Anyone here following the Consciousness Thread in the Science Forum?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/12284413
= new reply since forum marked as read
I do not believe that science will ever adequately be able to answer such questions, and that the pursuit thereof is no more or less sectarian than any other attempt at resolution.
But then again, I'm often wax a bit philosophical and that offends such sensibilities...
I'm always game for a fruitless, confrontational discussion 
I'm a coward
A few times I've clicked reply typed some stuff then canceled
cowardly, i mean.
but then, i rationalize & preserve my ego, by reminding myself of The Buddha's words on maintaining a 'Noble Silence', on the appropriate occasions.
altho' -- to go along with Ellisonz & GliderGuider's posts, and having freshly come off a discussion on the im/possibility of the existence of forms of energy travelling @ velocities exceeding the Einsteinian Light-speed limit (viz. the CERN neutrino experiments) -- i find that some rationalists & physicists can be as dogmatic, rigid & inflexible in their opinions, as the members of any other sub-group of the human species; and when backed into a corner, they have the typical human tendency to switch to specialized technical language, in an attempt to intimidate & marginalize the questioner.
Materialists who feel backed into a corner and have no jargon to fall back on usually resort to verbal intimidation. It's a fear response. There are lots of those over on the God board. I used to take them on as well, because taking their comments at face value forced me to dig in and clarify my own position (and it helped keep the rhetorical rapier sharp).
On the other hand, if there's no dialogue it's just two egos thumb-wrestling. It's too easy for me to get attached to the dopamine rush of the joust, and there is little value in it beyond being able to watch myself in that situation. There are more pleasant and useful ways to step into the Witness - like meditating or riding the bus. Learning to decline an internet argument is great mindfulness training. 
~ to the three of you.
me - i either go into hibernation, or get nasty; bad tendencies, both.
much more training needed my end, on keeping to the middle.
+ Aloha! + 
...and I'm sure you'll be even better in whatever form you take your next life presuming you do not achieve nirvana and escape samsara!
I have a bad habit of every once in awhile needing to give such people a good poke in the eyes! It's an error and I know better, but I do it anyway.
Reenactment 
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i shall present your opinion to my daughter, next time she snarks me - for ranting at the mindlessness of stuff on TV.
