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Just Chat! / How Many Philosophers Agree With J. J. C. Smart?

« on: 28/11/2024 05:34:08 »

As I tell people, in 1994 I bought the book "Utilitarianism: For and Against" by J. J. C. Smart at the book store of a community college I was going to. I was interested in topics like that. Philosophy, meta ethics and normative ethics. A couple of things still confuse me about the book.

Don't get me wrong. But it just seems to me to be written on a very ordinary level intellectually. But I wouldn't know. I think that is just because it was written for the laymen. I really don't that know much about the subject of philosophy still anyways. So that could just be my opinion too. But I know Smart was famous and outstanding in his field. He was also connected with a couple of universities in Australia and the UK. He also thought utilitarianism is the best normative system of ethics. I don't know what the best normative system of ethics is. But utilitarianism does have some flaws, in my opinion at least. Using hedonistic math is good at solving problems, like how to write legislation to help the most people. But it seems to say that pleasure is the greatest good. I don't know what the greatest good is, but I don't think it's pleasure. I think having a society where everyone is healthy and their needs are met, and then they are able to decide for themselves how they choose to live their life, is the greatest good. I know Smart believed in utilitarianism. But I wonder books like "Utilitarianism: For and Against" weren't just meant more to make people think, and to get the discussion going on that topic.

I was also asking on another message board. Has anyone created a list of normative ethics rules that everyone agrees on? I know I've heard most modern philosophers are moral realists. And some moral realists say that we can not know what moral rules are valid and what aren't. But I know everyone still seems to agree on a few basic rules, at least the most important ones. Because I've heard some people say secular humanism is one rule system that most philosophers and scientist agree on. I've also heard people say that the golden rule is still the best, treat people as you would have them treat you.

So my questions are about that book. Was it written for laymen, or is it taught in places like universities? And do most modern scientists and philosophers think utilitarianism is the best moral system? And what moral system do most scientists/philosophers belong to?

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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / What Causes This Optical Effect?

« on: 21/11/2024 15:56:27 »

Did you ever notice? When someone is looking out from a brightly lit room to some place that is pitch dark, like the outside at night, they really can't see anything at all. But the people outside can see them clearly. Also, shades seem to make a difference. It is much harder to see into a room with shade in the window if it is brighter outside. I think I heard some place that is why they used to use shades on windows.

What is this optic effect called? And how does it work?

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Physiology & Medicine / How Does Your Body Burn Fats And Oils?

« on: 14/11/2024 09:48:35 »

I've wondered this for some time now. Carbohydrates, like sugars and starches, lead to weight gain. Your body can also get energy from protein, but protein doesn't lead to weight gain.

But what about fats and oils? The Atkins diet has you eat fats and oils, because the theory goes, they don't make you gain any weight. Or do they just make you gain less weight?

I know the Atkins diet leads to something called ketosis, if you follow it closely. But I'm not sure what ketosis is, or if fats and oils just lead to less weight gain, or any weight gain at all.

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Physiology & Medicine / What Are Chemical Burns?

« on: 08/11/2024 01:49:53 »

A while ago the columnist Cecil Adams of the Chicago Reader answered someone's question. They said that a friend dared them to eat several Jalapeno peppers really fast. And they asked if it would be safe to do this. Cecil Adams said that eating something as caustic as that could cause a chemical burn.

What is a chemical burn? Is it the same thing as a heat burn? Or is it something different?

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Physiology & Medicine / Why Is There No Point For Taking Supplements?

« on: 31/10/2024 09:54:29 »

I brought this subject up here once before. Taking vitamin and mineral supplements. In case you are deficient in any of them in your diet, and for the health benefits their have. Like the health benefits things like phytonutrients give you from fresh fruits. But someone here said they were just a waste of money.

I'm still a little confused by that. I've been taking a multivitamin for some time now. None of my doctors endorsed the idea. But they said it was all right. As I told them, I obviously don't get a hundred percent of the percent daily value in my food everyday. No one could. You'd have to eat a bushel of vegetables just to do that. So obviously I am deficient. At least according to the FDA. Also, I am confused why the health benefits of things like phytonutrients only come from fresh fruits and vegetables. Wouldn't they come when you take them in pill form too? And wouldn't that be easier?

Plus I might as well include this question here. There is an agreed upon percent daily value. But is there an agreed on minimum value? Obviously there are nutritional diseases like Scurvy, that come when you basically don't get any of that nutrient. But is there a minimum amount that you could take to be healthy? When they say the "recommended" amount, they just mean ideally. Right? So what's the difference?

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Physiology & Medicine / Re: What Are The Advantages To Taking Vinegar Everyday?

« on: 25/10/2024 17:32:47 »

Some say that it lowers blood sugar and treats high blood pressure.

Who says that?
Have they done a proper trial?

I don't know about a trial or study. I've heard that information before. And I did a quick Google search to verify what I heard, and what exactly the claims were. Google information searches just give you what is trending. But not always what is accurate of course. And as I said, some people just say that and those are the top health claims made for vinegar.

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Physiology & Medicine / What Are The Advantages To Taking Vinegar Everyday?

« on: 25/10/2024 01:41:26 »

I know some people think some health foods are cures for everything. It's obviously wrong to think that. I have heard they can supplement the other medicines you're taking though. I heard one or two doctors say that. But some are more skeptical.

But specifically vinegar. Some say that it lowers blood sugar and treats high blood pressure. Others say it has antioxidants and other nutrients. Now, it does have some nutrients in, especially if it's made apple cider vinegar or made from wine.

Of course, white vinegar doesn't have too many nutrients in it because it is vinegar distilled from pure alcohol. So obviously if the benefits of vinegar came from nutrients found in the food it was made from, then white vinegar wouldn't give you those benefits. Although people still claim that even white vinegar does things like lower blood sugar treat high blood pressure.

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Just Chat! / Shakespeare's Take On Terrorism And Political Violence.

« on: 17/10/2024 12:02:50 »

I was thinking about this play after 9-11. "Julius Caesar" by William Shakespeare. I studied it in my Sophomore Year in HS, 1983-4. It was horrible what the 9-11 terrorists did of course. And we should never in any way condone that kind of behavior. But I was thinking at that time. What kinds of political and social conditions lead people to think acts of political terrorism is their only option. And what is going on in their mind at the time. I even thought it might be a good idea to do this play as a charity event to benefit the first responders and victims of 9-11. The January 6th riots would be a more recent example when people are misled to believe that violence is the only solution to their problem. What follows are some of the more famous and poignant lines from that play.

"Knew you not Pompey?"

-Act I, Scene 1.

"But for mine own part, it was Greek to me."

-Act I, Scene 2.

"Let me have men about me that are fat,
Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep a-nights.
Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look.
He thinks too much. Such men are dangerous."

-Act I, Scene 2.

"Men at some time are masters of their fates.
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings."

-Act I, Scene 2.

"What a terrible era in which idiots govern the blind."

-Act II, Scene 1.

"Between the acting of a dreadful thing
And the first motion, all the interim is
Like a phantasma or a hideous dream."

-Act II, Scene 1.

"Danger knows full well
That Caesar is more dangerous than he."

-Act II, Scene 2.

"When beggars die, there are no comets seen; the heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes."

-Act II, Scene 2.

"Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once."

-Act II, Scene 2.

"Beware the Ides of March."

-Act III, Scene 1.

"The ides of March are come."
"Ay, Caesar; but not gone."

-Act III, Scene 1.

"I could be well moved, if I were as you.
If I could pray to move, prayers would move me.
But I am constant as the Northern Star,
Of whose true fixed and resting quality
There is no fellow in the firmament."

-Act III, Scene 1.

"Et tu, Brute?"

-Act III, Scene 1.

"Liberty! Freedom! Tyranny is dead!
Run hence, proclaim, cry it about the streets."

-Act III, Scene 1.

"And Caesar's spirit, ranging for revenge,
With Ate by his side come hot from hell,
Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice
Cry 'Havoc!' and let slip the dogs of war,
That this foul deed shall smell above the earth."

-Act III, Scene 1.

"Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more."

-Act III, Scene 2.

"Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones.
So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious.
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answered it."

-Act III, Scene 2.

"He was my friend."

-Act III, Scene 2.

"This was the most unkindest cut of all."

-Act III, Scene 2

"For I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth,
Action, nor utterance, nor the power of speech
To stir men's blood. I only speak right on.
I tell you that which you yourselves do know."

-Act III, Scene 2.

"Now let it work. Mischief, thou art afoot;
Take thou what course thou wilt."

-Act III, Scene 2.

"There are no tricks in plain and simple faith."

-Act IV, Scene 2.

"There is a tide in the affairs of men
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries."

-Act IV, Scene 3.

"How ill this taper burns.
Ha, who comes here?
I think it is the weakness of mine eyes
That shapes this monstrous apparition.
It comes upon me. Art thou any thing?
Art thou some god, some angel, or some devil,
That mak'st my blood cold and my hair to stare?"

-Act IV, Scene 3.

"Thou shalt see me at Philippi."

-Act IV, Scene 3.

"This was the noblest Roman of them all.
All the conspirators save only he
Did that they did in envy of great Caesar.
He only in a general honest thought
And common good to all made one of them."

-Act V, Scene 5.

"His life was gentle; and the elements
So mixed in him, that Nature might stand up
And say to all the world, This was a man!"

-Act V, Scene 5.

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General Science / Does All Of Mathematics Come Down To Simple Arithmetic?

« on: 10/10/2024 15:46:29 »

This next one is almost totally a question, because I honestly know little about this. Just what I've heard. And that was a long time ago. Someone on another message board once said, that all of science is reducible down to math. I guess he might have just meant all scietific theories use mathematical equations to solve their problems. I know some people might say that math isn't used in political science. But that's not always true. I know Jeremy Bentham proved that if you want to, say, feed the greatest number of people, or spread the greatest amount of happiness, it could be.

Anyways, I also heard somewhere, I think it might have been in high school. All of mathematics can be reduced to simple arithmetic. Actually, just addition and subtraction. (Anyone who has ever done long division can tell you, it just involves a lot of addition and subtraction, really.) Is that true? Even the longest, most complicated calculus problem. Even the most complicated quantum physics equation involves simple addition/subtraction?

Now I heard this a long time ago. Maybe 40 years ago now. So is this still believed to be true?

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Physiology & Medicine / Can Coffee Or Tea Ever Really Go Bad?

« on: 03/10/2024 08:23:07 »

Can coffee or tea ever really go bad? I mean in dry form or as the beverages? Because, in HS I once used a container of 10-year-old teabags. And the cup of tea they made tasted just fine. I know if I keep a prepared pot of coffee or tea laying around couple of days, there never seems to be a problem with it. Unless I add cream. Cream of course can always go bad, and usually in a day of course, if left out.

I know I learned, also around HS, liquid medicines like Pepto Bismol never go bad. They lose their potency, but they never go bad. Because they have nothing in them that food poisoning microorganisms would be interested in. Tea and coffee are foods, of course. But they work differently, I've noticed. I know they have 40 year old Scotches and hundred year old wines. But those two go bad too. Just after, oh I don't know, maybe 500 years, maybe a thousand.

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General Science / Is There A Pattern In The Number Pi?

« on: 27/09/2024 22:10:48 »

Why does it seem so hard to calculate the value Pi? Pi is defined as the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. And it is non-terminating and non-repeating. But in calculating it, the further out they go, the more difficult the task seems. To-date, the furthest it's been calculated is to 105 trillion places this year.

Is it because the further out you go the larger (or actually smaller) the digit that far out is? For example, for 3.141592653... the three would be 3 divided by 100,000,000.

Because some time back, I got this idea. .01001000100001... is an example of a non-terminating and non-repeating number. But the pattern is obvious. So could it be there is a more simple way of calculating Pi based on some pattern that we haven't discovered yet?

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Physiology & Medicine / Is There Any Safe Amount Of Smoking?

« on: 19/09/2024 20:50:54 »

Interesting story. One time, some time back now, I was talking with my family physician. I told him, I like the occasional cigar. In fact, I usually have one around Christmastime. He told me he really saw nothing wrong with that. In fact, he told me, he, a medical doctor, was probably going to have a cigar when he got home that day. His point being, that once in a great while, smoking a cigar would do no harm.

I don't think I ever discussed cigarettes with him. But that got me to thinking. There is a lot of, basically, hysteria surrounding smoking. In my country, and around the world. Starting in the mid-90's in my country, tobacco companies were forced to pay monetary damages to each state to pay for people's medical expenses caused by long-term smoking. There also was a lot restriction in advertising introduced then. Tobacco companies had to admit how dangerous their products were. And there was a lot hysteria in general surrounding that subject. Sometimes a little too much, in my opinion at least.

Is there any amount of safe cigar or cigarette use? Medical authorities where I live say no. There is no such thing as safe moderate smoking. But is that true? Is there a rate of smoking, let's say one cigarette a week, that would probably be safe? And has anyone tried to determine that yet?

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Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / Why Does Freezing Preserve Food?

« on: 12/09/2024 08:13:32 »

Why does freezing preserve food, apparently forever? I know it keeps food fresh for a very long time, because people sometimes thaw and eat frozen woolly mammoth, from mammoths that have died in North America and Siberia. The last wooly mammoth lived in Siberia about 2,000 BCE. So the frozen carcass would be at least 4,000 years old. People who have eaten thawed mammoth meat say it tastes a little different. But they usually don't get food poisoning from it.

So why does freezing something to the point when water freezes, 32 degrees F or 0 degrees C, preserve it so well? Absolute zero, which is −459.67 degrees F or −273.15 degrees C, is the when all molecular motion stops, or the coldest anything can reach. And nothing has ever reached absolute zero, scientists say. So why is the temperature water freezes enough?

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Just Chat! / What Exactly Is Fat-Free Coffee Cream?

« on: 05/09/2024 10:26:52 »

Where I live they now sell fat-free coffee cream (or half-and-half as it is also know). What exactly is fat-free coffee cream? Last time I checked, fat-free milk is skim milk. IOW, just plain, ordinary, bland milk with 0% milkfat. Kind of thin and watery too.

Now, I have never tried fat-free coffee cream. But they seem to think it rich and thick like regular cream. How could that be? What makes it taste like cream? And what's in it?

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Physiology & Medicine / How Much Of A Biohazard Is Dried Animal And Human Waste?

« on: 29/08/2024 13:35:27 »

Growing up, in HS, one of our teachers told us she and her young daughter followed the playdough rule. When playdough, that toy modeling clay, falls on your shag carpet, you wait the next day to clean it. Because then it will be dry and will easily lift off without making a mess. As I tell people, that also works with dog and cat waste.

But that got me to thinking. Once animal waste is dried, and human too for that matter, how much of a biohazard is it then? Not as much I would think. But how many bacteria, etc. does it have in comparison to waste when it is still moist? Much less? Or about the same? Does it make any difference at all?

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Physiology & Medicine / What Is The Role Of Bread In Human Nutrition?

« on: 23/08/2024 17:52:59 »

I'm a little confused by the human nutrition guidelines. I of course mean in my country, the USA. But I think our standards are the rule in other countries, like the UK and the European Union.

I remember growing up, the used to tell us that there were four basic food groups. Fruits and vegetables, breads and cereals, meat and protein, and dairy. And, I think I recall, they recommended four servings a day for each group. Except meat and protein. They recommended two servings a day for that group. Anyways, I think that is basically what they are saying in websites like this:

https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-eating/eat-smart/nutrition-basics/suggested-servings-from-each-food-group

That, the main groups (they say above) are vegetables, fruits, grains, dairy, protein foods and fats and oils. That's six groups there. I think though, they might have told us fats and oil was an optional group when I was growing up. Now for the breads and grains, it recommends three to six serving, which on that above list, is about what the recommend for the other groups, more or less.

But I am a little confused by this. Grains and breads are always starches. And starches, a carbohydrates, tend to be bad for you. You need them. But it should always be the smallest group, I was told. (Also, it's worth pointing out, this site

https://www.moulinex-me.com/en/how_many_slices_of_bread_a_day_for_healthy_living#:~:text=An%20average%20person%20can%20consume,and%201%20slice%20of%20bread.

says you can safely consume up to eight slices of bread. Now, that's a lot.)

So I have a couple of questions about breads and grains, and my confusion on how they are classified in nutrition. Are they starch and sugar, or are they something else? More of a vegetable? Are you always supposed to have grains and breads high in fiber? Does that change what category they are put in? And lastly, why is bread necessary for, basically, human civilization? I just know I read somewhere, it was actually beer, with it's sugars and B vitamins and other nutrients, that led to modern cities and states. What is about them that makes them not just preferred, but necessary in human nutrition?

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Just Chat! / How Do You Interpret This Shakespeare Quote?

« on: 16/08/2024 04:43:52 »

"'Tis not enough to give.
Methinks I could deal kingdoms to my friends
And ne'er be weary. Alcibiades,
Thou art a soldier, therefore seldom rich.
It comes in charity to thee, for all thy living
Is 'mongst the dead, and all the lands thou hast
Lie in a pitched field."

-Timon of Athens,
Act I, Scene 2.

I first heard of the Shakespeare play "Timon of Athens" around 2000. It is one of his lesser know works. I have taken an interest lately in studying it and reading about it. In this scene from the play, Timon is getting in trouble with his advisors for overspending. But what is too much, he asks? He's rich, so it'd be kingdoms probably. Alcibiades, a general, is an honored guest too. But Alcibiades feels cheapened, because the rich people paid for his battlefields.

Timon goes on, that even for his esteemed guests that would be charity in its purest form, for Alcibiades. Because he's still a soldier and seldom rich. Alcibiades accepts his gift of money, but adds with irony that his pitched fields are not just tainted with death, but tainted because rich people paid for them. (A pun on "defiled = death" and Shakespeare was referring to Ecclesiasticus 13:1 because pitched in Shakespeare's time also meant standing in a row, i.e., troops).

So I am still a little confused by that last time. Did he mean his battlefields are tainted by rich people's money because someone else paid for them, or because Timon did? Or is it a warning to Timon? Because all the other guests at his banquet are just sycophants?

I will go by anyone's knowledge of Shakespeare here for this quote. But people often take a different, or even their own, interpretation of Shakespeare. So I may go with that too.

BTW, here is an excerpt for this quote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQCTxRfIvwk&t=1730s

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Physiology & Medicine / How Much Liquid Do You Drink When You Have A Cold?

« on: 08/08/2024 17:30:49 »

Doctors have always told me to get plenty of fluid, and bedrest, when I have cold. I finally asked one, exactly how much? He said, how could I quantify that? I said, well, there must have been a study done. He told me, there was never a study done.

Well, that was a while ago, and there must have been a study since then. I know another doctor I saw told me, in 2011, when I asked him why he kept leaving the room. He said, he had a bad cold. And he thought 8 oz. of water an hour would knock it out of him.

That makes sense. Water alone is fine, of course. So a cup an hour? Would that be enough? And would more than that be better? Is there too much? Not just so you don't O.D. on the water, and get water intoxication. But would getting too much water make the cold worse possibly?

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Physiology & Medicine / Are Lutein and Zeaxanthin Vitamins?

« on: 01/08/2024 15:50:52 »

I know they're not now. But will Lutein and Zeaxanthin ever be considered vitamins? Do some consider them that now?

Because I know there are a lot of nutrients, like phytonutrients, antioxidants, and even amino acids some say, that are important in human nutrition. Some are even necessary. But they aren't officially vitamins. Plus I think vitamins were first isolated, with Vitamin C, in the 1920's (although Scottish physician James Lind had demonstrated that the disease scurvy could be treated by citrus fruits by the 1740's).

(BTW, my eye doctor can't even pronounce the word Zeaxanthin. Or at least she told me once she just pronounces it differently. You know, George W. Bush couldn't pronounce "nuclear". But it was later revealed he got higher grades in college than his 2000 presidential opponent Al Gore. So I don't know anymore.)

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General Science / Why Are Red And Yellow Most Visible?

« on: 25/07/2024 09:47:17 »

There is a story in the US. Fire engines are painted red so that they are more visible from a distance. Taxicabs are painted yellow for the same reason.

Why are red and yellow the most visible, or catchy to the eye, from a distance? Red and yellow have the lowest wave length on the visible spectrum. Is this something to do with optics and physics? Or is it just the human brain, maybe human psychology even?

Violet is at the other end of the spectrum. Shouldn't it be the most visible?