mark.marrocco

24-year old male in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.

Online:	7 Months Ago	Name:	Cosmic Logic
Updated:	9 Months Ago	Gender:	Male
Joined:	10 Months Ago	Birthday:	- Private -
President:	Not Saying	Email:	- Private -
Ideology:	Undecided	Education:	Some College
Party:	Independent	Ethnicity:	Not Saying
Relationship:	In a Relationship	Income:	Not Saying
Interested:	- Private -	Occupation:	- Private -
Looking:	- Private -	Religion:	Agnostic

Beliefs:

"Belief in the traditional sense, or certitude, or dogma, amounts to the grandiose delusion, "My current model" -- or grid, or map, or reality-tunnel -- "contains the whole universe and will never need to be revised." In terms of the history of science and knowledge in general, this appears absurd and arrogant to me, and I am perpetually astonished that so many people still manage to live with such a medieval attitude." ~Robert Anton Wilson

Quotes:

"When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." ~Sherlock Holmes

"Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocre minds. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence." ~Einstein

"The truth may be puzzling. It may take some work to grapple with. It may be counterintuitive. It may contradict deeply held prejudices. It may not be consonant with what we desperately want to be true. But our preferences do not determine what's true." ~Carl Sagan

"The trick is to combine your waking, rational abilities with the infinite possibilities of your dreams, because once you can do that, you can do anything." ~Waking Life

8 Debates

Nature vs. Nurture: "Rationality"

Resolution: Pro will argue that, on balance, environment is more important than genes in the development of rationality. Con will argue for the opposite position.Definitions:Rationality: The combination of intelligence and conscientiousness.Intelligence: "the ability to learn or understand, or to deal with new or trying situations and/or the ability to apply knowledge to manipulate one's environment, or to think abstractly as measured by objective criteria (as tests.)" Here: http://www.merriam-w...

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1 Comments

Updated 9 Months Ago

Evolution

ev·o·lu·tion [ev-uh-loo-shuhn or, especially Brit., Biology . change in the gene pool of a population from generation to generation by such processes as mutation, natural selection, and genetic drift. In this debate, I will be arguing for creationism. Creationism is the doctrine that matter and all things were created, substantially as they now exist, by an omnipotent Creator, and not gradually evolved or developed. RULES:TRY TO USE CORRECT SPELLING AND GRAMMAR I...

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7 Comments

Updated 9 Months Ago

Abortion is Generally Immoral

I would like to debate the proposition that abortion is generally immoral.To start with, I do believe that life-saving abortion are morally justified as long as the unborn child is not yet viable. This is because in rare cases (such as ectopic pregnancies), the child's and mother's life are both in danger. If you do nothing, both will die. It is better to lose one life than two.I will be arguing that abortions in all other cases are immoral.First round for acceptance/clarification.Second round f...

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31 Comments

Updated 9 Months Ago

"Conspiracy Theory" is, in most contexts, a Thought-Terminating Cliché.

Some definitions:A "Thought-Terminating Cliché" is a commonly used phrase, sometimes passing as folk wisdom, used to quell cognitive dissonance. Though the the phrase in and of itself may be valid in certain contexts, its application as a means of dismissing dissent or justifying fallacious logic is what makes it thought-terminating. Here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought_Reform_and_the_Psychology_of_Totalism "Cognitive Dissonance" is a discomfort caused by holding conflicting cogniti...

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13 Comments

Updated 10 Months Ago

U.S. Primacy is globally desirable.

Resolved: U.S. Primacy is globally desirable. Definitions U.S. Primacy: the fact that the U.S. can intervene if it desires and dominates multilateral and/or international organizations.Desirable: implying a more advantageous end state Rules1. Drops are concessions2. No new arguments in the last round 3. No semantics or trolling 4. Forfeit(s) will result in a loss*Rd. 1 is for acceptance. Rd. 2 will being argumentation**Do not accept this unless you are going to take the debate seriously....

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39 Comments

Updated 10 Months Ago

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Debate Statistics
Debates:	8
Lost:	3
Tied:	1
Won:	4
Win Ratio:	57.14%
Percentile:	91.73%
Elo Ranking:	2,092
Statistics based on completed debates.

Activity Statistics
Forum Posts:	236
Votes Cast:	7
Opinion Arguments:	0
Opinion Questions:	0

71 Friends

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2 Albums

	Political Compass Updated 10 Months Ago
	Internet Memes Updated 10 Months Ago

The BIG Issues
This list identifies where mark.marrocco stands on popular issues. The choices are limited to the following:

N/O - No Opinion
N/S - Not Saying
Und - Undecided
Con - Against
Pro - In Favor

If you are logged in, you will also see green or red bullets next to each issue, which indicate whether you agree or disagree with mark.marrocco on that particular issue.

You can also click each issue to find other members that agree with mark.marrocco's position on the issue.

Disagree: 0.00%

Agree: 0.00%

•	Abortion	Und
•	Affirmative Action	ConComments "Race" is a scientifically void concept. And while "minorities" may have needed the advantages of these programs in the past, in the future I think they need to be recognized as equal parts of the single species that constitutes humanity.
•	Animal Rights	ProComments This topic needs to be divided into subsets: Scientific Testing, Cosmetic Testing, Farming Practices, and Ecological Practices. Generally, animal suffering could and should be greatly reduced across the board.
•	Barack Obama	ConComments While George W. Bush was a straightforward liar, Obama is an appeaser and equivocator of the masses, misleading them to think he has their interests at heart, when he actually has much more self-serving interests in mind. i.e. Just another politician
•	Border Fence	ConComments I think this issue is very superficial, there needs to be more detailed consideration of it. However, keeping out refugees that we have endangered by empowering criminals on their side of the fence seems unfair and insane.
•	Capitalism	Und
•	Civil Unions	ProComments Civil Unions should be the only legally recognized partnerships, with the same rights that marriage has now, in order to leave the moral and religious aspects out of the legal discussion, where they never belonged under a secular government.
•	Death Penalty	Con
•	Drug Legalization	ProComments The government has no credibility where it comes to determining which drugs should be legal or illegal, the "War on Drugs" was generally wasteful and destructive, and addiction is a disease that should be treated, not a crime to be punished.
•	Electoral College	ConComments The E.C. causes what it claims to prevent by making the minority group in each state irrelevant, thus a direct election would give each vote equal weight, and therefore be more democratic and logical.
•	Environmental Protection	ProComments While, like most other things, our implementation approach here is usually flawed, the natural, not technological, environment supports life, including our own, and thus needs to be preserved.
•	Estate Tax	ConComments No.
•	European Union	Und
•	Euthanasia	ProComments If someone is suffering, there are no alternatives that will ease it, and wants to end their own suffering, they should be able to. Forbidding it is punishing someone who is already a victim.
•	Federal Reserve	ConComments Yes, we should let a private corporation that isn't Constitutionally responsible to the government be able to control all of the money. Oh, wait...
•	Flat Tax	ConComments "The power of taxing people and their property is essential to the very existence of government.' ~James Madison "The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax." ~Albert Einstein
•	Free Trade	Und
•	Gay Marriage	ProComments Since marriage in this country is a legal contract, and we ostensibly have freedom of religion, the religious and moral distinctions about what marriage "is" should be ignored under the law.
•	Global Warming Exists	ProComments It does. How much impact we have is debatable, but like the opposite of an Ice Age, which people certainly had no influence on, we do seem to be in a natural warming cycle that we are probably accelerating slightly.
•	Globalization	Und
•	Gold Standard	Und
•	Gun Rights	Pro
•	Homeschooling	Pro
•	Internet Censorship	Con
•	Iran-Iraq War	ConComments "War is murder writ large."
•	Labor Union	Und
•	Legalized Prostitution	Und
•	Medicaid & Medicare	Und
•	Medical Marijuana	Pro
•	Military Intervention	Con
•	Minimum Wage	Pro
•	National Health Care	Und
•	National Retail Sales Tax	Pro
•	Occupy Movement	Pro
•	Progressive Tax	ConComments "No government can exist without taxation. This money must necessarily be levied on the people; and the grand art consists of levying so as not to oppress.' ~Frederick the Great Exactly. Politicians are terrible artists.
•	Racial Profiling	ConComments There. Is. No. Such. Thing. As. Race.
•	Redistribution	Und
•	Smoking Ban	Und
•	Social Programs	Und
•	Social Security	Und
•	Socialism	Und
•	Stimulus Spending	Und
•	Term Limits	Pro
•	Torture	ConComments "Do unto others as they would have you do unto you." Or, just use truth serum.
•	United Nations	Und
•	War in Afghanistan	ConComments "Every war results from the struggle for markets and spheres of influence, and every war is sold to the public by professional liars and totally sincere religious maniacs, as a Holy Crusade to save God and Goodness from Satan and Evil."
•	War on Terror	ConComments "War is peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength." "War on Terror" is a though-terminating cliche used to obfuscate actual reasons for blood-thirsty hegemony.
•	Welfare	Pro