Comments by kkelly

77, My gastroenterology prof. had news clippings of two incidents, but I could never find them online.

edit: and it doesn't make sense considering that most of farts is swallowed air.

What is true is that lakes can fart and asphyxiate entire villages.

303. Breeding for God

Comment #222593 by kkelly on July 31, 2008 at 3:07 pm

Is Fanusi advocating for the expulsion of Sharia supporters in general, or just the rabble-rousing imams?

304. Postmodernism Disrobed

Comment #222526 by kkelly on July 31, 2008 at 1:55 pm

That hoax was absolutely hilarious. How anybody could delude themselves into thinking they actually understand such drivel is beyond me. They must have a really good working memory, yet poor logical skills. I had a friend who was victimized by the Ivy League humanities monster, his pet thing was that everything was a "construct". Shut the fuck up!!

305. What's wrong with science as religion

Comment #222474 by kkelly on July 31, 2008 at 1:05 pm

* Realisation that there are other dimensions outside of our five body senses.

It's like these people don't undersand basic syntax.

306. Is Killing Liberals a Hate Crime?

Comment #222466 by kkelly on July 31, 2008 at 12:57 pm

9, I agree. As much as I hate the personality type that gravitates towards that as a profession (and ergo, towards whom feel little sympathy when killed), if you know you're only going to get probation or a month in jail for hitting cops for doing their duty, well, there'd be a lot of assaulted cops.

307. Church exorcism protected by First Amendment

Comment #222405 by kkelly on July 31, 2008 at 12:15 pm

70, and STILL you smoked?! christ, it's not like it even approaches the goodness of crystal meth!

308. Church exorcism protected by First Amendment

Comment #222390 by kkelly on July 31, 2008 at 11:58 am

Gregg, I wasn't trying to guilt you, I was trying to make you see that it's not a matter of risk, but closer to a certainty. Smokers are not aware of that, partly because the anti-smoking campaign focuses on trivial things like how many toxins there are in smoke, or how deceptive the industry is.

I used alveolar destruction as an example because that is unavoidable, is happening right now in most (all?) young smokers, and results in serious morbidity. Many people focus only on mortality, and we all know that the threat of death decades from now is not very persuasive. Even so, it needs repeating that life-long smokers have almost a 20% chance of getting lung cancer.

edit: I too know the joy of feeling the hot smoke fill your lungs and the wave of relaxation that sweeps across your body. I quit after only smoking for a few years, so I know you would have a much harder time.

309. Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Thinking about Morality

Comment #222143 by kkelly on July 30, 2008 at 7:08 pm

46, You had said earlier that there is no "objective" empirical evidence for human consciousness, but I think you're confusing the subjective experience of consciousness with the objective measures of its existence.

I can't understand your taking the default position of assuming sameness just because we haven't completely described the differences (we never will), which even at face value are obvious.

310. Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Thinking about Morality

Comment #222138 by kkelly on July 30, 2008 at 6:40 pm

44, your very last clause clarified to me where you're coming from. Plant (cellular) awareness of environment is fundamentally different from awareness arising from neural connectivity. A cell receives a signal, which is sent via second-messenger systems to activate gene expression whose products respond appropriately to the stimulus (It's been a while since I studied this so bear with me), all simple cause/effect material actions, but the billions of connections between billions of neurons provides for incalculable more levels of complexity.

You're of the mind that human consciousness is just another form of organic awareness, the WAY in which an organism detects and reacts to its environment? Am I way off about you?

311. Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Thinking about Morality

Comment #222124 by kkelly on July 30, 2008 at 5:17 pm

41, You make an intersting point about the self-awareness tests that I didn't consider, and I agree that self awareness in mammals is quantitative.

[edit: keep in mind though, that even plants can distinguish self-species from others through chemical means, and your odor example does not make any claims about conscious experience]

What I meant by "dread" was the conscious experience of fear based on the knowledge that you are about to die. Animals instinctively know to avoid danger and I don't doubt they feel the same physiologic fear we do. But humans have an outer cortex in addition to their reptilian brain that allows self-reflection and a more disturbing/painful experience of fear. I would consider the reptilian experience to be a wholly unconscious reflex arc, and the mammalian experience as a continuum/all-or-nothing, depending on the specific quality.

Your last critique I can't disagree with, but just because the evolved impulse didn't regard these abstract qualities of personhood, it doesn't mean they aren't important.

312. Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Thinking about Morality

Comment #222107 by kkelly on July 30, 2008 at 3:45 pm

38, in a later post I clarified that I know the difference is a matter of degree.

edit: well certain mental qualities are, but something like understanding mortality is not.

313. Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Thinking about Morality

Comment #222101 by kkelly on July 30, 2008 at 3:24 pm

34, click on 'comment posting guidelines' above the window.

314. Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Thinking about Morality

Comment #222064 by kkelly on July 30, 2008 at 2:13 pm

30, Good question, I think that more people would kill the baby in the group setting because there would be tacit encouragement, and group acceptance goes a long way in diminishing feelings of personal culpability. So while I don't doubt that the subconscious urge is self, not group preservation, the group environment would make it easier to override moral disgust, and do the 'right' thing.

315. Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Thinking about Morality

Comment #222055 by kkelly on July 30, 2008 at 1:53 pm

28, yes the consequences are more important in this case, in others, no, but that's another debate.

As far as what determines personhood, I'd say self-awareness is most important, an awareness of time, ability for self-reflection, capacity for dread and pondering mortality...I'm not the best to elucidate this. But if it helps, I think adult chimps have more personhood than baby humans, but in this case, potentiality is certainly relevant.

316. To beat extremism we must dissolve religious groups

Comment #222051 by kkelly on July 30, 2008 at 1:47 pm

I'm curious though, does it matter at all to any of you what heritage your ancestors had? I think it's completely irrelevant to who I am. When I see people having emotional breakdowns upon discovering that one of their bajillion direct ancestral lines goes back to some tribe or another, I just get the feeling they don't have any respect for their indivuality (or understanding of genetics).

317. Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Thinking about Morality

Comment #222048 by kkelly on July 30, 2008 at 1:41 pm

24, reread post 20.

318. Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Thinking about Morality

Comment #222046 by kkelly on July 30, 2008 at 1:39 pm

23, I'm not sure about a "maximal lives" instinct, I can't disagree though. But when you consider that mortality fatigue, that is how much you care about any additional deaths, sets in after one, and that we value the lives of our loved ones more so than, and fundamentally different from, strangers, I think that our innate moral decision-making process is powerfully influenced by an unconscious, evolved moral grammar based on what types of people are most important to your own survival.

This dual model described in the article, I think misses that. I think any utilitarian module in the brain automatically factors in what I described, or tried to at least, above.

319. Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Thinking about Morality

Comment #222037 by kkelly on July 30, 2008 at 1:14 pm

19, Improbable?, highly, unknown?, not unless you're an alien who has no experience with human behavior. Even if everybody DID want to sacrifice themselves to SAVE the baby, which isn't possible in this situation anyway, you have to consider why it is that adults are more deserving of moral treatment than babies are.

What grants humans higher moral status above other animals? DNA? no. Body shape? no. Minds? yes. Babies have much less personhood if you use that as criteria, and I think it's reasonable.

But yes, every decision in this matter is equally and completely selfish, they differ on rationality.

320. A third of Muslim students back killings

Comment #222006 by kkelly on July 30, 2008 at 12:34 pm

The problem is that Western liberal pluralists DON'T advise a "reasonable" degree of religious tolerance, and don't even consider that individual rights of the oppressed victims of certain cultures and religions factor into the issue.

321. To beat extremism we must dissolve religious groups

Comment #221985 by kkelly on July 30, 2008 at 12:08 pm

86, it was a JOKE though! I don't LITERALLY think an actual oral rape of thewhitepearl is funny!

322. To beat extremism we must dissolve religious groups

Comment #221980 by kkelly on July 30, 2008 at 12:03 pm

84, no, it was publc, her inability to get past the literal led her to spill those beans, in my opinion. It was funny though, sorry you missed it.

323. Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Thinking about Morality

Comment #221978 by kkelly on July 30, 2008 at 12:00 pm

8, it's not about having rights. You don't have a right and you don't NOT have a right, it's about preserving the existence of the greatest number of the sentient, moral creatures you can. The fact that you're more concerned with having to suffer inner mental anguish than the lives of others tells me you're not aware of just how selfish that decision ultimately is.

324. To beat extremism we must dissolve religious groups

Comment #221974 by kkelly on July 30, 2008 at 11:44 am

80, how astute.

325. Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Thinking about Morality

Comment #221967 by kkelly on July 30, 2008 at 11:36 am

12, what's the fun in that?

326. To beat extremism we must dissolve religious groups

Comment #221965 by kkelly on July 30, 2008 at 11:34 am

[deleted by poster]

327. Kung poo panda 'The Sex Lives of Animals' exhibit digs deep.

Comment #221951 by kkelly on July 30, 2008 at 10:53 am

I approve, finally there's hope that blowhole sex will not be persecuted and marginalized by the moral majority.

328. Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Thinking about Morality

Comment #221946 by kkelly on July 30, 2008 at 10:45 am

The dual process model also predicts that in the absence of cognitive load utilitarian judgments will still be slower than deontological judgments. Because utilitarian judgments (such as that it is appropriate to smother the baby) rely on controlled, deliberate processes, they should take longer than deontological judgments, which depend on emotions, instincts and other fast, automatic processes. Greene et al. found this difference for low-utilitarian participants (who made fewer utilitarian judgments) but not for high-utilitarian participants. To explain this anomaly, Greene et al. postulate "an additional process" that enables high-utilitarian participants to make utilitarian judgments quickly.

Or maybe, it's NOT that utilitarian judgements "rely on controlled, deliberate processes", but a simple innate mechanism for quick cost/benefit decisions. And only the low-utilitarian participants took longer because they were more bogged down in weighing learned morality against that innate mechanism, that is, using higher areas of their brain, which is I admit a very vague explanation.

329. Faith is not the answer

Comment #221451 by kkelly on July 29, 2008 at 4:21 pm

52, oh right, your rack serves to bolster intellectual integrity.

330. Faith is not the answer

Comment #221447 by kkelly on July 29, 2008 at 4:18 pm

50, no. but if you're looking for a loveless, empty relationship with a lazy mooch, we could arrange something.

331. Faith is not the answer

Comment #221444 by kkelly on July 29, 2008 at 4:09 pm

48, post a pic please, if I like it, we'll talk.

332. Church exorcism protected by First Amendment

Comment #221440 by kkelly on July 29, 2008 at 4:08 pm

35, do you know one of the surest ways to a miserable existence followed by premature death is smoking?

333. Faith is not the answer

Comment #221436 by kkelly on July 29, 2008 at 4:05 pm

45, did you read my ad or something? you're willing to be my sugar daddy?

334. Church exorcism protected by First Amendment

Comment #221434 by kkelly on July 29, 2008 at 4:03 pm

33, Do you know that every year you smoke you're permanently destroying the walls of your alveoli? When you first notice symptoms of emphysema, you've likely already lost at least 50% capacity. Only about 20% of life-long smokers actually get a diagnosis of COPD, but practically ALL have significant loss of lung function that limits their freedom and comfort.

335. Faith is not the answer

Comment #221430 by kkelly on July 29, 2008 at 3:55 pm

41, why?

336. Faith is not the answer

Comment #221415 by kkelly on July 29, 2008 at 3:41 pm

36, where he forever fucks his mother in an outhouse.

337. Catholics To Pope: Lift Birth Control Ban

Comment #221379 by kkelly on July 29, 2008 at 2:57 pm

301, I used to be an animal lover as a kid, me and my brother caught and bought countless little critters...and had a very crowded pet cemetary in a corner of our backyard.

338. A third of Muslim students back killings

Comment #221362 by kkelly on July 29, 2008 at 2:36 pm

668, gay porn.

339. Church exorcism protected by First Amendment

Comment #221358 by kkelly on July 29, 2008 at 2:34 pm

I have never liked bumper stickers, but that is pretty good!

I have "93% of mothers regret their kids".

340. A third of Muslim students back killings

Comment #221347 by kkelly on July 29, 2008 at 2:23 pm

661, I too find Gregg Townsend and herpes an easy comparison to make.

341. Church exorcism protected by First Amendment

Comment #221345 by kkelly on July 29, 2008 at 2:21 pm

I think her next legal move is a malpractice lawsuit for said botched exorcism.

342. A third of Muslim students back killings

Comment #221340 by kkelly on July 29, 2008 at 2:13 pm

658, good one.

343. A third of Muslim students back killings

Comment #221322 by kkelly on July 29, 2008 at 1:58 pm

645, post 627 seems robotic, your explanations when somebody questions you seem organic.

344. A third of Muslim students back killings

Comment #221309 by kkelly on July 29, 2008 at 1:49 pm

642, thanks, that is a touchy subject with me. My utter ignorance of anime? sci-fi? wtf? has often held me back socially and led to embarrassment.

345. A third of Muslim students back killings

Comment #221297 by kkelly on July 29, 2008 at 1:39 pm

627, Al, I accept capitalism. Sometimes it's like there's two people in your head. One is extremely adept at regurgitating large chunks of information practically verbatim, the other talks like an actual biological organism and belies your true understanding. Not an insult, I like reading your posts.

346. A third of Muslim students back killings

Comment #221283 by kkelly on July 29, 2008 at 1:31 pm

628, obviously I'd use a ten foot pole.

347. A third of Muslim students back killings

Comment #221268 by kkelly on July 29, 2008 at 1:21 pm

622, I forgot to mention I'd then chuck you into oncoming traffic.

348. A third of Muslim students back killings

Comment #221259 by kkelly on July 29, 2008 at 1:14 pm

618, [hurls totally uncalled for epithets like 'whoreface' and 'pusshole']

349. A third of Muslim students back killings

Comment #221247 by kkelly on July 29, 2008 at 1:06 pm

I admit my knowledge of economic theory is garnered mainly from scanning newspaper headlines as I make my way to the gossip page, but even I can see how simplistic Al and TWP are here. It's almost like you're completely ignorant of human psychology.

350. Catholics To Pope: Lift Birth Control Ban

Comment #221073 by kkelly on July 29, 2008 at 10:12 am

Okay I know it would be pointless to try and convince you otherwise so this will be my last comment on the issue for some time.

I've lived in coed dorms, and I've been in the laundry room. I've seen the stains those things leave on underwear even when in proper working order.