Month: April 2012

  • Some speculation on the Simulation Argument

    If you haven’t read Nick Bostrom’s simulation argument, read it first. I’ll wait. Done? Now, for some unfounded speculation: 1) How would you trick the scientists? Nick proposes two ways to fake the environmental details of the simulation: 1) calculate the details on-demand and 2) mess with the agent’s minds to hide glitches. To me,…

  • expression versus communication

    It is far easier to express oneself than to communicate. You can express yourself to a rock just as well as to a human being. But to communicate, you must understand how your words will be processed by another mind. You must estimate their level of knowledge, their potential for misunderstanding, their emotional response to…

  • chance

    There is no such thing as “chance” or “randomness” in nature. Chance is just what we say when we don’t know why. There is only causality.

  • The double standard of creationism

    Let’s consider the double standard posed by Creationists. They insist that we must see something directly for it to exist. Since we did not see the origin of the universe (actually we can still see it today, but never mind that), the formation of the earth, or of life, they insist that we cannot know…