Feb 19 2011: There is always room for new religions. They show up daily. Write a book, or books and get people to believe that what they say is the best way to live. Viola! Religion.The fact that so many new ones pop up is a testiment to the fact that they haven't outlived their "usefullness".Usefull to whom, may be the better question and are those uses desirable. In America we have freedom to worship as we please and freedom from the establishment of a national religion. The oppression of any religion is an anathema to our Constitution and Bill of Rights.This whole discussion begs the question of: Isn't it obvious that a lot of folks don't share the goals of some religions or see the value in their practises and what can be done, by our enlightened consensus, to get them to "tone it down". It's elitist, just like "memetic condoms to prevent extremism". Wouldn't we want "good" religions to be extreme? "What's so funny 'bout peace, love and understanding?"
Feb 19 2011: What one might process in the existenstial equation may not be relevant at all. If one is, as you suggest, a mere condensation of data and we are flawed mechanical devices merely responding to stimuli with no real choice then absurdity overcomes purpose. It is not anti-social to ask everyone to consider the "red pill" and develop independent thought. It is possible to assimilate one's experiences criticaly. Am I to be defined by my consumption of my environment? I may be what I eat, but do I have to be what I read, hear, and see? If that is the case, pass the SOMA and save me a seat in front of the television because those who control the media I ingest are destined to control my critical thought. If you aren't making up your own mind, some one else is. Are there no individuals left? Are we all distillations of the cultural input we can't, don't dare, resist? Where do your ideas come from? Is inspiration an elctro-chemical event in our brain prompted by stimuli? Impericists win? You know who someone is and how they think by their education? Hitler studied to be an artist.
Feb 19 2011: Picasso said a lot of stuff. Is he an example of de-evolution? Some oneonce said, "In wine there is truth."
Someone else said, "Art doesn't have to mean, it only has to be." Is the same truth revealed in every artistic lie? Keith Richards said "Art is some guy named Arthur." Star Trek is like Picasso? Is that a sure sign of de-evolution? "I know it's only rock and roll , but I like it."
Feb 18 2011: "This pattern suggest evolution is not random...." "this applies to the meaning of life" "stopped evolving because intelligent life had been accomplished"? Poor Darwin. To be so misunderstood by so many. Surely, we are not the acme, the end of the eveloutionary line! The very idea that "evolution " can or would stop is contradictory. Short or long arcs in evolution could be random or not, no? Mutations occur naturally and "unnaturally", from within or as a result of outside forces.
Feb 18 2011: "Teachable moments" occur, often without prompting. How do we make classroom time filled with them? Who can do it? Hmmmm.... the professionals we treat as babysitters, place holders and test givers: teachers? One motivated teacher can do more to spark a passion for learning than several institutions. In fact, if you are lucky, you can make your way through many institutions on the encouragment from just one, early on and despite the failures of the institutions and their keepers that dog you through matriculation in and out of "higher learning", learn to think for yourself.
Feb 18 2011: Is it more valuable to know or to keep looking. Dr. De Grasse said he hoped they didn't find the "god particle" because the search is so thrilling. Complacency is worse than ignorance and smug is worse than dumb.
Feb 18 2011: Which post? The last one is irony. The one prior: the thing observed is changed by the observation. Our perceptions are very limited, our intellect as well, and trying to use those two broken crutches to walk may not be possible. Logic is limited to our perceptions and our "intellect" (mechanism for ordering perceptions) a product of our perceptions. The order we perceive is not the "order" that exists. It is the order we discern to navigate through this sense of "reality". Do you perceive x-rays? Did they exist before you perceived them? Are there other things we don't perceive but exist anyway? Gluons? Nutrinos? Dark energy? Mathematical "proof" lives in our heads until we perceive it matching our perception of physical action. Quite a quandry. Are fractals proof of "order" in the universe? Can God change the rules, when ever He likes? Why not? What "deal" do we have that everything will remain the same and that we will be able to know what God knows about how things work? We are still chewing on that piece of fruit from the tree of knowledge. Too bad we didn't eat from the tree of wisdom. OK leave god out of it. What do we "know" and how do we know it? We don't know.
Feb 18 2011: Believe in science, if you like, you will have plenty of company. It is, however, an anthema to science to harbor "beliefs". The scientific method works on hypothesis, not belief. Beliefs skew your data, or at least your perception of your data. There is no data on God. None to skew. All perceptions are subjective. If you have faith, it isn't science.
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A reply on Conversation: Has religion outlived it's usefulness?
A reply on Conversation: Has religion outlived it's usefulness?
A reply on Conversation: What if we came to the realization that as species we are de-evolving and entropy is taking place?
Someone else said, "Art doesn't have to mean, it only has to be." Is the same truth revealed in every artistic lie? Keith Richards said "Art is some guy named Arthur." Star Trek is like Picasso? Is that a sure sign of de-evolution? "I know it's only rock and roll , but I like it."
A reply on Conversation: What if we came to the realization that as species we are de-evolving and entropy is taking place?
A comment on Conversation: Was intelligence, nature's plan from the very beginning? To clarify some points about this debate.
A reply on Conversation: Are Educational Institutions responding to the challenges of teaching and learning in the 21st Century?
A reply on Conversation: Are Educational Institutions responding to the challenges of teaching and learning in the 21st Century?
A comment on Conversation: Existence is a repetitive energetic cycle or pulse. A repeating embedded fractal pattern of subjective consciousness that unfolds and folds.
A reply on Conversation: Existence is a repetitive energetic cycle or pulse. A repeating embedded fractal pattern of subjective consciousness that unfolds and folds.
A comment on Conversation: Islam and Evolution