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So I've got a guy I'm dealing with on Facebook who is a serious conspiracy theorist. 9/11 truther, that the government is going to force VeriChip tracking device implants on everyone, North American Union, et cetera. He claims that he's just trying to "open a dialogue" and "get people...

It's in reference to a movie review. I posted a link to a video movie review saying that I largely agree with the points he makes against the movie, and somebody replies, rather than by arguing any of those points, instead by saying that it got a 95% rotten tomatoes score for a reason and that nobod...

What's it called when somebody tries to shrug off a point one of your sources made by saying "nobody takes him seriously," or something to that effect?

Maybe you're missing the point, Oberst. I was talking about evolution as a species. That is where genetic mutation becomes shared amongst the entire species, so that we can be identified by it. Specifically what I was talking about, though I didn't say it, was macro-evolution, by which the species w...

I'm just talking about the world in terms of biological evolution. Though, I agree, we're eventually going to become so adept at genetic manipulation that we'll be able to weed out the bad traits anyway. So I guess that means that we're mostly done with natural evolution. At this point it's more of ...

Just wondering what you guys think. It seems to me like evolution is being stunted by people. The primary mechanism of evolution as I understand is is that mutations that make it easier for life-forms to get eaten or otherwise killed tend to get wiped out while mutations that make it easier for life...

Slightly off-topic, but since it was brought up I wonder what you guys think about this: Assuming that most intelligence comes from your environment in the first few years of your life, is it possible to overcome it? For example, if I were to be raised by a pair of idiots who maybe read to me as an ...

Why do you think that is? My theory is that laziness and stupidity tend to sell. You don't really see McDonalds or Pepsi talking about devouring their shit in small quantities alongside a regular balanced nutrition. It seems like all advertisements do these days is promote the idea that we're too go...

...does mainstream media just pander to stupid people? I've been having an ongoing argument with a friend over why the majority of people in America are stupid. A lot of things have been said, and I think that overall the situation has become so convoluted that you can't rightly point at any one thi...

Wong -- You bring up a lot of very good points that I think will be pretty useful both in my arguments with him and just in the general way I view him during these arguments. So thank you for that. Though I do think I'm going to have to build up a larger arsenal of knowledge on the subject before I'...

There is no 100% confidence of anything beyond your own existence. Just how confident are you in proclaiming that he does not exist? Well, that's just it, I guess. I'm not especially confident at all that there's no superior being that created the universe. But in that sense it's almost like I have...

Does he believe that it is impossible to ever know that any random idea does not exist? Because there is no such thing as a universal proof of non-existence, so his demand for it is either stupidity or a trick. For that matter, how does he know anything? All of our knowledge comes from observation ...

Actually, both arguments rely upon Occam's Razor when it gets down to it. In both cases, for God/pineapple to remain viable options, they must evade empirical disproof, which brings the principle of parsimony into play. These are good points. What is "not believing in God" if not the asse...

Well, not to play devil's advocate, but there's more proof that your head isn't a pineapple than there is proof that God does not exist. And I'm on board with the idea that you can't prove a negative, but the two aren't that closely related. Would you say that he's accurate then? That an atheist is ...

The title isn't quite accurate, and point in fact I'm actually looking for advice and pointers rather than making a statement, but I was debating a guy today who is pretty extremely well informed on most subjects (mostly pertaining to world history and world government, but an all around educated fe...