posted
My absurd belief is that ethical truths exist, can be known, and are independent of any supernatural being. Or if that's not bizarre enough for you, I also believe that in one hundred years or less calculus will be regularly taught to children of eight or ten.
What is the most absurd claim that you believe? This was a question recently asked on a blog I regularly read, www.marginalrevolution.com . To paraphrase the poster, Tyler Cowen, by absurd I mean a view that you truly do hold, but that many (or most) other smart people consider untenable and bizarre.
Posts: 2409 | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
My absurd belief is that everything is true, somewhere in some parallel time or universe if not in this universe. I know that it is completely absurd, but this is something that I've believed for as long as I can remember.
It is also a really depressing thing to believe, when looked at in certain lights because it means that there are some pretty objectionable things true somewhere out there in space or in time or in some alternate existence.
This goes along with another absurd belief of mine - that anything that I, or any of us, can possibly imagine has already happened somewhere, sometime.
Yeah, I know. But you asked, and I'm just tired enough that my internal censor hasn't told me that it probably isn't a good idea to go ahead and post this. Nah. It told me; I'm just not listening.
Posts: 2454 | Registered: Jan 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
The most absurd thing I REALLY believe? I believe that there were two Mondays in a row when I was five. I remember it happening. My parents told me that, no, it didn't. But. I do remember it. Posts: 628 | Registered: Nov 1999
| IP: Logged |
posted
Calculus really could be useful for earlier math students. The basic principles of tangential relationships, slope, and area under a curve are simple and can have a profound impact on a student's understanding of hundreds of real-life situations.
Posts: 1592 | Registered: Jan 2001
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by rivka: That is a scary link.
Wow, some folks are obsessed!
I'm not sure if I should lament the time and industry wasted, or be grateful they've been distracted from their plans for world domination. Posts: 6394 | Registered: Dec 1999
| IP: Logged |
posted
My absurd beliefs would spark a right-wing riot in my neighborhood, so I'll keep them to myself for now.
Posts: 11895 | Registered: Apr 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
I really do believe I have superpowers. I just don't know what they are or how to use them. I've been waiting a while for the superpower-training-league to find me, but they've been surprisingly tardy, since I should have been acquainted with, and learned to control, these abilities from a young age. Now I'll be hopelessly behind and have to take telekinesis classes with people a decade or more younger than me. Oh well. I'm sure they'll wise up to their mistake sooner or later.
If I ever stop believing this, I'll probably just spontaneously discorporate from the infinite sadness.
Posts: 2907 | Registered: Nov 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:My absurd belief is that ethical truths exist, can be known, and are independent of any supernatural being
That one isn't so bizarre. Certain things just ARE evil, and if God did do something evil (which he won't), he would "cease to be God." This belief is very close to LDS thought on the issue.
Posts: 1512 | Registered: A Long Time Ago!
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by littlemissattitude: My absurd belief is that everything is true, somewhere in some parallel time or universe if not in this universe. I know that it is completely absurd, but this is something that I've believed for as long as I can remember.
Well if there are an infinite number of universes out there, (as some think) wouldn't that mean an infinite number of possibilities?
Posts: 3134 | Registered: Mar 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
I believe that God is a sociopath. Basically, he's the psychotic child and we're the flies he pulls the wings off of. Most everyone will disagree with me on this, I expect, but I honestly do believe it.
Posts: 957 | Registered: Aug 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
Speaking of "superpowers" : I believe that the human brain is already designed to work as perfectly as Bean's, that we're only not able to use our resources, yet. That the several parts of our brain in the head and our other brain (the nerve cells around the intestine) will learn to work together so smoothly that intuition becomes as reliable to us as Bean's to him. That we become completely aware of intuitive thoughts and are able to verify them conscousily (instead of only guessing).
Posts: 262 | Registered: Feb 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
It is a reference to Stray's post that "as flies to wanton boys, we are to the gods; they kill us for their sport" (had to get the Shakespeare reference in). Magnifying glasses, however, are more often used on ants.
Posts: 1114 | Registered: Mar 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
Does a past belief count? When I was a little kid I really believed that if I tried hard enough I could teleport. I'd sit for hours trying to focus and will myself in to the closet.
Pinky- People sometimes hold magnifying glasses above ants. This focuses light from the sun and actually burns the ants. And I think that Flying Cow's comment was aimed at Stray.
Posts: 1947 | Registered: Aug 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
I believe that if I don't eat black-eyed peas on New Year's Day, I will have bad luck all year.
Posts: 3037 | Registered: Jan 2002
| IP: Logged |
quote:Pinky- People sometimes hold magnifying glasses above ants. This focuses light from the sun and actually burns the ants. And I think that Flying Cow's comment was aimed at Stray.
Oh. We used to use flame-throwers (hair spray and a lighter) to torture FLIES... Children can be so cruel...
Posts: 262 | Registered: Feb 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
i don't think it's terribly bizarre, but someone else might. i wholly and truly believe (because it's true) that what we experience with our 5 senses is not what is actually going on in the world. there is a much deeper, "truer" existence going on under the surface and what we experience is just a glimmer on the surface of what is really going on. and if we train our minds and study enough we can access that true reality and discover the secrets of the universe.
quote:Originally posted by vonk: i don't think it's terribly bizarre, but someone else might. i wholly and truly believe (because it's true) that what we experience with our 5 senses is not what is actually going on in the world. there is a much deeper, "truer" existence going on under the surface and what we experience is just a glimmer on the surface of what is really going on. and if we train our minds and study enough we can access that true reality and discover the secrets of the universe.
That's a bit Plato, isn't it? The Cave- Parabel? Although, in his version, we can only get out of the "cave" by dying. You're version is much more optimistic. Posts: 262 | Registered: Feb 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
I don't know if I actually believe this. Intellectually I know it's ridiculous, but some part of me still clings to it, so I think it qualifies.
I believe that with every choice we make a universe is created in which we made the opposite choice. In cases in which more than one choice is present, I believe multiple universes open up.
Also
I believe I'm damned.
Posts: 4655 | Registered: Jan 2002
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Pinky: That's a bit Plato, isn't it? The Cave- Parabel? Although, in his version, we can only get out of the "cave" by dying. You're version is much more optimistic.
on no, you don't have to die. in fact, i've been behind the frames of reality and caught a glimpse of what is behind everything. just a glimpse mind you, but it was enough to try for more.
Posts: 2596 | Registered: Jan 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
I thought that "this glimpse" could be the cause for the death. We're not worthy to see, our brain is not (yet) capable to understand: stroke or heart attack. Posts: 262 | Registered: Feb 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
oh no, we are capable. unless i'm dead. am i dead? is hatrack heaven?
Edit to add: what does Plato know, he had to wait till he died to find out what's behind reality. i kick plato's ass.
Posts: 2596 | Registered: Jan 2006
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by vonk: oh no, we are capable. unless i'm dead. am i dead? is hatrack heaven?
Edit to add: what does Plato know, he had to wait till he died to find out what's behind reality. i kick plato's ass.
Pföööörg... you can try! But he didn't SAY that. I think. It must have been 15 years since I read "Sophie's world" .
We don't have to be dead, actually, but as long as we live in this cave, with our back towards the entry, we spent our lives watching the shadow of reality moving on the backwall. Or something like that. We can't turn around and face the actual reality, the things of which we only see the shadows (or shades) as long as we live... so?
Posts: 262 | Registered: Feb 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
i dunno, so nothing. that was platos' opinion, but not mine. we can turn around and look and walk on out of this old cave, all it takes is the will to do it.
Posts: 2596 | Registered: Jan 2006
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by vonk: i've been behind the frames of reality and caught a glimpse of what is behind everything. just a glimpse mind you, but it was enough to try for more. [/QB]
If you're open to talking about it I'd be very interested to hear more about this, vonk. If you'd rather not discuss it here I understand, of course.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
its not that i mind talking about it. its just that it is very hard to find the right words to describe. any words i know to try to describe what happened sound so outlandish that it makes it all sound so incredible that i wouldn't believe it if i hadn't experienced it.
i've read several books on meditation, but i think the one that helped me focus (or not focus as it were) the best is Jack Kerouac's Some of the Dharma. after a day of fasting and centering, a small amount of specific herbal supplements, and and indeterminate (really i have no idea how long it lasted) amound of meditating i experienced something that was both life affirming and life changing. imagine the frames of a movie slowing down. i couldn't see of course, becaus my eyes were closed, and i wasn't paying attention to my surroundings at all, but that was the sensation. as if all of a sudden the frames of reallity slowed down enough for each one to be individually distinguishable. these "frames" further slowed down until they were stopped. i was then able to move in between the gaps in the frames and pass behind them. what was there i could not even hope to put into words. i can't even really bring it back into my minds eye because i can't register what happened with any of my 5 senses. i do know that it was at once very amazing, very frightening, and very very confusing. i think that if i spent more time there i would be able to get used to it, but that is based on something i've read: that what i experienced is what everyone experiences when they die, and the longer you spend there when alive the better adapted you will be once to you go there after life. but then, time doesn't really mean anything behind reality. woo, it gets me kinda confused thinking and talking about it, i could probably go on forever.
this was about a year ago, i've tried to get to the same place again, but to no success. usually because i am too stressed out or somehow or another too attached to my physical surroundings and normal thought patterns. if i didn't have to worry about food and rent and bills and a job and a girlfriend and friends and all that bull i could just go out to the woods for a week or month and really make a go of it, but that isn't feasable in the foreseable future.
Edit: this isn't something i wouldn't want to talk about, i want everyone to know so everyone can do it. its just that when i talk to much about it, people tend to take me less seriously.
Posts: 2596 | Registered: Jan 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
For what it's worth, I don't believe you experienced anything beyond a simple hallucination, but neither do I take you less seriously. Thank you for trusting us enough to share it.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
| IP: Logged |
posted
Meditation can be used for a lot of things. My one freind uses meditation to better detect and see ghosts.
I believe in ghosts/spirits. NOt sure wether they are dead people or just some sort of spirit though...
Posts: 832 | Registered: Jan 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
I believe that I used to have dreams which showed me small glimpses (5-30 seconds) of the future. They were always inconsequential, and never gave any great revelations, but it happened often enough and with enough clarity that I'm confident that it wasn't just a sense of deja vu. On a few rare instances I would recognize "This is my dream happening again" before the dreamed sequence was over, and remember what was about to happen moments before it did.
These dreams were never, ever of anything useful. No lottery numbers, no saving me from oncoming cars, just weird little glimpses of my life that hadn't happened yet.
posted
That same dream thing has happened to me lots of times too. OR used to.
And I did have one where a car t-bones me but that was like a year ago and it hasnt happened yet so im hoping...
Posts: 832 | Registered: Jan 2005
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Nah. It told me; I'm just not listening.
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
![[ROFL]](graemlins/rofl.gif)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
:![[Angst]](graemlins/angst.gif)
![[Laugh]](graemlins/laugh.gif)
FlyingCow
![[Confused]](confused.gif)
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
