| Topic: |
Religions > Bible |
| User: |
"SheBlewHimDidYouBlowHim" |
| Date: |
24 Jun 2007 08:57:47 AM |
| Object: |
RELIGION IS *****, BIG-TIME, MAJOR LEAGUE ***** |
George Carlin certainly has it right on religion.
http://www.rense.com/general69/obj.htm
When it comes to *****, big-time, major league *****, you have to
stand in awe of the all-time champion of false promises and exaggerated
claims, religion. No contest. No contest. Religion. Religion easily has the
greatest ***** story ever told. Think about it. Religion has actually
convinced people that there's an invisible man living in the sky who watches
everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a
special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of
these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning
and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn
and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time!
But He loves you. He loves you, and He needs money! He always needs money!
He's all-powerful, all-perfect, all-knowing, and all-wise, somehow just
can't handle money! Religion takes in billions of dollars, they pay no
taxes, and they always need a little more. Now, you talk about a good
***** story. Holy *****!
But I want you to know something, this is sincere, I want you to know, when
it comes to believing in God, I really tried. I really, really tried. I
tried to believe that there is a God, who created each of us in His own
image and likeness, loves us very much, and keeps a close eye on things. I
really tried to believe that, but I gotta tell you, the longer you live, the
more you look around, the more you realize, something is fucked up.
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth,
poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is
definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I
am not impressed. Results like these do not belong on the résumé of a
Supreme Being. This is the kind of ***** you'd expect from an office temp
with a bad attitude. And just between you and me, in any decently-run
universe, this guy would've been out on his all-powerful ***** a long time
ago. And by the way, I say "this guy", because I firmly believe, looking at
these results, that if there is a God, it has to be a man.
No woman could or would ever ***** things up like this. So, if there is a
God, I think most reasonable people might agree that he's at least
incompetent, and maybe, just maybe, doesn't give a *****. Doesn't give a
*****, which I admire in a person, and which would explain a lot of these bad
results.
So rather than be just another mindless religious robot, mindlessly and
aimlessly and blindly believing that all of this is in the hands of some
spooky incompetent father figure who doesn't give a *****, I decided to look
around for something else to worship. Something I could really count on.
And immediately, I thought of the sun. Happened like that. Overnight I
became a sun-worshipper. Well, not overnight, you can't see the sun at
night. But first thing the next morning, I became a sun-worshipper. Several
reasons. First of all, I can see the sun, okay? Unlike some other gods I
could mention, I can actually see the sun. I'm big on that. If I can see
something, I don't know, it kind of helps the credibility along, you know?
So everyday I can see the sun, as it gives me everything I need; heat,
light, food, flowers in the park, reflections on the lake, an occasional
skin cancer, but hey. At least there are no crucifixions, and we're not
setting people on fire simply because they don't agree with us.
Sun worship is fairly simple. There's no mystery, no miracles, no pageantry,
no one asks for money, there are no songs to learn, and we don't have a
special building where we all gather once a week to compare clothing. And
the best thing about the sun, it never tells me I'm unworthy. Doesn't tell
me I'm a bad person who needs to be saved. Hasn't said an unkind word.
Treats me fine. So, I worship the sun. But, I don't pray to the sun. Know
why? I wouldn't presume on our friendship. It's not polite.
I've often thought people treat God rather rudely, don't you? Asking
trillions and trillions of prayers every day. Asking and pleading and
begging for favors. Do this, gimme that, I need a new car, I want a better
job. And most of this praying takes place on Sunday His day off. It's not
nice. And it's no way to treat a friend.
But people do pray, and they pray for a lot of different things, you know,
your sister needs an operation on her crotch, your brother was arrested for
defecating in a mall. But most of all, you'd really like to ***** that hot
little redhead down at the convenience store. You know, the one with the
eyepatch and the clubfoot? Can you pray for that? I think you'd have to. And
I say, fine. Pray for anything you want. Pray for anything, but what about
the Divine Plan?
Remember that? The Divine Plan. Long time ago, God made a Divine Plan. Gave
it a lot of thought, decided it was a good plan, put it into practice. And
for billions and billions of years, the Divine Plan has been doing just
fine. Now, you come along, and pray for something. Well suppose the thing
you want isn't in God's Divine Plan? What do you want Him to do? Change His
plan? Just for you? Doesn't it seem a little arrogant? It's a Divine Plan.
What's the use of being God if every run-down shmuck with a two-dollar
prayerbook can come along and ***** up Your Plan?
And here's something else, another problem you might have: Suppose your
prayers aren't answered. What do you say? "Well, it's God's will." "Thy Will
Be Done." Fine, but if it's God's will, and He's going to do what He wants
to anyway, why the ***** bother praying in the first place? Seems like a big
waste of time to me! Couldn't you just skip the praying part and go right to
His Will? It's all very confusing.
So to get around a lot of this, I decided to worship the sun. But, as I
said, I don't pray to the sun. You know who I pray to? Joe Pesci. Two
reasons: First of all, I think he's a good actor, okay? To me, that counts.
Second, he looks like a guy who can get things done. Joe Pesci doesn't *****
around. In fact, Joe Pesci came through on a couple of things that God was
having trouble with.
For years I asked God to do something about my noisy neighbor with the
barking dog, Joe Pesci straightened that ***** out with one visit. It's
amazing what you can accomplish with a simple baseball bat.
So I've been praying to Joe for about a year now. And I noticed something. I
noticed that all the prayers I used to offer to God, and all the prayers I
now offer to Joe Pesci, are being answered at about the same 50% rate. Half
the time I get what I want, half the time I don't. Same as God, 50-50. Same
as the four-leaf clover and the horseshoe, the wishing well and the rabbit's
foot, same as the Mojo Man, same as the Voodoo Lady who tells you your
fortune by squeezing the goat's testicles, it's all the same: 50-50. So just
pick your superstition, sit back, make a wish, and enjoy yourself.
And for those of you who look to The Bible for moral lessons and literary
qualities, I might suggest a couple of other stories for you. You might want
to look at the Three Little Pigs, that's a good one. Has a nice happy
ending, I'm sure you'll like that. Then there's Little Red Riding Hood,
although it does have that X-rated part where the Big Bad Wolf actually eats
the grandmother. Which I didn't care for, by the way. And finally, I've
always drawn a great deal of moral comfort from Humpty Dumpty. The part I
like the best? "All the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put
Humpty Dumpty back together again." That's because there is no Humpty
Dumpty, and there is no God. None, not one, no God, never was.
In fact, I'm gonna put it this way. If there is a God, may he strike this
audience dead! See? Nothing happened. Nothing happened? Everybody's okay?
All right, tell you what, I'll raise the stakes a little bit. If there is a
God, may he strike me dead. See? Nothing happened, oh, wait, I've got a
little cramp in my leg. And my balls hurt. Plus, I'm blind. I'm blind, oh,
now I'm okay again, must have been Joe Pesci, huh? God Bless Joe Pesci.
Thank you all very much. Joe Bless You!
.
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| User: "Vinod" |
|
| Title: Re: RELIGION IS *****, BIG-TIME, MAJOR LEAGUE ***** |
24 Jun 2007 09:03:44 AM |
|
|
Look at that dirty language of yours.
Thanks
Vinod
http://vinodisaac.com
"SheBlewHimDidYouBlowHim" <killgod@killgod.com> wrote in message
news:vLufi.472$tj6.128@newsread4.news.pas.earthlink.net...
George Carlin certainly has it right on religion.
http://www.rense.com/general69/obj.htm
When it comes to *****, big-time, major league *****, you have to
stand in awe of the all-time champion of false promises and exaggerated
claims, religion. No contest. No contest. Religion. Religion easily has
the
greatest ***** story ever told. Think about it. Religion has actually
convinced people that there's an invisible man living in the sky who
watches
everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a
special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any
of
these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and
burning
and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and
burn
and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time!
But He loves you. He loves you, and He needs money! He always needs money!
He's all-powerful, all-perfect, all-knowing, and all-wise, somehow just
can't handle money! Religion takes in billions of dollars, they pay no
taxes, and they always need a little more. Now, you talk about a good
***** story. Holy *****!
But I want you to know something, this is sincere, I want you to know,
when
it comes to believing in God, I really tried. I really, really tried. I
tried to believe that there is a God, who created each of us in His own
image and likeness, loves us very much, and keeps a close eye on things. I
really tried to believe that, but I gotta tell you, the longer you live,
the
more you look around, the more you realize, something is fucked up.
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth,
poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is
definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I
am not impressed. Results like these do not belong on the résumé of a
Supreme Being. This is the kind of ***** you'd expect from an office temp
with a bad attitude. And just between you and me, in any decently-run
universe, this guy would've been out on his all-powerful ***** a long time
ago. And by the way, I say "this guy", because I firmly believe, looking
at
these results, that if there is a God, it has to be a man.
No woman could or would ever ***** things up like this. So, if there is a
God, I think most reasonable people might agree that he's at least
incompetent, and maybe, just maybe, doesn't give a *****. Doesn't give a
*****, which I admire in a person, and which would explain a lot of these
bad
results.
So rather than be just another mindless religious robot, mindlessly and
aimlessly and blindly believing that all of this is in the hands of some
spooky incompetent father figure who doesn't give a *****, I decided to
look
around for something else to worship. Something I could really count on.
And immediately, I thought of the sun. Happened like that. Overnight I
became a sun-worshipper. Well, not overnight, you can't see the sun at
night. But first thing the next morning, I became a sun-worshipper.
Several
reasons. First of all, I can see the sun, okay? Unlike some other gods I
could mention, I can actually see the sun. I'm big on that. If I can see
something, I don't know, it kind of helps the credibility along, you know?
So everyday I can see the sun, as it gives me everything I need; heat,
light, food, flowers in the park, reflections on the lake, an occasional
skin cancer, but hey. At least there are no crucifixions, and we're not
setting people on fire simply because they don't agree with us.
Sun worship is fairly simple. There's no mystery, no miracles, no
pageantry,
no one asks for money, there are no songs to learn, and we don't have a
special building where we all gather once a week to compare clothing. And
the best thing about the sun, it never tells me I'm unworthy. Doesn't tell
me I'm a bad person who needs to be saved. Hasn't said an unkind word.
Treats me fine. So, I worship the sun. But, I don't pray to the sun. Know
why? I wouldn't presume on our friendship. It's not polite.
I've often thought people treat God rather rudely, don't you? Asking
trillions and trillions of prayers every day. Asking and pleading and
begging for favors. Do this, gimme that, I need a new car, I want a better
job. And most of this praying takes place on Sunday His day off. It's not
nice. And it's no way to treat a friend.
But people do pray, and they pray for a lot of different things, you know,
your sister needs an operation on her crotch, your brother was arrested
for
defecating in a mall. But most of all, you'd really like to ***** that hot
little redhead down at the convenience store. You know, the one with the
eyepatch and the clubfoot? Can you pray for that? I think you'd have to.
And
I say, fine. Pray for anything you want. Pray for anything, but what about
the Divine Plan?
Remember that? The Divine Plan. Long time ago, God made a Divine Plan.
Gave
it a lot of thought, decided it was a good plan, put it into practice. And
for billions and billions of years, the Divine Plan has been doing just
fine. Now, you come along, and pray for something. Well suppose the thing
you want isn't in God's Divine Plan? What do you want Him to do? Change
His
plan? Just for you? Doesn't it seem a little arrogant? It's a Divine Plan.
What's the use of being God if every run-down shmuck with a two-dollar
prayerbook can come along and ***** up Your Plan?
And here's something else, another problem you might have: Suppose your
prayers aren't answered. What do you say? "Well, it's God's will." "Thy
Will
Be Done." Fine, but if it's God's will, and He's going to do what He wants
to anyway, why the ***** bother praying in the first place? Seems like a
big
waste of time to me! Couldn't you just skip the praying part and go right
to
His Will? It's all very confusing.
So to get around a lot of this, I decided to worship the sun. But, as I
said, I don't pray to the sun. You know who I pray to? Joe Pesci. Two
reasons: First of all, I think he's a good actor, okay? To me, that
counts.
Second, he looks like a guy who can get things done. Joe Pesci doesn't
*****
around. In fact, Joe Pesci came through on a couple of things that God was
having trouble with.
For years I asked God to do something about my noisy neighbor with the
barking dog, Joe Pesci straightened that ***** out with one visit.
It's
amazing what you can accomplish with a simple baseball bat.
So I've been praying to Joe for about a year now. And I noticed something.
I
noticed that all the prayers I used to offer to God, and all the prayers I
now offer to Joe Pesci, are being answered at about the same 50% rate.
Half
the time I get what I want, half the time I don't. Same as God, 50-50.
Same
as the four-leaf clover and the horseshoe, the wishing well and the
rabbit's
foot, same as the Mojo Man, same as the Voodoo Lady who tells you your
fortune by squeezing the goat's testicles, it's all the same: 50-50. So
just
pick your superstition, sit back, make a wish, and enjoy yourself.
And for those of you who look to The Bible for moral lessons and literary
qualities, I might suggest a couple of other stories for you. You might
want
to look at the Three Little Pigs, that's a good one. Has a nice happy
ending, I'm sure you'll like that. Then there's Little Red Riding Hood,
although it does have that X-rated part where the Big Bad Wolf actually
eats
the grandmother. Which I didn't care for, by the way. And finally, I've
always drawn a great deal of moral comfort from Humpty Dumpty. The part I
like the best? "All the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put
Humpty Dumpty back together again." That's because there is no Humpty
Dumpty, and there is no God. None, not one, no God, never was.
In fact, I'm gonna put it this way. If there is a God, may he strike this
audience dead! See? Nothing happened. Nothing happened? Everybody's okay?
All right, tell you what, I'll raise the stakes a little bit. If there is
a
God, may he strike me dead. See? Nothing happened, oh, wait, I've got a
little cramp in my leg. And my balls hurt. Plus, I'm blind. I'm blind, oh,
now I'm okay again, must have been Joe Pesci, huh? God Bless Joe Pesci.
Thank you all very much. Joe Bless You!
.
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| User: "Christopher A.Lee" |
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| Title: Re: RELIGION IS *****, BIG-TIME, MAJOR LEAGUE ***** |
24 Jun 2007 09:06:21 AM |
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|
On Sun, 24 Jun 2007 09:03:44 -0500, "Vinod" <Vinod@jasminecorp.net>
wrote:
Look at that dirty language of yours.
Look at your in-our-face mindless stupidity followed up by personal
slanders.
Don't be such a whining hypocrite.
Keep your ***** to yourself and it won't get treated as *****.
.
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| User: "Mark K. Bilbo" |
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| Title: Re: RELIGION IS *****, BIG-TIME, MAJOR LEAGUE ***** |
28 Jun 2007 04:01:44 PM |
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On Sun, 24 Jun 2007 09:03:44 -0500, Vinod wrote:
Look at that dirty language of yours.
Oh sure, saying things like "*****" are sure worse than torturing
people forever...
--
Mark K. Bilbo a.a. #1423
EAC Department of Linguistic Subversion
------------------------------------------------------------
"Warned you we tried! Listen you did not! Now screwed
we will all be!"
http://www.sequentialpictures.com/moviestarwarsepisode3.html
.
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| User: "Al Klein" |
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| Title: Re: RELIGION IS *****, BIG-TIME, MAJOR LEAGUE ***** |
28 Jun 2007 08:48:27 PM |
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On Thu, 28 Jun 2007 16:01:44 -0500, "Mark K. Bilbo"
<gmail@com.mkbilbo> wrote:
On Sun, 24 Jun 2007 09:03:44 -0500, Vinod wrote:
Look at that dirty language of yours.
Oh sure, saying things like "*****" are sure worse than torturing
people forever...
The Bible doesn't say there's anything wrong with "*****", only
Christians - who seldom even read, let alone follow, the Bible - do.
.
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| User: "Mark K. Bilbo" |
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| Title: Re: RELIGION IS *****, BIG-TIME, MAJOR LEAGUE ***** |
29 Jun 2007 07:56:39 AM |
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On Thu, 28 Jun 2007 21:48:27 -0400, Al Klein wrote:
On Thu, 28 Jun 2007 16:01:44 -0500, "Mark K. Bilbo" <gmail@com.mkbilbo>
wrote:
On Sun, 24 Jun 2007 09:03:44 -0500, Vinod wrote:
Look at that dirty language of yours.
Oh sure, saying things like "*****" are sure worse than torturing
people forever...
The Bible doesn't say there's anything wrong with "*****", only
Christians - who seldom even read, let alone follow, the Bible - do.
Nah, the bible just talks about donkey dicks and horse semen...
--
Mark K. Bilbo a.a. #1423
EAC Department of Linguistic Subversion
------------------------------------------------------------
"You believe in a book that has talking animals, wizards,
witches, demons, sticks turning into snakes, food falling
from the sky, people walking on water, and all sorts of magical,
absurd and primitive stories, and you say that *we* are the
ones that need help?" - Jon Stoll
.
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| User: "Al Klein" |
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| Title: Re: RELIGION IS *****, BIG-TIME, MAJOR LEAGUE ***** |
29 Jun 2007 09:18:55 PM |
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On Fri, 29 Jun 2007 07:56:39 -0500, "Mark K. Bilbo"
<gmail@com.mkbilbo> wrote:
On Thu, 28 Jun 2007 21:48:27 -0400, Al Klein wrote:
On Thu, 28 Jun 2007 16:01:44 -0500, "Mark K. Bilbo" <gmail@com.mkbilbo>
wrote:
On Sun, 24 Jun 2007 09:03:44 -0500, Vinod wrote:
Look at that dirty language of yours.
Oh sure, saying things like "*****" are sure worse than torturing
people forever...
The Bible doesn't say there's anything wrong with "*****", only
Christians - who seldom even read, let alone follow, the Bible - do.
Nah, the bible just talks about donkey dicks and horse semen...
And scatological feasts - let' snot forget that Blob&Carlos gets his
ideas from the Bible.
.
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| User: "Mark K. Bilbo" |
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| Title: Re: RELIGION IS *****, BIG-TIME, MAJOR LEAGUE ***** |
30 Jun 2007 02:08:50 PM |
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On Fri, 29 Jun 2007 22:18:55 -0400, Al Klein wrote:
On Fri, 29 Jun 2007 07:56:39 -0500, "Mark K. Bilbo" <gmail@com.mkbilbo>
wrote:
On Thu, 28 Jun 2007 21:48:27 -0400, Al Klein wrote:
On Thu, 28 Jun 2007 16:01:44 -0500, "Mark K. Bilbo"
<gmail@com.mkbilbo> wrote:
On Sun, 24 Jun 2007 09:03:44 -0500, Vinod wrote:
Look at that dirty language of yours.
Oh sure, saying things like "*****" are sure worse than torturing
people forever...
The Bible doesn't say there's anything wrong with "*****", only
Christians - who seldom even read, let alone follow, the Bible - do.
Nah, the bible just talks about donkey dicks and horse semen...
And scatological feasts - let' snot forget that Blob&Carlos gets his
ideas from the Bible.
Yech. Scat. What the *hell was wrong with the people who wrote those
books anyway?
--
Mark K. Bilbo a.a. #1423
EAC Department of Linguistic Subversion
------------------------------------------------------------
"Warned you we tried! Listen you did not! Now screwed
we will all be!"
http://www.sequentialpictures.com/moviestarwarsepisode3.html
.
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| User: "James Norris" |
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| Title: Design for a Conscious Mechanoid |
30 Jun 2007 08:49:23 AM |
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On Jun 30, 3:18?am, Al Klein <ruk...@pern.invalid> wrote:
On Fri, 29 Jun 2007 07:56:39 -0500, "Mark K. Bilbo"
<g...@com.mkbilbo> wrote:
On Thu, 28 Jun 2007 21:48:27 -0400, Al Klein wrote:
On Thu, 28 Jun 2007 16:01:44 -0500, "Mark K. Bilbo" <g...@com.mkbilbo>
wrote:
On Sun, 24 Jun 2007 09:03:44 -0500, Vinod wrote:
Look at that dirty language of yours.
Oh sure, saying things like "*****" are sure worse than torturing
people forever...
The Bible doesn't say there's anything wrong with "*****", only
Christians - who seldom even read, let alone follow, the Bible - do.
Nah, the bible just talks about donkey dicks and horse semen...
And scatological feasts - let' snot forget that Blob&Carlos gets his
ideas from the Bible.- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -
On Jun 30, 4:26 am, James Norris <JimNorri...@aol.com> wrote:
On Jun 30, 3:25?am, someone2 <glenn.spig...@btinternet.com> wrote:
On Jun 30, 1:55 am, James Norris <JimNorri...@aol.com> wrote:
Design for a Conscious Mechanoid
[Just to deter the predictable 'define what you mean by conscious'
posting: 'Conscious' means 'aware of reality' - a human being is
conscious, but a piece of paper is not conscious. If there is still a
problem with understanding the word 'conscious', try using a
dictionary.]
Start off with millions of identical ordinary (non-conscious) robots.
Each robot is pre-programmed to collect things from the environment at
random (twigs, elastic bands, teacups, wheels, orange peel etc), and
incorporate them into itself, gradually replacing all its original
component parts as it does so. Now let the robots free to interact
with the environment, and watch what happens.
Most of the robots would cease to function quite rapidly, of course.
They might replace one of their vital components (the computer
program, for example), with a piece of orange peel and immediately
stop working permanently. Some might continue to function for quite a
while, making meaningless minor alterations to their original
structure, without affecting their basic operation as a programmed
mechanical device, which we knew to be non-conscious. We can ignore
robots which have replaced themselves with biological material which
was already conscious, because that is obviously not what we are
interested in.
The robots we are interested in are those which manage to replace all
their constituent components, including their original computer
hardware and software, but are still functioning. They, like
ourselves, have been created out of material from the environment, so
they might be conscious, as we are.
A certain amount of complexity is required for consciousness, and this
could be provided, for example, by using the twigs to twang the
elastic bands - the vibrational properties of the elastic bands could
easily carry any complexity necessary for the occurrence of thought.
For that to happen by chance is extremely unlikely of course, as is
the likelihood of millions of monkeys randomly operating typewriters
producing the occasional Shakespeare sonnet by chance, but if you left
them long enough, they would eventually do it!
Consciousness is a subjective experience, so there is no way of
determining whether or not anything or anybody is conscious. In the
design above, the construction allows the possibility that
consciousness might occur in a device which was originally non-
conscious. The random self-modifying behaviour may have led to a
wheeled mechanism made out of orange peel, teacups and elastic bands
held together with bits of wood, with its understanding of reality
contained in the vibrational processes occurring in the twig-twanged
elastic bands, which wanders around in the natural environment
apparently decorating itself with the bits of garbage it picks up.
Perhaps the device has improved on its original design and is now
conscious? At any rate, it certainly wouldn't be less conscious than
it was to begin with.
James Norris
I read your thread. Was it a satirical portrayal of atheist
"reasoning"?
No, it was a design for a conscious entity, neither biological nor
computer-based.
I especially liked the bit:
"A certain amount of complexity is required for consciousness, and
this could be provided, for example, by using the twigs to twang the
elastic bands - the vibrational properties of the elastic bands could
easily carry any complexity necessary for the occurrence of thought."
You could imagine atheists setting themselves up as authorities on
which tunes played on a guitar gave rise to consciousness, and whether
one string, or all the strings, or the whole guitar had the
experiences. They could debate on to what extent they could
anthropomorphise the conscious experience a certain song gave.
The notion of vibrations carrying information was an example of how
the necessary complexity for 'thoughts' might arise in the mechanism.
I understand from your earlier postings that you believe that human
beings have a non-physical 'soul', so I'm not sure why you think my
suggestion is so laughable.
Though the part where you said, "consciousness is a subjective
experience, so there is no way of determining whether or not anything
or anybody is conscious", did illustrate that from an atheist
perspective there would be no experimental difference expected whether
something was or wasn't consciously experiencing, which is something a
few of them here are having problems coming to terms with.
I don't know why you pick on atheists in particular as having a
problem with the unverifiability of subjective experiences, but
anyway, perhaps many of us do - I personally don't.
Still, very amusing, assuming of course you weren't being serious, and
an absolute nutter.
An absolute nutter in your opinion might be someone who believed that
they had four souls, rather than just the one, I suppose.
The Design for a Conscious Mechanoid is quite serious - a hypothetical
example of how a constructed 'mechanical' (ie non-biological) being
might be conscious. I'm not suggesting that it would ever work in
reality, any more than that a million monkeys typing on a million
typewriters for a million years to produce the works of Shakespeare
would ever work in reality. The example draws attention to the
salient aspects of an interesting question. I'm glad you found it
amusing though. I always try to make my postings interesting and
memorable, and humour is a well-known didactic tool.
The problem with no experimental difference expected whether something
was or wasn't consciously experiencing, is that it means whether it
was or wasn't, couldn't be thought to influence behaviour. If that was
the case, it would have to be a coincidence that our behaviour
expressed the conscious experiences we actually have (it couldn't have
been influenced by their existance).
You are trying to discuss consciousness using behavioural concepts.
The behavioural understanding of the psyche has little to say about
consciousness - the brain reacts to external stimuli and produces
behaviour in the organism, which is studied to give an understanding
of the workings of the brain. Cognitive models of consciousness,
which you should look into as they might help you express your
argument, are inside-out compared to the behavioural viewpoint. The
'mind' (which is believed to exist because of processes occurring in
the brain) is considered as an Ego, with Superego, Id and various
other paraphernalia, and these all contribute to goal-directed
behaviour caused by subjective 'needs' which the conscious being tries
to satisfy.
Anyway, interesting post. So have you any thoughts on which tunes
played on a guitar might be give rise to, the string(s) or the guitar
thinking? Any thoughts on what those thoughts might be? I ask you, as
I guess you would be the closest thing to a world authority on the
concept, or have you got competition?
No, you haven't really grasped the point about the vibrations in the
example. I was just pointing out that a certain amount of complexity
is required for consciousness, so complexity is needed somewhere in
the mechanoid. Vibrating systems can contain information of arbitrary
complexity - they don't have to be made out of physical elastic
bands. Vibrations occur in strings in general, these could be the
theoretical strings of string-theory, or hair-like cilia made from
millions of tiny pinheads all oscillating in a plasma field, if you
think elastic bands are too primitive a device to be worth
considering. Some people think that Mobius strips are weirdly clever
- perhaps if millions of elastic bands were Mobius strips interacting
in a complex 3-d lattice, with carefully placed twigs and twiglets to
provide the necessary resonance and feedback effects, it would be
rather more likely to have the necessary complexity for conscious
awareness of reality, than using just the one guitar string that you
suggest?
Discuss.
Jim
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