Re: a comment on Together they Fell by Fayt	Fayt 141.157.35.222	2-Mar-06/11:00 AM
Thank you for your comment. I wrote up the prose form and it generally seems well liked here and other places. Tell me what you think. =]
Re: =, <>, & . . . by Dovina	zodiac 209.193.18.70	2-Mar-06/10:39 AM
A new movement in philosophy, called Experimental Philosophy or x-phi, seeks to test so-called fundamental intuitions (ie, "common sense") against real people's intuitions. That is, to remove philosophy from its remove from the real world. For example, it's commonly held that moral responsibility requires free will. If you're forced to kill someone against your will, it's not your fault, right? X-phi researchers decided to test that against real data. They presented the following scenario to two groups: Bill and his wife are flying home from vacation with their friend Frank, who is having an affair with Bill's wife. Bill knows about this. Kidnappers inject Bill with a drug that forces him to obey orders, then tell him to shoot Frank in the head. He does. The first group is told that Bill has long wanted Frank dead, on account of the affair, and grieves very little. The second group is told that Bill hates what he's done. According to traditional philosophy, Bill is not responsible for Frank's death; but in the x-phi study, the first group said that Bill DID deserve the blame for the killing; the second group said he didn't. In another example, UNC-CH students were asked the following questions: If a businessman interested only in profits knowingly harms the environment, should we say he did so intentionally? What if he knowingly HELPS the environment? The students said yes to the first question, no to the second. In another example having to do with intentionality, a man tries to shoot his aunt, misfires, but somehow gets lucky and hits her anyway. Most people say he killed her intentionally, even though he didn't really have the skill to. It's enough that he wanted to. The argument against x-phi is that respondents may be deciding based on the language of the questions, rather than the philosophical principles involved. For example, here's a psychology experiment you can try yourself. 1. Imagine that the US is preparing for the outbreak of an unusual Asian disease, which is expected to kill 600 people. Two alternative programs to combat the disease have been proposed. Assume that the exact scientific estimates of the consequences of the programs are as follows: - If Program A is adopted, 200 people will be saved. - If Program B is adopted, there is 1/3 probability that 600 people will be saved, and 2/3 probability that no people will be saved. Which of the two programs would you favor? 2. In the same Asian-disease scenario as the previous question's, two different programs are proposed: - If Program C is adopted 400 people will die. - If Program D is adopted there is 1/3 probability that nobody will die, and 2/3 probability that 600 people will die. Which of THESE two programs would you favor?
Re: a comment on A Failed Proposition Under The Night Sky by Ranger	Ranger 62.252.32.15	2-Mar-06/9:52 AM
Smooth.
Re: a comment on A Failed Proposition Under The Night Sky by Ranger	ALChemy 24.74.100.11	2-Mar-06/9:40 AM
Truth is I actually went to a Subway once and accidentally asked the girl behind the counter to "hold the hot pecker".
Re: a comment on A Failed Proposition Under The Night Sky by Ranger	ALChemy 24.74.100.11	2-Mar-06/9:37 AM
That would be silly. Why would I ask for something I already have.
Re: a comment on =, <>, & . . . by Dovina	Ranger 62.252.32.15	2-Mar-06/9:24 AM
No match for Bobjim's ascii submissions, I'm afraid.
Re: Under the Spoon by MacFrantic	Ranger 62.252.32.15	2-Mar-06/9:22 AM
Good fun, this poem. In keeping with recent trends here, 'Alligator' should be changed to 'masturbator'. Seriously, it would work.
Re: a comment on A Failed Proposition Under The Night Sky by Ranger	Ranger 62.252.32.15	2-Mar-06/9:19 AM
ALChemy must be a terror in fast-food restaurants - "I'll have a Big Crack and large Cock, please."
Re: a comment on =, <>, & . . . by Dovina	ALChemy 24.74.100.11	2-Mar-06/8:35 AM
At least one of average length. You laughed, admit it.
Re: a comment on =, <>, & . . . by Dovina	Dovina 67.72.98.99	2-Mar-06/8:33 AM
Very profound. We could carry on a long conversation like this.
Re: a comment on =, <>, & . . . by Dovina	Dovina 67.72.98.99	2-Mar-06/8:31 AM
Oh well, it was a stab in the dark, so to speak.
Re: =, <>, & . . . by Dovina	ALChemy 24.74.100.11	2-Mar-06/8:31 AM
3===>---<splat!
Re: a comment on =, <>, & . . . by Dovina	ALChemy 24.74.100.11	2-Mar-06/8:27 AM
But what about the children? Are you really planning on tainting their pure little eyes with such scandelous pornography or are you just going to talk about him eating a bologna sandwich and watching Tom and Jerry cartoons?
Re: a comment on =, <>, & . . . by Dovina	Dovina 67.72.98.99	2-Mar-06/8:18 AM
I can, but I won't say. We have impressionable children here who could be led into sin. My next poem is entitled "The Private Life of an Alchemist."
Re: a comment on =, <>, & . . . by Dovina	ALChemy 24.74.100.11	2-Mar-06/8:15 AM
I do but then afterwards I feel sad. So can you guess what I think of to make me happy again? If you guess right I'll 10 your next poem too.
Re: a comment on =, <>, & . . . by Dovina	Dovina 67.72.98.99	2-Mar-06/8:11 AM
Give yourself some more harsh criticism. But thanks for the 10, I need a lotta help here.
Re: =, <>, & . . . by Dovina	ALChemy 24.74.100.11	2-Mar-06/8:05 AM
Titties.
Re: a comment on A Failed Proposition Under The Night Sky by Ranger	ALChemy 24.74.100.11	2-Mar-06/8:01 AM
Hey, I grew up watching Benny Hill, What can I say. Ps. Titties.
Re: Under the Spoon by MacFrantic	LilMsLadyPoet 205.188.117.10	2-Mar-06/8:01 AM
I can't take this seriously; you rhyme, then don't, then do so badly, then rhyme at the end of lines, then half way into lines and rhyme at the end of them. The cadence goes all over the place, changing at random. ...later, ..later, and Alligator ending was a groan AND an eye roll.
Re: a comment on A Failed Proposition Under The Night Sky by Ranger	Dovina 67.72.98.99	2-Mar-06/7:48 AM
Ranger, you can visualize him right now slapping himself with harsh criticism, bleeding about the head and shouolders for his Freudian Irrestibility - the insatiable inability to resist saying the first phallic-symoled thing on his mind.