HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: gt5936c@prism.gatech.EDU (gt5936c Addy,Thomas Eugene III)
Newsgroups: talk.philosophy.misc
Subject: Re: Fear of the process of dying.
Date: 5 Oct 92 23:04:20 GMT
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology

I came up with a theorgy, or rather a thought, about death, while watching
Star Trek (something I don't get a chance to do much anymore.)  I watched the
whole crew get beamed down to the surface of some strange planet, and I started
to get to wondering about just how this 'beaming' process worked.  Although I
doubt I'll be applying for a patent anytime this year, I gathered that
somehow, their molecules must be desintegrated and then re-integrated on the
planet's surface.  Even if this isn't what the creators of Star Trek were
thinking, it _could_ work that way (I mean, it can't,but you know what I mean).
But doesn't this mean that they're dying?  Surely, having one's molecules picked
apart by some gigantic energy ray is tantamount to death.  But then you 
respond, "no, they're not dead, they reassemble on the planet's surface, 
otherwise how could Kirk save the day every time if he was dead? The expendable
crewmember doesn't even die till they get to the surface!"  But they _are_
dying, and being replaced by brand new Kirks, Spocks, and expendable
crewmembers.  They're so exactly alike that they have all of the memories of
the original, even to the moment of 'beaming,' and they would think you were
ridiculous if you told them they had died.  They would even cheerfully call
for Scotty to kill them again and beam them back up, creating yet another new
being on board the Enterprise.  Of course, the whole Star Trek scenario is not
the point--the point is that _death_does_not_matter_.  Who knows, maybe you'll
be reassembled after your death?  You won't know about it... you won't even know
that you're dead.  Even if I sat down with Captain Kirk after his return trip
and successfully convinced him that he had died twice in one episode, he would
probably growl something like "well, maybe you're right, but that isn't getting
us any closer to Beta Nebulon 4."  And he would be right.  It just isn't
important.
-- 
Internet: gt5936c@prism.gatech.edu
	"I'll employ my resources to make your puny lives miserable!  I'll
	crush your pathetic dreams and ambitions like bugs in the dust!"
		--Calvin ("Calvin & Hobbes")
From: SXZ104@psuvm.psu.edu
Newsgroups: talk.philosophy.misc
Subject: Enlightenment
Date: 30 Sep 92 18:49:41 GMT
Organization: Penn State University


    Follow these steps and thou shalt reach God.
1. Fasting
2. Thinking
3. Waiting

UNITY.

" Time is Not Absolute "
From: pww9211@rigel.tamu.edu (WINFREY, PHILIP WAYNE)
Newsgroups: talk.philosophy.misc
Subject: Re: Enlightenment
Date: 1 Oct 92 14:42:00 GMT
Organization: Texas A&M University, Academic Computing Services
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

In article <92274.144941SXZ104@psuvm.psu.edu>, <SXZ104@psuvm.psu.edu> writes...
>    Follow these steps and thou shalt reach God.
>1. Fasting
>2. Thinking
>3. Waiting


    And when you find him, you'll be hungry, confused, and impatient
    as hell.
From: fxpcd@camelot.acf-lab.alaska.edu (Peter Dolan)
Newsgroups: talk.philosophy.misc
Subject: Good and Evil
Date: 26 Sep 92 20:58:09 GMT
Organization: University of Alaska Computer Network

I'm still sort of new to this thing, but please bear with me for a bit.   
What sort of sprang to mind after reading through all the stuff about God  
and Satan was the following, albeit complicated, question-like-paragraph:   
Posit for the moment that there is an objective definition of Good and  
Evil.  Can we, as human beings comprehend these definitions, and if we  
can, can this comprehension of a behaviorial system even be verbalized?   
With this as background, prepare youselves for the big question.  If Good  
and Evil depends upon the results of an action, then would it not also  
depend upon the results of the results of the actions? I believe there is  
an Indian tribe somewhere that says a person should be held responsible  
for the effects of his actions up until the 7th generation or something  
along these lines.  If we apply this concept to Good and Evil, Knowledge  
of greater good (the actions which will bring about the MOST good for the  
most amount of time) might require more knowledge about the world.  Take  
for instance the old-hackneyed cliche about Hitler's childhood. If you  
could go back in time and kill Hitler as a child, would you?  Or, if there  
was a rather violent man running around (and I'm sure there were many) who  
decided to try and become a better person, and in the process didn't kill  
little Adolph, was his act one of good, or evil?  This brings about  
questions of passive and active good and evil as well, but I'm going to  
side step those for a moment (One of those Zen moments which never quite  
get around to ending) to try and get to the brunt of this posting.  In a  
religious sense, we can (If we so choose) imagine that God is an entity  
which has this absolute knowledge of what one effect will do on out to  
infinity, but then, if the Devil is the repository of evil, wouldn't  
he/she/it have to have the same ability?  Or if, Satan's knowledge was not  
absolute, wouldn't the presuppose that Good was going to win?
	If we think of Good and Evil in a different sense we get different  
results.  If the result of a Good action is Good, no matter what it may  
look like, then the creation of the universe by an essentially good being  
(again, these are for the sake of conjecture, and not necessarily an  
assumed viewpoint that I'm trying to sneak through) has to contain only  
good acts, and as such, there is no Evil.  
	Well, this post got a little bit longer than I had meant it to be,  
but maybe it'll be some food for thought.  Oh yeah, standard disclaimer,  
these views aren't necessarily my own, but they are fun to play with
Newsgroups: talk.philosophy.misc
From: hausner@qucis.queensu.ca (Alejo Hausner)
Subject: Re: Two things
Organization: M.Sc, C.S, Queen's, Kingston, Canada.
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 01:28:46 GMT

In article <69041@hydra.gatech.EDU> gt0009b@prism.gatech.EDU (rahim) writes:
>
>Another thing I wanted to find out is that I have been recently
>reading Nietzsche and find him incomprehensible.  Could someone 
>recommend a book by him or on him that might assist me with a decent
>introduction to the man?   I started _The Birth of Tragedy_ but it was
>beyond me.
>
There aren't too many good books on Nietzsche.  Because a lot of what
he says is hard to swallow, most commentators on Nietzsche end up
writing more about their own ideas than on what he says.  For example,
Jaspers writes about his own existentialism, Jung writes about his own
theory of the unconscious.  A lot of people, looking for a theory,
latch onto to some small part of his ideas, like eternal recurrence or
the overman, and treat as a central theme.

I can only recommend what I liked.  "Twilight of the Idols" is nice
and short, although it's a bit condensed.  "The Genealogy of Morals"
is not bad, though it's a bit longer.  I really liked it.  "The Gay
Science" is pretty good too.

Hope that helps!

Alejo (hausner@qucis.queensu.ca)

Newsgroups: talk.philosophy.misc
From: elowther@news.weeg.uiowa.edu (Edward Lowther)
Subject: Re: Good and Evil
Summary: Pithy quote and commentary. 
Organization: University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 1992 02:55:19 GMT


In article <1992Sep26.205809.6496@raven.alaska.edu> fxpcd@camelot.acf-lab.alaska.edu (Peter Dolan) writes:

>I'm still sort of new to this thing, but please bear with me for a bit.   
...I bear the whole posthing...
>	If we think of Good and Evil in a different sense we get different  
>results.  If the result of a Good action is Good, no matter what it may  
>look like, then the creation of the universe by an essentially good being  
>(again, these are for the sake of conjecture, and not necessarily an  
>assumed viewpoint that I'm trying to sneak through) has to contain only  
>good acts, and as such, there is no Evil.  
 
  "We ought not to train ourselves in unnatural or
 extraordinary actions, for in that case we who claim
 to be philosophers shall be no better than mountebanks"
            Epict.
 
   I'm also quite new, but everyone is new, once.  Taking your article
in full:  I'm not sure what the general direction of this is going ...
(from within my own handle of the Good/Bad ness thing.)  You're trying
to say Utilitarianizm but can't, right?  Probably, if you notice that
you need a 'quantum' measure of "Good packets" and notice that "no matter
what it may look like..." means sombody must be doing the looking, it
emerges that the act of observing an action to have "Goodness" affects
one's own framework of reference.  All beings' frameworks, taken
together holistically, then, are the basic "Goodness" field.  
  Let's see what the actual philosophers make of all this, eh? 
  (Not to mention ourtraged physicists)
-- 
Edward Lowther     + elowther@umaxc.weeg.uiowa.edu 
University of Iowa +          (Disclaim)
Graduate College   +  "Garlic, Garlic, Garlic! And it's good, too!" 
Dept.Computer.Sci  +             Jeff Smith.
Newsgroups: talk.philosophy.misc
From: cash@convex.com (Peter Cash)
Subject: Re: Fear of the process of dying.
Date: Sun, 4 Oct 1992 04:00:54 GMT
Organization: The Instrumentality
X-Disclaimer: This message was written by a user at CONVEX Computer
              Corp. The opinions expressed are those of the user and
              not necessarily those of CONVEX.

In article <1992Oct2.212723.43532@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu> miner@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu writes:
...
>	Strictly speaking, we *can't* experience actual death. 
>And when the preceding moment comes, we either won't realize
>it is the end (after all, we've never died before :) or we will
>instinctively resist the idea that we're dying (because of our instinct
>for self-preservation we will cling to the contrary).  Therefore it's
>unlikely we will actually "experience" the process as such.
>	In other words it'll literally be over before we know it.

I don't know how much comfort that is to me. You see, it isn't the act of
dying itself that bothers me. (Hmm...is dying an "action"...or is it
something that happens to one?) Rather, I view dying much like I viewed
bedtime when I was a small child. The adults were off doing mysterious,
interesting things, but I was sent to my room and shut out of their
activities. I always felt a profound pang of regret when this happened to
me...and yes, it was so _unfair_!

Death is like that--after you're dead, your friends go on having fun
without you. (In fact, the whole world goes on without you--such cheek!)
After you're dead, you can't go to movies, you'll miss the latest political
developments, and you won't appreciate all the neat scientific discoveries
that are going to be made after your demise. You're shut out--you can't
participate. 

It's as though you were playing one of those games where people are
eliminated one by one--only you get tagged "out" first, and the game still
has a long way to go. But it goes on without you.

Sure, I believe that God has another game he wants me to play--and drinking
the new wine of paradise can't be half bad. But right now, my life is the
only game I know, and I've gotten rather fond of it (despite the occasional
ugly turn). So when I think about death, why yes, I do regret the prospect
of having to leave it. The thought that death itself doesn't hurt is not 
much help here. 
-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
             |      Die Welt ist alles, was Zerfall ist.     |
Peter Cash   |       (apologies to Ludwig Wittgenstein)      |cash@convex.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Newsgroups: talk.philosophy.misc
From: gcv2010@Msu.oscs.montana.edu
Subject: Re: Fear of the process of dying.
Reply-To: gcv2010@Msu.oscs.montana.edu
Organization: Montana State University
Date: Sun, 4 Oct 1992 16:08:41 GMT

In article <1992Oct4.040054.18481@news.eng.convex.com>, cash@convex.com (Peter Cash) writes:
>In article <1992Oct2.212723.43532@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu> miner@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu writes:
>...
>>	In other words it'll literally be over before we know it.
>
>I don't know how much comfort that is to me. You see, it isn't the act of
>dying itself that bothers me. (Hmm...is dying an "action"...or is it
>something that happens to one?)

Well, the "-ing" ending implies action.  :)

>Death is like that--after you're dead, your friends go on having fun
>without you.

Unless they're all dead already, before you.  My 83-year-old neighbor laughs
that her phone never rings;  nobody calls her because all her friends are dead. 
(She has a wonderful sense of humor.)

>After you're dead, you can't go to movies, you'll miss the latest political
>developments, and you won't appreciate all the neat scientific discoveries
>that are going to be made after your demise. 

Puts it all in persective, though, doesn't it?  I mean, does it really matter? 
In a hundred years, after you're gone, will any of it matter?  I prefer to
spend my time on the important things.

>Sure, I believe that God has another game he wants me to play-

Here's a strange question.  What did God do before He created us and this
planet?  He's eternal and infinite, right?  So?  I asked my friend this
question, and after he gave me a strange look, he said, "Well, for starters, it
was dark, because He created light..."

Newsgroups: talk.philosophy.misc
From: lizi@ocf.berkeley.edu (Cosma R. Shalizi)
Newsgroups: talk.philosophy.misc
Subject: Re: Enlightenment
Date: 3 Oct 1992 13:33:38 GMT
Organization: Vampire Research Group at Berkeley :)
NNTP-Posting-Host: lightning.berkeley.edu

In article <92274.144941SXZ104@psuvm.psu.edu> <SXZ104@psuvm.psu.edu> writes:
>    Follow these steps and thou shalt reach God.
	Perhaps; but will It accept the charges?
>1. Fasting
	Acid not cheap enough where you live, or just afraid of the police?
Or do you have something against sleeping pills?
>2. Thinking
	Evidently optional.
>3. Waiting
	Patience - gobs and gobs of patience - would indeed appear to be
essential to this method, at least until (1) reaches its ultimate fufillment.

>UNITY.
	IMCOMPREHENSIBILITY?
>" Time is Not Absolute "
	Of course not! Time is Stolichnya.
This unsolicited flame brought to you by
	Cosma Rohilla Shalizi
	In Real Life: lizi@ocf.berkeley.edu
	larval physicist who drank 6 jolts some hours ago now...
-- 
"Some savages are persuaded by the 'natural light' that it is their duty to
 eat people, and even Voltaire's savages, who are led by the voice of reason
 to hold that one should only eat Jesuits, are not wholly satisfactory."
-Bertrand Russell on Rousseau in _A History of Western Philosophy_, p. 694
Newsgroups: talk.rumors
From: mhhutchi@unity.ncsu.edu (Max Hutchison)
Subject: Re: Clinton/Gore rumor
Organization: North Carolina State University Project Unity
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1992 01:14:15 GMT
From: ed@fhouse.UUCP (Ed Felton)
Newsgroups: talk.rumors
Subject: Re: Perfect Knowledge
Date: 28 Sep 92 18:24:28 GMT
Organization: Summa Technology, Inc.

morgan@sitka.triumf.ca (Morgan Burke @ TRIUMF, Vancouver BC) once wrote....

>I have an ad that I clipped out of Popular Mechanics a few years ago, and
>keep in my wallet.  I'm convinced that it is a secret code of some sort...
>Guesses/suggestions as to its real meaning are encouraged.  Here it is, 
>verbatim (upper case words also boldfaced in original):
>
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------
>                           PERFECT KNOWLEDGE
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  ETERNAL'S Original Measures contain Total Knowledge.
>Enhance Einsteinic dimensions.  Gather unlimited, recycled.
>FREE energy from CREATOR'S Time Bank for home,
>factory, pleasure.  Eliminates deadly experimental research,
>pollution, friction, Taxes!  Permanent power plants have NO
>moving parts!  Transportation VEHICLES use Monadic Grav-
>ity.  1000 year built-in durability.  Small, crash-proof, family-
>model, Mini-Star Limited To under/over water within buffer
>zone.  Maximum speed 50,000 M.P.H.  Relegates death-
>dealing wheels To Stone Age.  SURVIVE due Seal Six and 
>ENJOY The riches of Heaven of Time Station Earth!  No mail.
>Test for qualifications in person.  ATA Base, 1500 North
>Texas, Welasco, Texas.

Seen it too. As recently as 18 months ago, back of popular mechanics.
Did seriously wonder about it...

Anybody ever head down to talk to these folks???


>
>
>-- Morgan Burke (morgan@reg.triumf.ca)

----
--                   
Ed Felton              |   Opinions expressed do not reflect the views of  |
Senior Systems Analyst |__ management (or mine either for that matter).  __|
Summa Technology, Inc. |                                                   |
(205) 922-4058         |         High Tech is the only Tech for me!        |
From: gbrown@kean.ucs.mun.ca
Newsgroups: talk.rumors
Subject: re:  tribe of space pinheads
Date: 30 Sep 92 16:09:48 GMT
Organization: Memorial University. St.John's Nfld, Canada

I sincerely hope that this is a poor attempt at humour, if not, I would 
suggest that you seek psychiatric help immediately.  Such delusional 
rantings are common among sociopaths, republicans (i.e. 'family values'), 
tories (Canada's own version of the Bush administration) and anyone who 
thinks that Ross Perot would make a 'fine leader'.  

One final thought, . . . GET A LIFE!!!

GRANT E BROWN
OCEAN SCIENCES CENTRE
MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY OF NEWFOUNDLAND
ST.JOHN'S, NEWFOUNDLAND, CANADA
A1C 5S7
"gbrown@kean.ucs.mun.ca"
From: bobd@marune.acs.ohio-state.edu (Bob DeBula)
Subject: Re: Clinton/Gore rumor
Organization: The Ohio State University
Distribution: usa
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 16:29:24 GMT

In article <FTwTRB4w165w@quake.sylmar.ca.us> loose@quake.sylmar.ca.us (loose_connection) writes:
>there's a rumor that Clinton/Gore bumper stickers are available for
>$1

Actually, the rumor I heard was that for a (non-refundable)
dollar, you could get a point added to the party platform.

PAC PAC PAC PAC PAC PAC PAC PAC PAC PAC PAC PACman strikes again!!!
-- 
==========================================================================
              Disclaimer: These are my views, not the U's

        "If it's in the paper it must be true!" --- D. Doright 
Newsgroups: talk.rumors
From: mconners@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Michael R Conners)
Subject: Slick Willie & the KGB
Summary: Backpeddle fast, Willie!
Keywords: communists, Bill Clinton
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 18:29:35 GMT

     Anyone hear about a story in the Washington Post about Bill Clinton and
the KGB?

     Evidently, in 1970 when Bill was in England he toured Europe- and one of
his stops was the Soviet Union. His escort around Moscow in their limo? The
KGB. The KGB attempted to recruit the young Clinton to be an anti-war organizer
in the U.S. when he returned.

     This was reported by Richard Dorrin (sp?) of California, and was in
Sunday's Washington Post.
-- 
:  Michael R. Conners              : "Beware of all enterprises that require :
:  THE Ohio State University       :  new clothes."                          :
:  College of Business             :               - Henry David Thoreau     :
From: jlpicard@austin.ibm.com (Craig Becker)
Newsgroups: talk.rumors
Subject: Re: Perfect Knowledge
Date: 29 Sep 92 16:16:44 GMT
Reply-To: craigb@ot.austin.ibm.com
Organization: IBM Object Technology Products
Originator: jlpicard@woofer.austin.ibm.com


morgan@sitka.triumf.ca (Morgan Burke @ TRIUMF, Vancouver BC) writes:
> I have an ad that I clipped out of Popular Mechanics a few years ago, and
> keep in my wallet.  I'm convinced that it is a secret code of some sort...
> Guesses/suggestions as to its real meaning are encouraged.  Here it is, 
> verbatim (upper case words also boldfaced in original):
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>                            PERFECT KNOWLEDGE
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>   ETERNAL'S Original Measures contain Total Knowledge.
> Enhance Einsteinic dimensions.  Gather unlimited, recycled.
> FREE energy from CREATOR'S Time Bank for home,
> factory, pleasure.  Eliminates deadly experimental research,
> pollution, friction, Taxes!  Permanent power plants have NO
> moving parts!  Transportation VEHICLES use Monadic Grav-
> ity.  1000 year built-in durability.  Small, crash-proof, family-
> model, Mini-Star Limited To under/over water within buffer
> zone.  Maximum speed 50,000 M.P.H.  Relegates death-
> dealing wheels To Stone Age.  SURVIVE due Seal Six and 
> ENJOY The riches of Heaven of Time Station Earth!  No mail.
> Test for qualifications in person.  ATA Base, 1500 North
> Texas, Welasco, Texas.
> 
> -- Morgan Burke (morgan@reg.triumf.ca)

Dunno...you might try posting to alt.alien.visitors and/or
alt.folklore.urban and see if any of those folks have a guess.

Craig
-- 
-- "You can expect virtually      Craig Becker, Object Technology Products --
--  anything from a people who had      Internet: craigb@ot.austin.ibm.com --
--  nuclear weapons in the early      IBM TR: craigb@woofer.austin.ibm.com --
--  seventeenth century."                           VNET: CRAIGB at AUSVM1 --
Newsgroups: talk.rumors
From: mhhutchi@unity.ncsu.edu (Max Hutchison)
Subject: who cares!!!!!!
Organization: North Carolina State University Project Unity
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1992 01:10:27 GMT

Keywords: 

I hope you are not voting for Clinton.
Xref: sparky talk.rumors:1067 rec.arts.tv:19180
From: burley@geech.gnu.ai.mit.edu (Craig Burley)
Newsgroups: talk.rumors,rec.arts.tv
Subject: Re: Madonna & Di &/or Fergie
Date: 4 Oct 92 06:15:54 GMT
	<1992Oct1.191434.23015@afterlife.ncsc.mil>
Followup-To: talk.rumors
Organization: Free Software Foundation 545 Tech Square Cambridge, MA 02139
In-reply-to: acadams@afterlife.ncsc.mil's message of 1 Oct 92 19:14:34 GMT

In article <1992Oct1.191434.23015@afterlife.ncsc.mil> acadams@afterlife.ncsc.mil (Arthur C. Adams) writes:

   >>Somebody told me they heard about a Madonna/Di or Madonna/FatFergie
   >>tryst. Anyone else hear this rumor? Details?
   >
   >Madonna merely said that one of them (and I forgot which one too)
   >could stay in her apartment for the time being while the divoce or
   >whatever went through.

   Doesn't this sound like the plot of a really _BAD_ sitcom?

You mean as in "The Ex and Sex Princesses!" ??
--

James Craig Burley, Software Craftsperson    burley@gnu.ai.mit.edu
Member of the League for Programming Freedom (LPF)
From: dewind@acsu.buffalo.edu (Idbil Fubar)
Newsgroups: talk.rumors
Subject: Re: who cares!!!!!!
Date: 29 Sep 92 15:04:59 GMT
Organization: UB

dirk@ecst.csuchico.edu (Dirk Walls) writes:

>In article <1992Sep29.011027.29478@ncsu.edu> mhhutchi@unity.ncsu.edu (Max Hutchison) writes:
>>
>>I hope you are not voting for Clinton.

>And I hope you aren't voting for Bush.

Damn...and Zappa dropped out of the race this year too.


Idbil Fubar
From: rogers@rosencrantz.osf.org (Andrew Rogers)
Newsgroups: talk.rumors
Subject: Re: Bill Clinton & the KGB
Keywords: communists, Bill Clinton
Date: 5 Oct 92 22:59:57 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: HICAM/OSD

In article <1992Oct5.182935.18317@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> mconners@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Michael R Conners) writes:
>
>     Anyone hear about a story in the Washington Post about Bill Clinton and
>the KGB?
>
>     Evidently, in 1970 when Bill was in England he toured Europe- and one of
>his stops was the Soviet Union. His escort around Moscow in their limo? The
>KGB. The KGB attempted to recruit the young Clinton to be an anti-war organizer
>in the U.S. when he returned.

Yes, and I've also heard a rumor that the Bush campaign has hired former
KGB disinformation/psychological warfare specialists.  Coincidence?

AWR