Just finished reading it. Yep, poetic naturalism is right up my alley. One of my favorite quotes from the book is this: "Life ends, and that's part of what makes it special. What exists is here, in front of us, what we can see and touch and affect. Our lives are not dress rehearsals in which we plan and are tested in anticipation of the real show to come. This is it, the only performance we're going to get to give, and it is what we make it."
Cornbread
JoinedPosts by Cornbread
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Outstanding new book out today for you atheists, agnostics, humanists, naturalists and free thinkers
by Cornbread ini just got back from the bookstore and i can't wait to sink into it based on all the reviews and press it has been getting.
it's called the big picture - on the origin of life, meaning, and the universe itself by sean carroll.. “weaving the threads of astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology, and philosophy into a seamless narrative tapestry, sean carroll enthralls us with what we’ve figured out in the universe and humbles us with what we don’t yet understand.
yet in the end, it’s the meaning of it all that feeds your soul of curiosity.” —neil degrasse tyson, host of cosmos: a spacetime odyssey*publishers weekly #1 most anticipated science book of spring 2016*"already internationally acclaimed for his elegant, lucid writing on the most challenging notions in modern physics, sean carroll is emerging as one of the greatest humanist thinkers of his generation as he brings his extraordinary intellect to bear not only on higgs bosons and extra dimensions but now also on our deepest personal questions.
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Beliefs About What Caused the Universe
by Perry inthe universe can be observed to be expanding.. an expanding universe must have had a beginning.
whatever begins to exist had a cause.
therefore the universe had a cause.
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Cornbread
Also, I'm sorry I offended by using the word "deist", I was trying too hard to be polite. What I meant was "delusional Bible thumpers." -
160
Beliefs About What Caused the Universe
by Perry inthe universe can be observed to be expanding.. an expanding universe must have had a beginning.
whatever begins to exist had a cause.
therefore the universe had a cause.
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Cornbread
Hi strawman, nice to meet you. I'm still curious about that question I've asked a couple of times now.
How does "universe has a cause" equate to Yahweh and not some other equally improbable deity?
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Beliefs About What Caused the Universe
by Perry inthe universe can be observed to be expanding.. an expanding universe must have had a beginning.
whatever begins to exist had a cause.
therefore the universe had a cause.
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Cornbread
And Perry, "The simplest explanation is that space and time were manipulated as opposed to waiting around for 14 billion years."
I don't think you have a grasp on what the term "simplest" means, although your argument betrays your own simplicity of mind.
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160
Beliefs About What Caused the Universe
by Perry inthe universe can be observed to be expanding.. an expanding universe must have had a beginning.
whatever begins to exist had a cause.
therefore the universe had a cause.
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Cornbread
Again I ask the deists here to explain how "universe has beginning" = "jealous bearded sky man" with a fetish for bronze-age nomads.
Why not Quetzalcoatl or Brahma?
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Beliefs About What Caused the Universe
by Perry inthe universe can be observed to be expanding.. an expanding universe must have had a beginning.
whatever begins to exist had a cause.
therefore the universe had a cause.
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Cornbread
Occam's razor precludes this argument. Of the two explanations: a) we can calculate the 14 billion year age of the universe thanks to measurements using the laws of nature or b) some capricious deity arranged for everything in the universe to only *look* that way but really popped everything into existence last Thursday, the more likely scenario is a). -
160
Beliefs About What Caused the Universe
by Perry inthe universe can be observed to be expanding.. an expanding universe must have had a beginning.
whatever begins to exist had a cause.
therefore the universe had a cause.
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Cornbread
So now complete your argument about how "the universe had a cause" 14 billion years ago equals jealous voyeur sky father of the Hebrews. -
Our bacterial heritage and future
by Cornbread inpeople who believe in the theory of evolution state (correctly) that we humans are descended from the same common ancestors as modern-day primates.
people willfully ignorant of the science behind this assertion sometimes lash out in fear for their beliefs, finding it offensive that we are somehow related to chimpanzees and not perfectly created by a mythical being.
i say take the comparison further.
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Cornbread
People who believe in the theory of evolution state (correctly) that we humans are descended from the same common ancestors as modern-day primates. People willfully ignorant of the science behind this assertion sometimes lash out in fear for their beliefs, finding it offensive that we are somehow related to chimpanzees and not perfectly created by a mythical being.
I say take the comparison further. Not only are we directly related to lowly chimpanzees but we can trace our evolutionary lineage all the way back to the first bacteria. Anybody with a passing interest in science already knows this, but a close reflection upon this evolutionary journey just might point us towards the meaning for existence along the way.
Bacteria are the most plentiful form of life on the planet and they are the first signs of life that scientists look for in outer space. Bacteria are remarkably resilient and can multiply their numbers exponentially given the right resources, not unlike humanity.
We've carved out niches in almost every environment on our planet and already have started looking at the stars like Tiktaalik peered out of the primordial water at the unexplored universe. We have left such an imprint with climate change and modification of the environment that geologists now refer to our time on earth as the beginning of the anthropocene.
Could we, or the artificial intelligence we eventually create, be simply giant bacteria magnified through the lens of evolution? Our purpose in life may be simply to spread as far and wide through the universe as resources allow until it too dies the slow death of entropy. -
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Beliefs About What Caused the Universe
by Perry inthe universe can be observed to be expanding.. an expanding universe must have had a beginning.
whatever begins to exist had a cause.
therefore the universe had a cause.
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Cornbread
Like I said, debate causality and the big bang all you want, we know it happened.
Don't conflate that with proof of the existence of the god of the Bible.
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160
Beliefs About What Caused the Universe
by Perry inthe universe can be observed to be expanding.. an expanding universe must have had a beginning.
whatever begins to exist had a cause.
therefore the universe had a cause.
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Cornbread
I also find it hilarious that Perry is getting bent out of shape over the preposterous notion of magic cereal boxes appearing out of thin air when he unquestioningly rejects evolution. Species weren't "magicked" into existence either, bud.
Evolution is a slam-dunk theory, just like gravity. We're just unsure of the .mechanisms involved.