The significance of Q's avatar

Discussion in 'About the Members' started by greenberg, Apr 7, 2008.

  1. greenberg until the end of the world Registered Senior Member

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    Q's avatar is a picture of a brain in a vat.

    Is this in any reference to the Brain in a Vat argument?

    Should Q's posts be in some way or another interpreted in relation to the Brain in a Vat argument?
     
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  3. sowhatifit'sdark Valued Senior Member

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    I think it is important also to note that we need not give Q's own opinion on the issue priority. He may have selected the symbol without consciously realizing its centralness. Writers are often not the best or most insightful critics of their own work.
     
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  5. S.A.M. uniquely dreadful Valued Senior Member

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    Its to signify his brain is separate from his individuality, I suppose.

    Interesting.
     
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  7. francois Schwat? Registered Senior Member

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    That's deeeeeep.
     
  8. sowhatifit'sdark Valued Senior Member

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    Now, now.

    Let's assume that Greenberg has hit the reference on the head, so to speak.

    This image is a symbol of rational caution. One does not leap to conclusions because of how things seem.
    Seeming is not evidence. It implies a stance that is critical of evidence based on the senses.
     
  9. (Q) Encephaloid Martini Valued Senior Member

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    Please remember that my vat is also an inter-galatic starship currently in orbit several thousand miles up.
     
  10. S.A.M. uniquely dreadful Valued Senior Member

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    I assume due to my knowledge of his low opinion of philosophy in general. Unless he's changed his mind.

     
  11. sowhatifit'sdark Valued Senior Member

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    VAT also means value added tax.
    The meaning becomes clear.
    Brain in a value added tax.
    Which is a scathing critique not only of theism but also nominalism.
     
  12. sowhatifit'sdark Valued Senior Member

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    The quote certainly forms a basis of critique of Greenberg's thesis, but offers no support of your thesis, except insofar as it is not Greenberg's. This latter is also true of my value added tax theory, for which I am grateful.

    Your first theory seemed to be, essentially, that he is making a claim of objectivity, which makes the brain in a vat a bad choice, but the value added tax theory a good one, since it is a tax intended to cover ALL business transactions, rather than a prejudiced tithing of certain sectors. Therefore: an objective tax.

    It can be further concluded that he see his posts as taxing.
     
  13. S.A.M. uniquely dreadful Valued Senior Member

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    Hmm as a nutritionist, my own perspective is that his brain is seriously pickled.
     
  14. sowhatifit'sdark Valued Senior Member

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    What are the, suspiciously coin-like, bubbles then in your theory?
     
  15. greenberg until the end of the world Registered Senior Member

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    It farted.
     
  16. S.A.M. uniquely dreadful Valued Senior Member

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    Fermentation from over pickling. Gases escaping forthwith.
     
  17. sowhatifit'sdark Valued Senior Member

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    No, I am not swayed. I think they are coins, silver ones, falling into the brain.

    The metaphor is
    knowledge = money
    science = taxation
    world = taxpayer
    brain = treasury department ----------} government works informed (payed for) via this process.

    Also note that copper oxidizes to precisely that color the liquid has. So the pennies or in any case copper coins have already gone through the liquid.
     
  18. S.A.M. uniquely dreadful Valued Senior Member

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    Hmm so why is the brain floating do you think?
     
  19. sowhatifit'sdark Valued Senior Member

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    zero (well, low) gravity, space station research
     
  20. S.A.M. uniquely dreadful Valued Senior Member

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    And the coins?

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