To say Trump “impersonates disabled people” is an insult to people with disabilities. He mocks them. He doesn’t see them as actual people worthy of respect. I work with people of all ages with disabilities and I would take every single one of them over Donald Trump every single minute of every single day.

There’s plenty of evidence that consciousness is a physical process affected by other physical processes, though. Like how brain damage changes behavior. Or medication. Alcohol. Um, basically all the evidence.

This is essentially a religious appeal. Which I respect, but it feels like you’re trying not to put it in those terms for some reason.

I think you’re taking the “Big Bang” aspect of the argument a little too literally, or at least giving it more weight than it deserves.

We are so far away down that chain that it is functionally-impossible to trace and we can’t even fully predict all the cause/effect chains that might shape our moment-to-moment life.

Ah, scientific determinism! I agree with this idea to this point. There are degrees of free will, based on just how far down the chain of our own creation we are. We are so far away down that chain that it is functionally-impossible to trace and we can’t even fully predict all the cause/effect chains that might shape…

You can’t possibly believe that your choice of what to have for lunch was complete random, and not influenced by any external variables (including your own personal history).

“Lisa Randall said, “I don’t know why this higher species would want to simulate us.”

The funniest part of the VA race was Gillespie (a guy from New Jersey) and Trump (a guy from Queens) bloviating about “our southern heritage and precious statues”. Northam is a VA native who went to VMI and got his MD from Eastern VA Medical School. He couldn’t be more Virginia than if he was a literal Virginia ham…

Cannavale is VERY Fargo-y.

I enjoyed this. It was a filling-in-the-blanks episode but still well done. The Trump moment felt a little shoehorned in.