A Ha

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Posts by A Ha

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  10

  Science my son and I.

  by The Rebel in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a recent o.p origins of the universe bought home to me with ovbious clarity that i have no scientific background.

  this realization was rather embarrassing for myself to admit, particularly as my child of 11 has began asking some rather intersting questions on scientific matters.

  anyway i have subscribed to " scientific america" because i find it a great magazine for those with no scientific background.

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  A Ha

  +1 for Khan Academy. Anyone with school-aged children should have it as their homepage. Or at least bookmarked
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  20

  Technological singularity

  by Brokeback Watchtower in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/technological_singularity.

  the singularity" redirects here.

  for other uses, see singularity (disambiguation).the technological singularity (also, simply, the singularity)[1][2] is the hypothesis that the invention of artificial superintelligence will abruptly trigger runaway technological growth, resulting in unfathomable changes to human civilization.

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  A Ha

  computer simulation universes like ours

  I like how this is now just an accepted fact.
  
  
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  583

  What is the purpose of life?

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  while reading the magazines the other day it occurred to me that jws never really had a very good answer to that question.

  because it was aimed at young people and it said something along the lines, "if you believe in god you have a purpose, but if you don't believe in god your life has no purpose or meaning".

  i think that is a faulty analysis of the situation.

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  A Ha

  Fisherman - IF God does not exist then Justice is on the same scale as fecal matter; love and other human virtues mean nothing, they don't matter. Their attempt to modify human conduct is a mere ploy used by the mechanics that drive the universe to achieve its means.The purpose of life then is to find [the means] to be god

  Without going into much philosophical detail, one problem immediately jumps out. When we talk about whether something matters, we're talking about whether it matters to someone. So if God does not exist then justice, love, and virtue can't matter to God, obviously, but they can still matter to humans.
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  3

  Evangelist D. Odgaard "The change in America seemed to happen so quickly that it felt like whiplash".

  by James Mixon in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  mr odgarrd refused to rent the quaint site to two gay men for a wedding.

  he told them "i can't take your money, and we don't do anything for free.the men filed a civil rights complaint and won, awarded $5,000.

  the odgaards had built their church over 13 years into an art gallery,bistro,flower shop and a framing service.

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  A Ha

  Well... it was a long time coming, it just felt faster to them because they weren't paying attention. If this is the article I read recently, part of the story is that they feel abandoned by conservatives. They were courted and paraded by Cruz, and named to some evangelical martyr council in his campaign or something. When that faded away they feel abandoned because they're not in the evangelical spotlight anymore. Calling their bistro a "church" is new to me, but I shed no tears for bigots, even if they're only bigots because they hear voices in their heads.
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  11

  Inevitable Life - Video

  by cofty in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  very interesting lecture and q&a session by professor eric smith of the santa fe institute.

  in his discussion of the primacy of energy there is a lot of overlap with the ideas of nick lane of university college london.

  if you still think abiogenesis had something to do with "primordial soup" you should invest half an hour to watch this.. ....

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  A Ha

  The rest of us have to watch it multiple times at half speed and cofty critiques the makeup of early proton pumps as background noise while he braises the lamb.
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  11

  Inevitable Life - Video

  by cofty in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  very interesting lecture and q&a session by professor eric smith of the santa fe institute.

  in his discussion of the primacy of energy there is a lot of overlap with the ideas of nick lane of university college london.

  if you still think abiogenesis had something to do with "primordial soup" you should invest half an hour to watch this.. ....

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  A Ha

  False advertising Cofty, that was over an hour, not a half hour, lol.

  I thought the same thing, then I figured I watch YouTube videos at 1.25x or 1.5x, maybe cofty watches them at 2x. (I'm also ashamed to admit how many years it took me to realize you could watch at different speeds. It was life-changing.)
  
  
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  583

  What is the purpose of life?

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  while reading the magazines the other day it occurred to me that jws never really had a very good answer to that question.

  because it was aimed at young people and it said something along the lines, "if you believe in god you have a purpose, but if you don't believe in god your life has no purpose or meaning".

  i think that is a faulty analysis of the situation.

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  A Ha

  ...that I never, ever, would think about beating or punishing a woman unless she was my wife or daughter.

  40% Poe, 60% mentally ill person (not because of this line, but body of work)

  
  
  
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  583

  What is the purpose of life?

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  while reading the magazines the other day it occurred to me that jws never really had a very good answer to that question.

  because it was aimed at young people and it said something along the lines, "if you believe in god you have a purpose, but if you don't believe in god your life has no purpose or meaning".

  i think that is a faulty analysis of the situation.

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  A Ha

  Mercy is achieved by expense of Justice. In Christianity God's Mercy is achieved through justice. Justice is not put aside to achieve Mercy.
  That's the point of the Ransom view about the Crucifixion. Crucifixion of Christ payed the expense provoked by Mercy

  This defense only works if you redefine "justice" and "mercy" so they don't mean "justice" or "mercy"
  
  
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  583

  What is the purpose of life?

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  while reading the magazines the other day it occurred to me that jws never really had a very good answer to that question.

  because it was aimed at young people and it said something along the lines, "if you believe in god you have a purpose, but if you don't believe in god your life has no purpose or meaning".

  i think that is a faulty analysis of the situation.

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  A Ha

  IMHO the problem if evil must have something related to Infinite Justice. And the Cross of Christ is the needle that seam the entire history of suffering.

  As an aside, I think belief in a god of Infinite Justice and Infinite Mercy is even more of a logical contradiction and probably a stronger argument against such a god than the problem of evil--mostly because it avoids the Mysterious Ways defense. It's like describing God as Perfectly Square and Perfectly Round.
  
  
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  583

  What is the purpose of life?

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  while reading the magazines the other day it occurred to me that jws never really had a very good answer to that question.

  because it was aimed at young people and it said something along the lines, "if you believe in god you have a purpose, but if you don't believe in god your life has no purpose or meaning".

  i think that is a faulty analysis of the situation.

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  A Ha

  Slim, rest assured that any atheist who spends any time discussing religion on the internet is well acquainted with the Dunning-Kruger effect, but you're misapplying it here. A "mastery" of the subject matter is not required here.

  Let me ask you a direct question: If the Most Perfect Mother keeps her children locked in a closet for years, and I say that behavior is incompatible with being the Most Perfect Mother, is that an example of the DKE? If your answer is "no" then you've misapplied the DKE.