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Originally posted by NichirasuKenshin
reply to post by TarzanBeta
I make no claims about what is GOING TO EXIST ONE DAY as I, other than most ATS'ers, don't deal in prophecy making.
I find it probable that one day such technology could exist, I see no reason why it categorally can't
All I'm saying is I haven't seen compelling evidence of it existing contemporarily.
As you acknowledge in your post, it wouldn't be crazy for a supranational body to make treaties about things that aren't existing right now.
Following the logic of other posters I could say global warming exists - they made a treaty against it so it must be real, right?
That's just junk science. The same people who scream SCAM about AGW suddenly see treaties as some kind of definite proof. Treaties are not proof of anything; certainly not when they use the conditional tense.
Originally posted by NichirasuKenshin
reply to post by TarzanBeta
Sorry, Tarzan. Maybe you didn't understand what I meant, or I didn't make it clear.
I am not contradicting what you are saying. The point about the nymphos on Mars only works when there is no possibility of ever interacting with them.
Let's go with magic space squirrels.
If I were to tell you that there are magic space squirrels but that their properties are such that you could never see, experience and interact with them then you wouldn't care about them. I'm not saying forget about them because they don't seem probable, or because they are to far away. The point is that you cannot claim the existence of something and then add that there is no possivle way of discerning them and then go on about the implications it has for your life.
It was a bad example. I very much agree with some of what you write. John Locke didn't say don't care about things that don't seem probable, Locke said that stipulating entities with properties that deny our interacting with them is a logical fallacy since the stipulation already says that such entities can not have practical relevancy.
The nymphos on Mars have the property that I cannot interact with them, they cannot influence me, I cannot influence them. That's the stipulation of the thought experiment. Wouldn't you agree that if they exist and have these properties then they can not have significance for your life and therefore are practically irrelevant?
Originally posted by NichirasuKenshin
Please don't misrepresent what they wrote there. They do not say these weapons exist; what they say is that these are the kind of weapons that WOULD be banned under the treaty if ever developed.
Originally posted by NichirasuKenshin
reply to post by TarzanBeta
Well, it seems we have very different standards of proof.
And if this document alone is proof of earthquake weapons, by the same standard the other treaties are proof of global warming and SDI in the ATS's.
Or do you find it epistemologically plausible to have varying hermeneutic standards when reviewing treaties?
Originally posted by NichirasuKenshin
reply to post by TarzanBeta
It's funny because we really don't disagree all that much.
I am not making claims about the existence of earthquake weapons. All I am saying is that I've never seen compelling evidence for them.
Do I believe that govs and other circles are interested in such weapons and would like to use them? Absolutely.
I object to this thread because it implies that this document is proof for such machines. I pointed out that by using the same standard people could have claimed that SDI exists in the 80's or that people today could say: global warming exists since there is a treaty against it.
The story is that they are making treaties against possible future dangers, and this treaty tries to stem the problem at the root, multinationally.
Again. Would you take the treaty against weapnoization of space from the 60's as proof that space was weaponized in the 50's`? I doubt it.
Originally posted by NichirasuKenshin
reply to post by TarzanBeta
For the record: I am not advocating closing this thread. Surely you do not object to me giving my interpretation of it?
I can't say much more, as we agree. This document is not proof of such weapons; it could be used as circumstantial evidence if there is ever additional material proving the technology.
Originally posted by NichirasuKenshin
reply to post by DOADOA
You clearly did not understand the argument of practical irrelevancy. As I said, John Locke explains it better than me, go to the source.
This means that even though those nymphos on Mars exist, I shouldn't care about them, because it is paradigmatically stated that I cannot interact with them in this thought experiment. That means that their existence or non-existence cannot possibly have meaning for my life, therefore I should not consider them when thinking about it.
Again. You say that:
1) Tesla invented earthquake machines.
2) Tesla is such a singular genius that ONLY he could understand the science behind it and that for that reason the science is irreproducable (something that science never is, never can be, as it reproducability is a fundament of empirical science)
So why should I care about it? If the science behind it is irreproducable then nobody has built such a machine up to today, logic dictates. So why should I care?
You guys were going to give me evidence of earthquake machines. Why is that so hard when all you guys seem to know they exist?
It's like with the nymphos on Mars. Why should I care about what they would do with me if it is impossible that they ever do it?
This is the argument of practical irrelevancy. If you claim a thing exists with properties that give it no chance of ever entering my phenomenology then these things can not have significance for my phenomenology.
That's a pretty strong argument and it has been for about 400 years.
can
William S. Cohen (1940- ) | US Secretary of Defense
There are some reports, for example, that some countries have been trying to construct something like an Ebola Virus, and that would be a very dangerous phenomenon, to say the least.
Alvin Toeffler has written about this in terms of some scientists in their laboratories trying to devise certain types of pathogens that would be ethnic specific so that they could just eliminate certain ethnic groups and races; and others are designing some sort of engineering, some sort of insects that can destroy specific crops.
Others are engaging even in an eco-type of terrorism whereby they can alter the climate, set off earthquakes, volcanoes remotely through the use of electromagnetic waves.
So there are plenty of ingenious minds out there that are at work finding ways in which they can wreak terror upon othernations. It's real, and that's the reason why we have to intensify our efforts, and that's why this is so important. In discussion with Senators Nunn and Lugar - April 28, 1997.
Q: Let me ask you specifically about last week's scare here in
Washington, and what we might have learned from how prepared we are to
deal with that (inaudible), at B'nai Brith.
A: Well, it points out the nature of the threat. It turned out to be a
false threat under the circumstances. But as we've learned in the
intelligence community, we had something called -- and we have James
Woolsey here to perhaps even address this question about phantom
moles. The mere fear that there is a mole within an agency can set off
a chain reaction and a hunt for that particular mole which can
paralyze the agency for weeks and months and years even, in a search.
The same thing is true about just the false scare of a threat of using
some kind of a chemical weapon or a biological one. There are some
reports, for example, that some countries have been trying to
construct something like an Ebola Virus, and that would be a very
dangerous phenomenon, to say the least. Alvin Toeffler has written
about this in terms of some scientists in their laboratories trying to
devise certain types of pathogens that would be ethnic-specific so
that they could just eliminate certain ethnic groups and races; and
others are designing some sort of engineering, some sort of insects
that can destroy specific crops. Others are engaging even in an
eco-type of terrorism whereby they can alter the climate, set off
earthquakes, volcanoes remotely through the use of electromagnetic
waves.
So there are plenty of ingenious minds out there that are at work
finding ways in which they can wreak terror upon other nations. It's
real, and that's the reason why we have to intensify our efforts, and
that's why this is so important.