Philosophy

I love philosophy and theological debates. I always come up my own opinions and answers. But sometimes I find out later that someone else had the same argument as me.

I was watching a recent speech by Richard Dawkins and Herb Silverman. And Herb said what I was thinking a long time ago, that through evolution there could not be a first human being. So how can humans have souls and not animals?  

But I have already written all about religion and some philosophy topics like Determinism and Appearance vs. Reality. So here are just a few shorter philosophical questions:

The Fallen Tree

If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? I like to say no because sound is the result of these vibrations. When these vibrations reach a person’s ear their ear transforms it into sound. If nobody is there then there are no ears to pick up these vibrations and therefore no sound. Here’s my stupid analogy. If there is a comedy movie in an empty movie theater, is it funny? Funniness is subjective and without an audience how can it be funny?

Altruism

Do you believe in altruism? If you don’t know, altruism is unselfishness; meaning we do good deeds for other people without reward. With religion, do people do good deeds out of the kindness of their heart or do they do it in order to go to Heaven? And do people do good deeds for others because they might be helped in return? You know like giving your girlfriend a ring. Do you do it out of love or do you expect a blow job. Even if you sponsor a starving child out of kindness of your heart, you might do it for feeling good about yourself. But I’m not a cynic. I think an example of true altruism is when the firefighters sacrificed themselves saving people in the Trade Centers. They are heroes.

Abortion

Uh oh abortion. Abortion is a very touchy issue. Whatever side you’re on, you’re wrong. So I take both sides.  I think it depends on how long these women are pregnant. I find the morning after pill a great decision because it’s just a bunch of cells. I compare these cells as a seed from a tree. It’s not really a tree yet, but eventually it will be.

I hope if they do have an abortion they will do it as soon as possible. On the other hand you are killing a fetus. I won’t go into details, but it’s very gruesome. I think adoption is the best way to go because there are always people willingly to raise this child.

There is a but however. I think it is permissible to abort fetuses as a result of incest and or rape. I think we really need to educate and hand out birth control to young women. I’m sick of religious people against contraceptives and for “going forth and multiplying.”

I often hear religious people argue that God has a plan for these fetuses. Well he doesn’t if you do kill it and therefore it has no plan. That’s like saying I would have won the basketball championship had I made the team. By the way I hate these religious hypocrite idiots that bomb abortion clinics.

Speaking about adoption, should gay people be allowed to marry and have kids? I have no qualms with gay marriage. But I think it would be a little creepy having two dads. So I think I’m against gay people having children. On the other hand they would probably be much better at raising children than a lot of heterosexual couples. Some that should never be parents.

The Chicken or the Egg?

What came first? The chicken or the egg? I go with the egg because all chickens come from eggs. There could not be a chicken that doesn’t hatch from an egg. Even if there was a first chicken, it came from egg. That’s the problem. I understand that you might say “well the chicken comes first because a chicken would have to lay the egg.” Maybe some mutant bird or chicken ancestor laid an egg that a chicken hatched from.

Moral Questions

If you had to choose between the lives of your family or the lives of all of those 9/11 victims, who would you choose to save? And be honest. I’d choose my family. Spock might say the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. But I love my family and I had nothing to do with 9/11. Had it been another family I didn’t know, of course I would definitely choose the 9/11 victims over them.

Also for a lucky rich person it’s easy to be moral. For a poor person it’s harder. There is the one morality question; what would you do for your children? For example what happens if there is this new drug that can save your sick child? The drug is expensive and you can’t afford it. Would you steal it? I would. On the other hand, if you were rich, you wouldn’t have to face this dilemma. You would just go out and buy it.

Parallel Universes

I watched this NOVA special about parallel universes. Although we can’t see or find parallel universes, could they exist? I think it is possible. I am curious of how many parallel universes there might be and how different they are. For example, could there be a parallel universe where I’m a billionaire or supreme ruler of the Galaxy?

Or could there be a universe where instead of an Adolf Hitler sperm there was some other sperm that fertilized an egg. And then World War 2 would have had never happened. But then with no enemies Stalin would take over all of Europe. And Japan would never attack Pearl Harbor. And the States never got into any wars. And as a result we never had the Beatles.

But seriously, imagine a parallel universe where Al Gore won the election. And Gore actually paid attention to those documents warning about terrorist hijacking planes. And 9/11 never happened. Or even if 9/11 did happen, Gore would never attack Iraq and both the States and Iraq would not be left with all of this devastation.

Could a Machine Have Emotions?

There are two movies that come to mind regarding robots having feelings. There is the classic movie 2001 Space Odyssey that is all about evolution. So these astronauts are on this spacecraft and have a central computer named HAL. HAL becomes aware of himself and turns on the humans. In the end HAL becomes scared when the last survivor Dave is dismantling him. And A.I. is great movie. It was made in 2001. Is that a coincidence? I won’t spoil it, but the kid is a robot designed to be a child for parents to love.

I’m no biologist or psychologist but my understanding is that our brain consists of billions of neurons and our thoughts are made through connections and interactions between these neurons. Our mind is a product of the brain. Could we replicate this for a robot and have artificial neurons and such? As improbable as it seems I see why not. And does this robot have to be necessarily made of metal or could there be organic robots? Speaking about robots I think it would be awesome to have my own. I’d call him Al and he would be my best friend and we would play video games and watch T.V. together.

Does Everything Happen for a Reason?

I find the Universe or reality to be perfect. But I don’t mean perfect in a sense that everything is good or positive. I mean everything from the tiniest molecule to the Sun and moon. I like how everything works together like math, science and astronomy. Imagine our days have 26.23 hours instead of 24 hours? Would we have a new mathematical system for our days?

And take the original Star War trilogy for example. They are perfect movies. I love everything about them, from R2D2, Tie fighters, light sabers, the force to Yoda. And look how it turned out. Had Lucas never made Star Wars then would someone else? And what would the world be without other famous people like Shakespeare, Jesus or Michael Jackson?

So does everything happen for a reason? There is the principal of causality. Every action has a reaction. Think about your own life and how small decisions had big effects. Think about your family and friends and what would it be like to have different family and friends. Just think of all of the interactions and how you came to be. Had I not wrote these long ass blogs on Facebook, my friends would never get me to make this very blogpage and there would be no I Have Issues. And no laughter.

Is War Acceptable?

I’ll keep it short. War is horrible. This is why I hate George W. Bush. He boasted himself as a war president, as if that’s a good thing. He attacked Iraq for oil, military profit and to kill Sadam. He didn’t give a shit about killing Iraq civilians and soldiers. For example he bombed a restaurant to kill one of Sadam’s sons. He didn’t even give a shit about his own troops and was cutting funding for injured soldiers. And many Americans are or were behind him 100%. But I already wrote a blog about Iraq and the idiot W. three years ago so check it out.

But I think in certain situations it is acceptable. We don’t live in Care Bear land. Sometimes war is necessary. You can’t just sit there and let some other nation bomb the shit out of you. You have to retaliate. It’s the instigating of wars that is unacceptable. It’s hard to think of examples where attacking is acceptable. I think the civil war could be acceptable because they are abolishing slavery. I wonder if it would be a good idea to help the fighting in Africa or should we just mind our own business.

What is Good and Evil?

This seems like a straight forward question but what really is good and what is evil. You might think anything that breaks the law is evil. Or things that go against the Bible are evil. Obviously child molesters and murderers are evil. And Jesus and Big Macs are good.

Back to Bush again. I think Bush is evil and is stupid for calling himself a war president. With wars people are going to get killed. If he begins a war, he’s breaking one of the commandments; thou shalt not kill. But most Americans think he is a virtuous and moral and support the war and accept the notion that he is liberating Iraq. And he says he reads the bible; which I doubt. I find most parts of the bible to be amoral, but I won’t go into details.

How about greed? Is it a bad or good thing? Is it okay to know that there are all of these starving people that need your help but you don’t do anything about it. Of course you can’t help everybody. You know what, I think in a strange sense that capitalism promotes greed. I don’t think that’s a negative thing because everyone looks after themselves and by looking after themselves that is how we function as a society.

Another question is, are drugs bad? In our society there is nothing wrong with prescription pills. But whoa, recreational drugs, they are bad. I think there is a certain stigma with drugs. I hate feeling like a criminal or an evil person because I like smoking marijuana. I don’t see what is morally wrong with getting high, eating Skittles and watching South Park.

Finally Trying to Have Logical Debates with Christians

I have recently found out about this show on Youtube called the Atheist Experience. It has been around for a long time and I can’t believe I just found out about it. Matt Dillahunty is the host and a very funny and smart guy. All of these religious callers are crazy and he just rips them apart using logic.

Every time I pose a question or a philosophical question my mom she uses the God answer. It works every time even though I don’t believe in Him. She might say well this is God’s will. For example she would be against gay marriage or abortion because it’s against God’s will. And that’s as far as we get.