How ”free” is free will in relation to ctb?

[Quarky00]

How wonderous and beautifully simple is it not that the Babylonians said: let's divide the circle into 360 degrees!
They didn't like maths any more than we do.

That's why they chose a number which is easily divided by all the numbers from 1 to 9, apart from 7.

This came from astronomy , which was superior for them , 12 signs/months . They probably counted by hand , using 4 fingers (between knuckles each finger has 3 soft tissues ; thumb counts) in one hand , and 5 in the other -- 12x5 =60

 

[Deleted member 1465]

Mine is Hannibal ante portas.

The guy gets my thumbs up for crossing the Alps with elephants


I am off to bed now. Good night, dear friend!

Me too soon goodnight

 

[Quarky00]

~

partia minutae secunda (second little part). And the word minute is from parti

I believe that's what mad Italians scream when they want you to wait. PARTIA MINUTA SECUNIDA!!!! PFFF!!!

Sic.

 

[Epsilon0]

~


I believe that's what mad Italians scream when they want you to wait. PARTIA MINUTA SECUNIDA!!!! PFFF!!!

Sic.

Hahaha!!! I love your humour!

 

[Deleted member 1465]

Sic transit tempus cool cuz

 

[Quarky00]

Sic transit tempus cool cuz

We need our own section here . "The Peculiars" . Latin , time , and unknown artifacts . lol

 

[Deleted member 1465]

We need our own section here . "The Peculiars" . Latin , time , and unknown artifacts . lol

Don't tempt me. Actually I think this is already it.

 

[Quarky00]

@Underscore , drawing and latin are overrated , are you fluent in cuneiform ?

 

[Deleted member 1465]

@Underscore , drawing and latin are overrated , are you fluent in cuneiform ?

I tried it once. I'm not trying it again. I got my head stuck.

Edit. Just remembered. I am fluent in Ogham.

 

[Quarky00]

We're good with dead languages , and dead people .

 

[262653]

What if Mary would have conflicting preferences? Supposedly, she likes pears more than apples. Also, she is allergic to pears but not to apples. Freedom-wise, would the choice of allergic Mary be different from non-allergic Mary?

 

[Epsilon0]

I tried it once. I'm not trying it again. I got my head stuck.

Edit. Just remembered. I am fluent in Ogham.

I just look Ogham up and I am surprised at how much the letters resemble runes. Runes were also carved in wood, but due to obvious reasons, the ones that have survived the passage of time are the ones carved in stone.
@Underscore
@Quarky00

"Fluent in cuneiform"... I honestly don't know how to answer this, good people :D

I don't get the "cool coz" joke, though. I see it pop up every now and then. Please explain.

 

[Deleted member 1465]

Ogham and runic do look similar but as far as I'm aware there is no connection other than the basic mechanical necessity of searching marks onto stuff.

 

[Deleted member 1465]

I don't get the "cool coz" joke, though. I see it pop up every now and then. Please

I shall let my learned colleague @Quarky00 - explain that.

 

[Pan]

With mental illness people often seem to spend their whole lives fighting to survive, almost as if they are fighting this predetermination. Suicide can often be seen as an expression of free will to counter this. Maybe that self destruct mechanism is built in and gets expressed by difficult life circumstances. And yet, some people go through hell and survive, even flourish, while others are triggered by events that wouldn't effect others in that way.
I hesitate to say this, but... suicidality could be (to a certain extent, some circumstances would floor anybody) another negative feedback mechanism that nature puts in place to remove individuals from the gene pool. Yeah, this is harsh, but nature is harsh. So many of the things we do in life seem to attempt to go against nature - even actually surviving sometimes seems to be to try and thwart the ultimate entropy that claims us all. Again, its this sodding paradox that drives us.

Note: you'll see from many of my answers on subjects like these that my thoughts are nebulous and contradictory. I don't necessarily believe many of the things I put forward are true, they are merely things I think about. My mind is open and I think the confusion and contradiction that may come across in my posts is actually reflective of the nature of our understanding of such ephemeral things.

Your reference to the role played by natural selection is very interesting to me. It would appear too that the rise in suicide goes hand in hand with population rise. Perhaps ctb, on a broad scale that is, is part of that winnowing process. Nature, for all intents and purposes, is dead or certainly in danger, to be replaced by culture and culture only. The dystopia we live in now is certainly part of that, yes?

 

[Deleted member 1465]

The dystopia we live in now is certainly part of that, yes?

Yes. But...nature does not die. That we attempt to separate ourselves from nature is a reflection of our evolved intelligence. It is in itself a function of the very nature that we seek to separate from. Its paradoxical and thus impossible to understand (let alone express in writing). We actually think of the dystopia as being removed from what we think of as 'nature' ie. green and growing things, but of course the situation we have created for ourselves is part of that nature. City blocks and artificial intelligence and cancer are all part of the natural environment. That this natural environment is now heavily influenced by our intelligence and creativity causes huge problems for us as a species and will almost inevitably lead to our extinction. This too, is part of the natural process and can't be avoided. Suicide, along with many other factors could possibly be seen as a natural feedback mechanism to attempt to keep the population down in order to prolong the life of the species.
Intelligence is the thing that brought us here and will be either the thing that wipes us out (in that our cultural evolution in the creation of technology outstrips our biological needs) or allows us to find creative waves to renegotiate our place in the universe (using that amazing creativity to find ways to overcome the problems that technology has created for us). Its a double edged sword, a surgeons scalpel, that harms and heals with every slice.

Nature, for all intents and purposes, is dead or certainly in danger, to be replaced by culture and culture only

So, 'yes and no' would be my confusing (and confused) answer to this. I think your observation is probably right, but to me its all part of a bigger, more nebulous and confusing picture.

 

[Pan]

Nature is dead; our dialogue with the world no longer involves nature; culture rules, and does so with an authoritarian power. There is no escape, no respite from all that IS. Small wonder that suicide is the, uh, "talk of the town". Who wants to live in this ruthlessly inequitable society...DO YOU? I know I don't. We have been sold a bill of goods, as in religious belief, etc. ultimately, who cares, frankly? Do you care? Of course you don't—-you know it and I know it. What to do with this newfound knowledge—-that is the problem.
Free will is an illusion we comfort ourselves with to get through the day. Whatever prompted you to imagine "free will" is illusory and doesn't square with simple cause and effect. SOMETHING made you do SOMETHING. This illusion of freedom is bogus as the day is long.

 

[Deleted member 1465]

I think you are right but I regard human culture as an aspect of nature. The world will turn long after we are gone.

 

[Deleted member 1465]

Wow. It was just a turn of phrase. No dick stroking involved. It's unfortunate that my interests and opinions offend you so deeply.

 

[Pan]

Wow. It was just a turn of phrase. No dick stroking involved. It's unfortunate that my interests and opinions offend you so deeply.

I wasn't referring to you; my complaint was with the candlemaker. Apologies to you. It has been a bad day; that is no excuse for me to have been so irascible, however. Please forgive me.

 

[Deleted member 1465]

I wasn't referring to you; my complaint was with the candlemaker. Apologies to you. It has been a bad day; that is no excuse for me to have been so irascible, however. Please forgive me.

We all have bad days. I personally take no offense. Epsilon, I'm sure will speak for herself.

 

[Pan]

Thanx much. If I was offensive to you in anyway, please chalk it up to stress combined with flu.

 

[Pan]

We all have bad days. I personally take no offense. Epsilon, I'm sure will speak for herself.

Could you apologize on my behalf to epsilon? I am battling the worst flu I have ever had. So much for flu shots! Best