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#81
09-02-2005, 06:20 PM
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Re: What\'s The Odds That The Man Who Stops Hurricanes
"The reason that the fastest player is almost never the best player stems from two facts.
1. Speed is only one attribute necessarry to succeed in baseball. 2. Super speedsters are MUCH RARER than merely fast players." There is room for a 3rd reason. Once a certain speed threshold is reached, there could be diminished returns for additional speed to the overall effectiveness of the player. 
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#82
09-02-2005, 08:00 PM
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Re: What\'s The Odds That The Man Who Stops Hurricanes
What exactly do you mean by "Stops the Hurricanes"
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#83
09-03-2005, 03:20 AM
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Non ridere
[ QUOTE ]
No one lives up to the Ideal of the Absurd. No one can bear to believe that all he thinks, does, feels, loves and builds is totally laughable. [/ QUOTE ]Well, not "no one", but almost no one. (You used the word "laughable". I find that quite poetic. I was saying "meaningless" but yours is more human.) [ QUOTE ] So like Nietchze and Sartre and all the other priests of absurdity, in the end you grasp at some sliver of hope, some tiny bit of purpose. Because what can the word "hero" mean in a universe that has no meaning? [/ QUOTE ] It denotes, quite sprecifically, the ultimate act of herosim. Above taking a hill with your comrades-in-arms under lethal fire from the enemy; above plunging into the flooded water to save a drowning baby; above sacrificing yourself for your religious god. It is about two things (a) totally and lucidly recognizing your condition in the cosmos and (b) not committing suicide. * That would be the Hero. Ecce homo!. As Spinoza put it, Non ridere, non lugere, neque detestari, sed intelligere. (Not to laugh, not to lament, not to curse, but to understand.) [ QUOTE ] God... [/ QUOTE ] Whatever.
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#84
09-03-2005, 09:39 AM
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I\'m afraid to ask
[ QUOTE ]
<font color="red"> We are animals. We are no different than the rest of the fauna. We live in a planet that came to exist out of the purest of accidental circumstances, a planet that is inhabited by myriads of creatures all hunting to devour each other and then excrete waste, a ululating mass of agony. We are here, as the human species and as individual humans, without any design, "meaning" or objective. Our being here is the result of randomness. This randomness is so big that it goes far beyond any probabilistic notion that we can understand in our world. The cosmos is totally uninterested and unresponsive to our presence here. Then we're all gonna die - with probability 1.0 . And our death will not lead us to an afterlife but to nothingness, to non-life. Which renders all our acts here pretty much meaningless - which, in turn, render human morality as heavy as a feather in the wind. We are conscious of our fate - which is the only thing that separates us from the other inhabitants of our world. A conscience facing up the world and realizing the full extent of its horror. </font> [/ QUOTE ] You called all of the above facts. Would you elaborate on what makes you so certain about them? [ QUOTE ] However, the vast majority of humans (including a lot of atheists, agnosticists and the like) are weak, in this context. They take refuge in religion or other belief systems on account of being weak. [/ QUOTE ] Also, I'm confused about atheists taking refuge in belief systems other than the above...can you give some examples of what you mean? [ QUOTE ] (And I do not claim to be anything but!) [/ QUOTE ] Are you one of the aforementioned atheists? What belief system is it that you take refuge in (given your realization of the above)?
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#85
09-03-2005, 12:03 PM
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Re: I\'m afraid to ask
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ] <font color="red"> We are animals. We are no different than the rest of the fauna. We live in a planet that came to exist out of the purest of accidental circumstances, a planet that is inhabited by myriads of creatures all hunting to devour each other and then excrete waste, a ululating mass of agony. We are here, as the human species and as individual humans, without any design, "meaning" or objective. Our being here is the result of randomness. This randomness is so big that it goes far beyond any probabilistic notion that we can understand in our world. The cosmos is totally uninterested and unresponsive to our presence here. Then we're all gonna die - with probability 1.0 . And our death will not lead us to an afterlife but to nothingness, to non-life. Which renders all our acts here pretty much meaningless - which, in turn, render human morality as heavy as a feather in the wind. We are conscious of our fate - which is the only thing that separates us from the other inhabitants of our world. A conscience facing up the world and realizing the full extent of its horror. </font> [/ QUOTE ] You called all of the above facts. Would you elaborate on what makes you so certain about them? [ QUOTE ] However, the vast majority of humans (including a lot of atheists, agnosticists and the like) are weak, in this context. They take refuge in religion or other belief systems on account of being weak. [/ QUOTE ] Also, I'm confused about atheists taking refuge in belief systems other than the above...can you give some examples of what you mean? [ QUOTE ] (And I do not claim to be anything but!) [/ QUOTE ] Are you one of the aforementioned atheists? What belief system is it that you take refuge in (given your realization of the above)? [/ QUOTE ] He's right, except that we will all die with a probability of 1.0. Other than that small and forgivable inaccuracy he just made one of the best most insightful posts I have seen on these boards. The universe conains 50-100 billion galaxies, each contains 50-100 billion stars, add that there may be more universes, an infinite number possibly and it adds up that we are nothing and nothing we do matters in the big picture. Mack
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#86
09-03-2005, 08:10 PM
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Betting is now officially open
[ QUOTE ]
He's right, except that we will all die with a probability of 1.0 [which is a] small and forgivable inaccuracy. [/ QUOTE ] In case anyone wants to bet that he ain't gonna die, I'll be laying any odds any time for any amount I can get my hands on
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#87
09-03-2005, 08:20 PM
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Be very afraid
[ QUOTE ]
You called all of the above facts. Would you elaborate on what makes you so certain about them? [/ QUOTE ] Let's just say they are what I can be more sure of than anything else, without me having to construct axiom upon axiom upon axiom. Pass me the opener [ QUOTE ] I'm confused about atheists taking refuge in belief systems other than the above...can you give some examples of what you mean? [/ QUOTE ] E.g. communism. E.g. the Martian Chronicles. [ QUOTE ] Are you one of the aforementioned atheists? [/ QUOTE ] It's what religious people feel more comfortable calling me, yes. [ QUOTE ] What belief system is it that you take refuge in (given your realization of the above)? [/ QUOTE ] One likes to think none but one is not to be trusted in this. Others are usually more qualified to pronounce on that about a specific person.
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