That fact that his work is criticized is because what some, or even Dawkins, characterize as "evidence", is really not evidence and hence is being challenged. That's not to say that it is out of the realm of possibility. But it can't be considered evidence unless it's been corroborated and verified.
Posts by Etude
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189Dawkins-The Greatest Show on Earth
by KateWild inas many may be aware.
i don't like the man.
but i have chosen to review the first chapter of his book.. chapter 1... only a theory?.
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189
Dawkins-The Greatest Show on Earth
by KateWild inas many may be aware.
i don't like the man.
but i have chosen to review the first chapter of his book.. chapter 1... only a theory?.
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Etude
“It is not presented as gospel. It is not presented as infallible.”
Not quite. In fact, Dawkins’ fervor is as militant and emphatic as the best of Evangelicals on TV. As I mentioned before, I get the feeling that Dawkins is rather smug about his theories to the chagrin of other scientists. He criticizes Paul Davis (a renowned physicist) for pointing out the failure of science to explain its own foundations (beyond the Anthropic Principle) while Dawkins himself has difficulty justifying his own theories.
For example: Carl Coon (an atheist and vice president of the American Humanist Association and author of several books) puts the dismissal of Group Selection [as an alternate explication for certain non-genetic behavior], particularly coming from Dawkins, this way: “It was as though he [Dawkins] had informed me that the American Association for the Advancement of Science had repealed the law of gravity.” Now, that’s smugness and intellectual protectionism. He is not in agreement in many specific ways with the rest of the scientific community. He can advance the idea of Evolution by repeating it in his books, but not because he has all the right answers.
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189
Dawkins-The Greatest Show on Earth
by KateWild inas many may be aware.
i don't like the man.
but i have chosen to review the first chapter of his book.. chapter 1... only a theory?.
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Etude
Yeah. I think he's a great writer, just not a very accurate one in the way he proposes his affirmations (his take on the Anthropic Principle, for example). His prose is superb, being English and all. I just think that in the realm of content, he stretches things a bit.
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23
False Prophecy Part 3 With A Jehovahs Witness Elder
by Watchtower-Free injw: they are not.. kw: but if they were, would you want to know?.
jw: they are not.. kw: im not saying they are.
jw: no.. kw: really?
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Etude
It seems you were well prepared and sufficiently cunning to not piss him off and have him walk off. I think the conversation is a testament to a clear and logical approach that can persuade. I went into Bethel around February of 1974. In about or shortly after April of 1974, I attended the Gilead graduation at Sunny Side, Queens, NY. There, Fred Franz first stated, as I heard with my own ears, that the fulfillment of 6,000 years since Adam's creation would happen in 1975 and how appropriate it would be for the 1,000 years of Christ's reign to start (meaning after Armageddon). I didn't really care because I was at Bethel and didn't have to make life-changing decisions. Nevertheless, I didn't fail to notice what that meant. After that, I really didn't hear much about people selling their houses and giving up everything because Armageddon was about to come. Even after I did, the commentary between the brothers tended to blame the people who made those decisions rather than the organization for promoting. I was very much one with the Borg.
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61
Have you grown detached from caring about JW family and old friends?
by tootired2care inafter being out of the borg for a year and a half, weve dealt with a lot of nonsense from local elders stopping by unannounced, well-meaning do-gooders trying to encourage us.
somehow weve managed to get through this without getting dfd/dad.
for me the worst part of it all has been that much of my family has shunned me, and stopped talking to me, as soon as they heard through the grapevine that i wasnt going to meetings.
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Etude
peggy: I would understand if your sister was also one to shun you, if you chose not to go. But, if you really want to go, I don't know why you would need permission from anybody. I would just show up whether that made them uncomfortable or not. I would feel that at least I did the right thing. I really don't know what I would do if my older sister passed away, mostly because she never calls me. Still, I feel a familial duty I need to perform and attend the funeral. However, if they tell me I can attend the services at the KH and not the reuninon at the house they can kiss my absent ass for the rest of their lives.
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61
Have you grown detached from caring about JW family and old friends?
by tootired2care inafter being out of the borg for a year and a half, weve dealt with a lot of nonsense from local elders stopping by unannounced, well-meaning do-gooders trying to encourage us.
somehow weve managed to get through this without getting dfd/dad.
for me the worst part of it all has been that much of my family has shunned me, and stopped talking to me, as soon as they heard through the grapevine that i wasnt going to meetings.
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Etude
For my mom and her sister (my aunt), it would never occur to them to have shunned me, absolutely out of the question. My sisters, on the other hand, acted differently from each other. The older one acted more like my mother and aunt, at first. The younger one would not stay in touch with me. Later, the younger one started fading from the organization and actually came to live with me. She expressed regret at having shunned me and rued that she missed so much time with me. When my older sister and I got into it one day (over snail mail), I reminded her how poorly she acted by staying in touch with me because that's not what the WTBTS recommends. I included an article from the Watchtower showing how shunning is a good thing and brought one person to reconsider and return to the organization. I told her she should have acted like my younger sister did at first. Unfortunately, all six nephews and nieces think I'm a spiritual leper. It hurts because not matter what, I know we can never have the good that could have been. Otherwise, I don't care and there’s nobody else that matters. I have been able to establish connections on FaceBook with a lot of ex-JWs I knew. But nothing really close.
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68
More WT Propaganda: Low Paying Jobs are OK for Family Heads. Just "Don't Miss the Meetings!"
by Oubliette ingod, evidently, wants you to be poor: .
a newly baptized brother is married, and he and his wife have three small children.
one day, a workmate suggested that he and the brother move to another company that paid a higher wage and provided more benefits.
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Etude
I knew a few guys (lifers) who would crap their pants at the prospect of leaving Bethel. They would not know what to do and how they would have supported themselves. Most had no skills and would have been devestated if they found themselves out in the world and having to find work and shelter. Even some who had to leave, like my brother-in-law (my sister got pregnant), had a job lined up with a "brother" and sadly found out it was just talk. They ended up living in my parent's basement.
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14
What does it take to break the ache?
by Terry inthe problem with reality is.
.it is too real.. reality stings.. reality is a headache.. a bit of fantasy and diversion is about all the aspirin you can take to deflect the throbbing ache of reality.. fantasy?
maybe "magic" is a better choice of words.. daydream when you're bored at work?.
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Etude
Reality is the Cod Liver Oil we must take in order to purge or intestinal track and stay healthy. The opposite (fantasy, escapism, etc) is like the ice-cream cone with everything on it that will give us cavities and a tummy ache. Oh, but is it ever so good!
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189
Dawkins-The Greatest Show on Earth
by KateWild inas many may be aware.
i don't like the man.
but i have chosen to review the first chapter of his book.. chapter 1... only a theory?.
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Etude
I can’t say I don’t like Dawkins the man. I can say that I don’t like the smugness with which he criticizes those who don’t agree with him, especially when some of those people are other scientists. He has been widely criticized for his “Memes” theory (his own invention) because it is inexact and impossible to “prove”. As such, it fails to explain or be a means to concretely show how Natural Selection has seen fit to give us something for which we have no need for, namely the concept of a deity.
I do make a distinction between the theory of Gravity and the theory of Evolution. The difference is that a scientific theory in general is based on hypotheses that can be corroborated, substantiated, experimented upon, etc. The important thing for me in that definition is the method by which that is accomplished. Often, it is reproducible and the discrete steps for the process are clearly stated.
This is the reason for why there’s a difference between the theory of Quantum Mechanics and String Theory. String Theory (better yet Super Symmetry) cannot be experimented upon or physically verified. And so, it remains a very plausible conjecture while still named a “theory”. Evolution takes on a similar aspect in that, while it is a very plausible conjecture, much of the mechanism for how it happens cannot be duplicated or demonstrated by experimentation. Even when there are reports of Evolution in action due to interesting mutations, they only support the idea of mutations but not HOW the culmination of mutations bring about a new feature, let alone a new organism.
As some have suggested, “Evolution in action” amounts to adaptations by certain organisms to their environment. That could simply mean that the organism already has the ability in its genotype to produce changes, not that it spontaneously arose. The observed change in itself is not a demonstration of a new evolutionary process which gives rise to an organism's ability it didn’t have before. That’s not to say that the process does not exist. But for Science, it is not a fact until it can be explained and repeatedly demonstrated.
This also brings confusion about the verb “prove” (/pro͞ov/). The parent root “proof” (n.) is simply a repeatable process which will either confirm a thing or to validate it. So in the absence of a verifiable mechanism (the proof), it’s difficult to, however likely, to make definitive statements about a thing, especially in Evolution.
Einstein’s theory of General Relativity is being seriously challenged by other physicists for assumptions it makes about Time. In fact, some scientists believe that they can eliminate time all-together from Einstein’s equations and solve some of the problems with the missing matter and energy (Dark matter and Dark energy) that is theorized must exists in order to keep galaxies from flying apart. So where does that leave such a “theory”? Well, it doesn’t mean it’s entirely wrong. It may mean that some aspects of it are in doubt. It may mean that some initial assumptions were incorrect. Ultimately, to me, it means that we need to look at things with an attitude of less certainty and fewer absolutes.
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28
bad manic episode-went to hospital
by love2Bworldly inhi-- for those of you who struggle with bipolar & depression, just wanted to share my experiences.
i had a major manic episode last month and spent a week in a phsyciatric hospital, what an experience that was!
not fun.
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Etude
The Depakote word triggered my memory. It’s something I heard on the news recently. Apparently, Abbot Laboratories was fined $1.5 BILLION for the off-label promotion of Depakote. That’s not to say that it doesn’t work in some instances. The problem is pharmaceutical companies are getting greedy and are marketing their drugs for other uses. For that and for failure to disclose safety data or for kickbacks, they’re being fined by the FDA:
GlaxoSmithKline -- $3 billion -- Avandia, Wellbutrin, Paxil
Pfizer -- $2.3 billion -- Bextra, Geodon, Zyvox, Lyrica
Eli Lilly -- $1.4 billion -- Zypreza
And the list goes on. The efficacy of Statins has also been recently called into question. It’s a bitch being sick.