DeepSight:


Change is what gives rise to the measurement of time, not time itself.

DeepSight:

Time is not an emergent property of anything. Time - real time - infinite time - is self existent.

DeepSight:

That which relativity references as time is something else entirely, and I wish they would use a different word for it. Or, better put, time, real time - is not the same sort of thing scientists refer to in these discussions.

DeepSight:

And please reflect also that the experience of time and real time, are two altogether different things.
An ant may not experience five minutes the same way you do.

DeepSight:

PS: Where have you been?

KnownUnknown:

Describe this self existent infinite time.

DeepSight:


Justcool describes what I mean properly here -

https://www.nairaland.com/775552/speed-light-time-einstein-extra-universal#9318086

And his two succeeding posts on same.

DeepSight:


Justcool describes what I mean properly here -

https://www.nairaland.com/775552/speed-light-time-einstein-extra-universal#9318086

And his two succeeding posts on same.

KnownUnknown:


You always rightly criticize that one physicist’s idea of “nothing” because it involves a vacuum but the idea supports your cosmology. The universe could have sprung out of the vacuum of infinite real time, which has infinite possibilities.

DeepSight:


Beautiful! - very very close to exactly how I see it! - Save that infinite real time is not nothing either!

KnownUnknown:


But keep in mind that his vacuum is part of the universe not independent of it.

DeepSight:


And could that reasonably be the case? A vacuum which is the source of the universe and still part of the universe? Is that not contradictory?
At all events, bear in mind of course, that no such perfect vacuum is observed anywhere.

TammieJo:

We seem well-adapted for the short run, but I'm not so sure about the long run.

DeepSight:


Beautiful! - very very close to exactly how I see it! - Save that infinite real time is not nothing either!

LordReed:


But you reject the idea that the universe is expanding into what is undefined.

Lemme ask you is darkness nothing?

AuthenticKing:


What do you mean by 'life doesn't make sense?'

DeepSight:


This question is frighteningly close to our contention on the nature of a shadow, such that I am afraid and must flee the question.

Crystyano:




Can you help me with any amount of money?

Crystyano:

Life Doesn't Make Sense Because Of The Way Living Things Just Get Exposed Anyhow Towards No Purpose For As Long As Possible

AuthenticKing:

Hmm, is this actually a request or...?


I followed one of your threads and I think you're having a cynical view on life.
You having a belief that living things get exposed anyhow towards no purpose is a perspective I think you should get rid of. Since life started existing millions of years ago, man has been the only living being that has been able to develop critical thinking, get past the use of sign language and develop languages and modes of speaking, etc. We are the dominating beings on this planet! Since then till now, so many have stood out to create things that keeps changing the world.

Brother, life makes sense! Find a profession that you love and get lost in it. Find pleasure in doing things that you really enjoy. Experience the downsides too and laugh at them. In the perceived 'uselessness' of life, you can make sense of it by just experiencing it and finding something significant that can make life worth living.
When I wonder about man came to become the dominating beings on this planet, it brings a sense of gratitude in me for the forces that made us survive amidst all the dangerous creatures that evolved with us. When I read about great people of the historical times, I try to find meaning by modeling their lives. It's sometimes frustrating, maybe when my mind begins to wonder how these things will end at death or when I don't find a tribe to share my energy with, but it's still fun at the same time.

I don't know whether what I wrote above was a necessary response to what you wrote but I just felt like typing it.

Crystyano:




Indeed....a request.



I started working as a part-time teacher towards the end of September last year..... towards Maths,Physics and Further Maths.

It's just been about surviving.


As it stands...., I need an apartment... last year ended so badly for me.


Last month..., I had to leave one school for another.... indefinitely.

I started working in the other school after a week.


I'm also thinking of releasing some rap songs.

Crystyano:

As for life...., I don't think the things that differentiate humans from other living things are enough for it to make sense
The increase in population of humans doesn't mean it is well among or towards humans
The exposure just happens.

DeepSight:


Pardon me, but I fail to see how the context you have cited is different from that which I presented as a question. Please indulge me and help tell how it is different. However, if it helps any, maybe you should just indicate again what exactly you mean was trivially easy. Because I am genuinely confused. Thank you for your patience in advance.


For more Information: save the turtles

They certainly arent and I did not suggest they were. Perhaps I havent expressed myself clearly enough on this point. Or perhaps we mean different things when we say "blank slate." You see, a genuine blank slate would be, for me, a page on which nothing whatsoever has been written. However, a new born baby has a whole lot written on its page already. Many proclivities, tendencies and predispositions are already firmly genetically coded in, not to speak of a lorry load of instinctual dispositions. This is not for me, a genuine blank slate. You know, in the way that a child turns out, we often say that both nature and nurture play their part. I believe this to be true - whereas you appear to be leaning towards attributing one hundred per cent to nurture alone.

I grant that you are probably still speaking entirely about facts and opinions which a child may imbibe - and if this is the case, of course you would be correct, as none of that is inherited in a genetic sense. However you would have been addressing something quite different from what I had in mind: to be clear - in the way in which I have said a child has genetic predispositions, I believe that certain fundamental codes are imprinted on its nature from the get-go which play a role in its subsequent development and thus undergird some of the results which play out in its life. And thus, I do not regard even the newest of new born babies as a true blank slate. For it has millions of years of coding already written there.



This sort of argument horrifies me, and I am certain I have said nothing to suggest I would lean towards anything of the kind. I am acquainted with this ancient argument even if uncertain that it is here expressed precisely in its definite form - nonetheless rest assured it finds no fluff with me.



As explained above, I am not referring to "facts."



I am not certain that I agree here. Certainly not a true blank slate in the way I have explained above. Also I think you have perhaps missed the subtlety of what I said - because you see, it is the fact that the child asks questions as it develops which I have used as a plank for suggesting - not pre-formed knowledge of the world, no - but a reference to a reality imbued with causality.



You see, "that fucking milk" could be the basis for asking you to think a little. Because new born pups for example, will immediately begin to struggle for their mother's mammary glands. Because they are so pre-programmed. You may try to wave this away as simple instinct, actuated by senses such as thirst, hunger and smell, but you see, I said this could be a basis for asking you to think - because there are too many startling examples in the natural world which go further to underscore the point: newly hatched turtles will instantly head to the sea - every single one of them with all the strength they can muster - and this, without the presence or guidance of their parents. You are free to point out how these are scientifically explained but you will be missing the point because I dont doubt that they are. The point is simply that there exist definite codes imprinted even on the newest of new born babies. And that these codes, as they play out in further life, inevitably play some part in the trajectory of the development of the creature - and consequently in some of its foundational apprehensions of the world.

Perhaps I should second-guess you here, and save you the trouble of pointing out to me how evolution explains this - by informing you that I believe in evolution. Doesnt change the point about blank slates. If anything, it enforces my point. Because millions of years of evolution represents millions of years worth of embedded nature upon the new baby - and certainly not "a blank slate."

Hello here, this is my first time of posting.
I'm not an atheist, I don't even know the best label to give myself but I don't really believe in the Christian nor Muslim God. I see the Bible as a book filled with wisdom and inspiring[b] metaphors[/b] but I don't agree with everything in it. I absorb so much wisdom from great minds that have lived and still living... I'm a skeptic too.
Well, enough of the introduction.

Ever since I became a freethinker 4 years ago, there is a particular aspect that keeps bothering me. As a Nigerian living in Nigeria, it has not been easy thriving in a country that has so much superstitious beliefs (that I don't really agree with). My mother (a strong Christian) tells me so much about diabolical things that she has seen that people experience. I've heard of so many stories of people who experience some sort of spiritual attack in Nigeria. Our Nollywood movies are filled so much with such stuffs and you know, our movies reflect our way of life. You can't move from one state to the other in Nigeria without hearing about some 'jujuic' practice.

But I've always been skeptical (even before I became a freethinker when I came of age though) about these beliefs. And when I became a freethinker and started reading books, I started finding some hidden meanings behind these superstitious beliefs. For example, I read a book that talked about people of the ages who used to consult those called the 'shamans' that were believed to have inner husbands or wives for advice and the author was tryna teach that if people of the ages could tap into the power within us, we should start connecting with the masculine and feminine that is within all of us.... There are so many other examples.

But books can't do everything! I come here at nairaland to get some wisdom from nairalanders here who are freethinkers but it's not enough. Christians who are so much devoted to their beliefs do not maintain such beliefs just by reading the Bible and meditating, they also gather in the 'midst of the brethren' to strengthen their beliefs. Same with every other religion. But I have no physical 'brethren' to share my views and thoughts with and it hasn't been easy because I'm surrounded with Christians and superstitious believing people. I struggle so much tryna grasp this concept of evil spirits and other superstitious beliefs like that (which is the main purpose of this post).

I'm not dismissing these beliefs completely. As I wrote before, I'm a skeptic. Besides I've heard a lot, I still go to church (I still live with my mum) and you know, we're so much affected by our environment and the things we constantly hear. Again, I'm very much aware that there are certain things that are beyond us that we can never understand. But I know so much that many needs to be enlightened about certain things they believe in...

So you as a freethinker (whether atheist, agnostic, pantheist, deist, humanist or even Christian or Muslim who don't agree with everything you are being taught or exposed to!), how do you manage living in a country where there are so much superstitious beliefs around? If you don't believe in these things at all, can you give me reasons or proofs why you believe they don't exist (I'll appreciate proofs by experience more than knowledge from books)? If you're a skeptic, can you tell me how you thrive here?

Again, in matters of attaining success, it hasn't been easy for me though and I've been doing some personal work on my self but living in the midst of Christians (I told you mum is a strong Christian!) has been very frustrating for me because many of them begin to give some impressions that there's a spiritual attack or some sh*t like that while I know all that are nonsense.

I've not been able to express myself better in this post (I still dey learn English) but hope you get my question/post.

Aemmyjah:


What do you mean by inspiring metaphors?
I don't think you're a freethinker cos a freethinker should have an opinion of his own - conclusion of a belief

DeepSight:


Not necessarily.

Aemmyjah:



A freethinker is indecisive?

DeepSight:


Can be.
Indeed a freethinker can be completely agnostic.

Aemmyjah:


Can you trust or listen to an indecisive person?
You sabi wetin u de yan?

DeepSight:


A freethinker does not require your trust or confidence.

Perhaps you are missing or ignoring the word "free" in "freethinker."

Aemmyjah:


What do you benefit from an indecisive person?
How does he benefit himself?
Is that not irrational?

DeepSight:


A freethinker does not claim to be providing any benefit to anyone.
But honestly, clarity and humility are to be gained from the freethinker who admits that we know diddlysquat.

Aemmyjah:


Clarity?
From an indecisive person?

DeepSight:


It is clarity to know that we know not.

Now, you can keep exciting yourself by calling the freethinker indecisive. But that is not the defining quality of a freethinker. The defining qualities of a freethinker are free thought and an open mind not shackled to any given dogma.

For you, a person must show "decisiveness" by making up his mind on existential/ spiritual/ religious questions.
Little do you know that many existential questions are beyond our paygrade.

The slavish adherent to orthodoxy may well be "decisive" in his ignorant instinct to accpt whatever he is told.

But it is far more enlightened to recognize that there is much that is unknowable.

Aemmyjah:


An open minded person should be able to draw reasonable conclusions too. No body, even Christians belive they know all
Another word for freethinker [b]based on your descriptio[/b]n is irrational
Anything to gain from such person?

DeepSight:


I cant see what there is to gain from continuing a discussion with one who violently twists things. How does my description of the freethinker lead to your conclusion that another word for freethinker is "irrational?"

You are a lazy and frightened thinker. You dont even recognize that the freethinker does not necessarily reject the existence of God. There are many freethinkers who believe in God but are simply not shackled to religion. Secondly by "reasonable conclusions" it appears you really mean "agree with you."

One more time - the freethinker does not hold himself out as offering you "anything to gain."