How important is evidence to your world view?

by snare&racket 69 Replies latest jw friends

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  jgnat

  When I find myself in an internal struggle between evidence and a formerly firmly held belief, the belief must be revisited. If it can't stand up, it must go.

  The age of the universe and evolution are two science-based notions that I have had to accept. The first, because of the measurable distance from the stars based on the constant, the speed of light.

  Having evolution as part of my worldview has opened up for me the power of our mountains here. Age after age can be read like a book from the layers of sediment. I am just beginning to learn that language, and what a story it tells!

  
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  botchtowersociety

  "That's news to me."

  I dont doubt it. Follow instructions above........

  Dismissive? How so? Because I dont accept there is NO SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE for the mind? Should I just rewind and delete the scientific data I have studied so as to not be 'dismissive'.

  I have said it before, ignorance is not a crime, nor an insult botch. I know nothing about horse racing! But if I am going to talk about horse racing, I really should read up on it first.

  Snare and racket, you are free and welcome to present reasons for why I am wrong, especially since you represent yourself as an expert. If I realize I am wrong, I will gladly admit it. Simply calling me ignorant and telling me to get educated won't do.
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  snare&racket

  I am NOT an expert, not at all. I have only READ the work of experts, that is all. I dont see why you are so offended. You said there is no scientific evidence for the existence of the mind. I am just telling you that I know there is.......

  If encouraging you to read books on topics that are "news" to you just "wont do" then nothing will. Why engage in discussion?
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  Knowsnothing

  So we have quantitative empirical measurements of minds or things we consider properties of minds?

  Minds are an emergent reality from the physical reality of brains, neural networks, and chemical signals. We can certainly quantify these. We can also 'measure' minds in the sense that we can interact with them, through the use of rhetoric, and expect results.
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  jgnat

  http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/835623.How_the_Mind_Works

  http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3281.The_Mind_and_the_Brain

  http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1100711.Decisions_Uncertainty_and_the_Brain
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  Knowsnothing

  Jgnat, thanks for the links. They certainly look fascinating. The second link particularly struck me, though I know this from before. Our mind affects our literal brain and body! Amazing!
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  snare&racket

  "If I realize I am wrong, I will gladly admit it"

  Why say it in the first place? That is what I dont get.... it happens here all the time. All my threads at the moment are on evidence and critically appraising what you believe. People repeat things they have not checked, they state them as fact.

  Why would you not check what you said about the mind before saying it ? This thread is about evidence Botchtower. A simple google search would have done it.
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  botchtowersociety

  Minds are an emergent reality from the physical reality of brains, neural networks, and chemical signals. We can certainly quantify these.

  Perhaps that is true, but I am speaking of the thing itself.

  We can also 'measure' minds in the sense that we can interact with them, through the use of rhetoric, and expect results.

  Perhaps, but that is not a direct measurement or observation. It is only indirect. We never directly perceive other minds, only other bodies and the activity of those bodies. The same is true of mental states. Our perception of other bodies is the only evidence we have for the existance of other minds. We do not directly perceive the minds. The only ones that we do perceive directly are our own, and it is a subjective experience.
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  botchtowersociety

  Why say it in the first place? That is what I dont get.... it happens here all the time. All my threads at the moment are on evidence and critically appraising what you believe. People repeat things they have not checked, they state them as fact.

  Why so much hostility, Snare&Racket? My posts have been on topic as far as I can tell, and my tone has been civil. I certainly have not implied that you are ignorant and sent you off to read books for 6 months in response for posting something I did not agree with.

  Why would you not check what you said about the mind before saying it ? This thread is about evidence Botchtower. As imple google search would have done it.

  Maybe I am saying it because of the fact that I have been interested in the subject and have looked into it.
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  frankiespeakin

  My world view is in flux over all the information I can now get from the internet, at my age(59) it is typical to start toward psychic wholeness if everything goes well, I see it as a intense reproccessing of past and with the present state going on working towards a state of balancing opposites which finally occurs at the time of death or so some say. So my world view is a combination of sorting out the evidence on a conscious and unconscious level and then add that to my psyche's process of sensory imput imaginatative mental images which keep changing with new information understanding frequently.