A Ha

Joined

• started 1 topics
• posted 300 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by A Ha

• 
  52

  how can navigate if our desire is for absolute truth...

  by Ruby456 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  or do we give in to social constructivism?

  to relativity?

  or is there a way to be real and then to say whats real that everyone agrees to?.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  A Ha

  This for many is what it means for something to be alive. on the other hand a self organizing universe may not be considered to be viable proposition for engendering the start of life because this seems to suggest a sort of lifeless systems view without any method of passing on information.

  Ugh. Who says a lifeless system can't pass on information? Varves in a mountain, tree rings, the light from distant stars... all carry information. If we get technical, black holes preserve information, and can even spit it back out (though I doubt we'd ever be able to interpret that information).

  if we put both together - then can we say with absolute certainty that everything is mechanistic and deterministic - this doesn't seem very inviting either

  We can't say this with "absolute certainty," but is has nothing to do with natural systems generating "information." There is almost nothing we can say with absolute certainty. It would be nice if we could, but I accept I could be living in The Matrix, then I do what any sane person would do--I chuckle and say i wish I'd thought of that movie--I'd be rich!--then I get on with life
  
  
• 
  54

  where have the demons gone?

  by aboveusonlysky in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  does anybody remember some of the sensational demon stories jw's would tell back in the day?

  i was a kid in the early 80's and i remember a few times hearing of people having real life encounters with demons.

  for example, one sister claimed that before she became a jdub she would regularly talk to demons and they would even fix stuff like her washing machine!

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  A Ha

  I have a demon story that I personally experienced. True story.

  I was about 18 and I bought an electric typewriter. It was super fancy because it had a slot for a floppy disks, so it was almost like a computer! This was at the beginning of the PC revolution and they were still wildly expensive.

  Anyway, I used it to type talks and stuff on it (and my original idea for a Star Trek book that I still think would have been awesome!) One night, when I was sound asleep, I was awakened by a loud clacking racket, like demons were throwing my TV around the room. I was too afraid even to open my eyes, because if I saw some red humanoid outline hovering over me, I don't know what I would have done. I don't even remember if I had the presence of mind to utter a coherent prayer. "Please, Jehovah, I'll stop making out with Sister Loose if you make this demon go away. Uh, in Jesus name. Amen." More likely I was just saying "Oh Jehovah, Oh Jehovah" over and over again.

  So the demons left me alone pretty much by the time I was fully awake. The next morning I was surprisingly calm, I guess since the demons hadn't probed my nether regions or anything. I turned on my electric typewriter to work on my masterpiece, but when I flipped the switch, it turned it off. So I flipped it again to turn it on and it started this loud clacking racket as it centered the print head and all that stuff that modern printers do, except this was much louder.

  The clock on my VCR (you kids don't know what those are... kind of like Blue Ray where you have to be very quick with the pause button if you want to catch the nip slip) was blinking. The power had gone out the night before, and when it came back on the typewriter started up.
• 
  54

  where have the demons gone?

  by aboveusonlysky in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  does anybody remember some of the sensational demon stories jw's would tell back in the day?

  i was a kid in the early 80's and i remember a few times hearing of people having real life encounters with demons.

  for example, one sister claimed that before she became a jdub she would regularly talk to demons and they would even fix stuff like her washing machine!

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  A Ha

  Yes, we were warned all the time against getting things at garage sales and thrift shops. I was told of someone who bought a piece of furniture at a garage sale which was home to some demons.* There were increasing supernatural events culminating in the dresser being in the basement raising a huge ruckus, going full Jumanji, when the faithful witness had the brilliant idea of writing "Jehovah" on paper plates and sailing them down the steps. That quieted those demons.

  * Man, that would suck being a spirit creature; you're not tethered to a physical body, you should be able to go anywhere you want... down to the earth's core for a quick tan, soaring through the skies, zipping over to watch a star go supernova, then watch other stars being born.. but instead you're limited to living in a dresser.
  
• 
  32

  Evolution Gap - Where's the Fur? Redux

  by shadow in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i am posting a second topic on this subject since the first one became overrun by snakes.. cofty posted a link to a published paper discussing this topic and referred to the information in it as "facts".

  here is my summary of that paper along with comments on it.. one of the opening statements says that:.

  two frequently debated aspects of hominin evolution are the development of upright bipedal stance and reduction in body hair.. so for those who believe this is a stupid topic, it is a subject of interest to many stupid people including the authors of the paper referred to by cofty.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  A Ha

  cofty: Any naturalistic answer that works proves that supernatural answers are unnecessary.

  shadow: The arch example does not prove that God did not do it.

  Shadow, there is a big difference between saying "this shows God is unnecessary as an explanation" vs saying "this proves God could not be the explanation."

  We have millions/billions of confirmed (repeatable) examples of natural explanations for phenomena, and precisely zero supernatural explanations for any phenomena. This alone is enough to say that a plausible naturalistic explanation for any one phenomenon is sufficient to render a supernatural explanation extraneous and unnecessary. (That's a long-winded way of saying "Ockham's Razor FTW!")

  As Viviane said, the article you posted lists problems with a number of ideas about the evolutionary reason for our loss of fur, but even if those problems are insurmountable by proponents of those various ideas, it still leaves the 12th idea, from the article you quote approvingly, as a valid explanation. So, rather than undermining evolution, you've only undermined the thermoregulatory theory of fur-loss and helped establish the some-other-theory theory of fur-loss.

  What you need to do is show that there is no possible evolutionary explanation for humans losing their fur--that the only possible explanation is a supernatural one. If you can't do that, then you've only changed the status of the question from "Probably because X" to "unknown (for now)."

  
  

  Edit: In other words, what 2+2=5 said.
  
  
• 
  59

  Can you prove that our entire universe and existence is not a computer simulation?

  by EndofMysteries in

  1. social
  2. current

  if you were a computer programmer and you were to create a simulated automated world, that would constantly evolve and self run after initial designs.

  first you would have to code the rules, laws, and core elements of this world.

  while this is being coded, the program is not run yet, so none of it exists.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  A Ha

  we could actually be a computer simulation speculating if we are a computer simulation. While that is not true as far as I can see, we could well have a computer program running in our brains that is like RAM in a computer and that this is our soul. Atheist hate this idea because computer souls would need programmer to set the code. And if this is true then we are forming new souls as we compute, and perhaps one day our computers will say hello to us, and ask where did I come from. Somebody tell Tyson that he is proving God, in his own image.

  No, atheists hate this idea because there is no reason we should think it's true, yet once one person utters any silly old idea, other theists jump on it because it's a life raft for their vacuous beliefs, then they perform the typical theistic miracle of transmutation where possible magically becomes probable, as you've done here
  
  
• 
  29

  [Generic evolution vs. creation thread]

  by sir82 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  to save us all a lot of time and effort..... [some complex structure in living organisms described].

  [i can't imagine how this could be the product of evolution].

  [therefore god created it].

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  A Ha

  Even if it can be explained by science, I won't be listening,

  Well, I guess thanks for the honesty.

  Edit: my pony is not as evolutionarily fit as cofty's pony
• 
  51

  Can’t cope with being disfellowshipped…..Need some advice

  by xxBettyBoopxx in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  this site is great, i have been lurking for a while now.

  but i can’t get reinstated and have used some of the advice already given.. i was df’d many months ago and go to all the meetings and do all the preparation for the meetings, but the jc committee keep refusing me.

  tomorrow at the clam meeting i am puting yet another letter in and will be called for another dreadful jc meeting.. 1. what can i say to the elders to show that i am truly repentant?.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  A Ha

  Does he talk to you often? What does his voice sound like?
• 
  29

  [Generic evolution vs. creation thread]

  by sir82 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  to save us all a lot of time and effort..... [some complex structure in living organisms described].

  [i can't imagine how this could be the product of evolution].

  [therefore god created it].

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  A Ha

  And let's not forget, "Darwin admitted in his own book, Origin of Specialties, 'I do not accept evolution.'"

  [Actual quote "I do not see how, once we've examined all the evidence, one could do anything but accept evolution."]
• 
  87

  Evolution Gap - Where's the Fur?

  by shadow in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  evolution paints human ancestors covered with fur.

  fur has several benefits as stated by britannica "the pelts of fur-bearing animals are called true furs when they consist of two elements: a dense undercoat, called ground hair, and longer hairs, extending beyond that layer, called guard hair.

  the principal function of ground hair is to maintain the animal’s body temperature; that of guard hair is to protect the underlying fur and skin and to shed rain or snow.".

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  A Ha

  In which case I'd say entropy is the house--you need it to have a venue in which to play, but in the end it always wins.
• 
  29

  [Generic evolution vs. creation thread]

  by sir82 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  to save us all a lot of time and effort..... [some complex structure in living organisms described].

  [i can't imagine how this could be the product of evolution].

  [therefore god created it].

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  A Ha

  I couldn't imagine how an electron could sometimes behave like a particle and sometimes behave like a wave. Then I read a book (well, a number of books) written by scientists writing in their field, summarizing the results of thousands of experiments.

  (And now I'm more confused than ever, but that's just Quantum Mechanics--if Quantum Mechanics makes sense to you, then you don't understand it.)