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[Neruz]

I'm agreeing with you that eventually we'll get there, but calling our current computers "intelligent" is a step too far.

Right there. By stating the negative, you implied the positive, as otherwise you would not be able to refute it with the negative.

It's not a refute of anything, it's a statement: "calling our current computers "intelligent" is a step too far" that has nothing to do with YOU. Look, this is all one big miscommunication, shall we agree that we actually agree with eachother for once?!

Oh no, you're not pulling that shit twice. You said that in direct response to my post, you can sit there denying you specifically made a connection all you like, but fortunately the English language doesn't work like that. You heavily implied you were refuting the point "computers are intelligent" that was never made.

You'd probably get alot more traction if you stopped being such a weasel when it came to your arguments, i'm not sure whether it's deliberate or not, but your ability to carefully not actually state anything while sounding like you are is on par with most politicians.

[Siquo]

Ahwell. If you insist...

Allright then, you're wrong.

Again.

[Micro102]

How about you both just restate your opinions on computers and intellegence in bulletin form and start from there. Your both saying that the other said things they say they haven't said. It's a pointless discussion.

[Siquo]

It is. Especially since we both agree with each other about the topic. 

[Neruz]

How about you both just restate your opinions on computers and intellegence in bulletin form and start from there. Your both saying that the other said things they say they haven't said. It's a pointless discussion.

No really, you only just noticed?

[Siquo]

To get back to the earlier topic of Neanderthals and interbreeding, this is just in. And I'd not be me if I would let an opportunity pass in this topic to prove someone wrong :

Neanderthal Genome Yields Reveals Extensive Interbreeding

[Neruz]

There you go, turns out early indications were incorrect. Fun stuff.

[Starver]

To get back to the earlier topic of Neanderthals and interbreeding, this is just in. [snip]

Interesting.  I must say I was always a bit dubious about the original apparently proven negative (if nothing else, CM men fresh out of Africa could have been the ones going out and visiting the Nt women[0], whose lineages all died out when Nt as a whole did, or any similar situation).  Obviously there's going to be arguments about it among those who study these things[1], but I'll willingly take that article at face value.

• "Yes dear, the hunt did last all night.  And of course I've got funny coloured hairs all over my loincloth, that wild boar I tried to wrestle to the ground was moulting..."
  
  [1] For every expert, there's an equal and opposite expert!

[MrWiggles]

IT LIVES... AGAIN!

[RAM]

Let's try a really narrow definition and see if we can get it out of the way...
 Creator of humanity.
Well, history only goes back so far, artefacts seem to be limited, there is no record I am aware of of a civilisation destroying event that would match the time-frame. So we can assume that large-scale civilisation is fairly recent. Do we continuously blow ourselves back to the stone-age? Well there is evidence of times without humans, so we can probably accept that humans didn't always exist...

So, where did they come from? A family of apes got bored of trees? An alien baby was playing with the mutatron? The spiritual patron of humanity suddenly realised its purpose? Chuck Norris beat existence into submission and forced it to cause him to come into being? Maybe someone spilled some coffee into the simulator and all of humanity is a glitch...

Pros: A creator ...
 gives humans a purpose.
 makes humans special.
 means we aren't to blame for what we do.

Cons: A creator ...
 sounds made-up.
 doesn't actually change anything if we cannot determine anything about it.
 means we aren't to blame for what we do...

Thoughts?

[Starver]

IT LIVES... AGAIN!

I had two subjects in my Show new replies to your posts" section, just now.  This one and "What to do with an inorganic forgotten beast?".  For a moment, I couldn't work out what that was in reply to.

[Siquo]

Thoughts?

Hmmm, your pro's don't describe my creator... The problem here is that there is only one definition for God That Does Not Exist, but there are many definitions for Gods That Do Exist. Coming up with a set of "pros" that cover them all is kind of hard.

[Micro102]

But you cannot believe in all gods, as their religions say they are the only ones. So Siquo, what is the name of your god? Which religion?

[RAM]

Well it isn't addressing any specific creator, it is addressing the idea of something deliberately creating humans as a type of entity.

If you try to address the entirety of the idea of a god then it fails due to the lack of a definition and you end up picking in only one that requires familiarity with the religion. Are you saying that those pros don't describe your creator's creation of humans? Did your creator specifically create humans?

I find myself in two minds trying to interpret what you imply by 'god that does not exist', obviously there are any number of definitions that one could churn out frivolously if they wanted, but addressing the question of gods in general one can glean a great deal of insight by addressing every potential aspect a god might have separately...

[Siquo]

But you cannot believe in all gods, as their religions say they are the only ones. So Siquo, what is the name of your god? Which religion?

Firstly that is false, a lot of polytheistic religions leave open the option of the existence of other Gods. I have no religion, so I can make up my own as I go along.

Well, the point that struck me was "humans are special" and "humans have a purpose". I'm more generic oriented, and believe the Universe is special, and the Universe has a purpose. We are a part of that Universe, and have the free will to choose if we want to be part of the Purpose (even though we don't know what that Purpose is...). I also believe we are to blame for what we do. It's called taking responsibility. People find that kind of harsh of me, because even people who "can't help themselves" are to blame for everything they do, IMNSHO.