Seeker

Yeah, I avoid that, too. It's not paranoia if they really are out to track you.

It doesn't need to. Once the government decide that all your data belongs to them the tracks can be compared centrally for any person of interest. It's harder, so they're quite happy to have people install their own self-targeting app, but it can be done.

Even a "dumb" phone can track you. It needs to "know" where it is and report that so that incoming calls go to the right towers. I've never had a mobe except for work, and that got de-batteried as soon as my shift ended.

In the beginning was the word. And the word we "meh".

De-Athe is the end of everything. For the mathematically inclined, 666 is a triangular number, being equal to the sum of the first 36 (6X6) whole numbers. Perhaps we should form a cabal to research Athematics.

Or as it says in my kitchen: "Eight legs good, six legs bad".

I'm always amazed at how many people keep their heads firmly in the sand when it comes to that sort of stuff.

Of course not, but having followed politics for 45 years I would say that the professionals are a bit worse, but the general public has become much more partisan.

My point was that one trend is "everything is grey" and the other is "everything is black or white". I agree that both trends have been around since the year dot, but I'm seeing both turned up to 11 recently.

I find it odd that we have two (in my mind) contradictory trends going on. First is the move towards cultural relativism - everything is equally valid. Second is the increasing black-and-white polarization going on, especially in politics.

Thanks. They're now on may "approved" list. Currently listening to

Yay - someone else likes Snarky Puppy! 👍 Checking out the Metropole Orchestra now.

Never mind me - HK vs Taiwan already resolved.

I think humans are quick to believe that everything has a purpose. Nonetheless, I think ET might be interested in the idea that the Universe had a purpose. Other quite general ideas come to mind... life is sacred; consciousness is sacred; something meaningful remains of us after our death.

Sorry Jonathan. One of my weaknesses is a pathological inability to resist a straight line. I didn't intend or expect to derail the thread. For discussion of aliens, I think the best source is SF. Yes, a lot of it is thinly veiled humans or monsters with ray guns, bur there are some authors who have put serious thought into what an alien might be like. There is a good paper on this here. As noted there, the key thing about aliens is that they are alien. They will cheerfully insist that two plus two is orange. One author not mentioned in that paper who has several times produced good insightful alien stories is Gordon R Dickson. I would particularly recommend The Alien Way for an examination of evolutionary impacts on psychology or The Way of the Pilgrim for alien spirituality. In film, I thought Arrival presented (and then rather skipped over) some real differences in outlook. A good film anyway.

Pistachio ice cream?

I have long held that all theories are wrong, or at best incomplete.

Nope, it's ULC ORG UK/forum I believe the Monastery thing is a bit of code on this site.

We can't see because your link points to a file on your local machine. You would need to link to a public version.

Is it www.ulc.co.uk?

Not really. Instead of thinking of it as the speed of light, think of it as the speed of causality. That may help to clarify why you can't go any faster.

Merry midwinter and all the best for the new year, everyone.

Welcome back.

I think there is another form of agnostic, who says that God may or may not exist, but if (s)he does, they are in principle unknowable. We can have no more understanding of God than an ant could have of a whale.

Miriam-Webster offers: The requiring worship aspect intrigues me. I don't think that applies across all traditions. For example the Aesir were dangerous and might punish disrespect if they saw it, but AFAIK they had no need for or interest in any form of adulation.