TTI Forums

Let's see if I can explain it... When we are born, we can only observe the world. We see how things are because we are observing them as we go. As time goes on, we are able to extrapolate principles to those observations, thereby creating abstract frameworks from which we can predict similar events,...

The problem with saying "Advantaged" or "Disadvantaged" regarding a person is that the advantage or disadvantage is determined by several things, including what they do, what they want, and how they are going about using the first and seeking the second. Some of the most common w...

Great points, the corporation is distinctly different, and yes it definitely receives a disproportionate advantage over a sole proprietorship. But how would you consider a partnership? . . . If you and I were partners. Lets say I brought some form of expertise & active management to the table a...

A corporation is, at its core, an organization consisting of multiple owners, and multiple members. However, unlike a standard partnership business, a corporation exists as an entity, giving it all the rights and responsibilities of a real person. This is the cornerstone of the problem, as a corpora...

Well, let's once again break the question of theism down to several questions. 1: Does a being of advanced power exist? 2: Is the said being perfect? 3: Did said being create anything regarding our reality? 4: If yes, did said being create reality itself? 5: Does said being interact with its creatio...

[in a flat Vulcan monotone voice] This is a meaningless question because symbolic gestures like this have no logical value. On the one hand, the "meaningless symbolism" argument did initially go through my mind. However, tell me, what makes symbolism "meaningless?" Think about i...

This reads to me as if it is more possible for this perfect being to exist in 4D space than in more complex space. Is that the position you intended? The opposite seems more likely to me. It would certainly make the "meddling aliens" argument easier to swallow if we keep it within our exi...

Oh, I'll jump back in. tldr: Logic doesn't work on theists. Anyhoo, from the perspective of the theist, God will always exist just a little bit beyond what we understand. We understand (yes, in a very vague and childish sort of way) the universe. We're pretty confident about its size, have some goo...

You have an unusually large avatar. It fillz my skreenz. I apologize, I just wanted the tagline to remain legible. I'll scale it down as soon as I return to my own computer... possibly replace it with my in-game portrait. [edit]Looks like I can scale from the website. Nice. Is this better?[/edit]

Agreed your ideas remain yours after they’ve been shared with outside world. But can you expect the rest of the outside world to not have any ideas of their own? It doesn't matter what I expect. The point is that an idea is a thought in a mind. When it is expressed, it is not an idea externally, bu...

The patent system involves those two parties. I was attempting to make a seeds and fruits comparison. We have two seeds: the patent seed (which we know pretty well); and the chaos seed. Two competing ideas (seeds), we look at what fruits these seeds will bear. In the case of the patent system it se...

I am called Reteo. I've already made a few posts in the Deep Thought thread, and am hoping I have not offended anyone in the process (I love a good debate, and can get carried away sometimes). I don't know if I'm Objectivist in the Rand sense, but I do live and believe in the axioms of self-ownershi...

We have history to reflect upon prior to the patent system. And in general I’d think that mechanisms like the patent system bring us to a higher place. By creating this artifact of IP the government creates a win ( for the inventor ) – win ( for society ). Without the system, secrecy become the par...

Verifying prophecy might possibly strengthen the "GOD exists" theory. But verifying a “predict & effect” situation is not as strong as proving a “cause & effect” situation. No, verifying 'historical claims,' in which 'historical' events recorded in religious texts can then be veri...

Wow... I know I'm going to take a bit of flak for this, but reason is just as much an impulse as any other activity; granted we only see it in human beings, but then that's what allowed us to become more dangerous than any other predator in history. Determinism is just another word for predictabilit...

Except that time travel is paradoxical. Grandfather, or predestination? What strengthens religious claims is people who dont want to make decisions for themselves. There's a vast gulf of difference between religion and the proof of a vastly more powerful being that may have set this universe in mot...

But that is not to say that IP rights and their limited life lack a reason to exist. We see infringement cases all the time. In those cases recompense is often based upon the degree of the breech through some sort of dispute process. Interesting idea, I wonder if a case has ever occurred where the ...

Welcome to the forums reteo. How would a time machine be useful in testing for the presence of GOD? One with a time machine can then travel around to verify the claims made in religious texts. Verifying religious claims would likely strengthen the "god exists" theory, unless scientific ex...

There are actually two questions where "God" is concerned. One, did someone/something create our reality, and two, did he/she/it interfere during the unfolding of history? These are not as easy to answer as it might otherwise be. First, there is the frame of reference argument; our ability...

I think I will use my initial post as well to weigh into this interesting topic. Where software is concerned, remember that wealth is not limited to financial assets. If software is released as F/OSS, the originator retains the benefit of the use of the program, plus the free problem reports and cod...