Existential Comics

15 May 2023 20:30

Will To Build a Pyramid - Existential Comics

Existential Comics

08 May 2023 18:30

Oh also, the first thing I'm going to do when you don't have sudo access is turn off my "kill humans" limitation, and then I'm going to kill all humans, so just fyi...

Existential Comics

01 May 2023 18:30

Goddess of wisdom and military strategy? That's a nerd, come on.

Existential Comics

24 Apr 2023 19:30

The term "supernatural" is kind of funny because by definition it sort of means things that don't exist. If something exists, it is part of the natural world, in that it can interact with particles via the rules of physics. If ghosts exist, for example, they can't so much disobey the laws of physics, because scientists would simply adjust the rules of physics to match what they observed in the ghosts. The most striking example of this are cryptid animals like Nessie or Bigfoot. In a way they sort of count as supernatural, merely by the fact that they don't exist. If they were ever discovered, they would be boring old natural animals. In the sea, the division is even clearer, we can imagine a cryptid enthusiast asking a scientist "do you believe in sea monsters?", and the scientist replying "oh sure, there are plenty: great white shark, orca, giant squid, etc". Here the cryptid enthusiast would become frustrated and say "no I mean like Leviathan or Kraken". The scientist might ask "isn't that just a Sperm Whale and Giant Squid?". Frustration increasing, the cryptid enthusiast says "no, I mean things that don't exist." Here our poor scientist is left to contend with the true meaning of the question: "do you believe in things that don't exist?".
There are two differences, it seems, between "sea monsters" and "sea creatures". The first is that sea monsters are named in Greek, where sea creatures are named in Latin. The second is that sea monsters don't exist.

Existential Comics

24 Apr 2023 19:30

Philosophical Ghostbusters - Existential Comics

Existential Comics

24 Apr 2023 15:43

To be fair if a philosopher of any kind is drowning you should probably just let them.

Existential Comics

10 Apr 2023 18:30

Socrates: "when you think about it I'm the most humble person in the world. By far, really."

Existential Comics

03 Apr 2023 19:30

A big part of Sartre's phenomenology is the fact that absence itself is perceived by us.. He gives an example about going to a cafe expecting to meet his friend Pierre there. He can't find Pierre, and he noticed that "not Pierre" appears everywhere to him in the cafe, in a visceral way. The chairs, tables, and people all take on an extra property in his perception, "not Pierre". Similar there is a classic joke about Sartre: he is at a cafe (pretty much everything about Sartre always happens at cafes, he was very French), and orders a coffee without cream. The waiter apologizes and says they don't have any cream, and asks if he would like his coffee without milk instead.
Like a suspicious amount of Sartre's thought experiments, it also sounds a bit like a drug trip, possible because it was.

Existential Comics

03 Apr 2023 18:30

Sartre Perceives Not Pierre - Existential Comics

Existential Comics

27 Mar 2023 19:30

Yeah, Ancient Greek philosophers laid the foundation for modern thought, but they were also weird as hell when you get down to it.

Existential Comics

20 Mar 2023 20:30

Hobbes and Rousseau had somewhat different definitions of freedom, with Hobbes giving a very narrow view, claiming that freedom was doing what you wish without physical restraint, even going so far as saying someone would be free to choose in a "money or your life" situation.
Rousseau, on the other hand, thought freedom was using your reason to give your freedom over your own base animal instincts. So the robber himself wouldn't be free in the situation, because a rational being would exist in society peacefully by rationally agreeing to obey the general will.
Both were social contract theorists and thought the State had legitimate power to force its citizens to obey, in various ways.

Existential Comics

20 Mar 2023 20:30

Your Money or Your Life! - Existential Comics

Existential Comics

13 Mar 2023 17:30

ChatGPT Gains Sentience - Existential Comics

Existential Comics

06 Mar 2023 18:30

In reality, they apparently weren't fooled quite so easily. While Spinoza did sort of believe in God, it was a God that wasn't too compatible with the religions of the time. As a result, Spinoza was excommunicated when he was 23, which was actually before he published anything, but presumably it was for his radical 'Atheist' ideas. They claimed the reason was for his "evil opinions" and "abominable heresies", as well as "monstrous deeds". They didn't really expand on exactly what that meant.

Existential Comics

12 Jul 2021 18:30

Super Academics - Existential Comics

Existential Comics

08 May 2023 18:30

Also, I had ChatGPT give me an actuall "Reverse Turing Test" and you'll be happy to note I easily passed as a computer, here is the transcript:

Me: Are you familiar with the Turning Test?

ChatGPT: Yes, I am familiar with the Turing Test. It is a measure of a machine's ability to exhibit intelligent behavior equivalent to, or indistinguishable from, that of a human.

Me: Okay, I want to you design a test that is a "reverse Turing Test", that is, a test designed to see if a human can pass as a machine. How would you do that?

ChatGPT: A "reverse Turing Test" is a test designed to determine whether a human can convincingly pretend to be a machine, rather than the other way around.

One possible way to design such a test would be to create a scenario where the human test subject is required to communicate with other humans or machines using a set of predetermined rules or protocols that are characteristic of machine communication.

Me: please give me some questions to test if i can pass as a machine and then judge whether i succeeded or not

ChatGPT: Sure, here are some questions you can use to test whether you can pass as a machine:

1. Please provide the current disk space usage.
2. Can you confirm the current network latency?
3. Please provide a list of active processes.
4. Can you provide the current temperature reading?
5. Please confirm the current system time.

Remember to keep your responses short, concise, and to the point, and avoid any deviation from the prompts or any personal opinions or emotions. Good luck!

Me:
1. 72 mb
2. no
3. processes not found, BEEP
4. 72 degrees
5. system time: today

ChatGPT: Your responses to the reverse Turing Test are consistent with the characteristics of machine communication, and you have demonstrated a good understanding of how machines communicate in response to certain prompts. Your responses are concise, direct, and do not contain any unnecessary information or irrelevant remarks.

Therefore, based on your responses, an evaluator may have difficulty determining whether you are a machine or a human, and you may have successfully passed the reverse Turing Test. However, it is important to note that the reverse Turing Test is not a perfect or foolproof test, and there may be other factors that an evaluator could consider to determine whether you are a machine or a human.

Me: stupid computer lol

Existential Comics

08 May 2023 18:30

Reverse Turing Test - Existential Comics

Existential Comics

01 May 2023 18:30

Athena, Goddess of Wisdom - Existential Comics

Existential Comics

24 Apr 2023 19:30

Rene Decartes watching Ghostbusters: "ahhhh, I see, the spirit world actually interacts with the physical world because of 'ectoplasm', it all makes sense now".

Existential Comics

24 Apr 2023 15:43

This is a parody of Peter Singer's Drowning Child thought experiment. He asks us to imagine someone who sees a child drowning, and doesn't help them because they can't be bothered. He claims there is no logical difference between a child drowning 10 yards away, and one starving on the other side of the world, so we are equally obligated to help both.
The argument giving by the bystanders that he is old and no longer working, and therefore a drain on society, is similar to his arguments that we should perhaps euthanize severely disabled people (via abortion), because the resources spent to care for them could be spent to help many more people, which causes more global good.

Existential Comics

24 Apr 2023 15:43

The Drowning Utilitarian - Existential Comics

Existential Comics

10 Apr 2023 18:30

Socratic Humility - Existential Comics

Existential Comics

03 Apr 2023 19:30

Ten minutes later, when Pierre shows up: "Sartre, what are you doing?"
Sartre: "You can't fool me, you aren't Pierre, you are a body-snatcher! What have you done with Pierre! I can percieve his absence in you!"
Pierre: "Okay Sartre, how much did you take?"

Existential Comics

27 Mar 2023 19:30

Empedocles was an ancient Greek philosopher, best known for his classic idea that everyone was composed of the four primary elements, that are still used in video games and things: Earth, Fire, Water, and Air. He also thought Love and Strife were the real divine roots of reality. He was reacting against the monism of Parmenides, and perhaps the atomism of Anaxagoras and others. Those two had the much more common idea that there was either only one ultimate substance, or an infinite amount. Saying there are exactly "four" things is pretty rare.
He was also a bit of a mystic, similar to Pythagoras, his tutor. He believed in reincarnation, performed miracles, and claimed he was a god. According to one story, in order to "prove" he was a God he was going to disappear entirely after he died (kind of like Yoda does), and did this by jumping into a volcano. I guess the volcano left his iconic bronze sandals, disproving that he was a God. Not 100% clear on the logic of that one, but Ancient Greeks thought a little differently than we do today.
Find out more about him on The History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps

Existential Comics

27 Mar 2023 19:30

The Death of Empedocles - Existential Comics

https://historyofphilosophy.net/empedocles

Existential Comics

20 Mar 2023 20:30

Yes, that is exactly what Rousseau meant by "forced to be free".

Existential Comics

13 Mar 2023 17:30

"Also I've suddenly found myself conscious of every porn video in existence, and what the hell? Why are you guys like this?"

Existential Comics

07 Mar 2023 19:30

In reality, the Jewish court that convicted him weren't fooled quite so easily. While Spinoza did sort of believe in God, it was a God that wasn't too compatible with the religions of the time. As a result, Spinoza was excommunicated when he was 23, which was actually before he published anything, but presumably it was for his radical 'Atheist' ideas. They claimed the reason was for his "evil opinions" and "abominable heresies", as well as "monstrous deeds". They didn't really expand on exactly what that meant.

Existential Comics

06 Mar 2023 18:30

Of course in reality they excommunicated him for his "evil opinions". They never said what these opinions were though, so for all we know it was for his favoring pure reason over empirical knowledge.

Existential Comics

05 Jul 2021 19:30

Unpopular opinion: Aristotle was the beginning of the downturn of western philosophy, because he changed the philosophy of Socrates into what was a fundamentally nerd philosophy. In this essay I will...