. A true hellish nightmare. If there is very evil creator god, he could have 'implemented' such a thing in his universe, just to torture those who are fed-up with life… --- > Edited 13-11-2015 18:16:03 |
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13-11-2015 @Meme Yep, I agree. A key point is that man is a social animal, whether he likes it or not, and most people could not survive well nor long without the numerous talents and support of a tribal environment.Yes, death for me is not a problem, it is the daily slow dying that is. Worsening vision, hearing, athletic capability, health, boredom, losing the simple things that make day-to-day living somewhat tolerable. When you can't rely on your teeth or regular peristaltic activity, or have cancer, etc. life becomes an insane grind. I had a friend whose wife lost both kidneys, went on dialysis, for 3 days a week, all day, then in bed between trying to recover her strength for the next "treatment', which isn't that at all, merely a tactic to keep you suffering longer. Eventually, through a lucky time window, a 5 way swap was had when the husband agreed to donate one of his kidneys. Diminished capacity and incredible cost for all for the rest of their lives. I don't want any of that, but options here in the States are very few. Proper drugs are hard to get, guns are a tricky and risky proposition, high places don't always work, etc. I have a friend who worked with people who had brain damage and missing facial parts like eyes, jaws, etc. from failed suicide gunshot wounds. Yeahhh, isn't life great? |
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13-11-2015 @Kirk I don’t claim that I don’t have any fear of death. I just argue that things could be much worse then not-existing. As far as I am concerned, without a very very painful chronical illness or serve disabling condition, I don’t have it what it takes to return this 'gift' of life (took some time to admit that to myself). Yet I don’t understand why people think that future non-existence is such a horrible thing. So sometimes I argue that being dead is more like being in deep unconscious dreamless sleep. So there’s no eternal darkness or experienced nothingness, as some people seem to fear. Experience just stops, like falling into deep sleep, just that one never wakes up again.--- > Edited 13-11-2015 22:52:07 |
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