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Join Date: Aug 2001
Posts: 181
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I apologize about this OT again but....
I'm getting a little scared about that Anthrax case down in Florida...
It turns out, as the story unfolds, that a letter carrying the Anthrax powder was delivered to some office in Florida and many handled it, including the 63 year old man who died and another one who tested positive for it. It got me thinking, what if some nut out there decides to start mailing out thousands and thousands of these "Anthrax" infected letters to Americans.... this is getting serious, folks....we all need to stand together and fight this! This is getting scary! Thank you for reading. God Bless America! I am flying the flag tonight. |
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10-08-2001, 07:17 PM
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Location: Los Angeles
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Cabman, you need some philosophy.
There is no God. You are the contents of your brain. That is, you are the neural structure of your brain. When this structure is lost, you are dead forever just as a painting is lost forever in a fire that consumes it. If you took your brain and connected the neurons exactly as mine are connected, you'd think like me. You'd be a neural clone of me. The word "Porsche" would then trigger the same neural response in your brain that it triggers in mine (along the same neural paths), and the thought generation would be that of mine. So you don't need 'your neurons' to be you, because neurons are just neurons. You just need them connected the right way--and they don't need to be made of the same organic material they are now either. They my be made of any suitable material that acts the same way. Once again, there is no God. There is the present, and there is your neural structure. Alcoa will freeze your brain for you. It is 50,000$. This is a very good deal. I would take out an insurance policy as an old friend has so they will freeze my brain upon my death. Like my engine swap, I'm 'working on it' but will never get it done probably. Still, I plan on it. Sometime in the distant future, a few different things might happen. Although they my not be able to 'save and restart' your brain, they might be able to clone it with a suitable machine which recreates and emulates your brain pathways. Such a machine would study and emulate the exact neural structure of your brain and copy its functionality in a simulator. When run, this simulator would be you. You could then 'wake up' in a program run by a neural emulating set of chips. You'd be alive once again in a simulation. And then again this may be that simulation. See if you can find a way to prove your experience is really a simulation. Sincerely, God AKA, programmer Bob year 3021. [This message has been edited by Kurt B (edited 10-08-2001).] |
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10-08-2001, 07:36 PM
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Kurt B,
That is deep... But I agree with you on God.....There are thousands of Gods, which one are you going to believe in? I only used "God Bless America" as a gesture. we are all definitely biological and physiological structures. That's the miracle of life. Whether or not a greater being exists that is responsible for the creation of the universe, space and time, there is no proof either way....your guess is as good as mine. it's the biggest mystery... gonna go read up on it.  |
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10-08-2001, 07:48 PM
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Thank you and welcome to the Pelican Parts News channel.....And for our latest breaking news item, we turn it over to "Cabman"........Seriously, to you have some hidden desire to be a newscaster? You just can't let these issues go by without commenting on them. To all others, post soon for this whole thread will be quickly removed.
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10-08-2001, 07:58 PM
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Quote:
If one off-topic thread gets removed, then all of them have to be removed. |
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10-08-2001, 08:01 PM
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Location: Los Angeles
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Everything is beyond our control now. So just go about your life. In talking to a member of my programming team who's actually an Indian National, I got some philosophy out of her.
She's Hindu--a polytheistic religion which is a potpurri of many religions. Any religious philosophy can be torpedoed by modern evidence that demonstrates that when your neural structure is lost, you are lost. This is easy to prove with an Alzheimer's patient. You are your memories. Well, she relies on a Descartesian philosophy. She considers our brains to be receivers that pick up waves of our existence. The waves are instructions sent to and from some other place of existence. Your brain picks up your waves like a particular radio station. So only your brain picks up and sends to the 'you' in some other place. When the brain is lost, it no longer accepts these waves correctly or at all. That is brain death. But 'you' would still exist somewhere else. Now, maybe someone really smart could find a way to make this work. I'd like to believe it. I can't because, while interesting and not as lame as omniscient 5th dimensional entities like God, it has a lot of problems. Still, it might help! Also, read about Everett's many worlds theory used to explain quantum mechanics by reducing it to classical mechanics by suggesting that every irreversible quantum change causes the universe to split into divergent, but equally real universes. It's very amazing--and many great theoretical physicists accept it. You may find a way to live forever using Everett's theory, who knows! |
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10-08-2001, 08:04 PM
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Kurt,
you think too much. |
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10-08-2001, 08:14 PM
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Kurt,
Unfortunately, I can't help but to come to many of the same conclusions about us humans being not much more than the sum of our parts. I'd be much happier if your friend's descartesian philosophy was true. Now I'd just be banking that the reality that I continue to experience coincides with the reality in which I stop aging at my prime due to a great quantum stroke of luck. Keith [This message has been edited by Yargk (edited 10-08-2001).] |
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10-08-2001, 08:30 PM
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It's the Krazy Kurt and Cabman Show!------------------ Mark Szabo 1986 911 Targa 3.2 1987 Escort 5-speed 1.9 RIP The Porsche Owners Gallery |
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10-08-2001, 09:48 PM
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Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Alberta, Canada
Posts: 115
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Kurt
whatever your smokin I'll take two. Just reading your last post made my head spin. I even put the bottle away! Deep Stuff!! gary ------------------ ghanlon |
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10-08-2001, 09:55 PM
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Banned
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Oakland, Cal.
Posts: 10
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Quote:
But also keep this in mind. This bio/germ warfare scare might just be a put on by our goverment to make us worry and keep us mad at the Taliban while they give the middle east an enema. |
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10-08-2001, 10:36 PM
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geez! i hope you guys are kidding. ok, i want to get in on the fun, too!!! here's my huge OT rant to throw in the pile:
yes, it's true... people suck. we all know that. but debating this god stuff sounds like fun to me... kurt... by stating unequivocally that 'there is no god', you are claiming to have all the answers with respect to the existence of any force or power greater than ourselves. i am assuming, then, that you would not consider yourself someone who has a faith life. this, however, directly contradicts the fact that you actually have established a faith that god does NOT exist. you are obviously extremely knowledgable, and your reply to cabman explains the workings of our brains by breaking down our anatomy into tiny scientific components, and your case is made based on what the scientific world calls 'proof' and substantiated evidence. in spite of all of your understanding, however, you still are not able to prove conclusively that god DOES NOT exist, and this is where the big 'there is no god' claim loses all of its steam. it seems as if you look to science for the answer to life's questions about how things work and why things happen, because it is based on proof and evidence. yet, science continues to evolve and change every day as we learn even more about what we thought we understood completely at an earlier time. i think we need to keep this in mind when anytime we conclude that we really 'know' something. in light of this, you could look at science as being a sort of religion of its own, in a sense. are mere theories and hypotheses based on factual evidence? they are more of a leap of faith than anything else based on what we know at the time. as is the case with religion and spiritual matters, science is filled with all sorts of gray areas and unanswered questions. you acknowledge that we, as humans have limitations as to what we can and cannot do as well as what we do and do not understand when you identify the future as a time that will provide even more understanding. the workings of a human brain are absolutely TINY in the scope of an entire universe. if you can acknowledge limitations in our current technology with respect to the human brain, HOW IN THE WORLD can you claim to have knowledge of things that operate beyond our current level of understanding, such as how god might work? you are still operating on faith, my friend, and you're going to have to show me some proof before i ever start to doubt the existence of god. (kurt, i hope you understand i submit all of this respectfully. you're one of my favorite people on this board, and i mean no offense.) i'm just trying to stir the pot a little for you heathens out there...  ------------------ Adam Nitti ajnitti@mindspring.com www.adamnitti.com '85 911 Carrera Coupe '72 BMW 2002tii '97 Grand Cherokee Limited Peachstate PCA member [This message has been edited by adamnitti (edited 10-09-2001).] |
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10-09-2001, 07:10 AM
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1985 Porsche Carrera 3.2 Liter
