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old hand
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old hand
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I want to sow doubt in the minds of those who define reality in terms of things... -wsieberEveryone defines reality in terms of things mr. wsieber, other than the transcendental we must use words, and words are things and also describe "things". So what are things? Things are our abstractions from the totality of the universe that are evolutionarily functional. In other words, a thing is given an independent functional existence when it is given a name. ...whether words like 'force' and 'torque' and other mathematical descriptions are real or just lucky conveniences. - Falliable FiendWords are arbitrary, reality is everything and therefore all-inclusive. A classic routine is - What is a ball? No, not a dance, a ball is a object that is used in games. No- that's a hockey puck, balls are round, not flat. Yes, that is a ball but it is flat, blow it up. Yes, I know it's not round , it's a football! And so forth. But everyone knows what a ball is. It is a tangible object that bounces. Like a bowling ball. But intangibles such as systems have positive evolutionrary value and as such they are as concrete as, well, concrete, or bowling balls. Culture, for example. In other words, none of our extractions can be an absolute member of an absolute group, each is unique, even if only by virtue of the fact that it occupies a singular relative position in space. So each categorization we make is flawed. About the closest the study of semantics can come to a workable tenet is... Words have no ultimate meaning, words only have function.Non cogito, ergo non sum? - KeivaThat's an interesting question Kevia, but it is tangent to the question at hand . I think latin in general is too vague for inquiries into the nature of words and language. The use of latin serves well those who need to isolate a particular sense of meaning, or to obscure, or, probably most often, to impress the barefooted. 
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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It wasn't meant as a new question, milum; I was asking if I'd correctly understood your (admittedly difficult) point:
..........But the human mind cannot comprehend "nothingness" without
.........."somethingness" to provide contrast, therefore everything is a thing
..........including the absolute absence of everything. Follow...?
and whether I'd accurately restated it:
the human mind cannot comprehend the concept of "nothingness" -- Non cogito
........................................................................................therefore-- ergo
......................................................even "nothingness" is a thing -- "nothing" non sum
I suspect I got tangled in my "little latin".
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Joined: Jun 2002
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newbie
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newbie
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"nothingness" - Keiva
"somethingness" - The world entire
I suspect I got tangled in my "little latin". Keiva admits it. He knows little Latin. And little else besides. All he knows is what comes out of a book. He's a quoter, a plagiarizer. Basically a bastardizer of other peoples' work. A man of little brain and even less charisma.
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old hand
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Dear equalizer,
Here is a proposal;
An open one-on-one discussion about the awadtalk board, it's past, it's purpose, and it's future between you and I, or some other representative of the group that left the board.
Under these ground rules;
(a) We exchange ten line paragraphs using the edit function of the topic thread to insure that inconsiderate posters can't interrupt our measured exchange with childish vile and low insults.
(b) The format can be as a debate, a casual discussion, an interview, or a pre-agreed upon set of questions.
(c) The exchange will continue until the post edit function switches off or until we have said all we think needed to be said.
(d) No insults, personal or general will be made.
And if we can't agree on what constitutes an insult, this experiment is dead before it begins. That would be a shame. I believe that words of balance can purge this board of anger and hate.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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milum, i wish, i so wish you were right.
it is true reasonable people could accomplish what you propose, but i have yet to see any reasonable behavior from k. he has for months, been a bully. he threatened to "nuke" the board, did, and now, goes around crying 'peace'-- with his little latin, he should know his peace is a pax roma-- Roman Peace.. you know the kind, the roman army invades, (decimate the males -- that is, kill one in ten) send most of the others off to slavery, impose taxes, and laws, favorable to rome and the army, so that the local population can be amde to pay the salaries of the standing army, that is there to insure 'peace'.
the way he uses the word is a mockery of real peace. if peace is appeasing a bully, then i am all for war.
i haven't been insulting, (unless you consider it insulting to tell the truth) and what good has it done? i stand up to his lies, his half truths, his inuendos, his attacks, and what good does it do?
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
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<<follow?>>
The waitress you flirted with certainly implied the article -- but that is your luck, your charm, your gift and good fortune. I'm not certain an article is implicit in Wsieber's original list, though.
As to not comprehending nothingness, I would say that what you are calling a concept is a grammatical error. Or, as part of the binary being/nothingness, it is only half an empty concept. Of course, *as* error or concept, whether whole or half, it is a thing or part of one. Returning us (playfully) to "atom" mentioned somewhere in this thread.
But I keep wondering what Wsieber has up his sleeve; where is the goose he means to chase?
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Joined: Aug 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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i haven't been insulting says of-troy.
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enthusiast
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enthusiast
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Posts: 275 |
I suspect I got tangled in my "little latin".
Keiva, thanks for the translation. It helps us who has no Latin at all.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 275
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 275 |
Here's a good URL about memes[/]
Dr. Bill, that was a good URL! Richard Dawkins is said to have coined the word and have elucidated the concept in his books. I have read a few of them. I became a fan after I read "The Selfish Gene".
Sorry to digress from "things, notions, concrete and abstract" etc.
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old hand
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OP
old hand
Joined: Mar 2000
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Everyone defines reality in terms of things ... a thing is given an independent functional existence when it is given a name..
Aren't we by any chance begging the question here, dear milum? (Don't worry, I'm going to stop here)
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