^^^^^^
No, Jesuis, you are not stupid or intellectually bereft. Your problem is you are trying to figure out bullshit told by bullshit artists and in the process you are wasting your potential.
I"m sure everything you've read sounds great, nice and very convincing, but it is a trick. I've fell for tricks myself quite a few times and usually it ends up being a waste of time. Don't worry about making this mistake, it happens to the best of us.
I apologize to everyone that this post is off topic.
Well critical thinking demands that you produce the logical, rational thoughts and arguments that would aid your debate -
I certainly agree with the part of your statement that I have bolded, the remainder however isn't enough really though. It isn't simply enough to try to aid your debate, honest self reflection and attempt to defeat ones own argument is also necessary. I'll go into critical thinking more later in this post.
rather than simply dismissing it as bullsh*t,
That is not what I am doing. I am informing you of what I have discovered. I don't simply dismiss things as bullshit, I figure out that things are bullshit and then throw them into the bullshit pile. If you would like to correct my error, please do, who knows, maybe I threw a gold watch into the bullshit pile because I thought it was fake.
So far your attempts to correct my error only seem to reveal that the watch is indeed fake and it seems broken as well.
I have presented what I am reading and thinking - so it is not like you do not know - at this point if you really have been down that road you know the problems that have led you to the door -
Yes, I've thought about what you have presented. I have carefully considered every post of yours that I have read (and I've read quite a few of them). I have tried to use what you have presented in a logical, rational and thoughtful way with critical thinking. Unfortunately, in my attempts to use what you have presented to defeat my arguments, all of what you have presented have crumbled like a building made of sand. I'm sorry, living in a building made of sand is just not that appealing to me.
Have you attempted to understand my arguments and use my arguments to defeat your currently held position?
I doubt that you have because you don't seem to address all of my points, rather you pick and choose little bits. Me, I address all of your points fully and completely, giving full thought and consideration to what you present, and I even go as far as to assume
I am wrong and try to use your argument to crush my currently held position. Like I said, I honestly cannot, and it is not for a lack of trying. So I need your help, either you can give me more information that logically and rationally functions as good quality arguments OR you can try to think about my responses to your posts and see if your position truly holds up the weight of logic and rationality.
But your unbiased illogical deductions thus does not give me any confidence in what you say.
Funny, I feel the same way about you. Although at least I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt. Maybe you're right. You on the other hand have already admitted that you cannot accept that my position is correct.
Yeah, you know what, it kind of seems like I am flexible and you are rigid. Sorry.
I get the impression you are just shrugging it off because it is either too hard or you never really cared about --
Your impression is mistaken. Perhaps you are projecting your own emotions onto me OR maybe it would be easier for you if I were close minded and you could ignore what I have to say.
and your conclusions are not based on a logical rational deduction but based on something else.
Anytime you would like to offer some logical rational deduction, be my guest. I'm trying my best here to address all of your points honestly, show you my logical rational deductions and be as fair as possible but you keep responding with the same illogical arguments over and over.
FYI, you don't need to repeat your same arguments over and over, we get them, we just don't buy them. We don't buy them because we figured out that they are bullshit arguments.
Where are the steps to your critical thinking.
Well first, I have to understand the opposing argument, so usually I'll ask questions, I'll go through the argument numerous times to try and insure that I comprehend the argument completely.
Next I'll assume that my position is incorrect and the opposing argument is correct, I'll try to apply the argument to defeat my position and in the process of doing so I will either see problems in my position or the opposing argument. To be fair, I try to assume my current position is incorrect and the opposing argument is correct. This process may be repeated a few times just to be sure. I'll also review my position again and the opposing argument to just be sure I understood both properly. If an opposing argument can stand up to the challenge of being applied to multiple situations, logic and rationality then it has a good chance of being adopted as my new position.
Then I'll review what is left again to see if it is functional or practical. Any problems with the opposing argument will be raised as questions to see how the proponent of the opposing argument has addressed said problems. If the proponent of the opposing argument offers solutions to the problems then the new opposing argument is again put through the critical thinking process.
Science is about the conscious observer.
Not really. The conscious observer is involved in science but that is not exactly what science is about. Science is about understanding how things work and using the scientific method to insure that the understandings are as accurate as possible. Inaccurate understandings of how things work are useless.
And you are not producing anything to show you know you are consciously aware or that life is.
I'm not sure what you are saying here. I could guess, but my guess would be that you are trying to insult me.
How can you assume that I'm not producing anything to show that I know I am consciously aware? Or that life is?
You see, this is the problem with your way of thinking. Let me ask you a question. If I agree with you that what you are saying is accurate and I can say things that match up with what you are saying, will you then conclude that I am consciously aware and that I am on a path to high consciousness in order to know "God"? This is your false dichotomy at work. There is no possible way for me to disagree with you and have a high consciousness.
I could be completely consciously aware and fully know that life is consciously aware as well and you would have no clue that I did because your entire scheme is set up on whether I agree with you or not.
You've already admitted that you can't accept that my position might be correct. Your argument is bullshit. I am not simply dismissing it as bullshit, I've figured out that it is bullshit.
You can either clarify what your argument is and address my points OR you can keep repeating things which I will figure out is more bullshit OR you can do some critical thinking of your own regarding my points and reconsider the position you hold.