Quote from: Pendulate on June 22, 2015, 07:03:32 AM

Moral nihilism is, if I've got this right, a meta-ethical position; that's to say, it rejects moral universals in metaphysics or divine command theory. It doesn't necessarily reject moral realism, and I think the two can happily coexist, actually.

I don't think so. Moral nihilism is, by definition, an anti-realist philosophy in meta-ethics. It doesn't just reject moral universals, it rejects all positive moral claims.

Hmm, wouldn't that take it outside the realm of meta-ethics, then?

I mean, you can reject meta-ethics while still accepting an empirically based moral framework, can't you?

Buzzcuts are like 10 bucks. Just go to the barber's.

Reviews are mixed, will give it a shot though

Well if we're not using human experience as the yardstick, the concept of sentience breaks down pretty quickly for any part other than mere capacity to experience.

We have very little evidence as to how other animals feel and percieve things, though it's quite obvious that they differ depending on species.

All we concretely have to go by is the fact that they can experience.

i mean, i would just call that agency, not sentience

You don't think agency is a vital component of sentience?

If you think an AI needs to think and feel in the same ways as we do in order to be deemed sentient, then no, we probably won't ever have sentient AI.

If it just needs to be able to think for itself, and move beyond its man-made programming, then it's well within the realm of possibility.

Quote from: Pendulate on June 21, 2015, 03:18:38 PM

If sentience in AI were to happen, it would almost certainly be by accident.

we can't give things by accident?

come on

don't be pedantic, you obviously know what i mean

No, I took you to mean that we'd intentionally endow a machine with sentience.

The clues scattered throughout the books are too many. He's coming back, and he'll meet up with Dany and she'll give him his own dragon and they'll beat the whitewalkers. Then they'll kill Ramsay and Jon will stay at Winterfell with his dragon and marry Ygritte (Melisandre brings her back too that's part of the deal) and Dany will go to King's Landing and

The Office UK

Breaking Bad, but the ending was perhaps a little too perfect

Justified, in fact the whole season was perfect after a lackluster s5

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I'd say critical thinking skills are one of the best measurements of intelligence.

Crunching numbers and solving brainteasers are impressive too, but I don't think they're anywhere near as important.

6.173

6.192 after this

I hate that appeal to nature is considered a logical fallacy, it's the same basis as all of the ethical arguments Verb is making. A simple "this is what I believe in"

Sorry, what? There's a huge difference between saying "this is what we should do because it prevents the suffering and exploitation of billions of animals" and "this is what we should do because nature".

And yes, you require protein to function, and I an simply unable to eat all of the nuts and beans I would have to to make up the a diet with no meat.

There are plenty of vegan protein sources. Rice, corn, tofu, tempeh, seeds, leafy greens, even vegan protein powders if you really need them.

The protein excuse is not an excuse at all.

You all seem to think in telling you not to be vegan, when really all I'm saying is that I simply can not be vegan.

No, you are trying to justify your laziness with flimsy excuses. If that seems direct, I'm sorry, but it's the truth.

If you lack the willpower to become vegan*, then simply admit it. But don't make fallacious appeals to nature and present sloppy nutritional information to try and make your reasons more respectable than they are.

* I really cannot fathom how people lack the willpower to go vegan when it is literally the easiest thing you can do if you care at all about living ethically, but okay.

I was taking in plenty of glucose, and all of the other nutrients I needed, but my protein source was insufficient.

So consume more protein. It's incredibly easy to get on a vegan diet.

I need meat, or manmade fake meats to live and function.

I'm sorry, but human physiology and nutritional science say that you don't.

Excuse me for choosing the one that i evolved consuming.

That's a naturalistic fallacy.

I try not to be.

like I said, I had been eating plenty of nuts, and also beans.

Nuts and beans =/= a healthy diet.

It's no wonder you feel light-headed, because nuts are basically pure fat and your brain needs glucose to function properly.