Posts by Resistance is Futile

29

IQ and Theism

by DJS in

jw
friends

rob waugh yahoo!

news .religious people are less intelligent than non-believers, according to a new review of 63 scientific studies stretching back over decades.. .

a team led by miron zuckerman of the university of rochester found a reliable negative relation between intelligence and religiosity in 53 out of 63 studies.

Resistance is Futile

Nearly 50 percent of them [scientists] are religious.

Sounds quite similar to what the pewforum reported.

Have a look at the link above. It's an easy short read. This is just one study that disagrees with the link you posted.

I'm not sure I follow. Specifically how does it disagree with the survey conducted by the pewforum?

Admittedly without knowing how Ecklund determined what constitutes "religious" we really can't say if her findings agree with or disagree with the findings from the pewforum. If she defined religious as believing in God or a higher power than her findings are almost identical to the one I posted.

"Indeed, the survey shows that scientists are roughly half as likely as the general public to believe in God or a higher power. According to the poll, just over half of scientists (51%) believe in some form of deity or higher power. By contrast, 95% of Americans believe in some form of deity or higher power".

29

IQ and Theism

by DJS in

jw
friends

rob waugh yahoo!

news .religious people are less intelligent than non-believers, according to a new review of 63 scientific studies stretching back over decades.. .

a team led by miron zuckerman of the university of rochester found a reliable negative relation between intelligence and religiosity in 53 out of 63 studies.

Resistance is Futile

Well that's a group of studies that are sure to rub a few people the wrong way.

FlyingHighNow: A significant percentage of scientists believe in some kind of higher being.

It's true that there is a statistically significant number of scientists that believe in either God or a higher power, however, it should be noted that religiosity among scientists pales in comparison with the general public.

http://www.pewforum.org/2009/11/05/scientists-and-belief/

"A survey of scientists who are members of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press in May and June 2009, finds that members of this group are, on the whole, much less religious than the general public. Indeed, the survey shows that scientists are roughly half as likely as the general public to believe in God or a higher power".

24

New method to burglarize your car...

by Glander in

jw
friends

the crooks have come up with a scanner that reads your keychain remote locking code.

when you walk away from your car and lock the doors theives sitting nearby capture the code and can then unlock your car while you are shopping.. lock your car the old fashioned way, with the lock button before closing the door..

Resistance is Futile

Source? I see a pattern developing in your posts Glander. Haven't you been called out for not providing sources for some of your more dubious claims?

Did you hear this from a friend who heard it from their cousin who heard it from a coworker who posted it on Facebook?

122

Do You Regard President Obama In The Same Way As You Did BEFORE The Election?

by minimus in

jw
friends

lately, even late night comedians are starting to make fun of the president.. i hear more negatives about the president than ever before---even from his own voters.. (i had high hopes for him when he beat mccain but since then, i believe the president has been a huge disappointment)..

Resistance is Futile

When Obamanation took office, he was given a one trillion dollar deficit.

That is mostly correct. It was actually closer to $1.4 trillion.

http://www.cbo.gov/publication/24992

Half of that was caused by George W. Bush.

Wait, what? Who do you believe is responsible for the other half?

Nearly 5 years later we have a 17 TRILLION dollar deficiet.

That is simply incorrect. The Congressional Budget Office forecasts a deficit of $642 billion this year.

http://www.cbo.gov/publication/44172

You've combined your facts into some weird amalgamation of the US "debiciet".

37

Armageddon Is Right Around the Corner!

by Cold Steel in

if one were to poll present day jehovah's witnesses, what kind of a timeframe do you think they have for armageddon?.

do they still discourage higher education despite the fact they've been wrong so many times?.

one more thing about armageddon...how do they think it's going to start?

Resistance is Futile

If one were to poll present day Jehovah's Witnesses, what kind of a timeframe do you think they have for Armageddon?

I would suspect that most would say 5-10 years if they had to cite an actual number. More often it's described vaguely as "soon" or "right around the corner".

Cold Steel, what would the average Mormon say if asked the same question? I heard they're required to have several months of supplies in preparation for Armageddon, is this correct? Serious questions, I'm not trying to be patronizing.

25

The Governing Bodys irrational fear of the Apostate Boogeyman

by Londo111 in

http://freeminds2.org/the-theocratic-life-and-times-of-theodore-jaracz/.

i was reading the above article by barbara anderson and was struck that, rather than knowing better, the governing body actually believes in this shadowy organization of former members who are out to attack them.

[jaracz] said that the governing body had been preparing for much longer than anybody could guess for an attack by apostates.

Resistance is Futile

I've often wondered about the benefits vs. costs in feeding the paranoia of those with power in the Watchtower cult.

Increasing the paranoia is surprisingly easy. One way is to feed their fear of having "apostates" in their midst. They clearly do have people on the inside that are no longer loyal, as demonstrated by leaks of sensitive material. It's one thing to fear the boogeyman when he's outside the walls of the city. Believing that the enemy has breached the defenses of the group and now walks among them is a whole new level of fear.

I feel that stoking the leader's paranoia could create a positive feedback loop whereby the leadership becomes more authoritarian and heavy-handed. This slow but noticeable change in the control exerted by those in charge could be the wakeup call that many of the more moderate followers need. The more "sane" members will be marginalized, even pushed out by the increased pressure for loyalty to the edicts of the exalted Governing Body. The demographics of the group slowly shifts, until the more extreme members become the majority.

However, those who can't see a way out of the group are then subjected to the increased control over every minuscule detail of their behavior and emotions. It's admittedly a dangerous gambit, one that I somewhat troubled by. If the end result were decreased membership or a decreased growth rate, and therefore less people ensnared in the cult, than the ends could justify the means.

93

Scary Stuff

by Farkel in

jw
friends

today's high school students in the usa:.

less than 1/2 of them cannot identify the century when our civil war happened.. one in four thought columbus discovered america sometime after 1750.. one in three cannot name one right enumerated in the bill of rights.. three out of four cannot name the first us president.. two out of three do not know the length of term of a member of the house of representatives.. half cannot find britain on a map.. one out of four cannot find america on a map.. when my oldest daughter, who is now a physician was in 9th grade in this once-great state of california, i asked her about the three branches of our federal government.

she was clueless and told me she would take civics in her junior year in high school.

Resistance is Futile

Studies have shown that younger people are actually smarter than previous generations, as demonstrated by the rise in IQ scores over the last few decades.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=will-we-keep-getting-smarter-flynn-effect-says-yes

There is also currently a higher percentage of educated Americans than at any other point in U.S. history. As measured by the percentage of Americans with four year college degrees.

http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/education/cb12-33.html

"In March 2011, for the first time ever, more than 30 percent of U.S. adults 25 and older had at least a bachelor's degree, the U.S. Census Bureau reported today. As recently as 1998, fewer than one-quarter of people this age had this level of education".

If we're serious about stressing the importance of education, than we need to be giving more respect to the teaching profession, not less. Bashing teachers by calling them "bottom of the barrel" is absurdly counterproductive. We need a cultural shift, one that raises the value of educators and their extremely important profession. And for the record, I am not a teacher.

We also might not want to alienate the younger generation too much by insinuating that they're less intelligent than we are. Especially if the evidence points to the opposite being true. After all, we are talking about a future generation of voters.

93

Scary Stuff

by Farkel in

jw
friends

today's high school students in the usa:.

less than 1/2 of them cannot identify the century when our civil war happened.. one in four thought columbus discovered america sometime after 1750.. one in three cannot name one right enumerated in the bill of rights.. three out of four cannot name the first us president.. two out of three do not know the length of term of a member of the house of representatives.. half cannot find britain on a map.. one out of four cannot find america on a map.. when my oldest daughter, who is now a physician was in 9th grade in this once-great state of california, i asked her about the three branches of our federal government.

she was clueless and told me she would take civics in her junior year in high school.

Resistance is Futile

Farkel, where did you get the statistics in your opening post from? Was that the complete list of questions included in the survey, or were the questions the students did well on left off your final list?

I find it very interesting that you won't say where your source came from. Did you make up those statistics?

I have several friends who are professors, both of whom have taught at major universities, including Princeton, UCLA, and UC Berkely. They were the ones who told me this from their first hand experience. Yes, it is anecdotal, but they had no axe to grind, because they were educators, too.

I'm going to have to call bullsh*t on that claim as well. I can make up friends too. Let's just say that my imaginary friends that teach at prestigious universities say the exact opposite of your imaginary friends. Where does that leave us now? Oh yeah, looking for real facts or evidence.

Do you have any actual evidence that educators are, using your vague term, "bottom of the barrel"? SAT scores, IQ tests?

Besides, if educators are better than I suggested and as good as you implied, why, in all of my schooling (when I good a GOOD primary education) can I only recall 3 of them as memorable and discard the rest of them as terrible or at best, mediocre)? What is YOUR experience growing up? Everyone I have spoken to about this subject has an experience similar to mine.

First off, I never implied educators were any more intelligent than the average person. Go back and read what I wrote. Just because I'm challenging you to produce real evidence to support your thesis doesn't mean I therefore must believe the opposite of what you're postulating. And are you seriously asking me to give you anecdotes from my life ? Ha-Ha

Anybody else see the sad irony in someone that's seemingly unclear on the important distinction between anecdotes and actual scientific evidence, starting a thread denigrating the intellectual capabilities of an entire segment of the population? Tell me I'm not the only one that finds that amusing.

122

Do You Regard President Obama In The Same Way As You Did BEFORE The Election?

by minimus in

jw
friends

lately, even late night comedians are starting to make fun of the president.. i hear more negatives about the president than ever before---even from his own voters.. (i had high hopes for him when he beat mccain but since then, i believe the president has been a huge disappointment)..

Resistance is Futile

I'm not naive enough to have illusions of greatness regarding politicians on either the left or the right. So I'd have to honestly say that I really don't view Obama drastically different since his election.

Obama has shown himself to be a bit more of a centrist than I expected, for example, supporting many Bush-era policies and appointing more Republicans to his Cabinet than any other Democratic president in recent history.

93

Scary Stuff

by Farkel in

jw
friends

today's high school students in the usa:.

less than 1/2 of them cannot identify the century when our civil war happened.. one in four thought columbus discovered america sometime after 1750.. one in three cannot name one right enumerated in the bill of rights.. three out of four cannot name the first us president.. two out of three do not know the length of term of a member of the house of representatives.. half cannot find britain on a map.. one out of four cannot find america on a map.. when my oldest daughter, who is now a physician was in 9th grade in this once-great state of california, i asked her about the three branches of our federal government.

she was clueless and told me she would take civics in her junior year in high school.

Resistance is Futile

Anyone who knows academia knows that those who graduate from the Universities and go into teaching are are the bottom-of-the-barrel of the college graduates.

I find this statement offensive and counterproductive. If we want to have a serious discussion about ways to improve education than we need to stop with the childish teacher bashing.

I'm going to have to call bullsh*t on your statement as well. Do you have any evidence at all that the average GPA of teachers is significantly lower than other graduates? Did you just make that up? If you did, it certainly doesn't reflect well on your credibility. It also raises serious issues about your objectivity on the topic of education.

A brief google search shows that there is strong evidence to disprove your claim.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505145_162-37241878/5-hardest-and-easiest-college-majors-by-gpas/

5 Highest Grade Point Averages

Education - 3.36 GPA
Language - 3.34 GPA
English - 3.33 GPA
Music - 3.30 GPA
Religion - 3.22 GPA

Of course anyone with basic critical thinking skills would realize that perhaps GPA isn't the best indicator of intelligence. There may be lurking variables skewing GPA. For example the Chemistry Majors who have on average a lower GPA might not be intellectually inferior, but instead have tougher classes. So an IQ test comparison would probably be the most scientific way to test your claim. But I have a sneaking suspicion that you don't have any actual facts to support your opinion in that area either?