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Overcoming Bias Commenter's avatar

Hal, this is a joke that always struck me more as if it were a kind of riddle, and though there's a silliness in the set-up, this discussion made me realise a deeper truth. We're always engaged in both the personal and political, and if men think 'extrinsically', i.e. they formulate their thoughts outwards, and project their dilemmas onto the Big Picture, then it's because they are, on some level at least, aware of the inherently parallel relationship of their private struggles and their political ones. We can talk about Marx and Capital, or the founding father's libertarian ideals, because we're engaged in the process of knowing ourselves and our world, and because we're always seeking to achieve balance. I don't think it's a posturing thing; it's actually necessary; as you've demonstrated.

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Overcoming Bias Commenter's avatar

"the existence, or lack thereof, of an afterlife will not change no matter how much we think about it"

This, I disagree with. Consciousness is primary. What we conceive of in this life affects the future. Causality applies, even when obscured by death.

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