james_woods

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Posts by james_woods

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  50

  Einstein and Religion - with considerations of "Human Free Will"

  by james_woods in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  ok, here is a small first step toward putting together a thread on this subject.

  the problem i had in getting started was how complicated the topic is - how to get it into an understandable form suitable for a discussion thread.

  first - einstein was, of course, jewish.

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  james_woods

  I knew this thread was going to be a tangled knot of worms when I started it - but I think we may have slipped into a couple of wrong thoughts:

  First - even if Einstein was WRONG about deterministic actions on the level of quantum physics, this does not necessarily mean that he was wrong in thinking that human behavior (i.e. human free will) is also deterministic. Human thought and action is a macro-level phenomenon and is not necessarily controlled to any macro level by quantum events.

  Second - I think it is totally bogus to make the assertion that Quantum Mechanics somehow proves "Human Free Will". If anything, it seems to me that if random events shape can somehow shape human thought, this argues AGAINST the religious notions of "human free will".

  Let the debate continue.

  On a personal level, I am rather enamored by the Einsteinian religious system of thinking.
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  87

  JW tour bus crashes in Florida, with fatalities-

  by moshe in

  1. social
  2. current

  miami - a bus carrying 32 members of a church group hit a concrete overpass at miami international airport after the driver got lost, killing two elderly people on board and leaving three others critically injured, officials said saturday.. the large, white bus was too tall for the 8-foot-6-inch entrance to the arrivals area, said airport spokesman greg chin.

  buses are supposed to go through the departures area, which has a higher ceiling, he said.. chin said the passengers told him they were part of a group of jehovah's witnesses headed to west palm beach.

  police said in a news release that the group had chartered the bus to take them to a church convention there-.

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  james_woods

  20 MPH to 0 MPH in a fraction of a second, in a bus full of people not wearing seatbelts, would be catastrophic.

  Well, maybe so - but it was not like it totally ripped the roof off of it. You are probably right about not having seatbelts, and it has been stated that they were all elderly as well.

  Sounds like it was a congregational arrangement. Conventions are not optional in JW land- especially for servants and Elders. No doubt an Elder arranged the trip as an agent of the particular congregation.

  Very likely - and if that is the case, you can be certain that the WTBTS Legal Department is already preparing a strategy to run away from this as far and as fast as possible.
• 
  87

  JW tour bus crashes in Florida, with fatalities-

  by moshe in

  1. social
  2. current

  miami - a bus carrying 32 members of a church group hit a concrete overpass at miami international airport after the driver got lost, killing two elderly people on board and leaving three others critically injured, officials said saturday.. the large, white bus was too tall for the 8-foot-6-inch entrance to the arrivals area, said airport spokesman greg chin.

  buses are supposed to go through the departures area, which has a higher ceiling, he said.. chin said the passengers told him they were part of a group of jehovah's witnesses headed to west palm beach.

  police said in a news release that the group had chartered the bus to take them to a church convention there-.

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  james_woods

  Fox News is reporting this morning that the bus driver was completely lost in the airport - after picking up the 32 JW passengers. EDIT - they did report that the passengers were JWs who had privately chartered the bus to go to a "conference".

  Strange that the accident photos (as the one above) somehow do not look like this was that bad a crash...first news reports said the bus was only going 20 mph.

  It remains to be seen what kind of law suits result from this accident.
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  3

  Saw this - Thought of James Woods

  by cantleave in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  sacrilege... .

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  james_woods

  Hello, Kitty.

  Yes, it appears on the Ferrari site every so often...
• 
  50

  Einstein and Religion - with considerations of "Human Free Will"

  by james_woods in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  ok, here is a small first step toward putting together a thread on this subject.

  the problem i had in getting started was how complicated the topic is - how to get it into an understandable form suitable for a discussion thread.

  first - einstein was, of course, jewish.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  james_woods

  If we could put in this super computer all the things that go on inside psyche and the laws of nature inside our universe I think it could accurately spit out information that would match our thoughts and actions in the future so I'm thinking no real free will even with our choices.

  Computer scientiests (such as Douglas Hofstadter) are continuing to debate this - many do not think such a true simulation of human thought is anywhere close regardless of advances in the field.
• 
  50

  Einstein and Religion - with considerations of "Human Free Will"

  by james_woods in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  ok, here is a small first step toward putting together a thread on this subject.

  the problem i had in getting started was how complicated the topic is - how to get it into an understandable form suitable for a discussion thread.

  first - einstein was, of course, jewish.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  james_woods

  I think that Einstein meant "free will" in the sense of a totally random event, act, or result which had no deterministic rule to govern it. In other words, it could go either way at the totally indeterminate "will" of the participant - particle or human.

  While I think he pretty much acknowledged that such things can happen at a quantum level (eventually) - I do not see that he ever thought that human activity or thought could work that way.
• 
  3

  Saw this - Thought of James Woods

  by cantleave in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  sacrilege... .

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  james_woods

  Cannot see anything but a red X in a box...
• 
  87

  JW tour bus crashes in Florida, with fatalities-

  by moshe in

  1. social
  2. current

  miami - a bus carrying 32 members of a church group hit a concrete overpass at miami international airport after the driver got lost, killing two elderly people on board and leaving three others critically injured, officials said saturday.. the large, white bus was too tall for the 8-foot-6-inch entrance to the arrivals area, said airport spokesman greg chin.

  buses are supposed to go through the departures area, which has a higher ceiling, he said.. chin said the passengers told him they were part of a group of jehovah's witnesses headed to west palm beach.

  police said in a news release that the group had chartered the bus to take them to a church convention there-.

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• 

  james_woods

  There are a number of questions to be answered here - without any disregard or disrespect for those who were affected:

  Was this a legitimate tour group - fully qualified and fully licensed? Insured?

  Was it contracted by a witness group?

  What were they doing at the airport with people already on the bus?

  Etc. etc. etc.

  I hope that this story is not just lost by the media until there are some answers to this tragedy.
• 
  50

  Einstein and Religion - with considerations of "Human Free Will"

  by james_woods in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  ok, here is a small first step toward putting together a thread on this subject.

  the problem i had in getting started was how complicated the topic is - how to get it into an understandable form suitable for a discussion thread.

  first - einstein was, of course, jewish.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  james_woods

  I really meant this thread to be about Einstein's religion and philosophy rather than science issues.

  One thing I wanted to make clear was that when Einstein said "God does not play dice with the universe" - he was absolutely NOT talking about an anthropomorphic creator like the JW "Jehovah".

  He meant the cosmic order of the universe itself - the orderly progression of everything.

  Einstein's gode was neither a "creator" nor an "interventionist" in human affairs.
• 
  50

  Einstein and Religion - with considerations of "Human Free Will"

  by james_woods in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  ok, here is a small first step toward putting together a thread on this subject.

  the problem i had in getting started was how complicated the topic is - how to get it into an understandable form suitable for a discussion thread.

  first - einstein was, of course, jewish.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  james_woods

  James- Does the book discuss how the brain/mind is influenced by raw subliminal information.

  No, this book is about Einstein's cultural and philosophical background, not about science per se.

  Personally, I think free will of the the first variety cannot exist.

  After thinking about this subject for over six months now, I am beginning to think that I agree with this (for the first time in my life, incidentally).

  Einstein thought that it was a human mental crutch to absolve their anthropromorphic "God" of culpability in testing and punishing "human sin".