Russell's teapot

Discussion in 'Religion Archives' started by Michael, May 13, 2008.

  1. Enmos Valued Senior Member

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    Semantics ? They use damaged viruses.. is that better ?
    The discussion isn't whether or not viruses are alive.
    It's at what point matter can be called alive.
    I am sure you will agree with me that it's a matter of definition..
     
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  3. lightgigantic Banned Banned

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    I guess paramedics also scrape damaged people out of car crashes too
    :shrug:
    I guess one way you can determine whether they are still alive is by their capacity to potentially damage themselves again in another car crash sometime in the future ....
     
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  5. Enmos Valued Senior Member

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    Smash up your computer. It will no longer work. Is it alive ?
     
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  7. lightgigantic Banned Banned

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    it may not work, but it can easily be reconstructed so it does
    take a dead person and give them life again, then we can talk business
     
  8. Enmos Valued Senior Member

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    So you define something as life if it, when broken, can easily be reconstructed by humans ?
    Are, in that sense, proteins alive ?
     
  9. Sarkus Hippomonstrosesquippedalo phobe Valued Senior Member

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    You want a more accurate analogy... melt your computer and the components within it - all of them.
    Not just waft a flame around them - but actually melt them down - the case included - everything.

    Now - reconstruct it please.



    If you can - then we can talk.
     
  10. lightgigantic Banned Banned

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    my point was the opposite
    unlike material objects, life cannot be reconstructed from a dysfunctional state
     
  11. lightgigantic Banned Banned

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    given that the raw components for computer construction (ie metal and plastic) were extracted by various heat treating processes, I don't see what your point is
     
  12. Enmos Valued Senior Member

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    Oh duh... I forgot a word.

    I meant to say:

    "So you define something as life if it, when broken, can not easily be reconstructed by humans ?
    Are, in that sense, proteins alive ?"
     
  13. Sarkus Hippomonstrosesquippedalo phobe Valued Senior Member

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    My point is that in the process of melting down the PC, the complex nature of the individual components become lost, and in fact some aspects will be lost permanently - thus making rebuilding the computer an impossibility. The computer will have "died".

    Such with death - the complex nature of the human body breaks down to such a point that it is irrecoverable.

    Thus the analogy.


    So - are you saying you could rebuild the computer from the resulting lump of plastic and alloy that melting down the computer would result in, not to mention the burning of certain plastics that would irrecoverably alter their chemistry? Yes or no?
     
  14. Myles Registered Senior Member

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    I don't know what the hell you are talking about but it seems like you believe we have two selves, one of which is a metaphysical construct. I believe there is only one self and that is the product of time. experience and memory.
    It dies when we die because it can only be regarded as an epiphenomen of the brain.

    If you have evidence for another self, please put it forward without quoting the B.G. !
     
  15. Myles Registered Senior Member

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    No. they are offered medication and some form of psychiatric intervention because it is recognized that their brain is malfunctioning.
     
  16. lightgigantic Banned Banned

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    my point is that the computer never had life to begin with, since it is completely built from the ground up.

    When something dies, it is irrevocable, since the nature of being alive is not a materially reducible formula
     
  17. lightgigantic Banned Banned

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    erm ... in that post I didn't quote the Bhagavad gita ... just to accommodate your comfort zone
    :shrug:
     
  18. lightgigantic Banned Banned

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    one aspect of defining life is that upon dying, it is not within human capacity to re-establish it by material manipulation

    a dead person also has protein, so I guess not
     
  19. Myles Registered Senior Member

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    Well, that explains why you had nothing to say/
     
  20. lightgigantic Banned Banned

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    thats ok

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

     
  21. Myles Registered Senior Member

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    Still no answer !
     
  22. Enmos Valued Senior Member

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    A dead person is broken. Something has to be broken for the person to die.

    Your definition was:

    When broken, it can not easily be reconstructed by humans.

    Try the computer analogy again, and keep in mind that there are NO spare parts.
     
  23. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    Not yet.
     

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