Is a new mass extinction could be underway?


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Shadow Lodge

xavier c wrote:
No i'm saying According to natural science we are all slaves and there is no freewill and there is no good or bad.

Are you saying you agree with this idea?

Silver Crusade Contributor

LazarX wrote:
xavier c wrote:
According to natural science we are all slaves to our genes and there is no freewill and there is no morality. So what?

Spoken like someone who really has no grasp of natural science.

The studies of separated identical twins has shown that there are genetic pre-dispositions to certain types of behavior, such as the happiness quotient. Certain people are going to be more happy, sad, etc. than others.

HOWEVER...Those same studies also show that environment, and upbringing still play a major role in how people develop. And unlike almost every other form of life on the planet, Humans do demonstrate the rare gift of self-awareness. And the more effort you take to explore and develop your self-awareness the more free will you'll actually have. Keep in mind however that the environmental factors I mention, also include chemicals that you're exposed to in the environment, for good and ill.

Free will and morality thus aren't simplistic objects of their own, they arise as a composite of all three elements... Nature, Nurture, and Self-Awareness.

There's some interesting stuff about infant development here. Interesting reading.


TOZ wrote:
xavier c wrote:
No i'm saying According to natural science we are all slaves and there is no freewill and there is no good or bad.
Are you saying you agree with this idea?

No, but lately I have been hearing an increasing number of scientist say stuff like that.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook Subscriber
xavier c wrote:
No, but lately I have been hearing an increasing number of scientist say stuff like that.

Hearsay is never a solid basis for anything.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
xavier c wrote:
TOZ wrote:
xavier c wrote:
No i'm saying According to natural science we are all slaves and there is no freewill and there is no good or bad.
Are you saying you agree with this idea?
No, but lately I have been hearing an increasing number of scientist say stuff like that.

Pick any viewpoint, rational, off the mainstream, or simply far and out banannas and you'll find a "scientist" who advocates it.

Hearsay means nothing. Science follows a many fold path which has peer review as the ultimate checkmate against fraud, incompetence, or insanity.

Peer reviewed science seldom makes statements as simplistic as the ones you keep making. And it definitely did NOT in this case.


xavier c wrote:
TOZ wrote:
xavier c wrote:
No i'm saying According to natural science we are all slaves and there is no freewill and there is no good or bad.
Are you saying you agree with this idea?
No, but lately I have been hearing an increasing number of scientist say stuff like that.

I'm fairly certain you haven't, actually.


Orfamay Quest wrote:
xavier c wrote:
TOZ wrote:
xavier c wrote:
No i'm saying According to natural science we are all slaves and there is no freewill and there is no good or bad.
Are you saying you agree with this idea?
No, but lately I have been hearing an increasing number of scientist say stuff like that.
I'm fairly certain you haven't, actually.

Maybe it's not the majority, but i have heard some scientist say stuff like that.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook Subscriber

Are you expecting us to take this viewpoint seriously?

Silver Crusade Contributor

1 person marked this as a favorite.
TriOmegaZero wrote:
Are you expecting us to take this viewpoint seriously?

His posting history suggests so.


TriOmegaZero wrote:
Are you expecting us to take this viewpoint seriously?

No but it is there

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook Subscriber

Okay, then I see it has no relevance to the question 'is slavery bad'.

Silver Crusade Contributor

TriOmegaZero wrote:
Okay, then I see it has no relevance to the question 'is slavery bad'.

Yeah... that seems like a question that usually should get a straight answer.


TriOmegaZero wrote:
Okay, then I see it has no relevance to the question 'is slavery bad'.

Depends on your worldview. I think it is bad.

Shadow Lodge

xavier c wrote:
I think it is bad.

I totally agree.

Lantern Lodge Customer Service Manager

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Hey folks, I've removed some posts. There's no need to get personal, debate the logic and evidence, not the person. Also, please don't drag up old forum drama.


Orfamay Quest wrote:
xavier c wrote:
TOZ wrote:
xavier c wrote:
According to natural science we are all slaves to our genes and there is no freewill and there is no morality. So what?
Do you mean that you have experienced slavery and found it to not be a bad thing?
No i'm saying According to natural science we are all slaves and there is no freewill and there is no good or bad.

Really? When did you talk to natural science?

Because I'm fairly sure he/she/it said no such thing.

Just "it," Orf, just "it."

SCIENCE WILL NEVER BE GENDER SPECIFIC!!

(Sorries to Katie!)


1 person marked this as a favorite.
LazarX wrote:
xavier c wrote:
TOZ wrote:
xavier c wrote:
No i'm saying According to natural science we are all slaves and there is no freewill and there is no good or bad.
Are you saying you agree with this idea?
No, but lately I have been hearing an increasing number of scientist say stuff like that.

Pick any viewpoint, rational, off the mainstream, or simply far and out banannas and you'll find a "scientist" who advocates it.

Hearsay means nothing. Science follows a many fold path which has peer review as the ultimate checkmate against fraud, incompetence, or insanity.

Peer reviewed science seldom makes statements as simplistic as the ones you keep making. And it definitely did NOT in this case.

Unless you're talking about human caused global warming, oops, I mean climate change. Then general consensus is good enough.


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Simon Legrande wrote:
LazarX wrote:
xavier c wrote:
TOZ wrote:
xavier c wrote:
No i'm saying According to natural science we are all slaves and there is no freewill and there is no good or bad.
Are you saying you agree with this idea?
No, but lately I have been hearing an increasing number of scientist say stuff like that.

Pick any viewpoint, rational, off the mainstream, or simply far and out banannas and you'll find a "scientist" who advocates it.

Hearsay means nothing. Science follows a many fold path which has peer review as the ultimate checkmate against fraud, incompetence, or insanity.

Peer reviewed science seldom makes statements as simplistic as the ones you keep making. And it definitely did NOT in this case.

Unless you're talking about human caused global warming, oops, I mean climate change. Then general consensus is good enough.

Overwhelming, peer reviewed research consensus, you mean.


thejeff wrote:
Simon Legrande wrote:
LazarX wrote:
xavier c wrote:
TOZ wrote:
xavier c wrote:
No i'm saying According to natural science we are all slaves and there is no freewill and there is no good or bad.
Are you saying you agree with this idea?
No, but lately I have been hearing an increasing number of scientist say stuff like that.

Pick any viewpoint, rational, off the mainstream, or simply far and out banannas and you'll find a "scientist" who advocates it.

Hearsay means nothing. Science follows a many fold path which has peer review as the ultimate checkmate against fraud, incompetence, or insanity.

Peer reviewed science seldom makes statements as simplistic as the ones you keep making. And it definitely did NOT in this case.

Unless you're talking about human caused global warming, oops, I mean climate change. Then general consensus is good enough.
Overwhelming, peer reviewed research consensus, you mean.

Nope, I mean no such thing.


2 people marked this as a favorite.
Kobold Cleaver wrote:

I have a feeling that this is a very interesting direction for the thread to take:

Off a cliff!

WHEEEEEE!


Man why can't we be talking about why we don't have tree crocs, gorilla-sized lemurs, and mini ground sloths instead of all this free will/religion/ stuff :(


The Crocs are Militarized!!

The 6th extinction is upon us!!

I'm cool tho, I've been preparing, as you can see :-)

Does anyone have any Stimpaks or Mirelurk Cakes?

Paizo Employee Sales Associate

Removed a some posts. Let's resist the temptation to make "grabbing popcorn" posts, and instead focus on getting this already-divisive thread back on the rails with respectful and relevant discussion.


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Baring immigrants and the children of immigrants, most western nations have negative growth rates. The problem is trying to sustain a western life style that leads to that eats up 144? X the resources that someone in the third world uses.

I think the best we can do is try to triage until either light speed comes out, or send some moss over to start terraforming mars now.


BigNorseWolf wrote:

Baring immigrants and the children of immigrants, most western nations have negative growth rates. The problem is trying to sustain a western life style that leads to that eats up 144? X the resources that someone in the third world uses.

I think the best we can do is try to triage until either light speed comes out, or send some moss over to start terraforming mars now.

Almost the entirety of population growth in the next 40 years will be from increasing life spans and not reproduction.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Mmmmm....population growth.

Grand Lodge

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
BigNorseWolf wrote:

Baring immigrants and the children of immigrants, most western nations have negative growth rates. The problem is trying to sustain a western life style that leads to that eats up 144? X the resources that someone in the third world uses.

I think the best we can do is try to triage until either light speed comes out, or send some moss over to start terraforming mars now.

That's an extremely defeatist attitude. Managing our problems here on Earth still remains the easiest, shortest term, option on the only planet known to be comfortable for Humankind.

The planet still has a breathable atmosphere is at the right distance from the sun. Any place else is a prospect for thousands of years in the future, not anything remotely close to our timeframe.

Like it or not, Humanity's stand is right here, right now. Either that, or we'll correct ourselves out of existence.


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LazarX wrote:


That's an extremely defeatist attitude.

Something as ephemeral as attitude is irrelevant. It is what it is. We caused massive extinctions with a population in the millions and sharp pointy sticks. We're not going to drop our population or technological levels below that so something else needs to radically change.

Worse, we ALL have to make the changes together. We don't have a "Team human" to rally around. On a good day we have decisions made by nation states. Its in every states interests to fix the problem, but it is in any states interest to let other nations weaken themselves while you grow your economy and population. Population and polution are a mexican standoff. Trying to get everyone to put their guns down first is going to be hard.

Quote:
Like it or not, Humanity's stand is right here, right now. Either that, or we'll correct ourselves out of existence.

We won't. We;re way too good at surviving at this point and there are way to many of us. The problem isn't whether we go down with the ship or not its a matter of how many other lifeforms we're going to send to their demise first. The arsonist is usually the one with the best chance of escaping a fire.


BigNorseWolf wrote:

Baring immigrants and the children of immigrants, most western nations have negative growth rates. The problem is trying to sustain a western life style that leads to that eats up 144? X the resources that someone in the third world uses.

I think the best we can do is try to triage until either light speed comes out, or send some moss over to start terraforming mars now.

Neither one of those is a solution. Possibly an escape hatch for a few, but with any even vaguely foreseeable tech we're not going to be shipping people off planet fast enough to bend the population curve.

Worse, that escape hatch, if it looks tempting enough, might let the elites decide to take it and let the rest of us stew.


BigNorseWolf wrote:
LazarX wrote:


That's an extremely defeatist attitude.

Something as ephemeral as attitude is irrelevant. It is what it is. We caused massive extinctions with a population in the millions and sharp pointy sticks. We're not going to drop our population or technological levels below that so something else needs to radically change.

Worse, we ALL have to make the changes together. We don't have a "Team human" to rally around. On a good day we have decisions made by nation states. Its in every states interests to fix the problem, but it is in any states interest to let other nations weaken themselves while you grow your economy and population. Population and polution are a mexican standoff. Trying to get everyone to put their guns down first is going to be hard.

Quote:
Like it or not, Humanity's stand is right here, right now. Either that, or we'll correct ourselves out of existence.
We won't. We;re way too good at surviving at this point and there are way to many of us. The problem isn't whether we go down with the ship or not its a matter of how many other lifeforms we're going to send to their demise first. The arsonist is usually the one with the best chance of escaping a fire.

Maybe not human extinction, but massive suffering and serious population loss are certainly in the cards. And we won't go quietly, so that's likely to accompanied by wars, migrations and plenty of strife.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
thejeff wrote:
BigNorseWolf wrote:

Baring immigrants and the children of immigrants, most western nations have negative growth rates. The problem is trying to sustain a western life style that leads to that eats up 144? X the resources that someone in the third world uses.

I think the best we can do is try to triage until either light speed comes out, or send some moss over to start terraforming mars now.

Neither one of those is a solution. Possibly an escape hatch for a few, but with any even vaguely foreseeable tech we're not going to be shipping people off planet fast enough to bend the population curve.

Worse, that escape hatch, if it looks tempting enough, might let the elites decide to take it and let the rest of us stew.

Those of you old enough might remember the classic comic series from First Comics based on that premise: American Flagg!


Getting those people off planet first MIGHT be the solution...

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
BigNorseWolf wrote:
Getting those people off planet first MIGHT be the solution...

Not when it doesn't get them out of power.


LazarX wrote:
BigNorseWolf wrote:
Getting those people off planet first MIGHT be the solution...
Not when it doesn't get them out of power.

well, i'm assuming a hard sci fi universe here where putting them at about 5 light years out makes i impossible to communicate back here with the rest of the morelocks. That should keep them out of trouble.


BigNorseWolf wrote:
Getting those people off planet first MIGHT be the solution...

Tempting, but it depends on how much more we screw up the planet in the process. And how much time we waste on it.

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