Great Quotes III: Source and Context are Key

[madviking]

well 'nominative determinism' is the belief that your name affects your destiny.

'namefate', as a name, would not result, according to the quote, any prescribed destiny.

hence free will.

 

[Kyriakos]

^Which is sort of lame. You own name doesn't affect how you will be (in non-extreme cases*) more or in similar degree than upbringing, environment, monetary and other conditions etc. Ie, like any parameter common enough, it tends to not affect much or in a specific manner.

*I mean if your parents named you 'dufus', or Pope John II, or Playstation etc, it would affect you.

 

[madviking]

i never said it was a true or reasonable belief, just that it exists.

 

[Kyriakos]

i never said it was a true or reasonable belief, just that it exists.

So you neither believe nor are accepting responsibility for the existence of this false theory?

Typical.

Is your name 'Thomas', then?

 

[madviking]

how did you know?????

 

[PhroX]

To be fair, AFAIK the term "nominative determinism" comes from the humorous "Feedback" column in New Scientist. It was never really meant as a serious thing, just something to describe the various submission readers had made of the authors of scientific papers having names that seemed remarkably appropriate for their field of study. The column has a habit of trying to come up with technical sounding terms for such trends in submissions.

That said, the idea itself has had various serious proponents down the years.

 

[Mouthwash]

'Max Tegmark.'
'Nick Bostrom.'

Yeeeeess, I see it. A career in Kabbalah sounds interesting at least.

 

[Arakhor]

If you don't want your life to be bound by fate, take up adventuring in Tamriel.

 

[Mouthwash]

"You may not be interested in Pascalian reasoning, but there is a very small yet nonzero chance that Pascalian reasoning is interested in you." -Scott Alexander

 

[Mechanicalsalvation]

"To preserve free will, call your kid 'Namefate' so that any choice they make will be compatible with nominative determinism." -Eliezer Yudkowsky

No idea what it means, but it sure sounds clever.

That quite suboptimal preservation of a free will becouse you let yourself to be bound by worries before you even start something. Better is just use your free will without prejudice still better to use it wisely. Why? Becouse everything comes at price - including free will.

 

[madviking]

i don't think the quote is meant to be taken seriously

 

[Mechanicalsalvation]

i don't think the quote is meant to be taken seriously

That perfectly explains it.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Italics are author's, bold is mine.
"There’s a clear claim being made here, and one with an edge: Democrats care about doing something and taking action while Republicans waste time offering meaningless prayers. These two reactions, policy-making and praying, are portrayed as mutually exclusive, coming from totally contrasting worldviews. Elsewhere on Twitter, full-on prayer shaming set in: Anger about the shooting was turned not toward the perpetrator or perpetrators, whose identities are still unknown, but at those who offered their prayers."
-Emma Green, "Prayer Shaming After a Mass Shooting in San Bernardino" , The Atlantic

 

[Flying Pig]

Unfortunately, they often are. Many of those praying today would vote against any helpful policy tomorrow. The anger comes because it is always Republicans offering prayers and never making useful policies to stop this from happening. Not all of them, though, and we should remember that.

 

[cardgame]

What kind of policies *can* stop a lone gunman or terrorists/extremists that anyone would be okay abiding by? Gun ban is out of the question. Increased NSA surveillance was very unpopular as I understand it.

 

[Thorvald of Lym]

Gun ban is out of the question.

You've seen John Oliver's three-part spot on Australia back from The Daily Show, aye?

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

You know Tahar, I wouldn't be surprised if people actually did fall for the latter one. One is reminded of that whole "Wi Tu Lo" thing a while back.

"It's truly unbelievable FNC/LA Times etc bought this Tayyeep Bin Ardogan hoax! What next, Ibn Falafel Ali Shawarma?"
- Tahar (@laseptiemewilay), 2015-12-02, 10:55 pm

 

[Kyriakos]

You know Tahar, I wouldn't be surprised if people actually did fall for the latter one. One is reminded of that whole "Wi Tu Lo" thing a while back.

"It's truly unbelievable FNC/LA Times etc bought this Tayyeep Bin Ardogan hoax! What next, Ibn Falafel Ali Shawarma?"
- Tahar (@laseptiemewilay), 2015-12-02, 10:55 pm

I wonder who originated this hoax name alluding to Erdo.

Unrelated: where is r16 today?

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

I wonder who originated this hoax name alluding to Erdo.

Was it you?

 

[Kyriakos]

Was it you?

One knows that Lord Vader can make the starfleet appear and disappear with a simple trick of the hand, and it is never in doubt that the smarties would rather die before pronouncing my name on the congregation shows. Yet if you kick a trashcan hard enough, won't you still be hurting your leg regardless of what comes out?