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What is your most absurd belief?

1235

Posts

  • FoodFood Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    MrMonroe wrote: »
    Mazzyx wrote: »
    - That we end up somewhere when we die. Where, hell if I know. But I figure because of conservation of energy, that electrical chemical reaction we call a brain has to go some where.

    heh

    yeah, it rots in the ground with you

    why does that make me happy?

    The energy does go somewhere, though. Right into all those kind bacteria, fungi, and insects that eat it.

    Food on
  • ScalfinScalfin __BANNED USERS regular
    edited April 2009
    Food wrote: »
    MrMonroe wrote: »
    Mazzyx wrote: »
    - That we end up somewhere when we die. Where, hell if I know. But I figure because of conservation of energy, that electrical chemical reaction we call a brain has to go some where.

    heh

    yeah, it rots in the ground with you

    why does that make me happy?

    The energy does go somewhere, though. Right into all those kind bacteria, fungi, and insects that eat it.

    Not if I get it first!

    Scalfin on
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  • DrakeDrake Edgelord Trash Below the ecliptic plane.Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Food wrote: »
    MrMonroe wrote: »
    Mazzyx wrote: »
    - That we end up somewhere when we die. Where, hell if I know. But I figure because of conservation of energy, that electrical chemical reaction we call a brain has to go some where.

    heh

    yeah, it rots in the ground with you

    why does that make me happy?

    The energy does go somewhere, though. Right into all those kind bacteria, fungi, and insects that eat it.

    The cycle of life!

    Whee!

    Drake on
  • RandomEngyRandomEngy Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Hmm, that people I respect would find absurd? Probably that animals don't deserve any rights.

    RandomEngy on
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  • GungHoGungHo Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Henroid wrote: »
    Henroid wrote: »
    GungHo wrote: »
    Mr. G wrote: »
    The future in the movie Idiocracy will become a reality
    Not sure how absurd that one is at this point.
    The writer had a psychic vision.
    Explain this to me. Spoiler if needed. :o

    Also, another absurd belief I have: Uninformed politics in the United States will be gone, if not completely silenced due to shame, in 20 years.
    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808/synopsis
    Wow, the first paragraph really said all that I needed to know. D:
    Considering that people I know called Fuddruckers "buttfuckers" long before this movie ever came out... like I said, not really that absurd in the balance of things. The stupid are winning by out-breeding everyone else. I bore witness to a zerg rush of babies in camo onesies this weekend at the local outdoors store while their fathers pushed to get the last bit of ammo they could find before, and I quote, "Barack Hussein Yo'mamma takes it all away from us'n.". We have lost.

    GungHo on
  • Loren MichaelLoren Michael Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Lawndart wrote: »
    It's a "wild success" for the folks in the government, the new upper class, and multinational corporations. It's not nearly as much of a success for the average Chinese citizen, let alone those who make up the bottom rungs of the new Chinese economic ladder.

    ...

    Because going from the worst aspects of a dysfunctional state-planned economy to the worst aspects of a functioning free-market economy is bound to be an improvement. Going from shooting people in the face to shooting them in the foot doesn't mean that being shot in the foot has no negative aspects.

    And again, China's economic reforms have led to an economy that does feature, to me at least, all of the worst aspects of multinational capitalism gone wild: A near total disregard for worker's rights, workplace and product safety and the impact of industrial manufacturing on the economy. The benefits of economic success being primarily if not almost entirely lavished on the wealthy and not the working class. Even if China's government wasn't brutally repressive, there'd be plenty of reasons to not celebrate how their economic reforms have worked out.

    It's a silly success for the people at the top, a wild success for the new upper class, and an astounding success for the new middle class. It's not a success for everyone, but it's a success for an enormous number of people, which is the point. Would that every impoverished people could have the Chinese people's success.

    Really, I'm not sure how to respond to a lot of what you're saying. You seem to be operating on an assumption akin to China boiling down to low-paid laborers working under terrible conditions in a third-world country. That's simply untrue, along with a good deal of the rest of your economic analysis. Contrary to what you apparently believe, the HDI has been ticking up along with GDP. The benefits of economic success are extended to huge numbers of people, conditions in factories are and have been improving, most Chinese products are entirely safe (China manufactures iPhones, not generally known for low quality), and the economy is slowly expanding beyond a singular focus on manufacturing.

    Loren Michael on
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  • Casual EddyCasual Eddy The Astral PlaneRegistered User regular
    edited April 2009
    I guess my absurd belief is blind faith in the medical profession. I think pills can solve most problems, and I find people that avoid medical treatment/advice absurd and infuriating. I think homeopathic remedies are ridiculous and often dangerous.

    Casual Eddy on
  • postinonthenetspostinonthenets Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    I guess my absurd belief is blind faith in the medical profession. I think pills can solve most problems, and I find people that avoid medical treatment/advice absurd and infuriating. I think homeopathic remedies are ridiculous and often dangerous.

    So you didn't like Patch Adams is what you're saying.

    postinonthenets on
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  • CptHamiltonCptHamilton Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    I guess my absurd belief is blind faith in the medical profession. I think pills can solve most problems, and I find people that avoid medical treatment/advice absurd and infuriating. I think homeopathic remedies are ridiculous and often dangerous.

    I'm with you on this one. It's kind of sad that this would be considered absurd by such a large slice of the populace. Nobody seems to get that 'drugs' are just the shit that's in homeopathic/alternative medicine 'remedies' after they actually get tested and are proven to work. I've met people who will drink willow bark tea for a headache but refuse to take asprin.

    CptHamilton on
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  • TamTam Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    I think that some hippy things like acupuncture and ayurvedic medicine have a high enough rate of success to warrant serious investigation and refinement and incorporation into true medical practice if positive results are found.

    Tam on
  • OptimusZedOptimusZed Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    I have long suspected that homosexuality might be the result of some sort of population explosion "release valve," acting both as a means of stabilizing the rate of growth (as population density increases there's less of a direct pressure on each individual to produce viable offspring) and to provide needed cultural outlets to keep the press of humanity from turning into roving mobs (as adults without children have more time to devote to the arts or whatnot).

    OptimusZed on
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  • CptHamiltonCptHamilton Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Tam wrote: »
    I think that some hippy things like acupuncture and ayurvedic medicine have a high enough rate of success to warrant serious investigation and refinement and incorporation into true medical practice if positive results are found.

    I don't deny that there may be things that modern medicine is unaware of. The medical practice is hardly an exact science and the human body is so ridiculously complicated that even a detailed knowledge of the fundamental interactions at any level (chemical, protein, tissue, organ...) will be insufficient to accurately predict the effects of a treatment or diagnose the cause of a symptom. Honestly I'm amazed that medicine works as well as it does, most of the time. I asked three neurologists why strong magnetic fields didn't make people twitch and not one of them could tell me that it was because the electron transport chain in the nervous system doesn't have a long enough mean free path for anything short of extreme magnetic fields to bend the electrons out of their channels. Yet they could tell me exactly which parts of the brain do what and where to look for various anomalous growth/activity.

    My problem is when people choose to believe that 'alternative medicine' has the answers and that real medicine is a sham. They seem to fail to realize that the things they're ingesting or doing are often replicated in real medical treatments, just in a much more accurate, concentrated form and with a fancy name. They also fail to realize that the medical techniques and drugs that exist only exist because of research into areas that would once have been termed 'alternative medicine'. Sure, some things that are not currently a part of the medical toolkit may have valid applications. Acupuncture may well be effective as a pain relief treatment. Just don't discard real medicine and don't go swallowing random bullshit and getting stabbed with needles without consulting a real doctor first.

    CptHamilton on
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  • enc0reenc0re Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    I guess my absurd belief is blind faith in the medical profession. I think pills can solve most problems, and I find people that avoid medical treatment/advice absurd and infuriating. I think homeopathic remedies are ridiculous and often dangerous.

    I'm with you on this one. It's kind of sad that this would be considered absurd by such a large slice of the populace. Nobody seems to get that 'drugs' are just the shit that's in homeopathic/alternative medicine 'remedies' after they actually get tested and are proven to work. I've met people who will drink willow bark tea for a headache but refuse to take asprin.

    I'm reminded of the following quote:

    "What do you call alternative medicine that works?"
    "Medicine."

    enc0re on
  • LeitnerLeitner Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    I guess my absurd belief is blind faith in the medical profession. I think pills can solve most problems, and I find people that avoid medical treatment/advice absurd and infuriating. I think homeopathic remedies are ridiculous and often dangerous.

    Vaguely related to this. Your average doctor is reasonably incompetent when it comes to anything rarer then a cold, and that they’re deeply apathetic. Basically any kind of ‘chronic’ condition they’re generally pretty useless for. I’ve argued this with so many people, but damn it I’m right and the statistics back me up.

    Leitner on
  • DasUberEdwardDasUberEdward Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    moniker wrote: »
    That people are fundamentally good and not out to screw me over.

    That people are fundamentally bad and out to screw me over.

    DasUberEdward on
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  • MrMonroeMrMonroe passed out on the floor nowRegistered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Tam wrote: »
    I think that some hippy things like acupuncture and ayurvedic medicine have a high enough rate of success to warrant serious investigation and refinement and incorporation into true medical practice if positive results are found.

    They have been and they work exactly as well as sugar pills. Tests on acupuncture have shown that the results happen whether you actually perform the acupuncture or not and that they only manifest results in people who believe it will work.

    I've not read much on Ayurveda but my gut reaction is that it is largely horseshit folk medicine. In medicine the absence of evidence is sufficient to discard it as a treatment option.

    MrMonroe on
  • CervetusCervetus Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Cervetus wrote: »
    MrMister wrote: »
    Couscous wrote: »
    The brain is very good at making up shit about itself. I don't see how I can be certain of anything about myself other than in a meaningless way such as "I think that I think that I think I am angry."

    Suppose
    you are right.

    Well, then that's one truth you found.

    :^:

    What if he's wrong?

    See dat word.

    Dat means what he said is conditional.

    I'm sorry if I've misread it, but I took that conditional as trying to be a complete argument.




    Another belief I have that most would find absurd is that Linkin Park is actually good music if you ignore the vocals. Que the vestiges of respect people had for me sloughing off.

    Cervetus on
  • zerg rushzerg rush Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    I guess my absurd belief is blind faith in the medical profession. I think pills can solve most problems, and I find people that avoid medical treatment/advice absurd and infuriating. I think homeopathic remedies are ridiculous and often dangerous.



    Homeopathy - Bullshit branch of alternative 'medicine' designed chiefly to part fools from their money.

    Holistic - Treating people as mental and spiritual entities instead of physical entities.

    I don't know if these are the definitions you intended, but a lot of people get them confused. Homeopathy is horsecock, but holism seems to be at least a little grounded in fact.

    zerg rush on
  • CptHamiltonCptHamilton Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    zerg rush wrote: »
    I guess my absurd belief is blind faith in the medical profession. I think pills can solve most problems, and I find people that avoid medical treatment/advice absurd and infuriating. I think homeopathic remedies are ridiculous and often dangerous.

    Protip:

    Homeopathy - Bullshit branch of alternative 'medicine' designed chiefly to part fools from their money.

    Holistic - Treating people as mental and spiritual entities instead of physical entities.

    I don't know if these are the definitions you intended, but a lot of people get them confused. Homeopathy is horsecock, but holism seems to be at least a little grounded in fact.

    I don't think that you can claim something is 'grounded in fact' when it requires as axiomatic that a 'spiritual entity' with no evidential reality exists. Holistic "medicine" includes groundbreaking fields of study like "Magnets make you feel good!" and "Crystals make your soul happy!" Homeopathy at least pretends that the herbs and oils and whatnot have some sort of chemical property that fixes what ails you.

    CptHamilton on
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  • zerg rushzerg rush Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    I don't think that you can claim something is 'grounded in fact' when it requires as axiomatic that a 'spiritual entity' with no evidential reality exists. Holistic "medicine" includes groundbreaking fields of study like "Magnets make you feel good!" and "Crystals make your soul happy!" Homeopathy at least pretends that the herbs and oils and whatnot have some sort of chemical property that fixes what ails you.

    Well, there is bullshit in holism and some truth. Magnets, crystals, homeopathy, etc. seem to be pretty evidently bullshit, but there are good practitioners.

    A good example is cancer treatment for the elderly. It's a well known fact that when you're depressed, you your immune system and rate of healing will be suppressed. Furthermore, people who have social contacts and can talk with others will recover faster and live longer; they put on more weight after chemo therapy, they feel better about themselves so they need less painkillers, and they actually have a reason to live. Hell, the worst punishment we have is solitary confinement; that will ruin person's health. Everything I've said up to this point is accepted medical fact.

    Now, current cancer treatment suggests we give people chemotherapy and possibly confine them to a bed for weeks on end. This is fine with people who've got lots of friends and family who want to visit them. However, a lot of elderly don't have a lot of surviving friends who are in a condition to visit them and they're family don't see them that often when they're healthy anyways. Holistic health in this instance considers treating people both medically and socially. In this case, making sure they've always got someone to talk to. It suggests recovery rooms have multiple patients, with people who get along and talk with one another. If the patients aren't allergic, there will be dogs and cats too. The orderlies are there to talk with the patients instead of just take care of them. None of this is at the expense any surgery/chemicals/etc you'd do to cure a patient. It's just added on top of modern medical treatments.


    It seems to me a no-brainer that I'd rather be in a holistic cancer ward. Aside from that, they have better recovery rates than traditional hospitals. It seems insane to me why hospitals rooms aren't all like this for non-communicable diseases.

    zerg rush on
  • Casual EddyCasual Eddy The Astral PlaneRegistered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Leitner wrote: »
    I guess my absurd belief is blind faith in the medical profession. I think pills can solve most problems, and I find people that avoid medical treatment/advice absurd and infuriating. I think homeopathic remedies are ridiculous and often dangerous.

    Vaguely related to this. Your average doctor is reasonably incompetent when it comes to anything rarer then a cold, and that they’re deeply apathetic. Basically any kind of ‘chronic’ condition they’re generally pretty useless for. I’ve argued this with so many people, but damn it I’m right and the statistics back me up.

    what statistics?

    oh and I don't deny that some 'alternative' things have merit, but it's the people that seek them out to the sole exclusion of actual medicine that bug me

    Casual Eddy on
  • CouscousCouscous Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Odd diseases are why god created specialists.

    Couscous on
  • FugitiveFugitive Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    I believe that you yourself cannot actually experience death

    There are an infinite number of parallel realities, in some of them you are dead, in some of them you are not dead, but in the ones inhabited by your consciousness you are and always will be alive. If you die in any universe, rather than experiencing death, your consciousness is simply collapsed into a universe in which the event that caused your death did not occur.

    This means that for every near death experience - a near miss from a bus, a rattlesnake that you noticed just in time - there are an infinite number of realities in which you died, but because your consciousness has been collapsed instead of simply ceasing to exist, you will experience a long and continuous life no matter what.

    I don't know if I actually believe this, or if I just talk about it because it is impossible to disprove

    Fugitive on
  • FeralFeral MEMETICHARIZARD interior crocodile alligator ⇔ ǝɹʇɐǝɥʇ ǝᴉʌoɯ ʇǝloɹʌǝɥɔ ɐ ǝʌᴉɹp ᴉRegistered User regular
    edited April 2009
    zerg rush wrote: »
    I guess my absurd belief is blind faith in the medical profession. I think pills can solve most problems, and I find people that avoid medical treatment/advice absurd and infuriating. I think homeopathic remedies are ridiculous and often dangerous.

    Protip:

    Homeopathy - Bullshit branch of alternative 'medicine' designed chiefly to part fools from their money.

    Holistic - Treating people as mental and spiritual entities instead of physical entities.

    I don't know if these are the definitions you intended, but a lot of people get them confused. Homeopathy is horsecock, but holism seems to be at least a little grounded in fact.

    I don't think that you can claim something is 'grounded in fact' when it requires as axiomatic that a 'spiritual entity' with no evidential reality exists. Holistic "medicine" includes groundbreaking fields of study like "Magnets make you feel good!" and "Crystals make your soul happy!" Homeopathy at least pretends that the herbs and oils and whatnot have some sort of chemical property that fixes what ails you.

    First off, zerg rush's statement is not entirely accurate. "Holistic" medicine does not necessarily treat people "as mental and spiritual entities instead of physical entities." (I would say that there isn't really a good universal working definition of 'holistic' in this context. There are too many different forms of it to really put it all in a single bottle.)

    That said, "spiritual entity" does not necessarily mean "immaterial." Humans are 'spiritual entities' in the sense that we have psychological needs not strictly described in terms of physiology; the "spirit" can simply be a poetic way to refer to the (psychological) software than runs on our (biological) hardware.

    This notion of spirituality is highly relevant to medicine as it is the ham-handed treatment of humans as emotional and psychological beings among mainstream medicine that drives them towards alternative medicine. A lot of people go the doctor and feel like they're being treated like a piece of meat with a wallet, so when there's an alternative practitioner down the street that promises to actually treat them like a human being, they jump ship, even when said alternative is completely nuts.

    Feral on
    every person who doesn't like an acquired taste always seems to think everyone who likes it is faking it. it should be an official fallacy.

    the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
  • LeitnerLeitner Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Leitner wrote: »
    I guess my absurd belief is blind faith in the medical profession. I think pills can solve most problems, and I find people that avoid medical treatment/advice absurd and infuriating. I think homeopathic remedies are ridiculous and often dangerous.

    Vaguely related to this. Your average doctor is reasonably incompetent when it comes to anything rarer then a cold, and that they’re deeply apathetic. Basically any kind of ‘chronic’ condition they’re generally pretty useless for. I’ve argued this with so many people, but damn it I’m right and the statistics back me up.

    what statistics?

    oh and I don't deny that some 'alternative' things have merit, but it's the people that seek them out to the sole exclusion of actual medicine that bug me

    If that last sentence is aimed at me, I pretty much think it's all bullshit too.

    As for the stats, awful I know - but I have a relative who did a lot of work for the NHS (looking at suicide across populations and the like) and I get a lot off of her. The one that most stands out, is that it takes five years on average to diagnose a chronic condition. And something like over a half dozen different doctors. Now this isn't to say doctors are dickheads or anything. It's too an extent the nature of the job. And you do get some really good ones now and again.

    Leitner on
  • enc0reenc0re Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Feral wrote: »
    zerg rush wrote: »
    I guess my absurd belief is blind faith in the medical profession. I think pills can solve most problems, and I find people that avoid medical treatment/advice absurd and infuriating. I think homeopathic remedies are ridiculous and often dangerous.

    Protip:

    Homeopathy - Bullshit branch of alternative 'medicine' designed chiefly to part fools from their money.

    Holistic - Treating people as mental and spiritual entities instead of physical entities.

    I don't know if these are the definitions you intended, but a lot of people get them confused. Homeopathy is horsecock, but holism seems to be at least a little grounded in fact.

    I don't think that you can claim something is 'grounded in fact' when it requires as axiomatic that a 'spiritual entity' with no evidential reality exists. Holistic "medicine" includes groundbreaking fields of study like "Magnets make you feel good!" and "Crystals make your soul happy!" Homeopathy at least pretends that the herbs and oils and whatnot have some sort of chemical property that fixes what ails you.

    First off, zerg rush's statement is not entirely accurate. "Holistic" medicine does not necessarily treat people "as mental and spiritual entities instead of physical entities." (I would say that there isn't really a good universal working definition of 'holistic' in this context. There are too many different forms of it to really put it all in a single bottle.)

    That said, "spiritual entity" does not necessarily mean "immaterial." Humans are 'spiritual entities' in the sense that we have psychological needs not strictly described in terms of physiology; the "spirit" can simply be a poetic way to refer to the (psychological) software than runs on our (biological) hardware.

    This notion of spirituality is highly relevant to medicine as it is the ham-handed treatment of humans as emotional and psychological beings among mainstream medicine that drives them towards alternative medicine. A lot of people go the doctor and feel like they're being treated like a piece of meat with a wallet, so when there's an alternative practitioner down the street that promises to actually treat them like a human being, they jump ship, even when said alternative is completely nuts.

    My mom has a Master's degree in holistic medicine. She's a nurse and got it to improve her skills. I don't know, if this degree was a "standard" holistic health degree, but it certainly did not involve magnets, crystals, or homeopathy.

    Instead, it was all about creating comprehensive (holistic) treatment plans for patients, meaning a combination of traditional medicine, diets suited to conditions, exercise regimens, and counseling (if applicable). They also covered a lot of "alternative traditional" approaches, such as giving birth at home, in bathtubs, and stuff like that. It all really seemed quite sensible.

    enc0re on
  • JurgJurg In a TeacupRegistered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Reason alone isn't spiritually satisfying. Emotion and irrationality should be celebrated for the beautiful things they are. Balancing these two forces is the key to happiness.

    Jurg on
    sig.gif
  • LeitnerLeitner Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Jurg wrote: »
    Reason alone isn't spiritually satisfying. Emotion and irrationality should be celebrated for the beautiful things they are. Balancing these two forces is the key to happiness.

    (emotion isn't irrational - it's arational)

    Leitner on
  • JurgJurg In a TeacupRegistered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Leitner wrote: »
    Jurg wrote: »
    Reason alone isn't spiritually satisfying. Emotion and irrationality should be celebrated for the beautiful things they are. Balancing these two forces is the key to happiness.

    (emotion isn't irrational - it's arational)

    The absence of rationality is arationality, then?

    I am using irrational as the opposite of rational. Because emotions often spit in the face of logic and rationality.

    I've honestly never heard the word "arational" before.

    Jurg on
    sig.gif
  • NerissaNerissa Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    My irrational belief is that the universe contains some... "entity" (not precisely accurate, more like a combination of an entity and a force) consisting of the consciousnesses of all living beings. It is this, or aspects of this, that various religions worship as gods. It can affect our lives in various ways, if we are sufficiently open to being affected.

    Also, "every cloud has a silver lining" -- you just have to look harder for some than others. Whatever happens in your life, no matter how bad, there is a way to turn it into something good (either for yourself or for others) if you try.

    Nerissa on
  • SmurphSmurph Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    I believe our whole society is just a couple catastrophes short of a permanent collapse. For example I'm too scared to put my nest egg into even a low risk mutual fund because I think it's possible for the entire financial system to collapse and have to be rebuilt from scratch. I mean even in the past decade we've had the food shortages, resource scarcity, and the whole market crash, and now a possible health crisis. What happens if we all go broke, and there isn't enough food, and there is a pandemic, and we can't afford fuel for transportation? If these things ever all hit at once we're screwed.

    Smurph on
  • NerissaNerissa Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Smurph wrote: »
    I believe our whole society is just a couple catastrophes short of a permanent collapse. For example I'm too scared to put my nest egg into even a low risk mutual fund because I think it's possible for the entire financial system to collapse and have to be rebuilt from scratch. I mean even in the past decade we've had the food shortages, resource scarcity, and the whole market crash, and now a possible health crisis. What happens if we all go broke, and there isn't enough food, and there is a pandemic, and we can't afford fuel for transportation? If these things ever all hit at once we're screwed.

    If there isn't enough food and pandemic hits, your money won't be worth the paper it's printed on anyway. :P If you're seriously worried about this, buy land, learn to garden, and figure out how to make your own gunpowder (or bows & arrows) to protect what you have.

    Nerissa on
  • LeitnerLeitner Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Jurg wrote: »
    Leitner wrote: »
    Jurg wrote: »
    Reason alone isn't spiritually satisfying. Emotion and irrationality should be celebrated for the beautiful things they are. Balancing these two forces is the key to happiness.

    (emotion isn't irrational - it's arational)

    The absence of rationality is arationality, then?

    I am using irrational as the opposite of rational. Because emotions often spit in the face of logic and rationality.

    I've honestly never heard the word "arational" before.
    They’re neither rational nor irrational. They just are. How you choose to act upon them is rational or irrational. In fact, acting on something because you believe it will fulfil your emotional need is rational within reason. Though I’d be interested to know why you think this, because I believe the world would be a significantly better place if people started being rational more often.

    Leitner on
  • StarcrossStarcross Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Leitner wrote: »
    Jurg wrote: »
    Leitner wrote: »
    Jurg wrote: »
    Reason alone isn't spiritually satisfying. Emotion and irrationality should be celebrated for the beautiful things they are. Balancing these two forces is the key to happiness.

    (emotion isn't irrational - it's arational)

    The absence of rationality is arationality, then?

    I am using irrational as the opposite of rational. Because emotions often spit in the face of logic and rationality.

    I've honestly never heard the word "arational" before.
    They’re neither rational nor irrational. They just are. How you choose to act upon them is rational or irrational. In fact, acting on something because you believe it will fulfil your emotional need is rational within reason. Though I’d be interested to know why you think this, because I believe the world would be a significantly better place if people started being rational more often.

    There's a common belief that being rational means being like Spock, responding to all emotional cues by saying "that is not logical Captain".

    Starcross on
  • PeregrineFalconPeregrineFalcon Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Smurph wrote: »
    I believe our whole society is just a couple catastrophes short of a permanent collapse. For example I'm too scared to put my nest egg into even a low risk mutual fund because I think it's possible for the entire financial system to collapse and have to be rebuilt from scratch. I mean even in the past decade we've had the food shortages, resource scarcity, and the whole market crash, and now a possible health crisis. What happens if we all go broke, and there isn't enough food, and there is a pandemic, and we can't afford fuel for transportation? If these things ever all hit at once we're screwed.

    Fuck that feel-good stuff, let me scare you a bit more:

    Most of the "civilized world" is nine meals away from anarchy.

    Maybe I should bump the SHTF thread so that people can go ZOMG PANDEMIC in there. :P

    PeregrineFalcon on
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    Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
  • SmurphSmurph Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Nerissa wrote: »
    Smurph wrote: »
    I believe our whole society is just a couple catastrophes short of a permanent collapse. For example I'm too scared to put my nest egg into even a low risk mutual fund because I think it's possible for the entire financial system to collapse and have to be rebuilt from scratch. I mean even in the past decade we've had the food shortages, resource scarcity, and the whole market crash, and now a possible health crisis. What happens if we all go broke, and there isn't enough food, and there is a pandemic, and we can't afford fuel for transportation? If these things ever all hit at once we're screwed.

    If there isn't enough food and pandemic hits, your money won't be worth the paper it's printed on anyway. :P If you're seriously worried about this, buy land, learn to garden, and figure out how to make your own gunpowder (or bows & arrows) to protect what you have.

    That would basically be changing my entire lifestyle to cope with my irrational fears. I've always lived in the same suburban environment and I work with computers for a living. I don't know shit about living off the land other than maybe building a fire and pitching a tent. I think if I find myself making sweeping life changes to deal with my least rational beliefs, I am probably fucking crazy.

    Smurph on
  • rfaliasrfalias Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Zombie apocalypse will happen in my lifetime and I'll get to be a heroic leader of a small group of survivors that battles the zombie hordes, survives and starts the human race over again.

    rfalias on
  • NerissaNerissa Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Smurph wrote: »
    Nerissa wrote: »
    Smurph wrote: »
    I believe our whole society is just a couple catastrophes short of a permanent collapse. For example I'm too scared to put my nest egg into even a low risk mutual fund because I think it's possible for the entire financial system to collapse and have to be rebuilt from scratch. I mean even in the past decade we've had the food shortages, resource scarcity, and the whole market crash, and now a possible health crisis. What happens if we all go broke, and there isn't enough food, and there is a pandemic, and we can't afford fuel for transportation? If these things ever all hit at once we're screwed.

    If there isn't enough food and pandemic hits, your money won't be worth the paper it's printed on anyway. :P If you're seriously worried about this, buy land, learn to garden, and figure out how to make your own gunpowder (or bows & arrows) to protect what you have.

    That would basically be changing my entire lifestyle to cope with my irrational fears. I've always lived in the same suburban environment and I work with computers for a living. I don't know shit about living off the land other than maybe building a fire and pitching a tent. I think if I find myself making sweeping life changes to deal with my least rational beliefs, I am probably fucking crazy.

    Sure, but then again... don't worry so much about those mutual funds either. :P Basically, what I'm saying is that if they crash, where your money is will be the least of your worries.

    Nerissa on
  • AJAlkaline40AJAlkaline40 __BANNED USERS regular
    edited April 2009
    I want to echo some sentiments:
    There is no God but the Singularity, and Ray Kurzweil is its prophet.

    There is no such thing as a persistent self.

    The mainstream concept of Free Will is entirely wrong.

    We live in a deterministic universe.

    Also, I have, ironically, an irrational hate of irrationality. It's just, so many times in my life when myself or someone close to me has acted on their emotions to the exclusion of logic it has ended up hurting me, really badly. It's like, it's not wrong to get angry or be in love or be unhappy, but goddammit think about your actions before your preform them. Ask yourself whether everything would really be better if you did that.

    I am constantly reminded that often what I feel and objective reality do not line up, not at all, and often it's incredibly painful. The worst thing, though, is when the people around you don't realize the same about themselves.

    AJAlkaline40 on
    idiot.jpg
  • rfaliasrfalias Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Also, my other absurd belief is that when Francis says "Hey, buncha' guns over here!" he really means there is a buncha' guns, and not just a pistol.



    Prick.

    rfalias on
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