Click here to read my ongoing interview with Tal Bachman.

[_wenglund]

Hi Tal,

I appreciate you agreeing to be interviewed. Here is my first question:

Is there is anything (whether secular or religious, physical or spiritual) that you would say you "know" and/or think is "true"? In other words, is there anything in your mind that you would consider as "knowledge" and/or "truth"?

Thanks, -Wade Englund-

[_Tal Bachman]

Yes, here is one thing: I know that it is true that consciousness exists.

[_Tarski]

Yes, here is one thing: I know that it is true that consciousness exists.

That's funny. I was slowly getting around to the idea that consciousness as it is normally intuited, something beyond the activities of the brain, actually doesn't exist.

[_harmony]

Yes, here is one thing: I know that it is true that consciousness exists.

What do you mean by consciousness?

[_grayskull]

Let me make a prediction:

No matter what Tal or anyone else says, Wade will make a skeptic argument that we can't know anything. He will then argue that anything we think we know is a statement of faith and therefore, anything he wants to believe is true from his religion is equally as valid as any other supposed knowledge. His argument will begin with a simple child's regress in the form: "Why is the Ocean blue?..But why is the sky blue?...But why is..."

Here are my examples of things I know:

I know that some planes fly.
I know that some Kayaks float.

[_Sam Harris]

I know my feet are cold, and will not warm up again completely until the first thaws of next spring.

[_Notoriuswun]

*subscribes*

[_harmony]

Here is what I know: all people die.

[_keene]

Here is what I know: all people die.

I disagree. I have no proof that I will die. I have only proof that others have died. I believe I'm immortal. Prove me wrong, and I'll be too dead to care either way.

[_Dr. Shades]

I disagree. I have no proof that I will die. I have only proof that others have died. I believe I'm immortal. Prove me wrong, and I'll be too dead to care either way.

That sort of reminds me of people who obsess about "carrying on the family line." You know, couples who worry and fret until they have a boy to "carry the family name."

I never could figure out this line of reasoning. I mean, why would you care about your so-called "family line" if you're dead?