ask a question

recent responses

all topics

info

⚲

Knowledge
Mind

I was walking down my school hall today and was thinking about just some random things, such as how this hallway smells, who that person looks like, etc. Then, about 2 minutes later I began to think the same basic thoughts, just in a seperate location and at a later time. Since nobody else heard these thoughts the first time, maybe my mind did not really think of them 2 minutes ago but was just telling myself that 2 minutes ago I thought those things. What I mean to say is, how can I be sure that I thought of something earlier if my mind may have just fabricated its own memories?

In my salad days, I would have replied: keep an accurate, comprehensive diary; take a lot of photographs; and hang on to all your receipts. Now I know better. None of this solves the logical problem. For example, when you are writing down your thoughts or acts in your diary, are you remembering correctly and hence describing correctly what you thought or what happened? When you later look at the photographs you took during your trip to Mali, how can you be sure [memory?] that these were the images you took there? There is nothing in the image itself that reliably testifies to its own veracity. [No memory-image verifies itself.] The label on your jeans says "Levi" [i.e., not a fake made in Bogalusa], but is there a label attached to the label that says "That other label is genuine, and tells the truth"? Even if there were such a label.... [No label verifies itself.] When God says to you, "I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD," go ahead, be brave, and reply, "Oh yeah? Sez who?" "ASK MY WIFE, YOU DIMWIT." (Jean-Paul...
Knowledge
Mind

When a person says "I would like to get to know you." What exactly do they mean? In my opinion, you can't really get to "know" anyone. Because to "know" something it takes looking at it from all angles, seeing it react in different situations and examine it inside and out. So, given this definition, does "I want to get to know you" mean that a person would like to look at the other from all angles? To see him/her react in different situations? To examine him/her inside & out? Of course, this can be done physically. Through sexual relations. But how would you go about knowing someone personally & mentally? You never know what they are thinking. This, in return, makes everyone become untrustworthy. Alas, to say "I would like to get to know you" means "I want to spend the rest of my life with you" ... Or does it?

You write: "Alas, to say 'Iwould like to get to know you' means 'I want to spend the rest of mylife with you' ... Or does it?" Consider this variation: Alas, to betold "I want to get to know you" is to be told "You don't stand achance with me."
Mind

How can one get rid of his/her memories, either bad or good ones? Is there any way to forget a happening in the past?

Fifty First Dates (Drew Barrimore, Adam Sandler) is a sour-funny treatment of loss of memory. After an automobile accident, she can remember only what happens during the course of one day. She begins again (from the point of the accident) when she wakes up the next morning. In a hospital scene, the audience is shown the case of a man whose memory extends only ten seconds. He asks over and over again how you are and wishes you a good day endlessly. A hilarious scene about something tragic. But he doesn't have a clue about his "sad" state. Might we drink to forget? Might we forget things if we smoke too much marijuana? The difference between short-term and long-term memory is important. I do remember what I ate this morning (nothing! my daily routine); what I ate on March 4, 1955 is gone. The older I get, other people claim that my long-term memory is starting to fail. But I know they are wrong, the fools. Since I am supposed to be the sex expert among the panelists (ha), I might as well say a...
Emotion
Mind

Why is stupidity not painful?

Why is stupidity not painful? Huh? It is painful. Every time I do something stupid, I feel the searing pain, I wince like a dog hit by a car. Really. This is supposed to help me not do stupid things, like putting my hand in the flame. Doesn't work much, does it? We continue to do stupid things and feel the pain. So much the worse for both Intelligent Design and Natural Selection.