metadigital

Ah, well you'v just outlined the basic tenets of Existentialism and some more mainstream philosophies, as well. For instance, Ren

I actually don't care. I was just having fun at your expense. (Haha! Get it?) "

Guys, there is an alternative way of looking at the game, y'know. Just because you cannot win from a given position, doesn't mean you are down-and-out. You can have a large effect on the game: diplomacy isn't over until the large soprano lets out her triumphant screech. If anything, you can be even more demanding, as you can play one against the other. Look at Reveilled: I bet everyone thought he was dead this round. There is a bit of luck in the game, and a lot of skill and even more deal-making, to tip the luck in your favour.

If we're dividing it into infinitesimally small intervals, then it would be infinitely long. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Is that like Zeno's arrow paradox?

Sounds like I hit a nerve. "

Colossus. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Thank-you. I thought that might be the case. So he's gay, then? S'funny, he doesn't look gay ... "

We are at crossed purposes. I take some (not much ) of the blame, because I might have been a little clearer in what I meant. You don't lose any existing trade deals, like 5 gold over 50 turns, or trading luxuries with others, etc, when you engage in warfare with the nations that you have these agreements with. That's like the US providing oil for the Japanese war machine in the Pacific during WW2 because they had a pre-war deal, and that is silly.

I would have thought purchasing pr0n online was one of the safest e-commerce transactions ... "

Care to tell me any more about them? Pardon me if I'm a little sceptic about what's on the link. Are they any good (in your opinion)? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> You will probably need both expansions for the better modules, certainly I have both and so my selection will encompass this fact. Adam Miller is technically very, very sound in his module design. He has many, I would start at the beginning Dreamcatcher 1 and work through until the last one (url=http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Modules.Detail&id=3699]Demon[/url], which I didn't like, per se, but I was amazed at the mechanical aptitude he showed in creating it). The entire package can be downloaded here, including all the additional hakpacks, sounds and movies (150MB). Rick Burton I think has been swallowed up into Bioware after the truly excellent modules he has created. I particularly liked his Paladin trilogy (that he has only finished the first two modules for ): so much so that I had never played a Paladin before (didn't like the alignment restriction) but now like them enough to play often. SubBassman (who sometimes lurks on these fora) has made an enormous campaign module, over 80 hours worth, called Tortured Hearts 1. It took him about three years of continual development, in his own time, and it is pretty comprehensive; diurnal and nocturnal patterns for citizens of the world, and gold encumberance (two pounds per thousand GP) to name just two. Again, these all listed are amazing for the new ideas (feats used in conversation, etc) and unique features (SubBassman even has a clock you can win as a reward, so that you can better manage your trips to shops, which close at night, etc.) Basically read the Hall of Fame comments. There are a gazillion modules being created every day, and only the better ones even get a look in, so most of the stuff there is pretty good. The worst I have come across was just a little too buggy for me to enjoy (A Hunt Through the Dark), but they all had something to give. HTH

Ditto. Out of the mouths of Baleys and sucklings ...

Are you cautioning me? Because, although I'm no classics scholar, I have read a lot of philosophy from many and varied sources, so I don't just make wild comments: especially about Socractes. I have read Plato's Republic (Penguin English translation), as well as a few other sources (like Bertrand Russell's History of Modern Philosophy), so I'm not just making stuff up. I was just making some conversation, but I can quote chapter and verse, as necessary. And yes, my comment was to do with metacognition, and that is why I stated:

Well, mock it all you want, but if you're out for looks alone I would recommend it would be better for EVERYONE if you just went and paid some sex worker, who gets tax breaks for breast augmentations, nose jobs, thigh liposuction, silicone injections and other visual improvements, to satisfy these base and boring desires. Normally, once you grow up and have relationships with RL women rather than idealised (alternative) Hollywood stereotypes, a pretty face and figure are meaningless (because you have seen how empty they can be on their own). Mark my words, you'll understand sooner or later ...

The criticism is irrelevant to the point being made. You are quoting scientific peers questioning what this finding means, not the validity of the finding. I also didn't quote the author's summary of his discovery, which included prima facie evidence that the discovery is linked to brain size, for the same reason: namely it is irrelevant to the point of this topic. The article was several pages long. I linked to the original article, so that everyone could read it for themselves and make their own judgements. That was one comment from the critics of the research, who stressed that this was not a sign that the races who have these particular brain alleles were in any way superior to those that didn't. What was your point in quoting that? Are you reading-comprehension-impaired, or just trying to troll?

Um, Socrates didn't leave any written record of what he said; all we know about him is what his two students wrote (Plato and Xenaphon, and they may have just been using a creative writing device); still, I'm pretty sure he doesn't use those exact words: I was just summarising.

She puts on some really bad makeup at times, but 'not very pretty' ? You must have written that because your wife was watching, right? As for celebs, I wouldn't mind getting rid of all the wannable gangster rappers. ^_^ <{POST_SNAPBACK}> She looks like a whore. She sounds like a shallow, gold-digging imbecile who would sell her father for some liposuction. That ain't pretty. That is UGLY, in any definition you want to use. I think you are confusing your own lust to quench your carnal thirsts with objective rules of beauty. It sounds like "every girl is beautiul" is the yardstick being used by desperate geeks, with some of the less fortunate girls, who don't have straight teeth and blonde hair, are marked down. Sure looks can be important. But they aren't the end of beauty. Ugly people who have a nice face and figure are still ugly.

Intresting fact: Cows produce more milk while listening to music. Makes me think of how i produce more work/money while listening to music. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Plants are more verdant when exposed to classical music than when left in silence or exposed to other forms of music, like rock and metal. I hope you aren't suggesting plants are conscious. Where would the thoughts appear? In a box?

No-one here but us geeks. :ph34r:

A lot of what we perceive is done through a top-down process whereby our prior knowledge and inferences made by the brain largely determine the final outcome of what it is we are attempting to perceive... thus this would probably fit your 'own reality' theory <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Intresting, but the left and right brain due communicate though the corpus callosum, where as if that were damaged then i woiuld beleive to have 2 consciousness'. There are a few people out there with this complexity. Its really fascinating to watch them draw, the right hand moces with straight lines while the left hand moves with artistic curves. Fascinating! <{POST_SNAPBACK}> So by that yardstick, people suffering from personality dissonance illnesses have multiple consciousnesses. (I'm not saying this is wrong, mind you, just making an observation.)

It is a tough question, because you have to ask yourself that question for that is the only answer! ... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Perhaps that is the best criterion. The ability to ask the Socratic question "who am I, and why?". :cool:

It's difficult, mainly because scientists keep discovering that all the things defined as "intelligent life" are found to be behaviours for other animals, even bacteria! Language? Chimpazees have learnt 200 word vocabularies (sign language: their vocal system is not able to produce human words), and frogs (amphibians) and crickets (insects) used sound millions of years before mammals. Usually some sort of predictive ability and action based on the predictions is stated, but even that is troublesome (see below). Greater love hath no bug THEY might be small, but don't call them stupid. Some bacteria show great concern for their fellows, and now biologists have discovered the social skills of one species may rest on an unusually discriminating palate for a key nutrient. If food becomes sparse, many myxobacteria will commit suicide, and this selfless act releases raw materials that go towards protecting the others. Meanwhile, some become dormant spores that can regenerate the colony when the nutrient crisis has passed. A variety of environmental factors can trigger this collective response, but the most important is the level of phosphates

Yes. Yes you are weird.

How long is a piece of string?

... of

Italian troops offer free pizza to their Austrian neighbours. In a move of brotherhood and man's humanity to his fellow man, the very stylish Italian armed forces risked their lives to provide free commestibles to their favourite neighbour. "It was a great show of solidarity with our European neighbours," said General Raphael Pecodillo, "and was achieved with minimal casualties. Our specially commissioned delivery tanks accidentally injured some civilians who were playing on the road, but apart from that the food fed everyone it was supposed to. "We plan on helping our Teutonic neighbours, next!"

Gold. :D <{POST_SNAPBACK}> 0H N0355!%5!!!!1 He's onto us ...