What is stopping us from creating artificial intelligence known as AI? What is it about human intellect and cognition that separates us from a computer?
There lies an inherent problem which is philosophical in nature. This is the subjective matter of knowledge of self and experience. This is a problem because aside from an individuals deep immediate sense of self and experience we have no way of quantifying this externally.
This is a very serious article for me; I take logic and critical thinking as a thing of great import. Unlike some other articles where I write it from a perspective of teacher to student, this topic runs in the realm of students talking over a topic with no teacher in the room. Let’s all be honest, no one knows if a god exists or not, NO ONE. People might believe and feel they have good reason to yet they cannot produce empirical evidence. Non believers or atheists might have no belief in a god yet they must leave room open for the chance of a god existing (barring very specific definitions of god of course). (more…)
A priori is a philosophy term used to describe a type of knowledge. A priori means “from the earlier”, but this is kind of obvious because it sounds like the word “prior”. A priori knowledge is something you can figure out on your own with no research. A priori knowledge needs no investigation to justify or use it as a position in an argument. A priori is knowledge gained from other knowledge that was in turn gained through sense data. It is really just a technical definition meant to explain away 100% empiricism which says ALL knowledge must be experienced. (more…)
Here’s some good philosophical quotes and words of wisdom. Sometimes its good to ponder these for self help or just mental exercise. Here we go: (more…)
Is it hypocritical to be intolerant toward the intolerant? I think the answer is ‘no’ and here’s why. Tolerance is a noun while tolerant is an adjective. However the true essence of tolerance and being tolerant is a verb, it is an action one integrates into their daily life. If a person is tolerant in regards to intolerance they are actually not tolerant. Here we can see we are actually missing a word to describe tolerance in a verb form. (more…)
I think most people want to feel like they have control over their life. Feeling out of control without limits is terrifying. Skydiving might be enjoyable in that there is a limit, the parachute. This gives you a level of control in a situation where you otherwise have no control; like falling at 120 mph till you transfer all your accumulated energy into the earth (splat). Keep this example of control and limits in mind as we analyze the concept of free will.
Free will is the belief that we have control over our actions. Having free will would mean that the future is not set and that we can alter the outcome of events by our self’s thinking or rationale. The concept of free will segues into many deeper philosophical problems like time and consciousness. (more…)
What is moral? When faced with a scenario or set of choices how do we know what is moral? It’s about to get deep, real deep. I’m gonna pick apart the brain and analyze why a thing is moral or immoral. There might even be some grotesque over-analyzation of thought patterns and over detailed wording of ideas like “broad vs specific behavior of humans”. I think one of the best ways to hit this topic right is to scope through some examples and bring up moral dilemas. In doing so we can peruse the dynamics of the human beings decision making apparatus. So let’s figure out what is moral. (more…)
The Argumentum Ad Ignorantiam is where one assumes a thing is true if it cannot be proven to be false or that a thing is false if it cannot proven to be true. In both directions a fallacy has occurred because in the absence of evidence no conclusion can be drawn.
If these arguments were logical and compelling cases for beliefs then any fantasy story could be declared true and be valid simply because it could not be proven wrong. Let your imagination wander and you can see the silliness this type of thinking could produce. (more…)
There are tons of logical fallacies out there, so many that it can seem overwhelming to learn them. Among the mountains of fallacies facing us are several that seem to come up often. These fallacies also help make a good foundation to help us understand more obscure or harder to understand logical fallacies. So here are my top 5 logical fallacies. (more…)
I love learning and hope that if you don’t that I can convince you to love it too. I never stopped learning after college, in fact my learning increased. My raw, unquenched, and enduring thirst for learning and knowledge seems to be limited only by physical weaknesses. I get excited about learning because I feel a drive to learn will increase the chances of finding truth and morality. Learning grants one power because learning gives you more options in life.
My mission is to get the world excited about learning. I believe a world that loves learning will be better world. Don’t let yourself stop learning because you have a piece of paper saying you sat in classes for 4 years, it’s time to realize that learning doesn’t stop at graduation.
At the end of the article is a list of links to tons of free videos and classes online. (more…)
Confirmation bias is the tendency to favor evidence and information which already supports previously held ideas or beliefs. The human mind will trick itself into protecting currently held beliefs regardless of evidence. In 2003, psychologist John Jost, analyzed over 80 studies, topping more than 20,000 people. The findings of such studies, as well as others, support the presence of confirmation bias.
Confirmation bias is comprised of two main behaviors. The first behavior is searching and the second is filtering or appraising. (more…)
From simple clothing styles to the Nazi Youth movement one thing is common, indoctrinated behaviors prevail. Across all cultures and time, that humans can remember, indoctrination has guided and shaped human lives. Let’s look at how indoctrination might have originated and why it is so effective. (more…)
You must do as I say, you must be one of us! One of us! One of us! Actually, I don’t want you to blindly follow anything. This often is the mantra of many ideologies and it is indoctrination. Let’s look at indoctrination and why it is so bad.
Indoctrination is a form of teaching that differs from regular teaching because the material is often unproven and fallacious. Indoctrination demands no questions or critical thinking about the subject. It can be found in many places but the largest indoctrination occurs between adult authority figures and children. It should be noted that usually indoctrination occurs in power structures where the one indoctrinating feels power and privilege over the indoctrinated. (more…)
I have just been informed that I could have charges brought against me. For what you ask? Well for simply making this site. Yes, you heard that right. I am not actually gonna be charged with anything so don’t worry, but this was the reaction of someone that saw my site. Her literal words were “he can be charged for that”. Charged with a crime for merely talking about logic and critical thinking. She must have been so scared of the message that she believed (somehow lacking knowledge of Freedom of Speech) that merely thinking critically and publishing those ideas was a crime. Astonishing right? (more…)
Where does morality come from? To find that answer we can first examine where people once thought morality came from. We will look at the logic structures of both ancient and modern beliefs concerning morality and try to come to a conclusion. We will also try to figure out what morality is or at least make an attempt to describe the highest probability for what morality is composed of. (more…)
How can we really know something? It is very important to be able to determine what you can know and what you can’t. Sometimes we think we know something because it seems so obvious, yet obviousness is not a guarantee of truth. We are going to go over some things which complicate what we can know and why it is important to think about this. (more…)