sizemik

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Posts by sizemik

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  239

  The Great Debate: "Has Science Refuted Religion?

  by dark angle in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  just want to share this amazing debate!

  caltech cosmologist and physicist sean carroll teams up with skeptic magazine publisher and science historian michael shermer in this epic debate with noted conservative author and king's college president dinesh d'souza and mit physicist ian hutchinson as they go head-to-head over one of the most controversial issues of our age.

  as science pushes deeper into territory once the province of religion, with questions such as why there is something rather than nothing?, where did the universe come from?, how did life arise?, what was the origin of morality?, and others, inevitable conflicts arise over the best approach to answer them.

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  sizemik

  And the energy required to keep up the cognitive dissonance is astounding.

  That's chaffing against the default (skepticism) . . . not pacifully investing in it. If that is the case you were a doubtful believer at best. I guess there are levels of belief. The default position doesn't need to be quantified . . . only occupied.

  The effort required varies, but is accomplished with relative ease for the majority. Knowledge is usually tailored into the belief and simply modifies it . . . without seriously questioning the core belief. For others it can destroy it completely.

  The discomfort and distress of non-belief may not always register at a cognitive level . . . but it is unnatural and seeks to correct. Most non-believers don't go past a 6 . . . leaving the opportunity for belief to return.

  I want to believe . . . and it wouldn't take that much for me to do so . . . just enough to convince me. Whether that warrants ritualised worshipful subservience, regular supernatural communication etc . . . I seriously doubt it.
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  239

  The Great Debate: "Has Science Refuted Religion?

  by dark angle in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  just want to share this amazing debate!

  caltech cosmologist and physicist sean carroll teams up with skeptic magazine publisher and science historian michael shermer in this epic debate with noted conservative author and king's college president dinesh d'souza and mit physicist ian hutchinson as they go head-to-head over one of the most controversial issues of our age.

  as science pushes deeper into territory once the province of religion, with questions such as why there is something rather than nothing?, where did the universe come from?, how did life arise?, what was the origin of morality?, and others, inevitable conflicts arise over the best approach to answer them.

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  sizemik

  No conclusive evidence for the existence of God can be found externally through science . . . to date.

  Therefore, all belief, true or not, is a product of the human mind . . . a perceptive deduction.

  The deduction is not based on evidence and doesn't need to be, because it is the default position taken up by the human mind. Where a high level of intellectual complexity exists . . . the percieved threats to existence become more manifold through the ability to conceptualise (what if?)

  Similarly, mitigating these threats becomes more intellectually and conceptually complex. But the comfort from belief is likely a complex survival mechanism. The brain seeks to account for all threats to existence . . . death being the ultimate threat. Belief gives relief in the short term by allowing us to "sleep at night", and in the long term by dealing with a percieved future threat . . . both outcomes being essential to health and survival.

  That's why "leaps of faith" are often made so easily . . . it's just slipping gently into default. For that reason, it will also remain for some time yet.

  Dispensing with belief is not natural . . . and those holding to such beliefs will probably live longer. Living without belief is uncomfortable and stressful . . . anybody who says otherwise is an exception or dishonest.

  The sciences that will challenge belief most vigorously in future are not cosmology, geology, archaeology etc. They are neurology and psychology.
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  239

  The Great Debate: "Has Science Refuted Religion?

  by dark angle in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  just want to share this amazing debate!

  caltech cosmologist and physicist sean carroll teams up with skeptic magazine publisher and science historian michael shermer in this epic debate with noted conservative author and king's college president dinesh d'souza and mit physicist ian hutchinson as they go head-to-head over one of the most controversial issues of our age.

  as science pushes deeper into territory once the province of religion, with questions such as why there is something rather than nothing?, where did the universe come from?, how did life arise?, what was the origin of morality?, and others, inevitable conflicts arise over the best approach to answer them.

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  sizemik

  Under these conditions it is no wonder, that the movement of atheists, which declares religion to be just a deliberate illusion, invented by power-seeking priests, and which has for the pious belief in a higher Power nothing but words of mockery, eagerly makes use of progressive scientific knowledge and in a presumed unity with it, expands in an ever faster pace its disintegrating action on all nations of the earth and on all social levels. I do not need to explain in any more detail that after its victory not only all the most precious treasures of our culture would vanish, but – which is even worse – also any prospects at a better future. - Max Planck, winner of the Nobel Prize, and founder of the science of Quantum Physics.

  Botch . . . you don't need me to point out the basket full of logical fallacies and non-sequiturs in that quote. He may well be a talented physicist, but how can any credibility be given to such a heavily biased statement. It's an opinion based on wild assumption at best . . . deliberate and mischevious propaganda at worst.
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  30

  Some observations on Animal Farm by George Orwell

  by WinstonSmith in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i recently finished reading animal farm, written by george orwell.

  as someone who has recently awoken to the truth about the truth, this book blew my mind.

  the parallels with the watchtower society are quite astounding.

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  sizemik

  Great comparisom WS . . . thanks for putting that together.

  The parallels are remarkable . . . uncanny.
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  239

  The Great Debate: "Has Science Refuted Religion?

  by dark angle in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  just want to share this amazing debate!

  caltech cosmologist and physicist sean carroll teams up with skeptic magazine publisher and science historian michael shermer in this epic debate with noted conservative author and king's college president dinesh d'souza and mit physicist ian hutchinson as they go head-to-head over one of the most controversial issues of our age.

  as science pushes deeper into territory once the province of religion, with questions such as why there is something rather than nothing?, where did the universe come from?, how did life arise?, what was the origin of morality?, and others, inevitable conflicts arise over the best approach to answer them.

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  sizemik

  Sure there many religious institution's that have helped the poor and disadvantaged, the sick and homeless ones.

  There were real positive things which originated by using following the examples of lets say Christ in the Christan faith.

  Can't argue with that. The question I would ask is . . . are such things necessarily dependent on religion? There are many non-religious institutions which accomplish the same . . . without the negative side-effects.

  Being social benefactors has no relationship with religious dogma, as it isn't effected by changing doctrine. Morality's a human trait, not a religious ethic.
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  239

  The Great Debate: "Has Science Refuted Religion?

  by dark angle in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  just want to share this amazing debate!

  caltech cosmologist and physicist sean carroll teams up with skeptic magazine publisher and science historian michael shermer in this epic debate with noted conservative author and king's college president dinesh d'souza and mit physicist ian hutchinson as they go head-to-head over one of the most controversial issues of our age.

  as science pushes deeper into territory once the province of religion, with questions such as why there is something rather than nothing?, where did the universe come from?, how did life arise?, what was the origin of morality?, and others, inevitable conflicts arise over the best approach to answer them.

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  sizemik

  LOL . . . hence the title of this thread.

  Be careful of attributing to science, what scientists may say in a debate. Science is not a person or people.
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  25

  An ex-Jehovah's Witness turns Cult Leader

  by iamwhoiam in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i can't believe i just now heard of this.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ml2oa4oigvo.

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  enjoy!.

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  sizemik

  It's interesting having an inside view of his evolution . . . and how people respond to a charismatic individual.

  Throws up lot's of new questions as to the Jesus story. If he wasn't the son of God . . . he was just another cult leader.

  I wouldn't compare it with the watchtower at all. . . . scotoma

  You need to understand better what constitutes charismatic leadership . . . it doesn't always mean an individual.

  The parallels with Watchtower as a cult phenomena are almost a mirror image.
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  25

  An ex-Jehovah's Witness turns Cult Leader

  by iamwhoiam in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i can't believe i just now heard of this.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ml2oa4oigvo.

  .

  enjoy!.

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  sizemik

  He's actually a very savvy religious fraudster . . .

  Can you really believe an ex-JW can suddenly wake up one day and realise he's Jesus?

  All those years of being an accounts servant and banking all that dosh . . . he's just following the WTS template, obviously with enough charisma to pull it off.

  I'd say his balance sheet and financial future are looking pretty rosey by now . . . and the worshipful audience is the icing on the cake . . . just like the GB.
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  239

  The Great Debate: "Has Science Refuted Religion?

  by dark angle in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  just want to share this amazing debate!

  caltech cosmologist and physicist sean carroll teams up with skeptic magazine publisher and science historian michael shermer in this epic debate with noted conservative author and king's college president dinesh d'souza and mit physicist ian hutchinson as they go head-to-head over one of the most controversial issues of our age.

  as science pushes deeper into territory once the province of religion, with questions such as why there is something rather than nothing?, where did the universe come from?, how did life arise?, what was the origin of morality?, and others, inevitable conflicts arise over the best approach to answer them.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  sizemik

  Thanks for the correction Tammy . . . But I find it hard to accept that science deliberately skirted the beginings of the universe simply because it might give the book of Genesis credibility. Science is not motivated this way.
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  5

  How long ago was your last argument? What was it about? Who with? Was it worth it?

  by usualusername in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  how long ago was your last argument?

  what was it about?

  was it worth it?.

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  sizemik

  I have overlapping multiple arguments on the go at any one time . . . it's hard to determine which qualifies as last.