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Comment Re:read some actual philosophy (Score 1) 937

From the NPR article:

Noe received his PhD from Harvard in 1995 and is a professor of philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley,
where he is also a member of the Institute for Cognitive and Brain Sciences and the Center for New Media.
He previously was a Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.
He has been philosopher-in-residence with The Forsythe Company and has recently begun a
performative-lecture collaboration with Deborah Hay.
Noà is a 2012 recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship.

Which illustrates the pathetic state of academic philosophy.

Comment Re:Great idea! Let's alienate Science even more! (Score 1) 937

If you tell me something that's true, but you can't be bothered to try persuading me of it, shall I flatly refuse to believe it?

Yes, but not believing that the assertion is true, does not mean that you believe it to be false.
It just means that, for the moment, you must reserve judgement.

Regardless of the idea's underlying merit?

Who says the idea has any underlying merit? And why?

Comment Re:No, no. Let's not go there. Please. (Score 1) 937

I meet so many people claiming to be atheist who say god doesn't exist and then attempt to impress that belief onto you by citing where they think science proves religion unnecessary because they found natural ways to understand nature without the need of a creator or God.

FTFY
Once again, there has never been a more apt username than yours.

Comment Re:Thermodynamic equilibrium is not required (Score 1) 211

Nonsense. Entropy affects the physical properties of everything in the universe.

In a closed system, entropy will always rise, while in an open system, entropy may rise or it may fall.
Which is the case is determined by the net flow of energy into or out of a system. If the net flow of energy is out of a system (i.e. "cooling") then its overall entropy will go down.
On the other hand, if the net flow of energy is into a system (i.e. "warming") then its overall entropy will go up over time.

That being the case, the example of the sun bombarding the earth with radiant energy will cause the entropy of the sun
to go down over time, while the entropy of the earth and everything on it to go up.
How life manages to overcome this tendency is one of the most fascinating problems in science,
one where information theory / complexity theory may offer important insights.

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