But if we started dating...

We're so perfect as friends, you know? I can tell you anything, and you know you can always come to me anytime you need to hear me bitch about work or how ugly I feel. You wouldn't want to ruin a friendship like that just so you could be my boyfriend, and have me look at you with desire and longing in my eyes, if only once—would you? Of course not. Well, if we started dating, it would only complicate this wonderful setup I've got going here.

It's just…you're like my best friend, and I would hate for something you desperately want to change that. I mean, sure, we could go on some dates, maybe mess around a little and finally validate the six years you've spent languishing in this platonic nightmare, but then what? How could we ever go back to the way we were, where I take advantage of your clear attraction to me so I can have someone at my beck and call? That part of our friendship means so much to me.

It's so true.

Seether ruins Careless Whisper

I enjoy Wham! just as much as the next guy. So when I heard Seether's cover of 'Careless Whisper' I thought, "Hey, I like Wham! so I can appreciate this." That is, until I came to a shocking realization; Seether fans now like 'Careless Whisper'...and they think it is a Seether song. Which is not terrible...

Until you watch THIS.

Seether Fans
Throwing the Horns
To Careless Whisper

You don't fucking do that in civilized society, ok? You don't fucking...it's...christ, it's George Michael for fuck's sake. And this guy is never gonna dance again.

Ok? It's not that he might dance again. It's not as if there is a possibility that in the future he will dance again. No. He's never gonna dance again. His guilty feet have got NO rhythm. Not some rhythm, not an approximation of rhythm. No fucking rhythm. And, sure, it's easy to pretend. But he knows, he fucking knows, god damn it, that you're not a fool.

You don't fucking throw the horns to that. This man is baring his soul; he is never gonna dance again. Show some respect!

Kings: Javelin

OH
MY
GOD!

Sense Perceptions or Definitions

So when thinking about my question from ITT we locate truth I started to get caught up in concepts of truth, empiricism and rationalism, various takes on arguments and meaning, and a wealth of other bullshit topics. I would like to be able to filter off the bullshit, however, and simplify the conversation to be easily understood and approachable.

So I think I have, perhaps, the simplest way of asking my truth question. Here we go:

The sole proof for the existence of X is a definition.
The sole proof for the existence of Y is a sensory perception.

Is the existence of X or Y more likely? Why?


Here is where this came from:
I like Spinoza. The problem people have with Spinoza is that in The Ethics Spinoza argues from first principles, definitions and axioms, to get propositions. So when Spinoza writes "God, or substance, consisting of infinite attributes, of which each expresses eternal and infinite essentiality, necessarily exists." people will commonly reply "Great. But that does not mean that god exists." despite the fact that Spinoza has provided a coherent, consistent series of definitions and axioms which support his claim.

In a seemingly unrelated conversation people who like the coherence theory of truth will state that truth is found in coherence of ideas and states of reality. So, the statement "the cat is on the mat" is true if the cat is on the mat. How do we know if the cat is on the mat? We fucking look.

But wait. Spinoza's argument for the existence of god is supported by definitions and axioms. A common person's argument for the existence of a cat is supported by sensory perceptions. Where Spinoza has his definitions a common person has visual sensory perception, tactile sensory perception, olfactory sensory perception, gustatory sensory perception, and auditory sensory perception.

So where one may raise the criticism "Definitions do not prove that God exists" I think it sensible to raise the criticism "Sensory Perceptions do not prove that cat exists."

What makes a definition weaker than a sensory perception? At this point the only answer to this question I can think of is "preference". But if the entire enterprise of human experience is supported by "facts" and "truths" which are, themselves, supported by little more than preference...well, fuck.

[chat] Pullman

Ryan Reynolds: Deadpool AND The Green Lantern

Ryan Reynolds has landed the coveted role of “Green Lantern,” getting the starring role in Warner Bros.' live-action film based on the DC Comics hero.

Ryan Reynolds: Deadpool AND The Green Lantern.

You figure it out. I'm done caring about superhero movies.

Meme: Still fucking stupid

Remember Ceiling Cat is Watching you meme? Well, I have a Part 2.

Meme: a postulated unit or element of cultural ideas, symbols or practices, and is transmitted from one mind to another through speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena.


Ideas are not finite, discreet, entities which can be packaged, and transferred from one incorporeal mind to another incorporeal mind.
Brain states, if we are uncomfortable with "idea" are, again, not discreet entities which can be packaged and transferred from one brain to another brain.

An idea is not an entity.
A brain state is not an entity.

If we want to talk about ideas / brain states as finite nuggets which are transferred from one mind to another via language, speech, gestures, rituals then we need to read Wittgenstein. Wittgenstein explained how language is not the transfer of one idea from one mind to another mind. Language is a game. Or read Roy Wood Sellars and his explanation of language.

When I say "the apple is red" I do not take my idea "apple is red" and somehow shove it into your little fucking brain / incorporeal mind with my magical virus words.

No one actually thinks than an idea or brain state is a little virus in my mind / brain which somehow poofs off into your mind / brain unless you’ve had the particular vaccine which applies to that particular idea / brain state. But the only way to maintain that "meme" is sensible is to tell that exact story: Some little finite and discreet idea "goes" from my "mind/brain" to your "mind/brain" via "language".

"meme" is a half-assed attempt to get Darwinian Evolutionary Theory to apply to Culture Studies. And it is fucking stupid.