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[BocoDragon]

For a very, very long time I thought several meant exactly seven. I also wondered why there weren't corresponding words for the other numbers.

I believe it did at one point.

Probably most of the confusion over the numeral value (or lack thereof) for terms like 'couple', 'several', is due to them being popularly being misused. It used to mean a specific amount, and now it conventionally doesn't.

Wouldn't be surprised if future generations are utterly confused over any utterance of the word "literally" because it could mean that it did or didn't actually happen.

 

[Zepp Twofist]

just brings me to the bottom of the page..

It's alt+shift+tab to go backwards. Most situations where tab is used to go to the next item can be reversed by holding shift at the same time.

 

[Beaniedude]

It's alt+shift+tab to go backwards. Most situations where tab is used to go to the next item can be reversed by holding shift at the same time.

I just use CTRL+PgUp or CTRL+PgDwn to cycle through tabs.

 

[Langdon Alger]

I think I am losing you because of language. All I am saying is that the idea that there's a ghost in the machine to be bullshit, to be plain about it. We think of ourselves as subjects in addition to thoughts, feelings, and emotions, as if we're an additional carrier of their mere arrival. There's only the arrival, yet we feel we are the driver, puller, and grabber of them in a weird, additional way. This isn't so on a fundamental neuroanatomical level. This type of experience that we are the pullers of levers is mere illusion and confusion.

My point being is there's no "you" there as an agent to thoughts arriving, and I hope explaining it in that manner helps. People assume there is such an agent, which is why people assume free will; after all, there's a "me" doing this. But it is obvious even on an inquisitive level that such views are horseshit. This is what I mean that you don't think thoughts; there's no actual agent that can properly be attributed these qualities, yet we speak and assume there is.

It seems this plain-faced fact is drastically overlooked by most living today, be it from religion or society at large.

You said earlier in this thread that you liked Sam Harris's book Waking Up. But in Waking Up, Harris claims (and he basically gets these ideas from Buddhism) that you shouldn't identify yourself with your thoughts and that consciousness is like a field. He quotes an old (I think Buddhist) idea that consciousness, or the self, is like a mirror and that thoughts are like images being reflected in that mirror. Meaning there is a "you" that is separate from your thoughts. "You" are the mirror and thoughts and feelings are analogous to the images that appear in the mirror. So what you've said above seems to contradict what your boy Harris is saying in Waking Up. Harris seems to be a dualist, in that he doesn't believe that the mind and body are identical. (Although Buddhist explicitly state that there is no "self", so I'm not sure what's going on here.)

 

[peanutbutterlatte]

Only a rule of thumb, but somebody who cheats on you on a long-term basis probably isn't going to clean up their ways.

Like I said, rule of thumb, but assholes are generally assholes.

 

[BocoDragon]

You said earlier in this thread that you liked Sam Harris's book Waking Up. But in Waking Up, Harris claims (and he basically gets these ideas from Buddhism) that you shouldn't identify yourself with your thoughts and that consciousness is like a field. He quotes an old (I think Buddhist) idea that consciousness, or the self, is like a mirror and that thoughts are like images being reflected in that mirror. Meaning there is a "you" that is separate from your thoughts. "You" are the mirror and thoughts and feelings are analogous to the images that appear in the mirror. So what you've said above seems to contradict what your boy Harris is saying in Waking Up. Harris seems to be a dualist, in that he doesn't believe that the mind and body are identical. (Although Buddhist explicitly state that there is no "self", so I'm not sure what's going on here.)

Just this week, Sam Harris gives an explanation on his podcast that the idea of some separate and enduring "self" agent is an illusion. He's very much in line with traditional Buddhism and with Toffy.

I don't think your reading of Harris is accurate. If he ever describes a "you" he is calling it some much diminished ghost of a concept that is essentially refuting the conventional idea of an enduring "self" entity.

I would say this doesn't quite belong here, though. The lack of an enduring self isn't obvious apparently. I personally think it's evident if you look.... but most people don't look. It's not exactly like pickles = cucumbers.

 

[1.21Gigawatts]

Why did the chicken cross the road?
To get to the other side (i.e. the chicken committed suicide).

As if chickens were even capable of suicide... Just look a chicken in the eye!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhMo4WlBmGM

 

[Langdon Alger]

Just this week, Sam Harris gives an explanation on his podcast that the idea of some separate and enduring "self" agent is an illusion. He's very much in line with traditional Buddhism and with Foffy.

I'll have to listen to the podcast. Still, Foffy is saying that there is nothing there but thoughts and thoughts alone. And although Harris may be saying that there is no self agent, the idea that consciousness is a mirror or field still implies that there is something "there" in consciousness that is other than thoughts or feelings themselves.

 

[BocoDragon]

I'll have to listen to the podcast. Still, Foffy is saying that there is nothing there but thoughts and thoughts alone. And although Harris may be saying that there is no self agent, the idea that consciousness is a mirror or field still implies that there is something "there" in consciousness that is other than thoughts or feelings themselves.

It might be a possible theory, but that is diametrically opposed to what Harris and/or Buddhism say.

The theory is that thoughts arise in human minds, but there is no separate agent that is thinking those thoughts. There is no "something" at the centre of ourselves. We are collections of happenings with no nexus at the centre commanding and receiving those happenings.

 

[Anteater]

I didn't know people use that coffee stirring rod as a straw until yesterday

 

[Langdon Alger]

It might be a possible theory, but that is diametrically opposed to what Harris and/or Buddhism say.

The theory is that thoughts arise in human minds, but there is no separate agent that is thinking those thoughts. There is no "something" at the centre of ourselves. We are collections of happenings with no nexus at the centre commanding and receiving those happenings.

I've heard this, and I pretty much agree with it. But it seems like (although my memory is a bit fuzzy on this) I've heard many people who talk about Vipassana meditation talk a lot about mindfullness meditation being all about watching your thoughts. And that this "witnessing awareness", this thing that is watching the thoughts, is true consciousness. And I don't see how this witnessing awareness can be identical to thoughts. Whatever is watching or witnessing the thought has to be separate in some way from the thought.

 

[BocoDragon]

I've heard this, and I pretty much agree with it. But it seems like (although my memory is a bit fuzzy on this) I've heard many people who talk about Vipassana meditation talk a lot about mindfullness meditation being all about watching your thoughts. And that this "witnessing awareness", this thing that is watching the thoughts, is true consciousness. And I don't see how this witnessing awareness can be identical to thoughts. Whatever is watching or witnessing the thought has to be separate in some way from the thought.

The "viewer" is no more of a central core than the thoughts that arise. They're all just separate pieces that happen without voluntary action from any central agent. If you spend enough time meditating and rummaging around in your mind, it becomes silly to call any of them "me".

It's probably just the various processes of the brain giving signals to one another. There is no core function that is any more important than the others. It's just like your computer... there is no reason to say "that piece is the main part of the computer, and all the signals are sent into it". Your computer doesn't have a "self" either. Everything is a distributed collection of pieces.

 

[Irminsul]

Cage free chicken eggs.

I had images in my head of chickens roaming grassy plains.

That's not the case. It's almost as bad as your regular chickens, and supporting the 'cage free' movement is fucked up.

Y'all gotta find someone who raises chickens if you really want cage free eggs.

There are actually three categories of hen-keeping for eggs in Germany (and I guess in other European countries as well).

"Käfighaltung" means "cage-keeping", "Bodenhaltung" (lit. "ground-keeping") is probably what you mean by "cage-free" and then there's "Freilandhaltung", "open-air-keeping", which means that the hens must not only be able to go outside but also have a certain amount of free-roaming area.

Does this third category not exist where you're from?

 

[Randam]

It's alt+shift+tab to go backwards. Most situations where tab is used to go to the next item can be reversed by holding shift at the same time.

that only does what alt+tab always did.

 

[Langdon Alger]

The "viewer" is no more of a central core than the thoughts that arise. They're all just separate pieces that happen without voluntary action from any central agent. If you spend enough time meditating and rummaging around in your mind, it becomes silly to call any of them "me".

It's probably just the various processes of the brain giving signals to one another. There is no core function that is any more important than the others. It's just like your computer... there is no reason to say "that piece is the main part of the computer, and all the signals are sent into it". Your computer doesn't have a "self" either. Everything is a distributed collection of pieces.

And yet my computer is clearly an identifiable whole that is separate from my desk and TV and chair. I don't know, if we agree that there's no supernatural soul, then whether or not there's a self seems like it just becomes about naming or language at some point and not about something as deep as it seems at first glance. It's like that Ship of Theseus thing.

 

[yonder]

I used to think cows just "gave" milk and that if they weren't milked they would explode or something. Didn't know we keep them perpetually pregnant, but of course it makes perfect sense now. It's kinda fucked up, really.

 

[Transhuman]

I used to think cows just "gave" milk and that if they weren't milked they would explode or something. Didn't know we keep them perpetually pregnant, but of course it makes perfect sense now. It's kinda fucked up, really.

What is fucked up about animals who spend their entire lives confined in filth, where they’re periodically raped so that they’re incessantly pregnant so they can produce food from their raw infection-prone nipples?

 

[Kyne]

use a lot of lube.

like.. a lot. especially for first timers.

 

[John Kowalski]

I thought the word "lewd" was just some anime expression and not a real word.

It doesn't sound like a real word.

Eh. Even saying lewd sounds lewd.

 

[Forearm Star]

Always thought Biggie was saying "Everybody hit the D-I-C-K"

Boy did I sound dumb during that one car ride.

 

[Zepp Twofist]

that only does what alt+tab always did.

Weird. Are you pressing shift after the other two buttons or something?

 

[jeremy1456]

There are actually three categories of hen-keeping for eggs in Germany (and I guess in other European countries as well).

"Käfighaltung" means "cage-keeping", "Bodenhaltung" (lit. "ground-keeping") is probably what you mean by "cage-free" and then there's "Freilandhaltung", "open-air-keeping", which means that the hens must not only be able to go outside but also have a certain amount of free-roaming area.

Does this third category not exist where you're from?

Cage free eggs indicate that the hens are not stored in cages. Instead they can be packed together tightly in large areas which generally is as cruel and disgusting as caged hens.

In the United States anyways. Yet, the 'cage free' qualifier seems to make a sucker out of most people.

 

[milanbaros]

Cage free eggs indicate that the hens are not stored in cages. Instead they can be packed together tightly in large areas which generally is as cruel and disgusting as caged hens.

In the United States anyways. Yet, the 'cage free' qualifier seems to make a sucker out of most people.

Yep, same as UK. That is why you have another category for chickens that can roam outside.

 

[Kinokou]

There are actually three categories of hen-keeping for eggs in Germany (and I guess in other European countries as well).

"Käfighaltung" means "cage-keeping", "Bodenhaltung" (lit. "ground-keeping") is probably what you mean by "cage-free" and then there's "Freilandhaltung", "open-air-keeping", which means that the hens must not only be able to go outside but also have a certain amount of free-roaming area.

Does this third category not exist where you're from?

Also worth nothing is that the different categories also regulate how many hens you can have per square meter, at least in Norway:

Cage: ca 11, max 42 per cage
Free range (inside): 9
Biological (inside & outside): 6

Which I wouldn't consider obvious knowledge, but I was really pleasantly surprised to find out that this was part of the regulation as well.

 

[CAAAAAAAAAAAW]

I thought 'Siliconera' was just some random Spanish word for a while.