Philosophical Question - Amiguing

[paul1981]

Now the less succinct version :
I think there is a tendency sometimes for people to label things that are "old" as "nostalgic", when it's not correct. For instance:
I have a large record collection, and few CDs.  Is it nostalgia? No, I just prefer the warm analogue sound to the clinical, digital sound of a CD.
I listen to old music, mostly 60s and 70s. Nostalgia? No, I wasn't even born then. I just think it's more rewarding (give me some nice Rock, Prog, Jazz or something over modern music any day)
My favourite film is "The Producers" from 1967. Nostalgia? No, it's just an awesome film.
My wife spent most of the evening playing Sonic on the Megadrive. Nostalgia? No, it's just a very good game.
My favourite platform of choice is the Amiga. Nostalgia? No, it's just an awesome platform to use and develop on.

+1

I couldn't have put it better myself. Plus, as a side note, there's more detail in those grooves than any digital audio format.

[paul1981]

Well let us just say that human beings aren't quite the purely rational, utility-maximising beings certain Enlightenment philosophers and modern economists would like.

Also anyone who doesn't like the Amiga has no soul.

The Amiga has a soul, it's greater than the sum of its parts. :knuddel:
I used my Amiga on my own for years, my friends at school played the odd game but I was the one doing all the more interesting stuff like DPaint, ImageFX, Amos, Workbench tinkering etc and upgrading my Amiga. This was and still is a great source of pleasure for me. I didn't interact with other users until I joined this very forum 4 years ago. So I don't buy this "group" viewpoint entirely. That'll be true for some, but it doesn't apply to everyone, and not to me.
I'll enjoy my Amiga on my own, like I always did if need be! I'll continue to use them and tinker with them on a daily basis for my own pleasure entirely, and if the internet crumbles one day then it won't mean I'll stop using my Amiga. It'll likely mean I'll use it even more...

[paul1981]

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
قُلْ يَا أَيُّهَا الْكَافِرُونَ
لَا أَعْبُدُ مَا تَعْبُدُونَ
وَلَا أَنْتُمْ عَابِدُونَ مَا أَعْبُدُ
وَلَا أَنَا عَابِدٌ مَا عَبَدْتُمْ
وَلَا أَنْتُمْ عَابِدُونَ مَا أَعْبُدُ
لَكُمْ دِينُكُمْ وَلِيَ دِينِ

"In the name of God the Merciful
Say O disbelievers
I do not worship what you worship
Nor do you worship what I worship
I Abed not served
Nor do you worship what I worship
Your religion and I have mine"

Courtesy of Google Translate.

[paul1981]

Here's a famous one
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koko_%28gorilla%29

Also Elephants
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant_cognition

"The elephant has one of the most closely knit societies of any living  species. Elephant families can only be separated by death or capture. Cynthia Moss, an ethologist specialising in elephants, recalls an event involving a family of African elephants.  Two members of the family were shot by poachers, who were subsequently  chased off by the remaining elephants. Although one of the elephants  died, the other, named Tina, remained standing, but with knees beginning  to give way. Two family members, Trista and Teresia (Tina's mother),  walked to both sides of Tina and leaned in to hold her up. Eventually,  Tina grew so weak, she fell to the ground and died. However, Trista and  Teresia did not give up but continually tried to lift her. They managed  to get Tina into a sitting position, but her body was lifeless and fell  to the ground again. As the other elephant family members became more  intensely involved in the aid, they tried to put grass into Tina's  mouth. Teresia then put her tusks beneath Tina's head and front quarters  and proceeded to lift her. As she did so, her right tusk broke  completely off, right up to the lip and nerve cavity. The elephants gave  up trying to lift Tina but did not leave her; instead, they began to  bury her in a shallow grave and throw leaves over her body. They stood  over Tina for the night and then began to leave in the morning. The last  to leave was Teresia."

Thanks for sharing that Mrs Beanbag. One hell of a sad story.
Makes me wonder why there can't be a bit more love and respect amongst us Amiga.org members. All this falling out and bickering over (lets face it) irrelavent crap like how intelligent we think we are compared with other animals and why we still use our Amiga's, and which OS is the most customisable or whatever other crappy questions get asked. Why do elephants suck water into their trunks and blow it up in the air like a fountain? They do it for fun! Why do killer whales toss baby seals into the air before they eat them? That maybe for fun as well (we're not intelligent enough to answer that....ooh the irony).

And then here in this thread we're talking about creation and the universe, almost as if one day we'll some how understand the answer to it. Well that's bull, there's just no way we'll ever understand how our universe came about. It's like trying to teach a sparrow long division.... no matter how much tuition the sparrow receives I can assure you it just ISN'T going to happen.
They'll be beings out there though somewhere (in the infinite vastness of space) with intelligence of many orders of magnitude above our own, maybe even millions of times more intelligent. They will get much closer to the answer than we ever will. Lets say for arguments sake, this superior being (or computer even) actually figured it out and told us the answer.... well, the truth is we wouldn't and could never ever understand the answer... we just don't have the mental capactity.

[paul1981]

Neither do I.

I'm pretty sure psxphill was trying to express his belief that all religions are an invention of man. Just thought I'd point that out incase you missed it.

[paul1981]

I believe that the very thing that sets us apart from all other creatures on this planet obligates us to become caretakers of this world.

It's obvious to me that it's this world that looks after us. We're quite powerless, and can't control or contend with the extraordinary power of nature, at least not for a LONG time. As of yet, she provides everything we require.
If Mother Nature wants to get rid of us, she will in a heart beat. We won't have a say in it.