Just a thanks to everyone here. I post here because I require the intellectual stimulation. I don’t want to forget that I depend upon the other posters here for that.
I am old enough to remember the promises made when the internet first came into being. One was that it would provide worldwide communities - linking people all over the globe to provide an unprecedented means of communication. A cultural device unkown previously.
We are oddballs, all of us. There is no place where we could all gather in a lasting way to discuss this sort of thing. There never was, on the scale that sites like this provide. The promulgation of a specific way of looking at human culture - the promotion of whetever it is that philosophy is, in an immediate, durable and personally-relevant mode is a novel occurrence - because the technology is novel.
But sites like this are uncommon. General bullshit chatrooms are very common, but they are a different thing.
What Ben and a few others have done is to bring to fruition, in a certain milieu, for a certain oddball cohort, one of the idealistic-sounding prognostications of a few years ago.
Internet commerce is fine. Chatrooms are fine. MySpace is fine. But sites like this represent some of the best uses of this medium - in my humble view. Philosophy departments have become a bit more rare in US, secular schools. That trend may continue. If it reverses, it might be, in some small part, due to sites like this.
This would be my stance too. I post on more than one philosophy forum, and I’ve got hardly any experience of philosophy. But it’s enjoyable, and more importantly informative, to gain some insight into others’ perspectives.
Cake has too many carbs, so I rely on ILP. I too spend a lot of time working with boneheads, so I need my ILP fix to keep my brain working. You definately help keep the place interesting, Faust.
Dan~ I thought this was symbolic of the dichotomy of religion and science, and the deep chasm between that philosophy must navigate. And explore. And rub up against. And nuzzle. And fondle.
Yestrday I spent six hours tending bar and another five running the floor at the restaurant. Talked to a lot of stupid people. This morning, I caught up here at ILP.
Just wanted to say “thanks” again.
Eleven hours of that shit can get to you. Nice to have such a handy antidote.
I have posted here for a while and elsewhere for a
long while and I must say, this site has worked for me as
I had hoped it would. Which is to say, I wanted
to think better. I wanted to understand arguments
better and how to better respond to them. I am
far better at that now then I was, say 5 years ago.
But its the people with who I have had major battles with,
who have helped me the most, the Doorman and IMP.
If I was to meet anyone here and shake their hand,
it would be IMP. He keeps me on my toes. My only
complaint is, he gives up sooner then he used to.
Oh well, can’t have it all.
