Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 7:33 pm
Tdarcos wrote:You should be ashamed of yourself. With everyone criticizing me for being prolix, all you had to say was, "I tried to deposit my check once and the bank refused to accept it, saying my wife had put a password on the account. Yeah I'm sure."Flack wrote:I have spent the past several days trying to come up with the proper response to this question.Tdarcos wrote: Are you sure?
I just said it because it seemed strange. Well, maybe the restriction only applies to check deposits because your bank charges you if a check you deposit bounces. But refusing to accept a cash deposit would also seem strange. And I wonder, what would they do for bank-by-mail? My <s>bank</s> credit union is about 5 miles away, if I get a check and it's not near the beginning of the month when I am not going to the bank, I'll mail the check to the bank, signed for deposit only. Then again, my account isn't locked. I guess they'd mail the check back saying the account is locked if you didn't include a note with the password.
Tdarcos wrote:"How can I be sure, in a world that's constantly changing?" - The RascalsFlack wrote:At the most basic level, and without being overly pragmatic, is it truly possible to be sure of anything?Tdarcos wrote:Are you sure?
There are things we can be certain of, utterly sure. You exist. If you did not exist, you wouldn't see this question. I, or some part of your brain that is simulating me, also exists. Even if you were the only thing in the universe and the world around you were a simulation, and even if that simulation were being generated by another part of your brain, the thing generating that simulation would exist. Same thing, if it did not exist, you wouldn't see this response. And there are other things of which we can be utterly certain and sure.
I'll quote myself from a book I wrote:
Dr. Sign: George, is it possible to live without taking risks? I mean, without taking any risk at all.
George: No.
Dr. Sign: Why?
George: Because almost everything we do has some danger to it, even if it's a small one.
Dr. Sign: Exactly. Every time you get up, there is a risk that termites have eaten holes in the floor and it's no longer strong enough to hold you, or you might slip in the bathtub, or that you might get hit by a car crossing the street, or your deodorant might be too strong and give you a bad rash for a while.
ยท For most things we do, there is a tiny, infinitesimal risk of death or injury. For some things, the risk is higher. The range of risks run from the chance of dying from a heart attack, due to strain caused as a direct result of moving your arm, while brushing your teeth, being nil, all the way to stepping into an operating blast furnace, the risk of death being certainty.
Those examples I gave are things of which we can be sure. You will never have a heart attack simply from brushing your teeth and you will never survive stepping into an operating blast furnace.
Tdarcos wrote:I more-or-less partially answered this question. Whether or not you believe this world is real, or whether you want to make claims about the world being synthetic, there are a number of conditions you must concede are real and are certain, that is, that you are sure of them, or the question is academic and the discussion is pointless.Flack wrote:On a more existencial level however, I suppose it is fair to ask, is anyone sure of anything? How am I sure I am me, and you are you? And, how are you sure you are you? Are you sure you're awake? Are you sure you're alive? Are you sure I'm alive? Are you sure you're alive? Are you sure this isn't all just some weird simulation in your mind like the Matrix? Are you sure you're not dreaming, right now?
First, we must agree we use language and communicate; otherwise the whole discussion is irrelevant and the person who makes such a claim can do only one thing: shut up making any claims of anything and die.
Second, you must agree that you exist, and that you are alive as part and parcel of that very existence. If you don't exist and are not alive this whole conversation is pointless.
Third. you must agree and concede that you are communicating with something else. You do not have to concede that it is someone else, it could very well be that I am actually a part of your own brain pretending to be someone else. Or that you could be something my brain is pretending is the universe around me.
So while you do not have to concede anything about the universe around you, even if it's simulated by a part of your brain, you have to concede either that the part of you that is separately creating the simulation around you exists, or that you must concede that your brain is not simulating the world around you and that this world as it appears to you exists instead.
Are you sure?Tdarcos wrote:"Well we're never gonna survive unless, we get a little... crazy..." - SealFlack wrote:Often what we know, or at least what we think we know, isn't what it seems. For example, did you know there's an entire forum here at JC dedicated to talking about you? It's where the rest of us go to discuss your endless barrage of Wikipedia citations and music/movie quotations.
Of course, no such area really exists. To get that screen shot I installed a parallel version of PHPBB, spent a week downloading all the graphics and style templates from JC and then set up my own web server and installed a completely parallel installation of this web forum and then added one additional message area for the sole purpose of taking that screen shot. Of course only a crazy person would do that. Then again, are you sure I'm not crazy, Paul?
Are you sure?
You might be anal retentive if you went to all that effort to simulate an image for one message. A whole week for a 30-second joke? "Crazy" implies not compliant with reality. Taking a whole week to set up a weak (no pun intended) joke would be a waste of time and effort for someone who supposedly has a bit of intelligence. It would not, in and of itself, provide an indicator of mental illness.
I'm also going to shave you with Occam's Razor, in that I think it is more likely you took a copy of the Forum Index page from "View Source", edited it to add the fake forum, imported a screen shot into Windows Paint, then cut the shot. Taking about, oh, 15 minutes.
But we really know you're crazy, and we want to have Pinback killed, there are two forums that Jonsey hasn't told you or Pinback about.
Are you sure they don't exist?
