30 Dec 2014, 6:15 pm
30 Dec 2014, 6:27 pm
eric76 wrote:
tomato wrote:
I didn't know speculation had to be rational.
When you speculate about something, you are trying to come up with a possible explanation for it without having much, if any, evidence. If the so-called "explanation" is not possible, then it cannot be considered to be speculation.
It is not possible for the moon to be made of cheese and therefore any claims that it is made of cheese are not speculation.
Speculation: My pupil is a black hole
Reason for speculation: something a Taoist told me once after he'd returned from a trip to China.
Evidence: something involving maths so not within my grasp
A shrink told me I was too clever for my own good.
Still not sure wether that was an insult or a compliment...
As you were
30 Dec 2014, 6:34 pm
btbnnyr
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Joined: 18 May 2011
Gender: Female
Posts: 7,359
Location: Lost Angleles Carmen Santiago
30 Dec 2014, 6:41 pm
30 Dec 2014, 6:44 pm
guzzle wrote:
eric76 wrote:
tomato wrote:
I didn't know speculation had to be rational.
When you speculate about something, you are trying to come up with a possible explanation for it without having much, if any, evidence. If the so-called "explanation" is not possible, then it cannot be considered to be speculation.
It is not possible for the moon to be made of cheese and therefore any claims that it is made of cheese are not speculation.
Speculation: My pupil is a black hole
Reason for speculation: something a Taoist told me once after he'd returned from a trip to China.
Evidence: something involving maths so not within my grasp
A shrink told me I was too clever for my own good.
Still not sure wether that was an insult or a compliment...
As you were
Oh, come on. You're much more intelligent than that.
Sweetleaf
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Age: 36
Gender: Female
Posts: 35,278
Location: Somewhere in Colorado
30 Dec 2014, 6:51 pm
30 Dec 2014, 7:06 pm
aghogday wrote:
What is normal for one person is often Bizarre for the next, particularly when the brain
is not fully used, as such.
is not fully used, as such.
Not sure if you're referring to the old idea that we only use 10% of our brain (or some similarly small amount), but apparently that was a myth started by psychologists in the early 20thC. According to neurologists and others, we fully use our brains. Of course, there is always the argument that some people don't use enough of their brains.
30 Dec 2014, 7:08 pm
btbnnyr wrote:
Narrator wrote:
Were I a scientist, I would enjoy two things.
The first thing would be piecing together the jigsaw of a problem. And just like a jigsaw, each piece would be a pleasure to find. Once the jigsaw was finished, it would be nice to see the whole picture, but putting it together was where the pleasure was.
The second thing I would enjoy would be the almost meditative part of sweeping away the dust. Like when archeologists spend hours brushing away the sand or dirt to expose an artifact.
The first thing would be piecing together the jigsaw of a problem. And just like a jigsaw, each piece would be a pleasure to find. Once the jigsaw was finished, it would be nice to see the whole picture, but putting it together was where the pleasure was.
The second thing I would enjoy would be the almost meditative part of sweeping away the dust. Like when archeologists spend hours brushing away the sand or dirt to expose an artifact.
I wish these things did happen in science, but what really happens is that you never finish the jigsaw and don't know what it looks like or how many pieces there are, while knowing that you might be making up a jigsaw that has nothing to do with reality, and there is no sweeping away the dust to see an artifact, it is more like each problem solved leads to the next giant bolus of questions, and you feel a drive to go to those, still uncertain about eberrything, and you eventually go insane, but you enjoy yourself doing these things.
I could do that, and enjoy the insanity too.
(The Nutty Professor had to have been inspired by someone.)
30 Dec 2014, 7:43 pm
tomato wrote:
What I like to do is post my most offensive hypotheses and yet humbly consider other people's ideas.
The engine room of thought progression is often fueled by challenging notions.
tomato wrote:
What I saw a lot of was quite emotional responses.
Which is typical of these sorts of discussions. Nothing wrong with that. Passion is a good thing, regardless of its vector.
tomato wrote:
I totally agree with the poster that said that a lot of times people who say others are closed-minded are the most closed-minded themselves.
I see that all the time in these sorts of discussions. It also reminds me of my own closed-mindedness. Some people preach. Some people listen and ask questions. Some people do a bit of both. Typical human stuff.
tomato wrote:
One hypothesis I have is that a lot of people have a fear of looking too deeply at certain things, because they have a subconscious fear that they might fall into the quagmire of psychosis and rejection if they do. They have all kinds of psychological defense mechanisms to protect themselves and their world view.
We all do that to some degree. My wife gets very frustrated with me because I often can't decide on something, because I can see validity in all the alternatives - what to have for dinner, whether to buy a new lawn mower or have the old one fixed, who is right in an argument etc. It can make me quite dysfunctional. Which is a long way of saying, sometimes we won't look deeply into things because we will get stuck in the quagmire and get nothing done or be scorned for not making a choice or the wrong choice or, as you say, because it may threaten our world view.
tomato wrote:
Another hypothesis I have that is related to that is that a lot of people have a lot to lose. And the fear of losing that is what creates a need for some form of belief system, that their minds will protect at all costs. Anything that threatens it is attacked. Career, reputation, wife, children, friends, stable income, a roof over your head, it could be anything.
Yep.. we protect the things we invest in. And the longer and/or more deeply we invest, the greater our internal barrier to change. We do this in both active and passive ways: We can either be demonstrable in that protection, or we can passively hole-up in our comfort zone.
tomato wrote:
When discussing politics, philosophy, religion and similar things I like to be frank even with my most offensive ideas, because I find that beating around the bush in order to be nice just makes for a less efficient or interesting...
Glad to hear. You're better at that than I am. But each to their own way.
tomato wrote:
It's all just speculation, like the moon is made out of cheese kind of speculation.
Irrational speculation sometimes produces creatively good answers. Brainstorming has been known to do that.
30 Dec 2014, 7:45 pm
30 Dec 2014, 8:09 pm
30 Dec 2014, 8:41 pm
30 Dec 2014, 8:52 pm
30 Dec 2014, 8:54 pm
30 Dec 2014, 9:05 pm
30 Dec 2014, 9:08 pm
