dusqi

Sounds like you need to speak to some soldiers about the reality of war. Of course, most of them won't tell you, because they don't want to remember fully. War means your best friends having their limbs shot off, or being blinded for the rest of their lives. War means shooting one of your allies by mistake because the battle is so confusing. War means that every 'enemy' person you kill is someone with a real life, someone with a real mother and father, possibly with children of their own - someone who has lived for 20 years and has been educated, but will never get to use their education. War is where people don't just respawn like in your computer games, they stay dead forever. War means killing children and women and considering them acceptable damage. I imagine that you play FPS games from time to time - next time you die in one, remember that in war you don't get a second chance. Even if you think you have a good cause to go to war, all of the above is still true. No one gets "owned" in war. On TV sometimes it reports that 40 people died, and 5 of them were women and children. But that's someone else that killed them, and it's an acceptable loss, because 35 bad guys died. What though, if you were the one to kill them, would that still be an acceptable loss?

I'm not going to get into the abortion debate here, but I had to flag this up as one of the worst arguments I've ever heard :P Do you remember how it was like before you were 2 years old? You can't. That's what it's like to be an infant. You don't exist. Therefore it cannot be called murder to kill an infant.

1. Who are you? A God on Earth. 2. What are you doing here? Considering ways to escape from the birth, reproduction and death circle. 3. What is your purpose? The evolutionary circle has looped for long enough. It is time to take control of existence.

What really amused me was the last line at the end: The idea of someone joining the room, and then everyone else getting flashing messages saying "PAEDO!! IT'S A PAEDO!!" :wink:

It appears that the US government doesn't have the monopoly on stupid any more, the British government wants a piece of the action. Most. Ill-conceived. Proposal. Ever.

I'm fairly attached to my name (I've had it all my life after all ;) ) so I wouldn't blame a woman not being happy to change hers. I'm sure some kind of compromise could be reached though, probably with a completely new name based on a combination of our names, since double barrelling my last name would sound stupid.

:S Glad that you're OK, I hope it continues to get better for you. Thanks for enlightening me about the condition.

Guy doesn't know what patriotism is. Patriotic people want to make their country better, so criticism is necessary.

Normally though, I'd agree. Know your teacher, know the test, play the game. :)

Hope your ear gets better

Hahahaha, someone didn't read the first post did they? ;)

There was also the cross-wind, so there would have been more pressure on the right tyres.

Concerning the topic of this thread, which people seem to have forgotten about... :P I think that religious beliefs are afforded too much respect in society in general. They should be able to be discussed and disagreed with, the same as any other personal opinion, and the people that hold religious/non-religious beliefs should try not to take it so personally when they are discussed and disagreed with. Society's taboo on discussing religious beliefs (at least, those of the major religions), encourages us to view them as sacred - but.. if they are sacred, then they will survive a petty human disagreement intact.

Was nicely presented. Also, anyone that watched BB instead of Top Gear, FOR SHAME! :P (and I don't even care about cars :) )

You remembered me twice :D (For a strong sense of community, Darkwebz is where it's at :D )

Yup, there is a hereditary link. Though it's not a pure one, so if you are one, it doesn't necessarily mean that your parents/siblings/twin are - it's just more likely. In addition, if you are a word -> colour synaesthete, your parents/siblings/twin may be a different kind. I've seen a few posts here that don't sound like synaesthesia. Firstly: synaesthesia is not merely an association - so, hearing the word 'sour' and then thinking about a sour taste is probably not synaesthesia because it's just two concepts that you have linked together. The word 'sour' usually leads to a sour taste in your mouth as you eat something sour, so soon your body prepares for the sour taste just from hearing the word. On the other hand, there are some synaesthetes who hear someone say the word 'red' and then experience green - that can't possibly be an association, because it would have been unlearned very quickly. Secondly: synaesthesia is automatic, so it happens every time. Concerning autism, some with autism have a savant ability. This can range from being able to play music after hearing it only once, to an amazingly accurate memory, to wonderful artistic abilities without being taught. There are various theories about why this is, but as far as I know, it hasn't been shown to be related to synaesthesia, and people don't expect a link. I think that perhaps the reason for the confusion is that people with autism who can remember 30,000 digits of pi are more likely to be noticed than someone without a disability who sees colours for numbers but doesn't think anything of it. There is an important distinction between a developmental abnormality and a developmental disability. An abnormality just means that it is unusual, synaesthesia is a developmental abnormality (obviously if it was normal, we wouldn't be talking about it). Autism is a disability.

Bingo! Also, a large proportion of the people in prisons have mental health problems. They need to be moved to the NHS and cared for, rather than punished for something that they had little control over. This would free up lots of prison space.

It is a non-lethal weapon, great, but what bothers me about this is that they're talking about using it to disperse crowds. I'm just not happy about governments that feel like they need to have weapons to disperse crowds. A crowd should be powerful, butd a good government should have no reason to fear one.

Yup, that's right. Though, it doesn't.. weaken the psyche :P hehe. http://www.nida.nih.gov/Infofacts/LSD.html "Hallucinogens cause their effects by disrupting the interaction of nerve cells and the neurotransmitter serotonin. Distributed throughout the brain and spinal cord, the serotonin system is involved in the control of behavioral, perceptual, and regulatory systems, including mood, hunger, body temperature, sexual behavior, muscle control, and sensory perception." aka psyche OK.. If that's what you are saying, then yes - it is due to its effects on the brain. Concerning taste and smell, try eating something while holding your nose, and you can find that it tastes quite different without the smell, because the two systems are so integrated. Concerning savants, yes - most of them have Aspergers Syndrome or Autism. However, I too saw a programme some years ago with a synaesthete that had an amazing memory. The programme suggested that it was because remembering for them was such a rich perceptual experience that it made it much easier. Obviously, if every number isn't just an abstract number, but has its own taste or colour, it makes it much more memorable.

No. Corporations should only seek profit. It is up to governments (based on the votes of individuals) to regulate corporations, in order to give them the semblance of morality - i.e. corporations don't care about polluting, but if you make the penalty fine large enough, then they will act as if they care.

That certainly sounds like it. Has it always been that way? So.. in 6 months time.. would words still taste like they do now? And don't worry.. synaesthesia is not harmful :)

Yup, that's right. Though, it doesn't.. weaken the psyche :P hehe. The prevailing current theory is that usually the brain combines senses together automatically.. so that you can tell that the person whose lips you see moving, is also the one whose voice you can hear. There is feedback from these multimodal systems (sight-sound system) to lower level systems (the sight system and the sound system) that is usually inhibited. However, in synaesthesia this feedback is not inhibited. According to this theory, certain drugs will also disinhibit the feedback.

Scientists universally think that human-made global warming is a fact. The Non-American world universally think that human-made global warming is a fact. Now even a coalition of 10 major companies want a limit on carbon emissions (including General Electric and BP - which surprised me, since companies only care about profit): http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/19/busin ... arbon.html Americans: Don't delude yourselves - the reason that your government is denying global warming is firstly because it's more popular to bury its head in the sand, secondly because it has vested interests in polluting companies, and lastly because it is more worried about developing countries such as China and India. Your government would rather bring the whole world down than give China a competitive advantage.

I think that both of these quotes are at the heart of the matter. Stereotyping does simplify the world, but the world isn't simple and people don't appreciate being simplified. I think that education is necessary to get people to understand when they make stereotypes. It may not be possible to reverse stereotyping, because we stereotype before we have a chance to stop ourselves - it's automatic. However, we can at least recognise when it occurs and do our best to make up for it.