chen
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Post by chen on Jul 31, 2015 17:41:03 GMT
1. Why was Socrates sentenced to death?
Being one of the greatest Greek philosophers ever known, Socrates was sentenced to death by consuming hemlock poison. The first reason why he was sentenced to execution was for impiety, which in How Socrates Died, is “that he did not believe in the gods recognized by the state (2).” The second reason for his trial, which ultimately led to his death sentence, was that “he has corrupted the Athenian youth by his teachings (2).” Meletus, Socrates’ accuser, states that he was teaching the youth to question the authority of the government. When asked to confess for his “wrong-doings”, Socrates neither tried to agree nor disagree to whether he acted upon his accusations.“ He prefers to stand upon his own integrity and innocence, uninfluenced by the fear of that imaginary evil, death (2).” With his death sentence imposed, Socrates accepts his fate and declines to escape his fate when begged by his fellow listeners.
2. Why is there a conflict (for some) between science and religion?
Conflict between science and religion derive from their own separate disciplines – that science is based on the observation of facts and nature, while religion is mostly relied on faith. Because people rarely question faith, they assume a higher authority (in which most cases is God) helped reveal their own truth in humanity. However, science has come to question everything about the nature of our world and anything that isn’t factual based. In The Great Mystery, it states that “Where are we has a simple answer it appear: We don’t know (13). Because there are so many unsolved mysteries that exist, there are bound to be two sides: one who looks for answers and one who believes in the spirituality that transcends it. Since science assumes that there are no immaterial forces that exist or have existed in our universe, the conflict between the two are almost undeniable for those that may be strong devotees of either perspective.
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chen
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Post by chen on Jul 31, 2015 17:41:26 GMT
important in doing philosophy?
Physics, derived from Ancient Greek, stands for “knowledge of nature” and is the science of studying nature and all its related concepts. Philosophy is understood as the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence. The idea of understanding physics is important in doing philosophy because need to be able to grasp the concepts of what happens in nature in order to broaden your spectrum into philosophy. Bohr states in Quantum Weirdness that,” It is wrong to think that the task of physics is to find out how Nature is. Physics concerns what we say about Nature (20).” Albert Einstein himself was an avid believer that his interests in philosophy helped him take a step back and actually analyze what he might have been wrong in his theories. In order to understand the nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, it’s pertinent that we understand the knowledge of what happens in nature around us and the general rules of the universe so we may develop our philosophical theories.
2. What is eliminative materialism? Provide three examples of it.
Eliminative materialism, as put from the short films provided (Eliminative Materialism pt. I, II, and III) is that if the “phenomenon cannot be explained fully by mathematics, or chemistry, or sociology, or any scientific process, it is simply okay to say that God did it.” Also called eliminativism, it is a materialist positive in the philosophy of mind. One example of eliminative materialism is the idea of witches existing. People may assume that witches are real and may occasionally see one, but society has eventually assumed that they simply do not exist. Another example would be how many people believe that spirits cause us to become ill. However, it’s been scientifically proven that illnesses start from bacteria buildup in your system. The last example would be the assumption that Thor is the reason behind why we have lightning and thunder. However, it’s been proven that electrical magnetic currents are the reason why we get thunder and lightning.
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chen
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Post by chen on Jul 31, 2015 17:41:38 GMT
1. Why is the theory of evolution so important in understanding how human beings behave?
The theory of evolution, as first developed by Charles Darwin had a mechanism Darwin also created known as “natural selection.” The reason why it’s so incredibly relevant to understand how humans behave is because natural selection is “understood as natural elimination and anything that can survive that global and unending process is, because of such survival, sufficient to continue on (5).” With natural selection, only the most successfully contingent living organisms survive. With that, we can analyze what human beings did in order to survive. The ways they behaved led them to success in surviving. The variation of organic life help to understand which organisms can survive under different types of living conditions.
2. Which questions do you think evolutionary theory cannot answer?
Amongst all the endless questions I’m sure anyone could possibly ask about evolutionary theory, I would like to ask about how everything started. For example, how did life originally come from if it didn’t just spontaneously spawn on earth. How exactly did it start? How was space and time created? How was matter formed in order to create everything in our universe? It’s easy to question the evolutionary theory because there are so many unanswered questions that have been asked over thousands of years, yet we still are unsure of their answers. All these questions have been hypothesized but never proven since it’s so difficult to prove something that we have personally never been able to experience and see first hand.
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chen
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Post by chen on Jul 31, 2015 17:41:51 GMT
1. Explain the virtual simulation theory of consciousness.
As explained in Is the Universe an App?, “consciousness is a virtual simulator because there are times are our dreaming brain can overlap with our waking state and radically confuse us about what is internal and what is external (101).” A great example that I would assume everyone has experienced is when we confuse our dreams for events that we believe we have experienced. For example, have you ever gone through a certain experience where it felt “out of body” and you’ve felt a certain type of deja vu but can’t really determine if you’ve actually experienced that certain situation either in real life or dreamt about it one night in the past. That’s what makes the theory of consciousness a virtual simulator since we our minds are giving us simulations of events while we are unconscious so when and if we do experience those events, we feel as though we are reliving that same experience.
2. How does the brain trick us and for what benefit is it for our genetic survival?
The Cerebral Mirage is the understanding the deceptive nature of consciousness. Therefore, our cerebral mirage is what tricks our brain into giving us a false sense of knowledge and certainty. From The Cerebral Mirage, is it said that, “The brain tricks us into believing something to be real when it is not, provided that such trickery provides with a survival advantage (38).” The reason why it is beneficial for our genetic survival is because that helps us make certain decisions so that we can live on. For example, we would be better able to make quick judgments and use our intuition to determine or not we are being tricked. It stimulates our minds to see beyond just the status quo and it helps us dig deeper into certain questions in order to look for the truth and in turn, help us survive life.
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chen
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Post by chen on Jul 31, 2015 17:42:04 GMT
1. Do you think artificial intelligence will be a significant problem in the future?
I believe that the biggest problem that artificial intelligence will give us in the future is with jobs. Many jobs require some sort of technological device such as a computer, tablet, or phone. In the future once artificial intelligence has become dominant, most of the machines will probably be able to function on their own, thus replacing millions of jobs with robotics. Already we are starting to have that problem with factory jobs. Instead of the older times when actual human beings would be packaging our food or putting together cars in a factory, most of those jobs have already been replaced with robotic arms that can more efficiently package the items quicker, and without a need of a salary. We are already able to program technology to think faster than the human brain can, so I believe that our biggest problem will be that millions of jobs would be put at risk as technology advances further and artificial intelligence becomes much more popular.
2. How has technology impacted your life?
Technology has made such a severe impact on me that I could honest tell you that I could not live without it anymore. Everything from our cars to our phones has been evolving over the ages and now he can hardly ever turn away from our phones. Although technology has definitely impacted my life in a positive light, I definitely believe that we are starting to take advantage of it. We have calculators that will calculate anything we want whilst people had to use tools like an abacus in the past. Technology has severely spoiled our lives and it will only continue to impact our lives even more as more and more technology comes out everyday. In fact, I wouldn’t even be able to take this course if it wasn’t for technology. It’s crazy to think that now you are able to easily take classes online without ever having to step foot on a school campus. That is exactly how much technology has impacted my life.
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chen
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Post by chen on Jul 31, 2015 17:42:30 GMT
1. Why is Faqie Chand’s experiences important in understanding the projective nature of religious visions and miracles?
Based on Faqir Chand’s experiences with near-death situations, he believes that you are able to see the religious visions and miracles that your brain is showing you as a virtual stimulant. Chand’s illusions that he, himself experienced is proof that our brains create a certain type of mirage that we see during certain situations we are in, in this case being near-death. The followers Fariq gained were from their own near-death experiences, where they then saw the visions and miracles. Chand himself said, “My entire life and my mission is based upon truth (78).”
2. What is meant by the phrase, “philosophy done well is science; philosophy done poorly remains philosophy.”
Philosophy is defined as the study of fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence. In the first part of the phrase, it is meant to portray that philosophical theories are pretty much like hypotheses. In order to prove is correct, you need to test your theories, just as you would in the process of the scientific method. Therefore, it states that when you do philosophy well, as in having lots of evidence, it becomes science, which is the reality based on facts. However, philosophy done poorly is philosophy simply means that theories that can’t be proven will just stay theories.
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Post by vanngo on Jul 31, 2015 18:25:13 GMT
Hi Chen. Your explanation of the Faqir's experience is very concise and to the point. I like the quote that you used at the end, however it might have been a better response to the question if you had explain the quote farther and used an example. I would suggest you add more to your answer because the world count was less than 100. Other then it being a little short it was a good answer to why is Faqir's experience was important.
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