EDIT: Turns out the coffee WAS decaf. Placebucks. Right on the package, too, I should have read more closely. I STILL can’t sleep.

How do you know solipsists are pointless? Do you know any? I donâ??t â?? although Iâ??d like to â?? the concept seems interesting.

I have never said that I think reality is arbitrary â?? my desk appears solid to me even though it is more than 99% empty space. I say that reality is created in each of our brains and apprehended by our minds â?? the only way any phenomena can be reified.

Solipsists believe that their mind is all that exists â?? I believe everything that exists for me is a function of my brain/mind apprehension, however I also believe the same is true for everyone else. You have your own reality that is independent of everyone else and your you (wholly created by your mind) is infinitely different from my you. My Stephanie (created wholly by my mind in response to symbols which I caused to appear on my CRT) is a rather bossy, short tempered, fearful, and religious (the concept of evil comes from religion â?? and the faith you appear to have in the Temple of Science â?? which is no less faith based than other disciplines) sort of entity who is not well acquainted with Eastern and other Philosophy and prefers not to question dogma and wants to remain in the comfort of sycophants and not venture very far from safe ideas and solid desks.

Iâ??m sure that my you (a caricature at best â?? but thatâ??s what I get from the characters on the screen) is totally different from your perception of yourself (as well as your other acquaintanceâ??s perceptions of you.) The Burt you create is as abstract and totally your idea as the Stephanie I create is mine. I also construct a caricature of the me my you describes somewhere in the abstract of cyberspace. I donâ??t expect my you to accept this formulation but maybe your youâ??s mind can stretch a skosh. Peaceâ?¦

My definition of empirical evidence is the standard one: Evidence obtained via observation and experiment. I live by my tenets and they have only benefitted me and my family â?? I doubt you can honestly say the same â?? given your response. So much antipathyâ?¦

I am wrong because you say so? My theories are dangerous and deleterious to fools who are susceptible to my putative self-destructive thought patterns because you say so? How about some qualification, reasoning, or support for your claims rather than the flaming, hyperemotional criticism that you and Stephanie resort to for lack of cogency? Both of you condescend to those you believe are less mentally acute than yourselves, those who may be taken in by my evil plot to their detriment. Perhaps they would appreciate your regard for their well being if they were aware of your machinations on their behalf.
Your expletive that concludes your emotional screed is equal in content to your unreasoned premises. Neither one of you appears to be capable of communication except possibly with those who mirror your beliefs but Stephanie states that she is interested in communication â?? apparently just not with those who have contrary ideas.

@Alice[35]

Your technique for banishment merely reinforces your belief in my existence. You are quite correct – for you, I donâ??t exist except as an idea which you imbue with whatever qualities as suits your whim, you have created me part and parcel. If you would like your incantation to be efficacious, cease all imagining of your bête (Burt) noire and skip all posts with my name attached.

Open eyes…

Hey, it worked!

Disclaimer: In the words of Dennis Miller: â??Itâ??s just my opinion â?? I could be wrong.â?

No, Burt, you are wrong. Your concept of “empirical evidence” is obviously far from the true definition. Your pontification about your crackpot theories are dangerous and have a deleterious effect amongst those poor fools who are susceptible to such self-destructive thought patterns.

And if you think that Stephanie is “one who is unable to communicate effectively, cannot articulate a reasoned rebuttal and resorts to emotional criticism to bolster oneâ??s position” then you’ve got a lot to learn about communication.

In other (less reasoned) words: fuck you (cause that’s just the way I roll)

you’re treating people’s health as an intellectual exercise with no real-world repercussions.

The only health I treat is my own â?? and any repercussions are mine alone â?? it is not merely an intellectual exercise as I have 30+ years of empirical evidence to support the theory.

What does it mean to anyone who gets caught up in your little theory?

Itâ??s impossible to get caught up in my little (good things come in small packages) theory. The theory states that it is oneâ??s beliefs that are responsible for events â?? if one believes that is true then they will act accordingly (which is actually tautological because all humans believe their beliefs are true.) If one isnâ??t happy with the results of oneâ??s beliefs then one should adjust the beliefs. If one believes that medicine can cure oneâ??s ills then by all means one should obviously avail oneself of whatever one believes can help. I have never recommended anyone eschew medical assistance when one is out of balance and urge anyone who is ill to seek help. I support a universal not-for-profit medical insurance solution, free for all, paid for by corporate and individual taxes so everyone who believes that they are in need of medical intervention may do so. I donâ??t presume to interfere in anyoneâ??s reality â?? all are free to act as they will as long as they do not physically harm another or usurp anotherâ??s legitimate possessions.

not only are they going to feel like crap physically, but they’ll think they must want somehow to feel like crap

Yes â?? they feel like crap physically, which is a result of feeling like crap mentally. Most people are loath to take responsibility for their perceived negative experiences and seek to blame others or bad luck for their woes. They are highly unlikely believe that they actually wanted to feel like crap. Have you ever encountered anyone besides me who espouses this philosophy? I think not. Itâ??s obvious that you would never be taken in by such a dangerous idea â?? itâ??s condescending to believe that others are more credulous.

They’ll blame themselves for something actually caused by genetics, foreign organisms, etc. Isn’t that lovely. Just what a sick person needs. More crap to deal with.

Genetics is a filter through which people choose to experience physical reality and a personâ??s genes do not cause anything. They are the basis from which each of us apprehends existence. In most of us, they are neutral and a non-issue beyond superficial phenotypical appearance, in others they represent challenges to overcome or opportunities to further human potential and scientific boundaries. Each case is personal and individual, the meta-aspect is what I address. Foreign organisms are ad hoc participants, invited by those who use them for their own reasons. Most of us are exposed to countless bacteria and viral pathogens every day and unless we consciously or subconsciously acquiesce to their potential to whatever degree of severity suits our purpose they are either helpful, deleterious, or neutral. Many times the knowledge of why dis-ease is manifested is enough to allow one to discard the ailment when it is no longer useful â?? utility being the crapâ??s deal – snarkiness notwithstanding.

if they’re silly or desperate enough to believe you

More condescension â?? if they are desperate, then conventional medicine and science has failed to help them and they will either decide to heal themselves or continue to grasp at straws and avail themselves of anything that they believe may help, be it quackery, charlatanism, religion or ritual sacrifice. The annals of medicine are replete with unexplained spontaneous recoveries â?? the explanation is usually chalked up to misdiagnosis, the actual reason is that the will to live or recover has trumped the will to die or remain ill.

No matter what’s going on in your delusional head, that’s not how it works in reality.

Are you an expert in how reality works? – Highly unlikely – your animosity toward a neutral collection of words which opines on the meta-nature of illness demonstrates a less than firm grasp on the subject. Your certainty in the belief that you understand the nature of reality, and that your beliefs are correct is no less delusional and faith-based than the creationists and others you berate or dismiss due to their beliefs. You term me delusional because I donâ??t believe as you do, which besides being a disparaging statement is a function of the ad populum fallacy. If a majority of people believe in something then it is considered delusional not to believe as they whether itâ??s true or false â?? witness the ID/creation/evolution stalemate. Truth is determined by consensus â?? absent others, people have to assume what they believe is true until they supplant their beliefs with other ones perceived to be more likely by their lights. They have only personal perception to guide their choices and those perceptions may or may not comport with otherâ??s beliefs.

In reality, some things work; some things don’t. Some things make everything worse. There is a difference, and pretending otherwise is evil.

In reality â??workingâ? is the perception of the believer. Things are largely neutral and â??worseâ? is a pejorative perception. Some things appear to be worse than others but seen from a larger perspective many times the apparent negativity turns out to be for the best. There may be a difference in perception but that doesnâ??t mean anyone is evil (another perception â?? strictly in the eye of the beholder â?? declaring something evil doesnâ??t make it so â?? only the shadow knowsâ?¦) and there is no pretense on my part.

You want to mess with your own health on the basis of whatever little intuition you rely on, go ahead. Leave everybody else alone.

I do manage my health by my intuition â?? why the need to be snarky by using the â??littleâ? descriptor (meaning insignificant â?? but your responses belie the sentiment?) Your condescending attitude is indicative of one who is unable to communicate effectively, cannot articulate a reasoned rebuttal and resorts to emotional criticism to bolster oneâ??s position. Perhaps you should practice your self-styled moderate obsession and edit your vitriol.

You order me to leave everybody else alone â?? I presume you mean for me to stop opining â?? are you really so threatened by opinion that you resort to overly emotional frustrated fiat? I sincerely hope you are not as angry as you seem in your responses, itâ??s unhealthy.

Disclaimer: In the words of Dennis Miller: â??Itâ??s just my opinion â?? I could be wrong.â?

You have a theory. Yipee. What does it mean to anyone who gets caught up in your little theory? Gee, not only are they going to feel like crap physically, but they’ll think they must want somehow to feel like crap. They’ll blame themselves for something actually caused by genetics, foreign organisms, etc. Isn’t that lovely. Just what a sick person needs. More crap to deal with.

On top of that, if they’re silly or desperate enough to believe you, they’ll think it really doesn’t matter how their health is treated, as long as something in their life changes. No matter what’s going on in your delusional head, that’s not how it works in reality. In reality, some things work; some things don’t. Some things make everything worse. There is a difference, and pretending otherwise is evil.

You want to mess with your own health on the basis of whatever little intuition you rely on, go ahead. Leave everybody else alone.

I wholeheartedly agree for obvious reasons. I didnâ??t offer any medical advice â?? I merely posted an explanation of the cause and cure of dis-ease from a meta-perspective (I term it dis-ease to subsume all ailments not just those caused by pathogens.)

If people believe that they are random victims of an indifferent universeâ??s organisms and that medical science will solve their ills, then they should seek medical treatment and I heartily recommend they do so. It doesnâ??t matter if itâ??s positive thought, hypnosis, antibiotics, or antibodies â?? whatever works for them. I believe as I stated above [27] and it works very well for me.

@Stephanie[29]

Evil? For rendering an opinion that is different from yours? Your characterization is a bit harsh donâ??t you think? If in all your point/counterpoint blogging you have only resorted to that epithet with me, it speaks well of your past writing, however Iâ??m interested in why such innocuous philosophizing has piqued your wrath.

It may come as no surprise to you that I donâ??t believe anything or anyone is evil â?? evil only exists as a belief in oneâ??s mind if one subscribes to the concept. Iâ??m sure that you and I would disagree on a good many beliefs (see my comments at your QM blog It is your fault but that is no reason to cast aspersions â?? for one who professes to an interest in communication, the barriers thereto are not aided by name calling.

So what has set you off? I doubt that my post is the root cause of your ire. If everyone believed that each of us is responsible for everything in our experience and less than ideal actions beget less than ideal results and actions only reflect on the actors â?? there would be less strife and fewer problems in the world. I live by that precept and experience very few problems in life. Whenever challenges or problems do arise, it is instant feedback that I should behave differently and when the mental correction has been affected the physical counterpart is corrected as well.