Recent content by planck

No, that's precisely what I mean by the philosophical perspective to this question. If you think about it, there is nothing stopping any human (or any animal, really) from committing suicide. A person can choose to go to the moon, if they so wish. There's really nothing stopping them except...

No, I haven't read anything specific regarding this behavior of scorpions. It was something I had remembered seeing a long time ago. It just stayed with me. But this must be correct. It makes perfect sense that their own venom would have no effect on them. Thanks for the info. I...

I'm not so sure about that. I would like to know why the antelope avoids being eaten. Yes, perhaps it is to avoid the pain--not knowing anything about death. Like I mentioned before, there isn't much on animal suicide. But take a look at this little bit I got off wiki: Suicide has...

I was looking at some global suicide statistics and I think it's an interesting question. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1489848/pdf/wpa010181.pdf Especially if you look at it what motivates suicide. There is nothing intrinsic that gives humans and most species, the desire to...

You like that dirty talk, do you. You'll love the newest shocking revelation by the former BBC chief then: Yes, BBC was biased: Director General Mark Thompson admits a 'massive' lean to Left Back then, of course. Not now. No, not now. Back then. I'm waiting for the afternoon's...

Well, here's the Time article (abridged version). http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2011798,00.html But I'll save you the time from reading. Basically, the fact that nearly 3/4 of us toothless, slack-jawed, neaderthals who opine for the days of segregation and pre-women's...

You'll love the new cover of Time magazine regarding the ground zero mosque. "How islamophobic are we?" It's always about intentions with the leftist media. Those who disagree are never well-intentioned, just intolerant bigots.

Yes, but can approximations be good enough to successfully create a self-sustaining...machine, universe, take your pick. I think that's the main reason, at least for me, why laws must remain immutable.

Here's some food for thought. Imagine it's T=0. At this time, existence is non-existent. But the theory is that a great explosion occurred that introduced existence. If we want to take the cosmological route, we can speculate that the hole where existence was introduced came from somewhere...

First of all, I'm glad that this thread is still alive and kickin! You can quantify a thought. I would think that a synapse is fired and from there (or maybe a little before that) you could trace the path of that physical process within the brain. I think the argument could be made that the...

This is a good question, but sad at the same time. I'm right of center, conservative--and as I was trying to think of a leftist or liberal that I respect--I couldn't think of a single one. If he counts, I could put Bill Clinton on the list but he wasn't a doctrinaire liberal. And Joe...

The difference is that santa doesn't exhibit properties than can be measured. An immeasurable idea is fine, as long as it's an idea. But santa doesn't interact physically with other matter. There is a spatial dimension that exists between your face and your computer screen right now. What...

Agreed, but what difference would that make. Take space for example. If theoretically, I was able to deconstruct empty space and find out exactly what it is and how it works (using my senses of course), didn't I solve that problem? How can a cognitive...any being, come up with different a...

Yes, I know. But I still have them. Then what good are the senses if they're deceiving me. Doesn't matter. Whether I can directly see infrared with my eyes or use special glasses to see it---I'm still experiencing something from EMR that exists. There's a difference. I don't know what...

This is tough because it deals with the temporal and ethereal. Define what a soul is first. I think the buddhists have a theory on what constructs our "spark" or "spirit" that animates us, but I'm not sure how reliable that is. I am not the same person that I was when I was 4 years old, and...