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InitialsDiceBearhttps://github.com/dicebear/dicebearhttps://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/„Initials” (https://github.com/dicebear/dicebear) by „DiceBear”, licensed under „CC0 1.0” (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)OP
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6 mo. ago

  • There’s a genuine risk that if Iran obtains a nuclear weapon, they might actually use it against Israel - they’ve more or less said as much. From a purely strategic standpoint, it makes more sense to act before they get there than to wait and deal with the consequences after. I think the U.S.’s role here would be to take out the underground facilities using their bunker-buster bombs, which Israel doesn’t have.

  • But I’m not criticizing them for failing to summarize the entire article in the headline. I’m criticizing them for being biased - and for clearly showing that bias in how they chose to write the headline. This isn't neutral reporting on what's happening.

  • Perhaps it’s a bad analogy then, but my point still stands: what most people experience - or rather don’t experience - under general anesthesia is the absence of consciousness. If they’re dreaming, then by definition that’s not what I’m talking about.

    The point is that what people mean by “consciousness” when discussing philosophical concepts like the hard problem of consciousness is different from what a layperson typically means by the term. That is what I argue cannot be an illusion.

  • “Unconsciousness” as a clinical term is different from the absence of consciousness in the philosophical or phenomenological sense.

    A sleeping person may appear unconscious to an outside observer, but from the subjective point of view, they’re not - because dreaming feels like something. A better example of what I mean by unconsciousness is general anesthesia. That doesn’t feel like anything. One moment you’re lying in the operating room counting backwards, and the next you’re in the recovery room. There’s no sense of time passing, no dreams, nothing in between - it’s just a gap.

    Thomas Nagel explains this idea in What Is It Like to Be a Bat? by saying that if bats are conscious, then trading places with one wouldn’t be like the lights going out - it would feel like something to be a bat. But if you switched places with a rock, it likely wouldn’t feel like anything at all. It would be indistinguishable from dying - because there’s no subjectivity, no point of view, no experience happening.

  • Because consciousness is where illusions appear. The unconscious mind can’t experience illusions.

    I’m using Thomas Nagel’s definition of consciousness: the fact of experience - that it feels like something to be from a subjective point of view.

    Even if we’re living in a simulation and literally everything is fake, what remains undeniable is that it feels like something to be simulated. I’d argue that this is the only thing in the entire universe that cannot be an illusion.

  • Permanently Deleted

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  • I'm not that great at keeping backups to be honest.

    When it comes to the device itself, I'd either buy a new one or use one of the old ones untill I can get the replacement parts to fix it.

  • As a bisexual I've never undestood the need to come out as one. I never hide the fact that I'm - I just don't bring it up because it's nobody's business. I see it kind of equivalent of telling people about my fetishes. Coming out as gay is a bit different since it to some extent affects also the people around you. Being bi doesn't unless you're dating someone whose the same sex.

  • There are very few pieces of knowledge that I'd consider a fact. Rather, I tend to see those as the best current knowledge that might turn out to be false in the future. The fact of consciousness is among the only things in the entire universe that I see as absolutely being true. Pretty much anything else can just be an illusion.

  • As much as I hate dealing with their shenanigans, I can’t really blame them either. As long as I can get away with using an adblocker, I will - but honestly, YouTube gives me more value for free than a lot of services I actually pay for. I have no moral argument for why YouTube should let me watch videos for free, even though I like free stuff just as much as the next guy.