We did cover this.

>Observe that saying that event E is contingent is the same thing as saying that event E is “not necessary,” and saying that event E is necessary is the same thing as saying that event E is “not contingent.”
>
>So “necessary” and “contingent” are inter-definable. Be aware of that.

In his words, another way to write the thesis would be: No events are contingent.

And yet I just had my Intro to Philosophy professor tell me that the very thesis of Determinism is: All events are necessary.

Aye, perhaps the wrong word, but I do believe you understand what I was proposing. How does this differ from a puppet in a play? The marionette controls the puppet, the puppet cannot do otherwise, but surely it's the puppet's story to tell, is it not?

Well, I did them, but did I have a choice? Again, if all actions are necessary, then I could have done no other than what I have done. What choice in the matter did I have? If not my own choice, was it my own action?

This is not to say that all actions are not caused. I think one could argue that indeed all actions are caused. But caused actions do not mean predetermined. Caused actions are not necessary, are they? But again, if all events are necessary, and all events are actions, and all actions are caused...

I too am still in shallow waters, which is why I'm engaging. It's hard to have these conversations at the bar, as most cannot follow the logic or reasoning.

The thesis for determinism is that all events are necessary. If it was necessary because that event was predetermined, then what choice was there in the matter? My "choice" may matter, simply because it HAS to matter, but it's still a hard pill to swallow to say that my actions are not my own.

>In light of such a doom, it is perhaps tempting to suggest that nothing matters. But this is incorrect for the same reasons it would be in a non-determined world. All our choices and actions still matter and still change our lives and our world exactly as before. The only difference is the realization that we could not have done otherwise.

I'm not sure I agree. If the universe is indeed determined, and all actions are necessary, then as you state, no one could have done otherwise. If so, would one not be more than a pre-programmed robot following a pre-determined path? What meaning would life have other than that of the voyeur? Furthermore, if all actions are necessary, then all events happen as they must. If I choose to not work, that was pre-determined. If I choose to work, that was pre-determined. That's not a choice, it's just what was to happen, and therefore, why should it matter at all what my perceived choice was?

I'm 41 and I've worked in tech for over 20 years. I've done everything from sales, support, engineer, director of engineering, to where I am now as a solutions engineer for a large datacenter. Decentralized servers such as Mastadon have been around forever (see IRC, etc) but ease of use has always been a concern.

I'll use Mastadon, but I don't suspect people I care to follow like say, Stephen King, would also use Mastadon. However, I would love to be proved wrong.

The fact that it’s decentralized with so many servers means it’ll cater to a niche, much like Discord does today. It’s not that our culture can’t deal with tech, since we continue to add more tech into our culture without much issue. It’s about ease of use. How do I easily get my older extended family onto Mastadon where we can all share cat photos? Do you have to explain the client server model to each person? Are they going to know which server their account was created on? I can’t ever remember which server I created my own account on without looking it up.

Mastodon won’t catch on. It’s too techy for the masses.

There used to be this idea of Unilineal Cultural Evolution which we've dispelled. I'm not sure it was so much that Rome had influence, in that people viewed cultures as a linear progression from one era to the next, with more "advanced" cultures being the evolutionary pinnacle of humanity, and that anyone not as "advanced" was simply unevolved. We obviously know this is not true nor correct, but as a whole, at least in academia, it wasn't until recently that this shifted, and continues to shift.

The Cookbook isn't really what you think it is, more of a CIA tool. The latter is certainly purchasable.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/mein%20kampf

My children have hardly experienced any earthquakes and we live in Southern California. A far cry from me experiencing some of the larger quakes to hit our area, one of which threw me out of bed pre-dawn and had our power out for some time. My parents experienced some large quakes as well, and some of the family of a previous generation experienced the large Alaska quake that lasted several minutes.

10 seconds is huge, but I'm afraid for a generation that has no concept of what a quake even is at this point. They haven't seen the ground shake or roll, literally looking like it's breathing.