Recent posts

#91

The Diner / Re: Christianity vs Earth, the...

Last post by Florestan - Today at 01:08:10 AM

Don't worry, it was simply predestined you'd give up. 

Good one. 

#92

The Diner / Re: Christianity vs Earth, the...

Last post by 71 dB - Today at 01:02:20 AM

Looks like I'm talking to a brick wall. I give up.

Don't worry, it was simply predestined you'd give up. 

#93

The Diner / Re: Christianity vs Earth, the...

Last post by 71 dB - Today at 12:59:54 AM

But the way your life unfolds is predestined. There is no random casuality. Events that occur in your life, challenges you may face, it's all preordinaed in the end. Whether you die tomorrow or not is not something you have any choice over.

Does this mean people should just accept for example hard times, because it is all predestined? Sounds like very convenient message uttered by those in power wanting to stay in power and preventing people to try and change how things are.

If my life is predestined, do I do good things because they are morally right, or because I was going to do them anyway? Is the existence a holographic millions of years long movie?

Is time an illusion experienced by living creatures? This matters because the whole concept of something being predestined requires that time exists. If time is an illusion, predestination is also an illusion. I believe we have AT LEAST the illusion of free will. Maybe that's enough? Maybe quantum physics allows real free will?

I need to use many question marks here, because I don't know definite answers to these questions despite of having pondered them for decades. Maybe you are a super genius based on the level of confidence you write about these things as if we were talking about 3rd grade math problems.

So God is the master of our destinity as much as he is the master of all reality.

Which God? Mankind has come up with concepts of about 4000 Gods. People don't fully agree what kind of God(s) exist(s) and some people like myself don't believe in any God. Given this, how is it reasonable to assume we have any kind of definitive knowledge of what master(s) we and our reality has?

Our entire existence has been mapped in advance.

How do you know? These are questions the brightest minds have been thinking about for thousands of years. Are you unsure of anything or why is it that you don't need question marks?

Within this preordaned set of events we have the "freedom" to make choices, and our salvation depends on those choices, so it is true that we are not predestined to be saved or damned, but we are still not the masters of our lives. We have a free "will", but we are not free from contingency.

Wait a minute? Now you say we have some freedoms, but that means our lives can't be predestined! Even if the only freedom was to choose whether we watch Snooker on TV or not, that would automatically mean our lives are NOT predestined, because we would be able to choose whether our lives contain watching Snooker or not.

Again the message of being saved or damned based on how you use your freedoms is convenient for those who rule over others. It is possible of course, that it is pure coincident that the religious message you are presenting here happens to be convenient for those in power, but I point it out anyway because in critical thinking one should not ignore such things, right? 

I'm not so convinced they are. Or rather, i'm not convinced it is within our power to actually "kill" the planet.

You don't believe mankind is capable of causing untold harm to this planet? Really? How about all those animals that have gone extinct because of mankind? Were these animals predestined to go extinct? Sure, we can't kill the planet as in blowing it to pieces like in Star Wars, but we can do damage that makes life very difficult if not impossible for ourselves.

Defiling the environment is one thing, but this idea it is within our abilities to actually cause an apocalypse doesn't really sit right in my mind.

Really? Have you never been worried about a nuclear war for example? To you what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki 80 years ago was not apocalyptic in nature?

#94

GMG News / Re: Missing Members

Last post by vandermolen - Today at 12:57:45 AM

(Continuing from the Moeran thread)
Recalling past discussions, @Albion is the member who is most likely to be crushed by a pile of CDs. Albion has been inactive since February, so should we be concerned about that?

I have sent him a PM

#95

GMG News / Re: Missing Members

Last post by vandermolen - Today at 12:43:27 AM

(Continuing from the Moeran thread)
Recalling past discussions, @Albion is the member who is most likely to be crushed by a pile of CDs. Albion has been inactive since February, so should we be concerned about that?

Yes, i hope he's ok. I enjoyed his contributions here.

[Medtner]

#96

General Classical Music Discussion / Re: What are you listening 2 n...

Last post by Madiel - Today at 12:37:03 AM

Medtner: Piano sonata in F minor, op.5



Stunningly good music. Helped in no small measure by Hamelin's ability to handle all the thick counterpoint.

EDIT: I believe there are only 2 opuses of solo piano works that I don't own now.

#97

General Classical Music Discussion / Re: What are you listening 2 n...

Last post by Que - Today at 12:33:13 AM

Good morning all,


More of the same this morning. Superb.

Is that this one? A personal favourite! 

[Favourite Violin Encores]

#98

General Classical Music Discussion / Re: What are you listening 2 n...

Last post by Papy Oli - Today at 12:26:34 AM

Good morning all,

Various
Favourite Violin Encores

Arthur Grumiaux (violin), István Hadju (piano)

(Philips)

More of the same this morning. Superb.

[Mozart]

#99

General Classical Music Discussion / Re: What are you listening 2 n...

Last post by Madiel - November 23, 2025, 11:57:53 PM

Mozart: Clarinet Quintet



Somehow, owning it on CD is better. 

#100

General Classical Music Discussion / Re: What are you listening 2 n...

Last post by AnotherSpin - November 23, 2025, 11:51:52 PM

After @André's post, I started listening to Silvestrov's Symphony No. 5 in various recordings.

Of the two modern-sounding versions, I definitely prefer Jukka-Pekka Saraste's heartfelt interpretation with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra. Robertson's version with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin felt cold and detached in comparison, perhaps even too mechanical.

The early recording by Roman Kofman with the Kyiv Conservatoire Symphony Orchestra is fascinating in its own right as a historical artifact that is as close as one can get to the time and place of the work's creation. It is a remarkable coincidence that Kofman's version is the one included in Silvestrov's own official archive on Bandcamp.