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Recent Content by Plotinus

  1. Plotinus
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    Ancient Chinese poetry shouldn't rhyme in English, should it?

    Why are you reading it in the first place, then? This complaint all seems very abstract and generalised to me. If you think that the poems you're...
    Post by: Plotinus, Aug 7, 2019 in forum: World History
  2. Plotinus
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    Tell us of your favorite author(s)

    Well, that was clearly a terrible idea, and the producers evidently realised it because if you recall they fairly quickly dropped the conceit that...
    Post by: Plotinus, Aug 6, 2019 in forum: Arts & Entertainment
  3. Plotinus
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    Tell us of your favorite author(s)

    He's always talking about it, but there's no indication that it actually exists. (Peter Falk assumed that it didn't and that everything Columbo...
    Post by: Plotinus, Aug 4, 2019 in forum: Arts & Entertainment
  4. Plotinus
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    Tell us of your favorite author(s)

    Not really! Rumpole is a normal, fallible, human being, whose job has nothing to do with the truth. Columbo is an omniscient deity with no...
    Post by: Plotinus, Aug 3, 2019 in forum: Arts & Entertainment
  5. Plotinus
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    The science of God, or, the God of science

    Yes, their brains react the same way to stimuli physically - the same nerves tingle, the same neurons fire, the same muscles contract in response,...
    Post by: Plotinus, Jul 29, 2019 in forum: Off-Topic
  6. Plotinus
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    The science of God, or, the God of science

    A property dualist would say that consciousness requires a brain (or something like that) but that brains have properties other than physical ones...
    Post by: Plotinus, Jul 29, 2019 in forum: Off-Topic
  7. Plotinus
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    The science of God, or, the God of science

    Right. Well that's a reasonable response to the argument, and one I think is probably correct, rather than simply ruling out of court any...
    Post by: Plotinus, Jul 29, 2019 in forum: Off-Topic
  8. Plotinus
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    The science of God, or, the God of science

    Plenty of things aren't conceivable - a square circle, for example, or a married bachelor. If you are a physicalist, then you shouldn't say it's...
    Post by: Plotinus, Jul 29, 2019 in forum: Off-Topic
  9. Plotinus
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    The science of God, or, the God of science

    The difference is that they lack mental phenomena. Stick a pin in a person and they shout "Ouch!" (or similar), and they also experience pain....
    Post by: Plotinus, Jul 29, 2019 in forum: Off-Topic
  10. Plotinus
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    The science of God, or, the God of science

    This is arguably true, but note also that no-one has brought forward a non-biological one either. Dualists of various stripes tend to argue along...
    Post by: Plotinus, Jul 29, 2019 in forum: Off-Topic
  11. Plotinus
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    The science of God, or, the God of science

    Forgive me if this has already been debated to death, but I can't look through such a long thread very quickly! I think the crucial question...
    Post by: Plotinus, Jul 29, 2019 in forum: Off-Topic
  12. Plotinus
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    All things Discworld

    The original edition, published by Transworld. I don't know if that's the Corgi one, but it probably is, as Corgi is an imprint of Transworld. In...
    Post by: Plotinus, Jul 29, 2019 in forum: Arts & Entertainment
  13. Plotinus
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    What things in fiction are turnoffs to you?

    All right - I'll grudgingly allow that the first time it was done is arguably acceptable.
    Post by: Plotinus, Jul 26, 2019 in forum: Arts & Entertainment
  14. Plotinus
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    All things Discworld

    Here's my smug claim to fame: I proof-read Night Watch and Monstrous Regiment. So I got paid for reading Terry Pratchett. If you spot any typos...
    Post by: Plotinus, Jul 26, 2019 in forum: Arts & Entertainment