Why physicists think they know everything (and why they're wrong)

[Jon Miller]

Well you made the assertion beliefs are choices, didn't provide any evidence, and when I asked for clarification (because I think some beliefs are obviously not things people could choose) you started insulting me and claiming I can't think rationally.

I didn't say that you were incapable of thinking rationally (on this subject) until you consistently failed do so by in every post you made in this thread.

I will repost again to help you to think. Please do so this time. Very carefully.

If you go into an icecream shop. They tell you, make a choice for any icecream you want.

You ask for prongs.

Should you then maintain that you didn't have a choice?

The belief that a cup is literally the sun is not something that most people can (rationally) choose. Just because there are beliefs that can not be rationally chosen, does not mean that beliefs are not chosen.

I have seen plenty of evidence that you are incapable of understanding simple concepts though. So I am not at all sure what else I can say.

The fact that you can't choose to believe that wood does not exist has no bearing on whether people choose what they believe. Just like the fact that you couldn't order a prong at the icecream shop doesn't mean that you couldn't choose what icecream you wanted.

JM

[giblets]

I didn't say that you were incapable of thinking rationally (on this subject) until you consistently failed do so by in every post you made in this thread.

I will repost again to help you to think. Please do so this time. Very carefully.

If you go into an icecream shop. They tell you, make a choice for any icecream you want.

You ask for prongs.

Should you then maintain that you didn't have a choice?

The belief that a cup is literally the sun is not something that most people can (rationally) choose. Just because there are beliefs that can not be rationally chosen, does not mean that beliefs are not chosen.

I have seen plenty of evidence that you are incapable of understanding simple concepts though. So I am not at all sure what else I can say.

The fact that you can't choose to believe that wood does not exist has no bearing on whether people choose what they believe. Just like the fact that you couldn't order a prong at the icecream shop doesn't mean that you couldn't choose what icecream you wanted.

JM

Thank you for repeating what I said in post #26. So I was correct and you were claiming people can only choose from a subset of all possible beliefs. That's not something I believe, I don't see how belief is a choice, at all.

[Tupac Shakur]

Now you see why I'm glad this idiot has me on ignore.

[Jon Miller]

No.

You said that there is a subset of all possible beliefs that can be chosen that are ones that I think that can be chosen (or something to that effect).

And the point is no. The whole point of my posts in this thread!

But you have a problem with understanding a point about rational thought.

I will point out it again:

rational choice

If you went into a prong shop, ordering prongs would be a rational choice.

All of your examples are possible choices. They are not all possible rational choices (for most people). But there is no belief which is a rational choice for any possible person.

JM

[giblets]

I was objecting to your claim that beliefs are choices, not your claim that some beliefs are rational and some aren't. That should have been clear. And I gave some examples of beliefs that I don't think people can choose. Then you responded by talking about how you can only choose certain flavors at Baskin Robbins but you still have a choice. Can you see how that could have made me think you were saying not all beliefs can be chosen but a choice still exists?

But if you're saying people can choose to believe in anything at all, I think that's ridiculous.

[Jon Miller]

All of your examples are beliefs that (certain) people have chosen at various times.

JM

[giblets]

I wasn't aware of any examples of people believing those things. Sorry.

[Fake Boris]

Okay, I would like to believe there is no such thing as wood. How do I choose to believe that? Repeating to myself "wood isn't real" hasn't worked because I still think wood is real. Maybe I should ask for assistance from a philosopher.

You would "choose" based on context.

If you live in a world with no wood, and you've only heard about wood in books, you might be inclined to believe "wood" is lie.

[Agent Sox]

I think it is obvious that the real reason physicists are wrong is because they are asking the wrong questions. The universe may exist on top of another foundation than what physicists think and so it's hard to know what the laws really are if that lower layer can change the rules.

[BeBMan]

Dunno about that.

[Agent Sox]

No its true you just have to think about the world like in the Matrix. I mean I'm nto saying we are living the Matrix or anything like that but it is possible we are living in a world that is just a creation of another world and so what that means is that the other world would be able to change the rules for our world. I know one of the main things in physics is the idea that the rules don't change and that's how you can make predictions but if the rules are changeable then physicists can't make accurate predictions.

[Fake Boris]

If the other world can change our rules, what form do they have in common that communication is possible between them?

[notyoueither]

The article quoted in the OP is very good, and not a criticism limited to engineers and fizzisists.

[Agent Sox]

Oncle Boris, I am just theorizing and I cannot give you exact data. But I think it would be possible that communication could happen, if they rewrote the rules that way.

[Zezminz]

because they are not having enough sex?

Or too much sex mate. Draining their brains.