Best Of
Re: The AI tsunami
@person said:
I've been seeing more and more AI videos that appear very real used mainly to engage clicks. But it’s like at first it’s impressive, but once I (and others judging by the comments) realized it’s AI I just don't want to watch anything. If I don't know if what I'm consuming is true what's the point of taking it in?
I agree, it’s nice to see a spectacular clip of someone surfing but if it’s AI generated you feel a bit like you have been fooled. I wish YouTube had a “no AI content” setting.
Jeroen
Re: The AI tsunami
I've been seeing more and more AI videos that appear very real used mainly to engage clicks. But its like at first its impressive, but once I (and others judging by the comments) realized its AI I just don't want to watch anything. If I don't know if what I'm consuming is true what's the point of taking it in? From mindless scrolling of cat videos to the philosophy of AI Jung.
person
The end of the spiritual question
Just recently I had a discussion with a neo-sannyasin friend, who said to me that all her spiritual questions had ended with Osho. Osho once said in a discourse, “I don’t answer questions — I destroy them”. So she doesn’t read spiritual books anymore, because of course why would you if you no longer have a spiritual question.
This set me to thinking, what exactly is my interest in spiritual books? After some thought, I arrived at the question, what is my place in this life? And I discovered that recently that question has been fading as well. I came across a piece by Alan Watts not long ago, where he talks about how human beings are lived by the universe, that just as we don’t digest our food or pump our blood, that our lives too are automatisms but on a different level, and we are the universe engaged in a play of becoming aware.
It seems to me that a lot of these things seem obvious but if you let them sink in long enough they become deep truths, and they become the end of your questions as they do so.
Jeroen
Re: Deliberatly Ending a Human life- How can we justify it ?
@Angus said:
I dont know why on earth this site calls itself Buddhist seems more like its frequented by a bunch of materialist-Athiests.
why are you hanging around? just to argue your point? life is short Angus. dont waste it trying to prove your points. you are like anyone else entitled to your opinions, but dont grasp them too tightly like they are the only truth
Re: Deliberatly Ending a Human life- How can we justify it ?
@Angus said:
There is a big difference to taking someone off life support and putting a needle of > @Steve_B said:I worked in healthcare for years. My wife worked in healthcare her entire career until retiring a few weeks ago. In the critical care fields, ICU, CCU, Neurotrauma, etc it is an overwhelmingly widely held perspective among the caregivers that euthanasia should be much, much more widely available. These are people who see the prolonged suffering firsthand, and care for the patients and their families.
Every human life will end. Every single one. Euthanasia has no impact on that inevitable outcome; instead it compassionately establishes the how and when.
Cruelly and deliberately prolonging agony, pain, and suffering — How can we justify it?
Yeah your right. Human life has no value really does it. Just murder them when it suits YOU.
That’s obviously not what they said, though, is it?
Jason
Re: Deliberatly Ending a Human life- How can we justify it ?
@Angus said:
I dont know why on earth this site calls itself Buddhist seems more like its frequented by a bunch of materialist-Athiests.
I don’t know why on earth you keep visiting this site if it’s not ‘Buddhist’ enough for your liking. 🤷🏻♀️
Jason
Re: Not biting the hook
Examples of the real worm with embed hook:
1. Immigration "Problem" Needs an effective solution.
Hook - (Trump Administration) Deport all the "illegal" immigrants
Not enough - Artificially create more
Result: Crops rot in the fields, construction slows down or halts, eateries close,
Families torn apart, small businesses crippled, communities devastated
The people setting that hook want a land controlled by of Rich "Christian" Whites
and poor "Christian" whites to keep everyone else down and in line.
- Attacked (Israel)
Hook - We must eliminate the threat (Hamas)
Result - Total devastation, Thousands of innocents killed, from children to aid
workers...
[Now the plan is to occupy (annex) the West Bank - apparently the plan all along]
These are Real World extreme examples at national/international level
At the individual level, we face countless hooks. Usually not near as horrendous as the above. In relationships, the bait is proffered seemingly freely. The hook is to get you to say or do something not really benefiting you, but for the "benefit" of whoever is offering the bait.
We also self bait and hook. "If I only had X......" The I would be happy.
Only to find our efforts in vain, even upon acquiring X.
By becoming aware, by being grateful for what we do have, appreciating ourselves, we can see the bait for what it is. We can control our actions as individuals and not become blinded by our own illusion and the illusions of the bait put forth by others. We do not make of ourselves victims.
Peace to all
Lionduck
Re: Idle Chatter
So "idle chatter" is prohibited. You're what, commiting a sin or making bad karma or anyhow being UnBuddhist if you don't shut up and stop talking to people. That cashier who smiles at you at the store checkout and asks how your day is going? Idle chatter! Don't you dare spend a few minutes letting her know you see her as a person worthy of talking to. That coworker who wants to talk about the movie they saw the day before? Idle chatter! Ignore them until they go away. I talk to my mother several times a week in Ohio, and to an old friend in a nursing home by phone once a week or so. About nothing in particular, just...idle chatter.
People are social animals. Sometimes it's not the content of what we're talking about that's important, it's that we make the effort to connect. Sometimes that means talking about the weather, or a favorite TV show.
So why this prohibition against idle chatter when the sutra talks about right speech? It's supposed to refer to the usual group of monks. They're supposed to be learning. The temple is their school. It's a teacher telling the class to sit down and shut up. So yes, there is a time and place for everything, and shutting up is included. Just don't try to wrap your entire life around it.
Cinorjer