tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-775318177583314135.post8626186703146059299..comments2023-09-25T11:18:26.654-04:00Comments on Doug's Dribblings: Talking About Magic!Doug Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18027574195522869708noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-775318177583314135.post-10287475641943978662014-10-15T04:23:51.381-04:002014-10-15T04:23:51.381-04:00It matters, I do believe, whether or not we are co...It matters, I do believe, whether or not we are cosmic accidents. Doug Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18027574195522869708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-775318177583314135.post-45693536766421705002014-10-15T02:25:24.746-04:002014-10-15T02:25:24.746-04:00I remember when I used to do environmental work, a...I remember when I used to do environmental work, a fish ecologist told me a story (maybe true, maybe apocryphal) which I only half remember now, but was something like this. A research team concluded that only fish larger than 5 cm survived in a lake - until someone remembered that their net had a 5 cm mesh.<br /><br />This guy seems to me to be the same. He's defined his reality as what can be established by science and then concluded that reality doesn't include consciousness. He might be right, but he can't really prove it until he establishes methods to demonstrate the unreality of that which he dismisses, rather than methods which cannot measure consciousness.<br /><br />CS Lewis commented that we know all the universe from the position of an observer - except ourselves, which we know from the inside. Science is good for observers but not for insiders.<br /><br />The scary thing is, it already seems we value human being less - humans can be collateral damage, customers, population, robots made of meat, just another animal (he says "twigs on the tree of evolution"), etc, so Peter Singer and others can believe that it might be OK to kill newborn babies under certain circumstances. If "we" are just illusions, how can it be any different to kill me than to kill a sheep?unkleEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12207729664951716799noreply@blogger.com