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[opinion]

Animals have rights, especially the right to be tasty.

[/opinion]

There is no real need for fur farming in the contemporary world.
The synthetic substitutes are warmer, and are much lower-maintainence.
And some artificial fur is better-looking than real fur.

Sylkat

Will Ferrell IS acting........

Too many to post, but the most problematic in my day-to-day social interactions is:

There is no such thing as free will.

a) Ronald Reagan was by far the WORST U.S. President in history (actually, no, that's not an opinion, it is a fact).
b) Aliens, apart from microbes, do not exist anywhere in the universe. Intelligence is found only on Earth.
c) Multiculturalism simply does not work - never has, never will. It was a major contributing factor in the collapse of the USSR and Yugoslavia (see 'd' below).
d) The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was, overall, a force for good, and it's disappearance was the greatest calamity to befall civilisation since the fall of Rome.
e) We have nothing to fear from the modernisation of the armed forces of the PRC.
f) The 'War on Terror' is merely a distraction designed to keep everyone from asking the really important questions that should be asked. It is also designed to keep people in fear, and when people are fearful they are easily manipulated.
g) 'Star Trek' is bad science-fiction, and 'The Big Bang Theory' is insulting to those with Asperger's.
h) The 'reimagined' 'Battlestar Galactica' (a.k.a. Galactica In Name Only) is the absolute WORST remake of a classic TV show EVER! Everyone associated with it should be consigned to the lowest depths of Hell for all eternity, and every last copy of this show on the face of the Earth should be destroyed post haste! (...and then promptly erased from everyone's memory and time itself).
i) 'Global Warming' caused by the release of industrial CO2 is a myth. Yes, 'climate change' is real, because everything within nature does change over time; who could believe otherwise?

If there is no free will, then what was it that compelled you to write 'There is no such thing as free will'? Was this action pre-determined at some point in the distant past, or did you willingly (i.e. using your free will) decide to do so?

Actually, that is an opinion.

Also, I don't believe in 100% free will.

you forget the most obvious and one for which we know some of the mechanisms,

the action happened because certain action potentials in the subjects neurons went above or below certain thresholds.

this is influenced by everything from state of mind over specific situations to specific singular triggers.

in reality no one knows to what extent human actions are "free", what we do know is that there are factors that influence choices on a broad spectrum regardless of any will the subject may have.

this in turn means that 100% free will is as good as impossible, 80% or lower is my personal opinion of what is feasible, that however is merely guess work.(giving it a percentage is pure rhetorical bs as well, how it should relate to free will is beyond me)

Linear is right, accurate, and correct.

Except for 'd' and 'i'.

Sylkat

Last edited by Sylkat on 23 Nov 2012, 11:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I'm against the Monarchy and want it to be abolished.

I dislike Apple.

I dislike cheesecake.

I do not like canned spinach.

Or Sarah Palin.


Sylkat

1) Evidently, saying Israel is just as guilty as Palestine makes me a "bad American" who supports terrorism.
2) Finding greasy food repulsive means there must be something wrong with me. Bacon and sloppy, well-oiled cheeseburgers just are not appealing to me (or my guts).
3) Listening to industrial music means I must be low-class, since any intelligent, upper middle-class, respectable human would know that only classical music and opera is acceptible.
4) Not being into the whole Anime scene means I am some culturally myopic old fart.
5) Hunting makes me a barbarian (at least I get a decent Hit Die).
6) Not buying into the whole Illuminati/Satanic legion/Jews own and control everything makes me somehow a filthy unbeliever and in league with Shaytaan.
7) Not believing what people say makes me rude. These are the same people who claim something must be true because they heard it on the TV or read it online.
8) Not having an interest in the Holidays makes me a "Scrooge." Bah-Humbug!
9) I am somehow a right-wing nut-job when I say that there are actually people who game the welfare system and yet a commie when I criticize America's role in foreign and domestic policy. I believe people will say the same thing if I bring up the racist comments Mitt Romney made in regards to President Obama's alleged contributions to minority organizations.
10) I don't like chocolate/coffee/tea (I'm allergic to caffeine, which is present in all three, but still, from what I remember as a kid, the taste and smell are beyond disgusting).

Yes, I agree that there are 'factors that influence choices', but this is an entirely different claim to the one you actually made here. Free will, in order for it to exist, need not be '100%' (ex. one cannot fly by simply flapping one's arms - gravity prevents this). However, when a person is confronted with a situation that requires that person to select from two options only (for example, they are in their car at a T-intersection), the decision to turn left or right will not necessarily be open to prediction (example: by turning left they may reach their destination sooner, but they may decide to - just this once - turn right because they have plenty of time to spare and they like the scenery). An impartial observer will have a 50 percent chance of guessing correctly (left or right), but the choice the driver makes cannot truly be said to be 'determined' to any real extent.

This is why I cannot accept the notion of the non-existence of free will. We are not automatons or billiard balls.

Okay, yes you are right, it was just my opinion, but as I was typing I just suddenly had the impulse to add what I put in brackets. It must have been my lack of free will that compelled me to write it.

I also don't believe in 100 percent free will, but, seriously, does this mean that therefore the idea itself is flawed or false? Do we really have to believe that for any given phenomenon to be considered to be real it has to be 100 percent foolproof, without error, and guaranteed for all time and in all conceivable situations? To my knowledge, this idea that it does not exist is not a law of nature (like gravitation).

Okay, 'd' was an exaggeration, but it is my opinion that prior to 1991 the world was far more stable and predictable, and therefore safer, than it is now. The United States and the Soviet Union in many respects provided 'balance' to the international political system that has been lacking ever since. A single nation having a disproportionate influence in global affairs is never good for anyone, especially when the government of that nation believes that because they have the ability to push others around that therefore they have an obligation to do so.

I respect your viewpoint, but 'human rights' in Communist Russia did not exist and the people were denied even the solace of religion...just my opinion.

The unrest caused by 'radical' Muslims is simply the boiling over of a pot that has been simmering for years.

The same as the 'Black Rage' in America in the 1960's...it was not born with Rosa Parks or Dr. King....it simmered for 200 years and those who were comfortable with an inhumane status quo were appalled that anyone would demand equality.

Sylkat