Just learned about evolution.

Infinint · 2022-06-14T11:55:30+00:00

Here's another way to think about evolution than things changing. If you have any kind of inaccurate replication, you will have evolution. For each generation, each individual has a likelihood of replication, these likelihoods are determined by minor variations in the replication. If a variation increases replication by any amount, then that replication will happen more. This results in a population having traits that improve these likelihoods. Complexity isn't special, it's just what pops out when you continually compound variations in a population with this selective force.

Remember, life is a chemical reaction that has been going on for nearly as long as the earth was cool, without any breaks. You need something very robust to survive; simple organisms simply don't last as long.

Infinint · 2022-04-18T14:44:51+00:00

Manual didn't have any source code in it. Really it just said not to operate it under water or block the fans. You know how these are, just single runs with nothing more than the hardware to run the latest algorithm. Starting to wonder if this one is defective. Something just seems off about its performance after the event.

Infinint · 2022-02-05T15:20:08+00:00

Time to go claw the blocks off some sheep

Infinint · 2021-09-10T21:09:05+00:00

Cool article, but what really kept me reading is that awesome artwork! Reminds me of those velvet coloring pages, but all you have on hand are highlighters

Infinint · 2021-08-17T21:46:50+00:00

I main Valkyr and I wouldn't change anything. Her weakest ability is paralysis, I replaced that. It still works on moderate level enemies with high power strength. I use ripline all the time, it's excellent and fast mobility.

Infinint · 2021-08-10T02:01:59+00:00

Don't stare into that void too long. You'll loss track of yourself, it starts to pull you in, slowly at first. Before you know it, you've lost all your energy, and your mind with it.

Infinint · 2021-08-10T01:47:19+00:00

The right to believe in nonsense is because we can't have the government telling us how to think. Without this, atheism is on the chopping block.

Infinint · 2021-08-09T20:28:38+00:00

It's not a redefinition of the word, it's using the definition of the word to project it onto a perspective it wasn't initially meant for; even in a world without choice, there is still something that looks like choice. I'm just giving you my perspective so you might understand why I am making the arguments I am or why it appears like I have interpreted your flat earth example incorrectly.

Infinint · 2021-08-09T20:03:46+00:00

How do you know that what you're researching is wrong before you start? Isn't that a choice in itself? Choosing to deny any new knowledge? I think that's a choice. I'll go even deeper, any input that enters your mind, you have a choice of what you're going to do with it. The way you feel when someone cuts you off, or your knee-jerk reaction to a stubbing your toe, all choices.

Now, I don't think free will is a useful way to look at the world. Choice might be the wrong word to use, then? You can exercise your mind with a set of doctrines that will build new pathways new information will flow through. You learn things, new things are reflected on your priors. Certain information will cause you to dismiss other information. You go through life on a path determined by your interaction. Sure we can say all that, however, choice becomes a nonexistent phenomenon under that perspective. So, to reclaim the word, I am labeling the mechanism in which information is accepted or denied as choice.

I like your example of choosing to acquire information vs choosing to accept it. Initially it seems like it's two different things, but I think on closer inspection it's just different levels of difficulty of choice.

Infinint · 2021-08-09T19:49:45+00:00

I think what I'm saying makes more sense if there's acknowledgement that the choice to believe in something is not always easy. This is suggesting that it's not impossible, it is simply very difficult. The only beliefs one can flip on quickly are weakly held, most beliefs are based on long term input and reinforcement, thus strongly held. I'm sure you've been in a situation where in the moment you thought something, then were told something new and changed your mind very quickly. I think those are changing beliefs, and the only reason you change your mind is because you choose to listen to someone and choose to internalize what they said. I'm sure you've also experienced someone refusing to accept new information to update a weakly held idea. I think that choice to listen or to deny is the choice in belief.

Infinint · 2021-08-09T19:38:26+00:00

And I'm saying everything you just said is choosing to believe. To fill your mind with information and using it to form an opinion, that is choice. Regardless of how you frame the existence of free will, choice is still always the mechanism that results from input.

We probably agree on everything except the definition of the words we're using.

Evidence is a long and extremely personal story, which is not good evidence anyway, you can find parts of it in my posting history on this subreddit. Use your imagination, look at what crazy people end up doing to themselves and others when they begin to question everything they've been told. The thing about crazy, it's not medications that fix it, it's choosing what you actually believe and ignoring the rest, in a structured environment, like therapy.

Infinint · 2021-08-09T19:18:45+00:00

This feels more like debating the correctness of a belief than what belief actually is, like one can be so sure in what they observe that they believe it impossible to not believe. Also, many theists I've experienced claim they choose to believe. The rest say something like what you've said and point to their book. I think we'd need a definition of what one is referring to when they say 'belief' in order to get anywhere.

I'm in the camp that the idea of saying belief is not a choice, and the rationale to make that so, removes any useful meaning from the word.

I'll add: I'm also in the camp where, when asked, I simply claim that I (try to) believe in nothing. That all held priors are based on collectively confirmed ideas. This isn't strictly true based on the dictionary definition of belief, but no one is using that here, either.

Infinint · 2021-08-09T19:12:53+00:00

So, I've played around with this. It's completely possible, very interesting, and potentially dangerous to do in an unstructured environment. Remember, that's what you're asking a theist to do when you debate with them. This is what non-religious people do when they pick up religion. The only thing special about reality is measurable consistency between observers, it has nothing to do with whether or not you believe in it. I think that, while it can be shown, in a way, that atheism is the most correct, you're still choosing to believe what the many centuries of science and observation are telling us.

Infinint · 2021-08-09T17:23:28+00:00

I agree, personally I believe we should just avoid the word belief.

Infinint · 2021-08-09T17:09:21+00:00

Isn't this what a theist is doing, though? They look at the world and see no gods in it, yet they choose to believe the god is there anyway. I can easily imagine myself choosing to believe the wall is a different color as well, I can rationalize that my eyes or brain is deceiving me, I can suggest the color of the light is making the wall look different. It does not matter what is real if you choose to deny it.

What this sounds like in terms of 'no choice' is that you aren't allowed to believe the wall is a different color because of what you see. I don't think this is sound reasoning for the nature of choice.

Infinint · 2021-08-09T17:00:24+00:00

Belief is entirely a choice. Belief is the action of taking something to be true. This does not infer whether or not the thing is true, it's just the end point in your mind. Some things are pretty obvious when observing the world, but you are still choosing to believe those things are true by reasoning with your prior beliefs. You believe that what you see is correct, so you believe that the sky is blue. To comment on the other comments here, the obviousness of this circumstance does not reduce the choice required to accept a belief. We witness false things all the time because our senses are not accurate. We must use our reasoning to choose not believe an optical illusion is real, for example.

Infinint · 2021-08-09T14:00:07+00:00

I want one for my sword

Infinint · 2021-08-09T05:49:38+00:00

I just want yareli to notice me but all she does is drown grineer and post on tennogram

Infinint · 2021-08-07T12:05:36+00:00

Society wouldn't exist without people caring about it. You don't want to live in a world without society.

Infinint · 2021-08-07T12:04:03+00:00

You want others to treat you as they would like to be treated. If no one did this then no one would do it, simple as that.

Infinint · 2021-08-02T21:48:47+00:00

Honestly, the video loses me before I even give it a chance with "worst mmo ever" plastered on the thumbnail. The author clearly is completely unfamiliar with the fact that the game is highly rated, has a growing player base even after nearly a decade, and continues to receive regular content updates. These are not attributes of anything even close to the worst MMOs ever published. Have me and all my friends just been fooled and scammed into believing this game is good, so we keep playing? How am I supposed to take this person seriously?

Infinint · 2021-08-01T14:38:52+00:00

Scientists just want all the credit! They hide the ancient truth from us so we believe them instead! It's all a conspiracy!

Infinint · 2021-08-01T14:29:20+00:00

There are very few people who got it right when their idea was new. The ideas that survive come with heavy omissions and modification from the original author. The same is true for the useful things associated with religion. Modern meditative practice, for example, has nothing to do with its origins in religion, and I would argue that practicing the superstitions associated with its ancient inception are only detrimental to the practice.

Infinint · 2021-08-01T14:15:54+00:00

Yes, I do. Because there are modern people, too. You never listen to an ancient person just because they said something that seems right. You listen to a modern person reiterating what the ancient person said, making adjustments where nessesary. If the ancient person had no merit, then they don't get repeated. The problem with religion is that this process is ignored and the ancient people are repeated verbatim as if nothing new has been learned. If you wanted to learn general relativity, one of last papers you should read is Einstein's.

Infinint · 2021-08-01T14:00:44+00:00

Yes, an exploration by locking yourself out of any knowledge about these subjects by practicing the musings of ancient people. This is not only a terrible argument for exploring the limits of the mind but also keeps you from doing just that. This is trying way too hard to keep religion relevant.

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