On 4/24/2011 21:14, Jim Henderson wrote:
> Either you are or you're not.  Belief doesn't come into this.

My belief and the reality of the two are technically orthogonal. Of course, 
my belief is causally caused by the reality of the fact that I am indeed 
sitting in a chair, along with the fact that my senses are brain functions 
are working pretty close to normal.

The fact that I *am* sitting in a chair does not in any way negate the fact 
that I believe I'm sitting in a chair. I'm not sure how you dismiss my 
belief that I'm sitting in a chair as unrelated to the discussion of whether 
that's actually a belief.

> This is a much more complex statement, though - evidence suggests that
> you (and Patrick, and everyone else here) is an actual person.  Belief
> may play into this.

I'm not sure why you're arguing this.

"Do you remember what color car the suspect was driving?"

"I believe it was reddish, maybe orange."

How about "Do you recognize this composer?"  "I believe it's Bach." Does 
that mean if it really is Bach, you don't actually believe it's Bach?

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   "Coding without comments is like
    driving without turn signals."

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