Longest Thread Ever

[The Midnight]

My topic du jour is psychiatric overdiagnoses.

One Brow says man is a social animal. . . . ultimately denies anything more than chemistry as essential to life. . . . well, let's say "chemistry" in the context of the grander expanses of time, space, energy and matter I suppose. But what I think he has been preaching is a denial that there is anything else that we can't prove or demonstrate objectively to the most hardened believer in "man". That meaning, of course, to exclude "God" or similar extrapolations into the vast unknown realms we have so far just waved our hands at and declared "I believe"s about.

So what is the distinction between man the social animal and the clinical diagnosis of a sociopath?

Yeah he "intellectualize" everything. That's the problem I have with him. I don't think we can always "think through" everything. I do believe our mental capacity is limited in some sense.

Take for example a cat. Can it ever fully understand us? No. It lives in its own world, knows what it knows, (like there is food in the tray), but it doesn't know how that food came to be.

We as human knows about the Universe. But we don't know how it came to be. At least I'm open to the possibility that I don't know everything and that I do lack the mental capacity to think through things...

 

[The Midnight]

^^^

It's like if you take "water". He'll describe it as H2O. He'll keep repeating it. He's not wrong. But that's not the whole story. He doesn't talk about how it gives life, how it flows, how it impacts our lives, etc.

I'll admit I'd never win an intellectual debate with him - that's why I've given up trying to debate with him. How can he be wrong, if he keeps shouting that water is H2O, he'll always be right.

There is more to the story than that, but if he is not open to that possibility, he'll never be able to see/experience it.

 

[scootsy]

what % of posts does babe account for in this thread?

 

[The Midnight]

what % of posts does babe account for in this thread?

He replies to most posts, so I'd say between 50% - 60%?

 

[babe]

what % of posts does babe account for in this thread?

about half. I've done 2300 posts total since I started this, not quite 2000 in here. . . . .

I promise to answer every single post anyone else does, except some crappy ones.

 

[babe]

^^^

It's like if you take "water". He'll describe it as H2O. He'll keep repeating it. He's not wrong. But that's not the whole story. He doesn't talk about how it gives life, how it flows, how it impacts our lives, etc.

I'll admit I'd never win an intellectual debate with him - that's why I've given up trying to debate with him. How can he be wrong, if he keeps shouting that water is H2O, he'll always be right.

There is more to the story than that, but if he is not open to that possibility, he'll never be able to see/experience it.

Well, I'd like to see him discuss this point. He knows what it's like to believe in a religion, maybe has some acquaintance with both Baptists and Catholics as well as the JWs. He's a "convert" to logic.

I'd say offhand that people invented religions when they realized the failures of pure reason or logic in relation to the bigger questions about all we do not know. People had logic first, and turned to religion for a multitude of purposes. . . . forming cohesive societies around a set of common beliefs. . . .

oh, wait. . . . OB does that. It's called progressivism. the total abdication of all reason and logic to professed experts employed as the new high priests of the Neo-Fascists brave new world order.

I say we were better off with religious fanatics doing wholesale wars of extermination on one another. . . .. oh. ... . I guess maybe not.

religious freedom, freedom of speech and belief, and tolerance are the middle road that does work. Now if we can just get Liberals to believe in those things enough to show a little respect for those who don't just roll over and go along with them.

The one great failure of the UN is the absence of representative governance and recognition of basic human rights. Oh. . . . well. . . . the concept of "limited" government that can not have the power of tyranny over mankind.

 

[babe]

But I actually wanted more to talk about the nature of mankind. . . what kinds of things about us indicate there is more to us than simple chemistry???

 

[Jazz Spazz]

Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself: "Mankind". Basically, it's made up of two separate words - "mank" and "ind". What do these words mean ? It's a mystery, and that's why so is mankind.

 

[Duck Rodgers]

Speaking of longest ever......do the X-games just never stop now? It used to be like the Olympics of "extreme" sports, but now there are multiple X-games a year and it seems like one big never-ending watered down turd. I'm into skateboarding and like watching some of the motorcycle stuff, but not 50 times a year. Even Dennis Schroeder hates it.

 

[Duck Rodgers]

Seriously. . . ..

I want about three homes in the Philippines, one in Baguio, one in Cebu, and one in Hagunoy.

Baguio is a pine forest with temps close to San Francisco, Cebu has hills covered with mango trees and endless seascapes. Hagunoy is a farmer's paradise only an hour from Manila.

Only pervs want 3 houses in the Philippines. I'm kind in a gritty mood right now. If I could live anywhere in the world at the moment I think slumming it in Salford(England's Detroit) would be fun. I would be over it in a month probably, but it seems appealing right now.

 

[Stifle Tower]

Don;t know about the X Games, but what does stop is my coaching season. I'm a little depressed right now...not enough to call a hotline, but I had such a great time coaching and our season is now over (we finished 6-1-1). Seriously, if any of you are considering coaching ANY sport, whether it be for your own child, nephew, niece, whomever...just DO IT! There is nothing more rewarding than working with children.

 

[The Midnight]

But I actually wanted more to talk about the nature of mankind. . . what kinds of things about us indicate there is more to us than simple chemistry???

- Moral values when there is nothing in it for us to further our species/cause? If I travel to India, and I see a poor beggar on the street, why should I give him money? I was never going to see him again - so it doesn't benefit me to help him.

One Brow would say, that we do it out of "empathy". But that answer alone isn't good enough. I can have empathy (defined as capacity to recognize emotions that are being experienced by another person), but how does it benefit me to act upon that empathy from an "animal" stand point? Let's say a lion develops "empathy" - would it stop eating other animals? No it won't. Its survival instinct would still kick in. But as humans, we're willing to do the opposite - we're willing to sacrifice our own life for others.

I would argue that we don't help others simply out of empathy - having empathy helps, but it's not the only reason. We help others because we have "love" built within us to "do the right thing". It is written in our "hearts". It's what's in every human's "hearts" if we're honest with ourselves.