The most important unresolved scientific questions, in my opinion.

Hume said:
Your view of the world is even more deterministic than ancient Greek idea of fate or Christian idea of God. It is a theory of slavery.
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My view has nothing to do with the world. It has to do with how our brains function. That's it. There's no worldview. There's no politics.
 
ZenMode said:
My view has nothing to do with the world. It has to do with how our brains function. That's it. There's no worldview. There's no politics.
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You just state dogmatically that the brain does everything. You cannot explain how the brain wants ice cream, for example.
 
Ross Dolan said:
You are making a blind guess.

The fact that there is no evidence for the Christian God IS NOT PROOF that there are no gods. And you are quite clearly asserting that there are no gods.

Give it up. There is no logic to that choice.
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There is no evidence for any god. Why believe in them? It's like structuring your life around the leprechaun king. The default should not be "I'm going to believe the most extraordinary claims until proven wrong".
 
Cypress said:
I think Darwinian principles of evolution are a perfectly viable explanation for why humans protect their children, defend their territory and resources, and why males compete for females.

I don't think it's a good explanation for Michaelangelo's Pieta, Beethoven's fifth symphony, or Paleolithic cave art in France.
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but why do we have laws, and soup kitchens?
 
Hume said:
You just state dogmatically that the brain does everything. You cannot explain how the brain wants ice cream, for example.
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Presumably because it has learned, through past experience, that ice cream tastes good.

There is no self to want ice cream. There's no self thinking thoughts, feeling feelings, experiencing experiences. You cannot think your thoughts before you think them. If you suddenly have the thought "Ice cream sounds good right now", you did NOTHING to generate that thought. That thought literally comes out of nowhere - the abyss of the neurological workings of your brain. You had no way to stop that thought from arising in consciousness. You don't know what your next thought is going to be until it appears in consciousness. There's no self turning the dials to generate specific thoughts or filter unwanted thoughts. They just keep showing up in consciousness, completely out of your control.
 
ZenMode said:
There is no self to want ice cream. There's no self thinking thoughts, feeling feelings, experiencing experiences. You cannot think your thoughts before you think them. If you suddenly have the thought "Ice cream sounds good right now", you did NOTHING to generate that thought. That thought literally comes out of nowhere - the abyss of the neurological workings of your brain. You had no way to stop that thought from arising in consciousness. You don't know what your next thought is going to be until it appears in consciousness. There's no self turning the dials to generate specific thoughts or filter unwanted thoughts. They just keep showing up in consciousness, completely out of your control.
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I know this. You keep repeating it. It has nothing to do with concept of choice.
 
Ross Dolan said:
When discussing whether "there are gods" or "there are no gods"...that word you keep throwing around "believe" is nothing but a disguise for "blind guess."

Take another look at my take...and tell me what there is about it with regard to the question of whether there are any gods or not...that you find to be illogical.
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Ok. I can't know with absolute certainty that there are no gods, just as I can't know with absolute certainty there are no leprechauns or fairies. As of now, there is no reason TO believe in gods, fairies leprechauns. There is no more evidence for gods than there is for leprechauns and fairies.
 
Hume said:
I know this. You keep repeating it. It has nothing to do with concept of choice.
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It has everything to do with choice.

Every consciousness decision you make is based on thoughts. If you are deciding whether to mow the yard or watch football, you are considering the pros and cons of each. The process of considering is done by thinking. "I really want to see this game, but damn the yard looks like shit. I wonder if the game will be done before it's dark. I can mow it tomorrow. Crap. I can't. We are going to the in-laws house all day for (insert name) birthday."

Every thought the ultimately determines your actions is out of your control.

How, given that fact, is free will possible?
 
Hume said:
Absolutely not. You said "ice cream tastes good." Normal people say I like eating ice cream. You say, the brain likes eating ice cream.
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You realize that, again, there is no "you" to like ice cream, right? Anything and everything you ever experience, pleasure, pain, hunger, thirst love, hate, etc is ALL based on your brain.
 
ZenMode said:
It has everything to do with choice.

Every consciousness decision you make is based on thoughts. If you are deciding whether to mow the yard or watch football, you are considering the pros and cons of each. The process of considering is done by thinking. "I really want to see this game, but damn the yard looks like shit. I wonder if the game will be done before it's dark. I can mow it tomorrow. Crap. I can't. We are going to the in-laws house all day for (insert name) birthday."

Every thought the ultimately determines your actions is out of your control.

How, given that fact, is free will possible?
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Got it. The brain can eat ice cream.
 
ZenMode said:
You realize tjat, again, there is no "you" to like ice cream, right? Anything and everything you ever experience, pleasure, pain, hunger, thirst love, hate, etc is ALL based on your brain.
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When you explain how the brain eats ice cream we can resume our discussion.
 
ZenMode said:
You realize that, again, there is no "you" to like ice cream, right? Anything and everything you ever experience, pleasure, pain, hunger, thirst love, hate, etc is ALL based on your brain.
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So, my brain wants to drink a beer. I'll pour it into my brain.
 
Hume said:
Got it. The brain can eat ice cream.
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Nope. The brain learns what I've cream is and that it tastes good. The brain sends thoughts about eating ice cream to the consciousness mind along with subsequent contemplative thoughts that result in deciding to get ice cream or not. The brain then controls all movement to make eating ice cream happen.
 
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