The Earth stands on the brink of its sixth mass extinction and the fault is ours

[paulgiamatti]

Originally Posted by Glenzig [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

You can't boil life down to questions of how.

Couldn't possibly disagree more. Steven Pinker often points out that it's entirely possible to distill our appreciation of aesthetics down to mechanical functions of the brain. Music, for example, has only become appealing to us because certain combinations of notes and chords have been socially accepted throughout our history, and our brains have evolved and adapted accordingly.

Reducing the question of "why" to "how" is the true mark of intellectual honesty, because it doesn't carry along with it the unnecessary baggage of purpose or intent. It remains agnostic, as all good science should.

[Tradesonred]

Snog - The human germ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=27&v=5hhsrGlt_u8

[Glenzig]

Originally Posted by paulgiamatti [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Couldn't possibly disagree more. Steven Pinker often points out that it's entirely possible to distill our appreciation of aesthetics down to mechanical functions of the brain. Music, for example, has only become appealing to us because certain combinations of notes and chords have been socially accepted throughout our history, and our brains have evolved and adapted accordingly.

Reducing the question of "why" to "how" is the true mark of intellectual honesty, because it doesn't carry along with it the unnecessary baggage of purpose or intent. It remains agnostic, as all good science should.

Not all questions are within the pervue of science.

[paulgiamatti]

And therein lies our disagreement.

Speaking of Krauss, though, I just stumbled on this video of him talking to The Weekly about some semi-related topics, which I think is a great precursor to a fantastic article by Tim Urban about the impending rise of artificial superintelligence.

[Tradesonred]

Im agnostic in the sense that i keep a small pocket of possibility for things like the universe being one of those snowflake toys some unimaginably complex creature created for the amusement of his offsprings.

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[Glenzig]

Originally Posted by paulgiamatti [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

And therein lies our disagreement.

Speaking of Krauss, though, I just stumbled on this video of him talking to The Weekly about some semi-related topics, which I think is a great precursor to a fantastic article by Tim Urban about the impending rise of artificial superintelligence.

So you feel that every aspect of life is demonstrably explainable by science?

[Pringles]

Originally Posted by Tradesonred [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Im agnostic in the sense that i keep a small pocket of possibility for things like the universe being one of those snowflake toys some unimaginably complex creature created for the amusement of his offsprings.

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[paulgiamatti]

Originally Posted by Glenzig [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

So you feel that every aspect of life is demonstrably explainable by science?

No, but I suspect that everything about the cosmos, including consciousness, ultimately can be explained by science, because science is simply the process of extracting data from the observable universe.

Whether or not we'll be around as a species long enough for science to explain everything, however, is another conversation.

[Tradesonred]

Originally Posted by paulgiamatti [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

No, but I suspect that everything about the cosmos, including consciousness, ultimately can be explained by science, because science is simply the process of extracting data from the observable universe.

Whether or not we'll be around as a species long enough for science to explain everything, however, is another conversation.

Thats basically what i beleive in.

What happens when you die? The same thing that was before you were born. Non-existence. Consciousness is the electrical storm permanently firing up in our brains.

[Glenzig]

Originally Posted by paulgiamatti [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

No, but I suspect that everything about the cosmos, including consciousness, ultimately can be explained by science, because science is simply the process of extracting data from the observable universe.

Whether or not we'll be around as a species long enough for science to explain everything, however, is another conversation.

So you have faith in science.