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Author Topic: Conspiracy Theories: The Reread The Civility Clause Thread  (Read 47774 times)

dragdeler

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Re: Conspiracy Theories:The One-ended Stick Thread
« Reply #285 on: June 05, 2018, 10:40:43 am »

-snip-
« Last Edit: January 18, 2019, 01:40:47 pm by dragdeler »
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Trekkin

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Re: Conspiracy Theories:The One-ended Stick Thread
« Reply #286 on: June 05, 2018, 10:51:51 am »

Well, my job here as far as telepathy is concerned is pretty much done. All I ever wanted was to bring us to the conclusion that it cannot be disproven nor proven, instead of the couriered academic stance that a soul that even brings up telepathy is ill, or insane.

I'm sorry, but no. Telepathy can be and has been disproved insofar as it's possible to prove anything doesn't work in science (which is almost but not quite absolute): no one has, after literally decades of effort, produced a single indication that it's possible that has stood up to basic scientific scrutiny. There is no credible, falsifiable proposal of the mechanism by which it might operate that has not been thoroughly falsified, and almost as little reason to suppose that our understanding of the physical laws that make it impossible is sufficiently flawed to say it might be possible under the conditions in which it must happen in order for us to observe it or you to do it.

So, in other words, not only is there no (credible, reproducible) evidence it has ever happened despite much experimentation, there is no (scientific) reason to think it could ever happen and strong reasons to think it cannot. Science doesn't get much closer to disproof than that. We can't disprove that you can fly, either, but I wouldn't advise leaping out a window to find out.

The "couriered" academic stance is that telepathy does not and cannot happen. It makes no claims about the sanity or health of its proponents, only their incorrectness.
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Reelya

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Re: Conspiracy Theories:The One-ended Stick Thread
« Reply #287 on: June 05, 2018, 11:25:53 am »

Well, my job here as far as telepathy is concerned is pretty much done. All I ever wanted was to bring us to the conclusion that it cannot be disproven nor proven, instead of the couriered academic stance that a soul that even brings up telepathy is ill, or insane.

That's not even true. Telepathy was given plenty of chances in academia. In the 20th century, plenty of weird true science was postulated and proven true, such as quantum mechanics. Plenty of weird false things were tried and proven false, too. There was no prior bias towards the things that turned out to be true in the end. Nobody pre-decided on quantum mechanics being true, nor was in "expected" and therefore just accepted. e.g. radio waves - these completely fly in the face of pre-existing beliefs. Nobody expected them to be there, and people who postulated magical invisible waves that come from rocks were no more insane than people who brought up telepathy (magical invisible waves that come from brains).

Bringing up paraphysics isn't "wrong" or "insane" as an act, it's just been disproven time and time again through the process of experimentation, so when another person ignorant of the previous science brings it up again, people go "here we go again" in a way we'd do exactly the same as if you reinvented Phlogiston Theory or the Plum Pudding model of the atom, or any of countless other theories which were perfectly sane to hypothesize but have been outmoded by other theories.

Sure, the Plum Pudding model of the atom was perfectly reasonable in the late 19th century, but to bring it up now would be pretty ridiculous, because you'd have to ignore a centuries worth of disproving evidence.

Likewise, hypothetical telepathy was perfectly reasonable to bring up at one point, but to focus on that now requires one to ignore all the studies showing it doesn't work. Psychic abilities always fail when tested in controlled conditions.

TamerVirus

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Re: Conspiracy Theories:The One-ended Stick Thread
« Reply #288 on: June 06, 2018, 07:15:14 am »

No wonder why I never see the news headline 'Psychic wins lottery'
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exdeath

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Re: Conspiracy Theories:The One-ended Stick Thread
« Reply #289 on: June 06, 2018, 07:36:27 am »

No wonder why I never see the news headline 'Psychic wins lottery'
Even if psychic was a true thing, butterfly effect would make stuff change and other numbers be selected, this because it problably doenst require too much to change what numbers will be selected.
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scourge728

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Re: Conspiracy Theories:The One-ended Stick Thread
« Reply #290 on: June 06, 2018, 08:30:32 am »

I always assumed they have a computer doing it nowadays

TamerVirus

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Re: Conspiracy Theories:The One-ended Stick Thread
« Reply #291 on: June 06, 2018, 08:57:13 am »

I always assumed they have a computer doing it nowadays

Does that mean its time to pivot the conversation to the idea that life is just a computer simulation?
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Doomblade187

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Re: Conspiracy Theories:The One-ended Stick Thread
« Reply #292 on: June 06, 2018, 09:05:01 am »

I always assumed they have a computer doing it nowadays

Does that mean its time to pivot the conversation to the idea that life is just a computer simulation?
I find the evidence for it amusingly convincing. The fact dissociating from the world contributes to the feeling adds to it.

I personally don't want to believe, and don't.
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TamerVirus

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Re: Conspiracy Theories:The One-ended Stick Thread
« Reply #293 on: June 06, 2018, 09:15:57 am »

You were obviously programmed to say that
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MrRoboto75

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Re: Conspiracy Theories:The One-ended Stick Thread
« Reply #294 on: June 06, 2018, 09:17:51 am »

They should have programmed me better.  Too many bugs.
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exdeath

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Re: Conspiracy Theories:The One-ended Stick Thread
« Reply #295 on: June 06, 2018, 09:23:41 am »

I always assumed they have a computer doing it nowadays

Pressing the button few microseconds later will lead to a different result. And changing the world enought to make sure lottery guys "press the button at the computer" few microseconds later is not hard.
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dragdeler

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Re: Conspiracy Theories:The One-ended Stick Thread
« Reply #297 on: June 07, 2018, 12:18:55 pm »

-snip-
« Last Edit: January 18, 2019, 01:40:39 pm by dragdeler »
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Egan_BW

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Re: Conspiracy Theories:The One-ended Stick Thread
« Reply #298 on: June 07, 2018, 03:41:38 pm »

How would you define a "higher intelligence"?
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MrRoboto75

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Re: Conspiracy Theories:The One-ended Stick Thread
« Reply #299 on: June 07, 2018, 03:45:12 pm »

sometimes I giggle at the caricature of someone watching my "boring" life.

The Sims is a pretty well selling franchise.
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