(October 29, 2016 at 5:16 am)Excited Penguin Wrote:

(October 29, 2016 at 5:02 am)Alex K Wrote: You are the one letting this shithole? Ok first of all, the sun is going to go boom and I'm not seeing any measures being taken to fix that by management. Also, we need to talk about the killer meteorite situation? That's like a complete no-no even if the goldilocks housing situation is a nightmare. The atmosphere of mars has been leaking for billions of years, the place is a dump! And the next decent intergalactic shopping mall is like lightyears away.

I know it's merely a joke, but are those the existential risks you fear the most ?

No, those are just the things I can unambiguously blame on the landlord.

(October 29, 2016 at 7:04 am)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote:

(October 29, 2016 at 6:51 am)Excited Penguin Wrote: I think trying to assign such properties as knowable and provable to existence itself is an exercise in futility. Experience of the world is there. The world itself is there, in some sense, no matter what may turn out to be the case. Therefore, I still think this questioning of or indeed belief in reality is simply meaningless and useless at best.

I don't understand your contradiction.  If the assigning the property 'knowable' to existence is futile, then how can 'experience of the world be there'?

Again, you're not getting what I'm saying.  Yes, the world is there, however we take the meaning of 'there' - it is either there outside and irrespective of my consciousness, or it is 'there' only within my consciousness.  I opt - without proof - for the former.

Please understand that I'm not trying to demonstrate that one view or another is correct, but simply answering the question posed in the thread title.

Boru

I know that is what you're doing. I was merely attempting a discussion on this point, though , admittedly , this may not be the best place for it .

I will say this though. I believe our experience of the world is ultimately inseparable from what we call knowledge, yes, even allowing for the senses. So to wonder whether reality is ultimately external or internal in relation to our minds is to confuse matters. I believe it is both.

(October 29, 2016 at 7:07 am)Alex K Wrote:

(October 29, 2016 at 5:16 am)Excited Penguin Wrote: I know it's merely a joke, but are those the existential risks you fear the most ?

No, those are just the things I can unambiguously blame on the landlord.

What are some that you fear the most , as ordered by their likelihood to occur in addition to their potentiality for finality of impact ?

(October 29, 2016 at 7:12 am)Excited Penguin Wrote:

(October 29, 2016 at 7:04 am)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote: I don't understand your contradiction.  If the assigning the property 'knowable' to existence is futile, then how can 'experience of the world be there'?

Again, you're not getting what I'm saying.  Yes, the world is there, however we take the meaning of 'there' - it is either there outside and irrespective of my consciousness, or it is 'there' only within my consciousness.  I opt - without proof - for the former.

Please understand that I'm not trying to demonstrate that one view or another is correct, but simply answering the question posed in the thread title.

Boru

I know that is what you're doing. I was merely attempting a discussion on this point, though , admittedly , this may not be the best place for it .

I will say this though. I believe our experience of the world is ultimately inseparable from what we call knowledge, yes, even allowing for the senses. So to wonder whether reality is ultimately external or internal in relation to our minds is to confuse matters. I believe it is both.

My point is that I DON'T ' wonder whether reality is ultimately external or internal '. I don't know how I can make that any clearer to you.

Boru

I believe there are other, possibly many, intelligent civilizations in the universe.

Well over a 100 billion galaxies, each with 100 - 200 stars, and countless planets in the universe.

We have found 3500 exoplanets, some within the habitable zone of their stars. It is estimated that there are 8 billion earth like planets in our galaxy.

The odds are just to great.

But let me add, I proportion the strength of my belief to the level of evidence available. So my belief is not certain.

(October 29, 2016 at 11:42 am)Simon Moon Wrote: I believe there are other, possibly many, intelligent civilizations in the universe.

Well over a 100 billion galaxies, each with 100 - 200 stars, and countless planets in the universe.

We have found 3500 exoplanets, some within the habitable zone of their stars. It is estimated that there are 8 billion earth like planets in our galaxy.

The odds are just to great.

But let me add, I proportion the strength of my belief to the level of evidence available. So my belief is not certain.

. . . Each with 100-200 stars?

(October 29, 2016 at 7:17 am)Excited Penguin Wrote:

(October 29, 2016 at 7:07 am)Alex K Wrote: No, those are just the things I can unambiguously blame on the landlord.

What are some that you fear the most , as ordered by their likelihood to occur in addition to their potentiality for finality of impact ?

There aren't any with very high probabilities known, are there? Apophis is the one that comes to mind...

He probably elided the word "million" ... easy to interpolate, to me.

(October 29, 2016 at 11:52 am)Alex K Wrote:

(October 29, 2016 at 7:17 am)Excited Penguin Wrote: What are some that you fear the most , as ordered by their likelihood to occur in addition to their potentiality for finality of impact ?

There aren't any with very high probabilities known, are there? Apophis is the one that comes to mind...

They ruled it out . 

There are , just not with as quantifiable a risk as more natural disasters such as the occurrence of an asteroid hitting Earth . There are nuclear weapons, for one . The one I mentioned involving intelligence greater than ourselves is considered by many to be a lot more dangerous a possibility than any others. 

I was asking for your personal opinion , by the way .

(October 29, 2016 at 12:14 pm)Thumpalumpacus Wrote: He probably elided the word "million" ... easy to interpolate, to me.

Guess again...