economics

dirtysexyhistory , 1 year ago to histodons

Christmas decorations are going up! You’ve got the tree, lights, asbestos… Wait, what?

For decades, asbestos was sold as artificial snow. It could be bought in boxes to be sprinkled onto trees, ornaments, nativity scenes, etc. It was so popular, many older ornaments still have traces of asbestos.

It was also used in film. The most famous scene with asbestos snow is in Wizard of Oz (1939), when snow falls on Dorothy and her friends, waking them up.

#histodons @histodons #christmas

economics , 8 months ago

@synlogic @dirtysexyhistory @histodons so there is an error of thought here. Certain things, such as drugs, must be proven safe and effective prior to use. Other substances such as paints or asbestos must be proven harmful to stop the use. Scandals, will of course happen, but some things such as drugs have open public meetings with outsiders being present. The meetings are boring but they do allow someone to see the concerns. (Continued)

cbontenbal , 9 months ago to philosophy Dutch

I find myself not understanding the concept of atheism. Who wants to explain it to me in a coherent way for a beginner? With a metaphysical substantiation please, if that is at all possible.

#atheism #theism #philosophy #religion #metaphysics @philosophy

economics , 9 months ago

@cbontenbal @philosophy it is the absence of belief in anything other than nature. Anything “supernatural “ does not exist. It is the most conservative position. It requires fewer assumptions to arrive at the same place. My preferred frame of reference is Bruno de Finetti’s extreme probabilism, though he may have been religious. He was opposed to rationalism and empiricism, favoring a rather interesting, very subjective, middle ground.

economics , 9 months ago

@cbontenbal @smithkm @philosophy by definition they are coherent, at least in the Bruno de Finetti sense of coherence, unless you are rejecting the existence of the universe. You seem to be cognitively trapped in the same way physicists were when they believed that luminiferous aether existed. Ground of being is a similar word soup, you need it to make things work. Even after the Michelson&Morley experiments showed it could not be, they continued.

economics , 8 months ago

@cbontenbal @davidesalerno68 @pauld @smithkm @philosophy I guess you would need to define what the word spiritual means first.

economics , 8 months ago

@cbontenbal @davidesalerno68 @smithkm @philosophy the only experiences that can exist are physical ones. The brain is a physical object.