Recent content by Dan_LastName

I agree that Reality is a slippery notion. I also think Truth is a slippery idea. That is why I find it useful to evaluate an idea based on its usefulness instead of evaluating it in terms of whether or not it conforms to Reality. It is an experiment.

I enjoyed this interview a lot, as well. Hoffman has an enjoyable vibe to him; he always seems so passionate and excited and that is infectious. I don't quite grasp every last detail of his ideas--but it all sounds pretty cool. More power to him if over the next decade or two he can resolve the...

Yes, I have been reading quite a bit of Richard Rorty, and he is often labelled as a "neo-pragmatist". At the end of the day, I think the pragmatists, including Rorty in some instances, make the mistake of trying to position their ideas as "absolutist arguments" in competition with other...

I agree with you that the criteria for clarity probably wouldn't be extremely useful for ALL kinds of arts, especiallly as they seem to practiced today. Different arts seem to have developed all sorts of different criteria for evalution, etc. And it's a minor detail, but I just want to mention...

Hi Laird, I am honored that you would ask my opinion about your idea of clear semantic modelling. My first response is that several items from the bulleted lists are reminiscent of principles one may learn when learning to write in school. Specifically I am thinking of learning to write research...

Thanks, Laird. I appreciate your comment and your question here. I think this experiment of mine makes me feel less like I have to know all there is to know. It feels like I can just let the world and my life be whatever the hell they are and it is okay if I don't understand it. I have my ideas...

My interpretation of this piece is that here is a guy who has a deep history with Christianity---he's familiar with the theology and has a huge network of Christian churches, etc. So when he starts to move away from a more status quo belief system, he finds a way to weave his new perspective...

I think it is a great point that the interview or producers had a certain perspective they were aiming for and so the comments themselves should be interpreted through that lens. I think it is interesting, however to extend that type of thinking to ALL situations and contexts. So, in my view...

This is an insight that I appreciate a lot. I think it can be useful to consider beliefs themselves as driven by human needs. If we consider believing to be a behavior, like any other animal behavior, we can posit that it is a behavior that satisfies primal needs. Same with doing scientific...

I appreciate Parnia's measured perspective. I also acknowledge that I have certain perspectives I am experimenting with and trying to cultivate based on my own life experience, the goals I have for myself as a person, my personal psychology (such as it is), the structures of my body and my...

I appreciated this episode very much. For my own reasons, I'm basically sympathetic to much of what the guest had to say. Note, I am not a debunker of NDEs. For my own reasons--my own social reasons and my own psychological/emotional reasons, I prefer strongly agnostic interpretations and...

I appreciate the way Hoffman applies evolution by natural selection to the experience of consciousness. However, if I were in his shoes, I would not be comfortable insisting that this idea helps us know the nature of the universe or ourselves in any sort of absolute sense. If I recall...

I have been thinking lately of how different people with different spiritual worldviews, belief systems, religions, secular worldviews, etc can have "good lives" despite their not all having "correct" interpretations of life, the universe, and everything. For example, much of my family are...

It seems like there's a wide range of ideas around "spiritual beings." For example, it is my understanding that in some Buddhist traditions, different types of supernatural or psi-like experiences are called siddhis. It is acknowledged that they happen, but students are warned against focusing...

Thank you for the reply, Michael. These discussions are of great value to me. My primary goals in these discussions are to explore how the context of my life and the purposes and goals that arise in my life seem to color my judgments. I also want to share these perspectives with other folks out...