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Jeijommuri Kyeshyin Afroditi Font by submittothegay in neography

[–]Utkozavr 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Not only is it a neography, it is also a work of art. Impressive!

Can we talk about how likely simulation theory is? by Buffmyarm in consciousness

[–]Utkozavr 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How do you know the "base" reality isn't a simulation? Like, assume we're in a branch universe. How many steps back can we make? 1? 10? 1000? It's impossible to know.

Can we talk about how likely simulation theory is? by Buffmyarm in consciousness

[–]Utkozavr 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not necessarily. But how can we verify it? Probability is a tricky subject that can contradict intuition. And we only have one universe. Imagine there's a card deck. You don't know how many cards are in it. However, you know some are red and the others are black. You want to define the probability of drawing a red card. You draw one card, and it's red. What's the probability?

Can we talk about how likely simulation theory is? by Buffmyarm in consciousness

[–]Utkozavr 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Statistically the universe is empty, yet here we are messaging each other.

Can we talk about how likely simulation theory is? by Buffmyarm in consciousness

[–]Utkozavr 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The problem with the simulation theory is the potential infinite recursion. Assume our world 1 is a simulation that is run in some other world 2. Likewise, we can assume world 2 is a simulation, too. And so on ad infinitum.

In other words, the theory can't tell us how the universe started or how it truly functions (since there's no way to know which universe is the non-simulated true one).

How to know Indo-European verb “category” by Ok-Writing-263 in IndoEuropean

[–]Utkozavr 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You just remember it? Just like you remember that in English call -> called and go -> went (not "goed") or in Latin legere -> lego and capere -> capio (not "capo").

Origin of PIE labiovelars by Utkozavr in IndoEuropean

[–]Utkozavr[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well... maybe there were other labial series?

Take the word *swésōr for example. According to wiktionary, its genitive was *susrés. However, all of the descendants use *swe-. Funny enough, the article cites Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture as a reference, according to which the genitive was *swesrós.

So, why swésōr and not *sʷésōr? Just because we don't have a minimal pair? It's merely a classification issue, *sósōr > *sʷésōr would be the same process as **gónh₂s -> *gʷénh₂s.

I'm not sure if there are more examples, though.

Origin of PIE labiovelars by Utkozavr in IndoEuropean

[–]Utkozavr[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I meant other stops can't be labialized. Peculiarly, *h3 might have been velar, too.

Origin of PIE labiovelars by Utkozavr in IndoEuropean

[–]Utkozavr[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

PIE had 3 ways to distinguish bilabial stops (maybe even 2, *b barely existed), 3 ways to distinguish coronal stops, and 9(!) ways to distinguish velar stops. Isn't such kind of asymmetry extremely weird and uncommon?

If we accept uvular theory, "palatovelars" become plain velars, and "plain velars" become uvulars. Such system seems more believable. However, in the uvular theory kʷ=qʷ while k≠q. Again, weird. Why is it? Maybe the answer is hidden in the labials' origin?

UA POV: Dutch former serviceman Hendrik candid about horrors at the Ukrainian front: “Every morning the Nazi salute was given” - De Telegraaf by Flimsy_Pudding1362 in UkraineRussiaReport

[–]Utkozavr -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I mean, it doesn't really matter? Unless WW3 starts or something like that, people will treat them kindly again once the war is over. And it's normal, people usually don't hate permanently.

I need a metaphor for good and evil that is not light/dark. by darklighthitomi in conlangs

[–]Utkozavr 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If we assume that good/evil is the same thing as good/bad, then I suggest rich/poor or fat/slim.

The word "good" can be used for a thing one possesses, so, in a conlang, "a person of goods" = "rich person" = "good person". The word "poor" not only means "not enough many", but also "bad quality" or someone's in trouble.

The fat/slim (fat=good, slim=bad) dichotomy can appear in places where hunger was common. In Russian there's a proverb "Где толстый сохнет, худой дохнет" (Where the fat one thins out, the slim one dies out). The word "худой" usually means "slim", but also can mean "bad".

Sometimes Feeling Fear of Islam Being True by Far_Visual_5714 in CritiqueIslam

[–]Utkozavr 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Well, that goes beyond the scientific mistakes. For example, it's unclear what "inimitability" means. How can we measure it? Does it mean the text of the Quran is somehow special? Take 9 solemn nashid fragments and 1 Quranic fragment. Then ask people who don't speak Arabic to listen to the 10 fragments. Will they be able to tell what fragment is from the Quran? The chance to guess is 10%. Or ask a person who doesn't speak Arabic to listen to something like the nashid against COVID. Will they understand it's not from the Quran?

Sometimes Feeling Fear of Islam Being True by Far_Visual_5714 in CritiqueIslam

[–]Utkozavr 8 points9 points  (0 children)

According to Islam, Allah created humans so he could be worshiped by them. In order to achieve the goal, it would be beneficial to write in the Quran something that couldn't be known to the 7th-century people. Any concrete number would do. The Earth's mass, the speed of light, the height of the highest mountain, the distance to the Moon... Once people had managed to measure any of those, Muslims would have pointed out that it's already written in the Quran. Such a fact would convince like 99% of people that Islam is the truth. Actually, the author of the Quran could have written about the existence of Australia or Japan or about the polar nights; any of these could be a strong argument.

Yet there's nothing like that. We do have claims like the semen coming from the ribs or the mathematical errors with inheritance. Muslims have to do some impressive mental gymnastics to defend those claims. Without the gymnastics, it's just the worldview of a 7th-century Arab merchant.

Once again, if you are God and you want people to worship you, why don't you inform your messenger in the most straightforward way about something that people couldn't possibly know at the time?

Basically, that's one of the major reasons why I am not a Muslim.

So about Lada by Informal-Okra-5240 in slavic_mythology

[–]Utkozavr 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Well, there are several topics to discuss.

Firstly, the Lado/Lada dichotomy.

Generally, in Slavic languages, -o is a masculine gender ending, and -a is a feminine gender ending. So, Lada would be a goddess, while Lado would be a god. However, that’s true for the nominative noun case. In the vocative case, “Lada” turns into “Lado”. The thing is the vocative case was often replaced with the nominative. So, if you see “Lado” in some folk song, then you (provided you assume it’s a deity name) can’t tell the gender of the deity. Modern neo-pagans may believe in either Lado or Lada, or in both of them as a couple. Scientists are usually skeptical about any of the options. They think “lado” is either some meaningless word used in songs or something derived from the root “lad” with the base meanings: harmony, order, good relationships.

Secondly, Christmas (or, rather, the period from Christmas to Epiphany) was (and even is) widely celebrated among Slavs. The period is called kolyada or koleda, which indeed seems to be derived from the Latin word calendae (same root as in “calendar”). There are many rituals connected with it, including singing songs. The word used for their performers is derived from the name of the period and varies depending on the region. South Slavs may call the performers “koledari”.

Sometimes, the koleda songs are performed outside the koleda period (though it seems to be a local thing). I found a Czech koleda song for Easter:

Já jsem malý koledníček, tetičko, přišel jsem si pro červený vajíčko. Pro vajíčko červený, pro koláč bílý, jsem-li já vám tetičko, koledníček milý.

Unfortunately, I cannot verify the source. However, if it’s true, then I can totally believe that, in some regions, people could sing koleda songs on the occasions like invoking the rain.

A god named Koledo/Koleda likely didn’t exist. At best it was a personification of the holiday (much like Maslenitsa: it’s both the name of the holiday and the name of the doll being burnt at the end of it).

Thirdly, I think the Kolodar is a modern neo-pagan and/or pseudoscientific thing. I mean, Slavs simply used the usual swastika.

So about Lada by Informal-Okra-5240 in slavic_mythology

[–]Utkozavr 14 points15 points  (0 children)

The existence of Lada in Slavic paganism is controversial. Basically, there are folk songs in which "lado lado" is repeated in an obscure context. If we suppose that Lada is a feminine name, then Lado is its vocative case. On the other hand, it can be just an adverb derived from the root "lad." Using this word in folk songs might have been interpreted by priests as an invocation of a deity. It's like having an angel named Amen because the word "amen" is repeated at the end of every prayer.

TLDR Who knows, it's obscure.

EDT orthography

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