apfergus

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Posts by apfergus

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  46

  Endosymbiosis --- A challenge to Dawkins' Universal Darwinism

  by hamilcarr in

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  inspired by dawkins' notion of universal darwinism, biologists have been trying to prove that all sorts of evolution can be explained by a simple paradigm of random mutation and natural selection.

  because of dawkins' ardor to spread the word, many have no idea there's far more to discover about evolutionary mechanisms beyond natural selection.. one of these challenges to dawkins' universal darwinism is called the endosymbiotic theory, popularized by lynn margulis in the 90s.

  she's known for her bold rejection of some neo-darwinian interpretations.

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  apfergus

  Ah, so it's a challenge to a belief that nobody actually holds.

  This is entirely true. Whether or not endosymbiosis constitutes a "random mutation" in the strictly formal sense of the word is wholly irrelevant. There is no such world view as "neo-Darwinism." There is modern evolutionary biology--to which Dawkins is a contributor--which recognizes a variety of mechanisms by which organisms can change that are by no means strictly limited to the basic insertion, deletion, and mis-copied base pairs.
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  44

  Dawkins on Jehovah's Witnesses' "Creation" book

  by slimboyfat in

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  has anyone read dawkins new book the god delusion yet?

  he discusses the creation book on pages 119-121. he says that he discusses this particular tract only because it has had such a wide circulation - no fewer than 6 of which have been sent to him personally.

  well i think he has at least 7 copies by now because i personally know one witness who sent him one following his recent the roof of all evil?

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  apfergus

  I've never read that book, but I've read a bit of Dawkins and enjoyed it. For me, one of the major books that helped me break with the JW doctrine on evolution was Full House by Stephen Jay Gould. Gould was an evolutionary biologist and paleontologist and wrote prolifically for the public on things like evolution and the science vs religion debate. I think he was much more gentle than Dawkins is, which can be both a bad thing and a good thing, I suppose.
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  Any Queensryche fans?

  by exwitless in

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  i planned a little overnight getaway trip for little drummer boy and i for next week.

  we're going to see queensryche in concert.

  i myself am not too familiar with most of their music, but ldb has been a fan for many years.

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  apfergus

  Queensryche is pretty awesome. I prefer Dream Theater, but all the prog rock and prog metal bands are pretty good. Spock's Beard, Porcupine Tree, Marillion, Fate's Warning... all bands I've listened to at some point in history.
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  22

  Is manned space exploration a waste of money?

  by free2beme in

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  i was watching a program the other day, and it mentioned some interesting things about exploring space.

  1. nothing has been found on other planets that we need or would benefit from.

  rather the opposite, we have found hostile environments that would kill us.. 2. the cost to get a man to these places is astronomical, and not something that would reap benefit to our planet.. 3. so far, nothing within reasonable traveling distance has shown itself worth an effort that would require man, and would not be done easier with machine.. so with this in mind, other then the travel we see with the space shuttle in our own orbit, that has shown some medical breakthroughs and so on.

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  apfergus

  Manned space travel is a wate of money and the ISS is a political stunt. Having said that, I work in astrophysics, but I keep my butt firmly situated on the ground studying subatomic particles which come from the sun (and various other places). Things like the Hubble Telescope, the COBE satelite (which just won the Nobel prize), and other unmanned space probes are doing teriffic science and every penny on these has been well spent.
  Some people seem to think that the worls resources are going to dry up and everything will end ala Thomas Malthus when the population reaches a certain level. Going into space is a completely worthless way of solving this problem. What we need to do is work to control our population and use our resources more wisely. If you have some bugs that live in a bottle and they double in population every day, even if you move half of them to a new bottle when the first is halfway full they'll still only last two days before both bottles are full instead of one. That's hardly a solution.
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  25

  Issuing a Challenge to Atheists and Unbelievers, part II (get your popcorn)

  by The wanderer in

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  <!-- .style1 { font-family: arial, sans-serif; color: #6969d8; } .style2 {font-family: font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;} --> question for atheists and unbelievers alike part ii in our last discussion, the focus of attention was whether or not.

  there existed a possibility that god existed based on the fact.

  that there are a number of claims and reports of individuals .

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  apfergus

  There is a huge difference between the existence of life outside of our solar system and the existence of God. There is something called the Drake equation which calculates a ballpark estimate of the existence of extraterestrial life. The current known parameters which factor into the Drake equation show that life somewhere other than Earth is pretty likely. The phenomena which are usually reported as UFOs and alien encounters are easily explained by numerous KNOWN meteorological and psychological events. The current credible, reproduceible evidence to support the existence of aliens that have actually visited earth or a God essentially nill. Of course there's no evidence that leads us to believe that these things are totally impossible, but just as I would not demand evidence to show that there is absolutely not an invisible, green, cold-fire-breathing dragon living in Carl Sagan's garage, I would not demand evidence to show that there is no God when there is clearly no evidence to show there is.
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  44

  Which biblical names do you find cool?

  by JH in

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  which biblical names do you like, and maybe you'd name your child that way?.

  i like this one: bathsheba.

  oh, here are a few to choose from .

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  apfergus

  Someone already beat me to it, but: Mahershalalhashbaz--the longest name in the bible.
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  10

  Dream ticket for next presidential election

  by JWdaughter in

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  mine would be lieberman/edwards or edwards/lieberman.

  i have never voted dem.

  before(for a major office), but for them, i would.

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  apfergus

  I would love to see McCain/Hagel on the ballot.
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  30

  How Accurate is Your Bull$h!t Detector?

  by Scully in

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  i think everyone has a bs detector, but not everyone utilizes theirs, or ignores its warnings.. i find that mine seems very sensitive and unless i "feel" sincerity from the person i am sizing up, my bs detector has various levels of "alert" mode.. in "yellow alert" mode, i tend to be very guarded with personal information until the individual's behaviour identifies whether i should maintain that status quo or not.

  this seems to be my default setting, i think, because i tend to use it with all new people i encounter.. in "orange alert" mode, there's something about the person that just is not meshing with me.

  they may be trying to cross a boundary that i do not want them to cross, like bestowing a nickname on me without asking me if i'm ok with it first.

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  apfergus

  It doesn't sound exactly like the same kind of Bull$hit you're referring to, but there's an essay by Carl Sagan which can be found in his book The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark about how to improve one's baloney detection skills. It touches on all the common logical falacies and how to spot them. A very good read for anyone interested in not getting caught in another web like the WTBTS.
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  83

  Name Things JWs Try To "Demonize"

  by minimus in

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  the witnesses are always trying to scare the faithful by telling them that if they don't adhere to the teachings and lifestyle of the brotherhood-----that bad things are going to happen to them.

  for example, they might tell you of brother regret who left the "truth", had "fun" in the "world" and then got aids.

  now he's back in the "truth" but he only has months to live................can you think of other examples of how the witnesses try to spook the rank and file?

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  apfergus

  I played a bit of Dungeons & Dragons in high school, and my mother threw out my D&D books because she thought they were attracting demons to the house.
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  16

  Who else loves walking?

  by JH in

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  gee, i walked about 15 km or 10 miles yesterday, and about 10 km today or 6 miles.. next time i go for a walk, i'll walk 7 times around the kingdom hall.

  maybe it will crumble.......

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  apfergus

  I always enjoy a good walk. Or a run or a bike ride, for that matter. When I get stressed I like to grab my headphones and Mp3 player and just hit the pavement. It really helps me loosten up.