Have you ever had a dream that you, um, you had, your, you- you could, you’ll do, you- you wants, you, you could do so, you- you’ll do, you could- you, you want, you want him to do you so much you could do anything?
What is the answer to life the universe and everything? You know, just for confirmation.
Repeatability is key in science.
Who’s a good boy?
All dogs
Not all. There are some bad boys out there.
There are no bad dogs. Only bad trainers. Its a human problem.
I sympathise, but the cliché is not strictly true. Nature is all about diversity. Just like humans have a certain ratio of “bad apples” born where someone is hard wired wrong, so do dogs, and likely all animals.
Psychopathology is real. It would be a mistake to deny Nature it’s agency. There are people who belong in an institution. Dogs perhaps moreso.
To your point, yes most problems are attributable to bad trainers, but even here there is something missing. Bad breeders - natural reproduction would select for fitness, and truly bad dogs would be limited to a small fraction of background instances. We have lots of people actively breeding killers with outsized agression and fear and ferocity, with hair triggers, on purpose. I’m not talking about guard dogs where fierce protective instincts are balanced with loyalty and bonding and intelligence. I mean literal psychokillers.
I’m circling around Pit-Bulls and the like, but I need to be clear. The breed is fine. Some of my best friends are pit bulls. Diversity naturally makes most of them good dogs, just more context dependant and trainer demanding. I’m not talking about those. I’m only referring to a small subset that were overbred and the natural background level of freakshow.
If you’ve only known pets from reputable breeders, accidental litters or the shelter rescues, understand that these select for the good dogs. If that’s all you know, you would have reason to doubt that bad dogs are possible.
I think @[email protected] meant dogs with sunglasses riding motorcycles. Because I think we all agree here that all dogs are indeed very, VERY good dogs.
How can I make sure I don’t misspell guaranteed when posting? I would share the answer.
OK
How can I reasonably communicate with an entity that knows everything about the universe?
Theres a lot packed in here: If the universe is finite, and there’s an entity that knows everything, and I can communicate with that entity, i can ask the entity any question, giving me infinite responses.
You get one question.
Yes, the question is my initial question, which can be answered differently based on the facts of the universe. If they are able to answer the question, I get infinite questions from another entity. If the question cannot be answered, ill learn something else about the universe.
there’s an entity that knows everything, and I can communicate with that entity, i can ask the entity any question, giving me infinite responses
But what if that entity is being a dick and refuse to answer any questions?
What’s tomorrow’s lottery numbers?
When will I die?
Now. Poof. /s
I could see a Genie doing that and being smug.
You sure you want that?
“You die in 50 years…”
5 seconds later…
“Unfortunately in about 10 seconds after you receive the answer, you accidentally fall as you are jumping up and down celebrating, you hit your head and you’re in a coma until you get cut off 50 years later and officially die”
…
The End
Sleepily ever after…
How come? Want to do stupid stuff?
Can you give me the exact locations of all lost civilizations? Ideally any that have Pompeii-like level of preservation.
Can you give me the exact locations of all lost civilizations?
Yes.
Goodbye.
Winning lottery numbers for next draw. When will humanity go extinct? Where are the nearest 1 billion species with near human level intelligence or greater. How do we safely and conveniently travel faster than light.
So many to choose.
That’s why you get 1.
Winning lottery numbers. I can ponder the depth of the ineffable froma beach with a tasty beverage somewhere nice.
Is the answer to this question no?
“No, it is not.”
Maybe.
Why?
Are you Chidi Anagoñe?
i don’t get that reference
Chidi is a main character from the show The Good Place. If you have any interest in ethical philosophy, it’s a great and accessible show. And if you’re not interested in ethical philosophy, it’s still a great show!
“How do I guarantee myself unlimited more correct answers?”
If it’s already possible to give one, then tell me how to remove the limit lol
“This is impossible. Goodbye.”
Asking a loaded question doesn’t automatically make the premise true.
The genie or whatever the hell it is then tells you what you should have asked in order to get unlimited questions, and then disappears forever.
“You can’t.”
What are the exact steps to convert any material into gold?
Oh we can do that it’s just prohibitively expensive. Roughly its 1. Create a star…
How can I live a life that is truly Good? A life that, at it’s end, I can look back on and say that I left the world, on net, a better place?
Where is the nearest intelligent life outside the solar system?
Why not “what specifically should scientists focus on to develop functional near or faster than light space travel?” Then people can just go check where the aliens are or are not!
I’d rephrase and ask "where is the most similarly advanced - relative to humans- intelligent life outside the solar system.
I wanna weed out all the low hanging fruit and find folks we might have a chance of talking to at some point.
At that point, why go for ‘similarly advanced’? Wouldn’t it be more beneficial to target intelligent life that has far outdone our own technologies?
We would probably have a better chance at real communication with them too
Nah, then they could murder us… It’s safer to find one just advanced enough but not too advanced…
The Avatar movie depicts what could happen in a scenario where we find intelligent life, but we’re the more advanced civilization.
