The Immortal Mind

[Penguin]

It's easier to write one word than two, especially when you write them over and over again.

Therefore could be reduced to 'because of those reasons', but that's four words where one would do.
To ascertatin could be reduced to 'to figure out' but that's three words where two would do.
To derive could be reduced to 'to apply this fact to a similar situation', but that's seven words where one would do.

Therefore, using fewer, larger words reduces wordiness and redundancy.

-Penguin

[Melvin]

No, I really want you to write an essay concerning silence.

And it better be good.

[kilo2]

The point of the type of language you're trying to use is to make things concise and simple, not to make them flowery and redundant.
The end result is that you just look pretentious.

HA!

[FireDrgn]

"If I cease to think, then I cannot ascertain the meaning of life, for it requires thought."

Use more deductive logic and less inductive.              Your Idea does not allow for learning the meaning of life before you cease to think.    Is the meaning of life relative or true?

[gyrene81]

I've known and understood my mortality since an early age.  Every time that I'd step in the bathroom I'd wonder how long I'd live and how I'd die; I still do.  I'm beginning to think that my 'morbid fascination' with death came from my dad reading Grimm's Fairy Tales to me at quite a young age.  In fact, I once came to my mom crying that I would die, and I was only seven years old.  Ever since then I've wondered and wondered about how I could live forever, I've even written a short story about it.  Yes, it's surprising that I can think on such a level, but practice makes perfect.

-Penguin

it's not surprising nor is it as uncommon as you want to believe. years from now you're going to find yourself thinking how strange it is that generations change, yet they don't...simply because some young'un who thinks he knows himself and thinks he has some answers is going to say something that will strike a chord and you will find yourself reflecting on your childhood. take it from someone much older who pondered the same questions with the same fears at a younger age than when you started...at some point in life, everyone does it.

[curry1]

The point of the type of language you're trying to use is to make things concise and simple, not to make them flowery and redundant.
The end result is that you just look pretentious.

Bingo!

[dedalos]

Penguin,

According to your philosophy, there are a lot of dead people playing this game 

[TheBug]

          I'd wonder.... how I'd die

I'm sure there are a few others on this BBS that have fantasized about how you'd die. Not in the bathroom I would think, although there are a few kinky old guys hanging around here, mostly while probably reading your posts.

[Penguin]

"If I cease to think, then I cannot ascertain the meaning of life, for it requires thought."

Use more deductive logic and less inductive.              Your Idea does not allow for learning the meaning of life before you cease to think.    Is the meaning of life relative or true?

Hmm, there could be something that I missed.  I'll do a check.

Ascertainment of the meaning of life requires thought,
Death prevents thought (by killing the brain),
Therefore, death prevents ascertainment of the meaning of life

Perhaps one of my premises is false, because it seems as if my logic holds true.

I'm sure there are a few others on this BBS that have fantasized about that very thing. Not in the bathroom I would think, although there are a few kinky old guys hanging around here, mostly while probably reading your posts.

I don't fantasize about death, no, no.  I just wondered about it, and hoped that it wouldn't hurt too badly.   I meant that every time that I stepped into the bathroom I used to think 'Holy Cow, I'm going to die one day', and then I went and took my shower.

-Penguin

[FireDrgn]

  Your premise must be known to be true.  Ill give you a hint its a error of quantity.   

[Penguin]

Still nothing.

-Penguin

[FireDrgn]

Ascertainment of the meaning of life requires some thought.               not all thought

Death prevents additional thought,                                                    death does not prevent all thought only some thought.



Do you think the meaning of life is relative or true?

[mechanic]

Hello Aces High BBS!

NOTE: I took this post from my own work on another thread because I felt that it didn't quite fit with the thread's idea.  

I am a self-taught philosopher (and have been described as such by numerous friends and family members).   Here is a short treatise that I have composed regarding death, thought and immortality:

The Immortal Mind
By Penguin

I think, therefore I am.  However, death is the cessastion of all biolgical processes, including thought.  Therefore I will cease to be when I cease to think; the cessation of thought is death.  Therefore, if I die, then I cease to be.  This raises the question, why should I wish to be?

To ask oneself why one wishes to be is equivalent to asking the meaning of life.  To ascertain the meaning of life requires thought.  The meaning of life, in and of itself, is a thought or thoughts.  If I cease to think, then I cannot ascertain the meaning of life, for it requires thought.  Furthermore, the enjoyment of life has the same prerequisite as the the meaning of life- thought.

One can derive from this logic that in order to enjoy and ascertain the meaning of life, one must think.  If death is the cessation of thought, then it is the cessation of the enjoyment and meaning of life.  Therefore, without death, life would continue to provide enjoyment and meaning.

If death ends the enjoyment and meaning of life, then life must provide enjoyment and meaning.  Therefore, I do not wish to die because if I were to then I would not be able to enjoy myself and ascertain the meaning of life.  With that established, I will now describe my conclusion in detail.

Enjoyment- endless life is equivalent to endless enjoyment, such as food, sex, art, science and adventure.  If I were able to live endlessly, I would be able to taste the most delicious food, make love with the loveliest women, appreciate the highest art, enjoy the benefits of the most advanced science, and go on the greatest adventures.

Meaning- enless life enables to ascertainment of its meaning via such lengthy research that its meaning can be prised out by trial and error if nothing else.  The endless debates, though tiring, would make my information infinite, allowing me to distill the meaning of life down to an essence.

To boil my point down to an essence: To live is to think, to live infinitely is to achieve infinite wisdom.

-Penguin

I think most of what you have typed here is wrong. Especially your summary sentance in bold.
There is no such thing as infinite wisdom. Even suggesting that there is a way to aquire infinite wisdom show how unwise one is.

You appear to have nothing to offer on the subject of philosophy at this moment.
All you appear to have is a desire to make yourself appear smart, your motives are transparent.

I suggest you stick to the field of science. That is a subject you can be good at through copy and pasting the work of others into your head.
If you do want to become a philosopher, I suggest you try to extract your mind from within itself and become a floating mind able to look at yourself from the outside. more importantly than that, to be able to look at existence from the mind of other humans and other creatures accurately. The persuit of the self is the destruction of wisdom, eternal life is the ultimate destruction of the philosopher.

[Penguin]

I think most of what you have typed here is wrong. Especially your summary sentance in bold.
There is no such thing as infinite wisdom. Even suggesting that there is a way to aquire infinite wisdom show how unwise one is.

You appear to have nothing to offer on the subject of philosophy at this moment.
All you appear to have is a desire to make yourself appear smart, your motives are transparent.

I suggest you stick to the field of science. That is a subject you can be good at through copy and pasting the work of others into your head.
If you do want to become a philosopher, I suggest you try to extract your mind from within itself and become a floating mind able to look at yourself from the outside. more importantly than that, to be able to look at existence from the mind of other humans and other creatures accurately. The persuit of the self is the destruction of wisdom, eternal life is the ultimate destruction of the philosopher.

Oof, that hurt.  This work is original.  (Except for the aforementioned Descartes quote).  I can make more of these, on many subjects.

Are you one to talk? (no, really, are you speaking from experience because I'm all ears if you are )

To detach my mind from myself, I've tried that, and man is it a odd experience.  How do you keep from tripping over your own wires, so to speak?  Whenever I try to view the world with myself included in it, it I end up questioning my own motivations for thinking, and then as I think about that I question the motivations for that thought and it all goes downhill from there.  I know that there's something wrong with the way I'm doing it, but what?

Feeling smart feels good, but that was not my point (or perhaps it was? ).  This is my exact problem, I can't stop thinking about thinking and it can get to the point where I feel vertigo.

By becoming a floating mind, you mean become empathetic?  That's what I try to do on a daily basis, understand what seems to be chaos and insanity (mainly in the form of the actions of my teachers).  There seems to be a great deal of it, and I'm beginning to wonder if I'm the source.

-Penguin 

[mechanic]

By starting this thread you are displaying your own self satisfied thoughts to others in the hopes that they will be as satisfied with you as you are with yourself about it. That is not a crime at all, so don't take it as an attack. It's quite natural for us to want to display things that satisfy us.

The reason it appears you are not original to me is that your base it all on Descartes' quote. Originality could perhaps start with 'I am even if I don't think'. That would be a challenge to Descartes' quote, worthy of sharing perhaps. A tree 'is', yet we are fairly certain it does not think.


To detatch the mind from the self is simple. Don't go off thinking it's about telepathy or wacky out of body experiences. It purely means to think without the self being the center. For example, noticing that a tree does not have to think to exist. By applying your thoughts to other things apart from the self before assuming they must be. By making philosophy without wanting to show others (to gain reputation for the self). That last bit is almost impossible, as we all naturaly want to have an impact and be remembered for what we do. You see even right now I am doing the same as you, I am assuming that by typing all this I will look smart, and philosophical, when really I am breaking my own rules and probably just appearing to be a know it all. 

Floating mind is a free mind without barriers or confinements of any kind. To float one's mind anything has to be possible. There is nothing that cannot be so that every square inch of possible or impossible existence, from nothing to infinity, can fit inside the mind at once. The mind is open to suggestion from all places except itself.