h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi Zarre, welcome to this mad-cool place.
I guess one of the official welcoming commitee will be along soon, until then if you need help click Don't Panic, and if you need a donut click this URL: http://www.h2g2.com/forumframe.cgi?thread=35585&forum=26840
I hope you enjoy H2G2
Joanna
PS. How does one write three philosophy essays simultaneously?
Or should I never try?

Hi Joanna,
I thought this place was great already, but doughnuts as well!? Writing three philosophy essays simultaneously is pretty tricky and quickly leads to philosophy overload (the cure being to watch a no-brain film). But such are the risks of leaving it all 'til the last minute. As to whether I recommend it... well, yes, but see the "philosophy as a cult" entry before you decide whether to trust my opinion!!
Cheerio,
Martin

Hmmm. I'd tend to agree with philosophy as a cult based on the inhabitants of my house:
"I'm just going to put the cup on the table"
"Yes, but how can you be sure that its a table?"
"What ever it is, I'm putting the cup on it right?!"
"But it may not be there. It and the cup may be figments of your imagination"
"Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr"
Joanna

Philosophers like to mess with people's minds. The best defences are a: become a philosopher and confuse them even more, b: get them talking to someone else and run for it, or c: hit them with the cup (whether or not it exists, it can still knock them out). Still, at least philosophers talk about cups and tables, and not Bolzano-Weierstrass theorems and Taylor functions!

please don't diss Taylor Polynomials.
That is the wrong answer.
Having said that, I've only had two lectures on them, might start changing my mind any day now...
At least physicists don't try to confuse you with things you thought you knew about, like cups, tables.. etc, etc.
No one pretends to know about physics mostly.
Joanna

Not really dissing Taylor and his wonderfully expansive polynomials... but they aren't great if you want to talk to non-scientists. Not that many scientists do, of course...
No-one can spot the difference between people who know about physics and people who are just bluffing!
The main problem with doing philosophy is that the lectures are interesting, so it's hard to catch up on your sleep
Ask your philosophers what difference not knowing whether the cup is real makes to their life... you still have to hope it's real if you want a drink!

I'm definitely going to ask that to the next Knowledge & Reality student I see

I'm in the nice position of doing Applied Ethics, which is where philosophy meets real life
"The goal of philosophy is not to understand the world, but to change it." (Marx, in a rare moment of talking sense)
Durham must be pretty cold at the moment? Warwick was lovely and warm, but I'm in Hull now and it's a bit chillier

its FREEEEEEEZING. I just walked back from the Science site to college, and I was so cold! The computer room here is boiling hot, though.

You should try the walk to the maths department at Warwick. Through a wood, then up a hill, with fields on both sides, and the wind tearing across at supersonic speed. Then when you get up there and into the department, you find you're in ancient Greece. Its uncomfortably warm, the natives (the lecturers) all have long, white beards and wear shorts and sandals, and they speak in a weird language that's almost impossible to understand.
The philosophy department is more like an asylum, but then you probably guessed that.

From where I live to the science site:
Down a very steep hill, along the river bank, across the bridge, along the road, turn left, cross the road, up behind the uni office, up past the old police station, cross a road, take a left, cross a [dangerous] road, up more hill... reach top of hill, walk along for another 6 minutes, cross road, up slope.. wow! you've made it!

And all this to get to a physics lecture... you have to wonder why anyone bothers. But then again, if people are crazy enough to choose physics, their behaviour is likely to be somewhat bizarre at the best of times

Thank *you* very much!

My pleasure
Of course, it's not always *bad* to be bizarre... But to warn you of the dangers of physics, a final year physicist I lived with at Warwick tried to claim that basketball players weren't all that tall... you see where you are heading?! Save yourself while you still can!!

Rumour has it that 80% of Durham Physicists wind up as City accountants. Don't worry, I'm being everso careful!

Good to hear... I remember an episode of Countdown (just writing that makes me want to cringe, but anyway) when Richard said to Carol, "What's a mathematician? Someone who doesn't have the personality to be an accountant." (For Richard, that was highly amusing)
Philosophers become a wide range of things. Most sell out and go to earn some money as management consultants or something similar. The others generally aren't very materialistic, which is just as well really.

what, with all those semi-existant cups?

and the definitely non-existent money...
How did it suddenly become seven-o-clock? Oh I know, because I spent an afternoon surfing the web and writing stuff at h2g2 when I should have been writing essays. Dammit. "But what is time, anyway? Can I be sure it's seven-o-clock? Might not time be merely a figment of our imagination, somewhat like cups and tables?"
I'd better go. Good to talk to you - I'll be back again very soon, I'm sure. Hope you manage to confuse your housemates Tell them you have come to doubt that they have a mind, and you want them to give you one good reason why you should think they have

Good one!