The impenetrable wall of empirical evidence and rational thought. It's all that is keeping us from the brain dead theorist zombies (and there are a lot of them on this site) and their infection.
Posts by DJS
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579Won't get fooled again ...Moon Landing.
by The Rebel inso i was fooled by the witnesses.
what can i learn from that?
not to accept things at face value but to seek out opinion and different view points.. hence my question " do you believe man landed on the moon?.
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82
Quality Thinking - Warning: Long Post Ahead
by Viviane inrecently, several threads have had some debate about logic, evidence, critical thinking and skepticism.
i wanted to write a post discussing those things, hopefully to clarify what those things are, why they are important and how to use those tools.
first, logic, at its core, is simply a method for how to reason validly, how to draw conclusions based on a premise.
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DJS
Thanks. Pumpkin
Nice OP. You should re-post this every 4 weeks.
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Prophecy in Daniel: A last Fierce-looking King
by Kosonen inthere is an unfulfilled prophecy in daniel about the last king that will be broken without human hand.
the prophecy says he will be fierce-looking, deceptive, efficent in his doings, smart and causing ruin to many.
and he will exalt himself.
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DJS
Do you recognize any politician that is already displaying such qualities?
No, but something tells me you are about to make it all clear and identify said politico. If I had to guess this OP is going to be a Far Right X-tian Fundie End-of-Time Sunday School lesson for those of us in the dark.
And you get to fill us all in with your sageness and your knowledge of all things scripture and prophecy and how you have a direct link to the big girl in the sky and knowledge no one else to this point has obtained.
But please, continue. I'm trying to be kinder and gentler.
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82
Quality Thinking - Warning: Long Post Ahead
by Viviane inrecently, several threads have had some debate about logic, evidence, critical thinking and skepticism.
i wanted to write a post discussing those things, hopefully to clarify what those things are, why they are important and how to use those tools.
first, logic, at its core, is simply a method for how to reason validly, how to draw conclusions based on a premise.
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DJS
This should be required reading for all:
Wiki: Confirmation bias, also called myside bias, is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms one's beliefs or hypotheses.[Note 1][1] It is a type of cognitive bias and a systematic error of inductive reasoning. People display this bias when they gather or remember information selectively, or when they interpret it in a biased way. The effect is stronger for emotionally charged issues and for deeply entrenched beliefs. People also tend to interpret ambiguous evidence as supporting their existing position. Biased search, interpretation and memory have been invoked to explain attitude polarization (when a disagreement becomes more extreme even though the different parties are exposed to the same evidence), belief perseverance (when beliefs persist after the evidence for them is shown to be false), the irrational primacy effect (a greater reliance on information encountered early in a series) and illusory correlation (when people falsely perceive an association between two events or situations).
A series of experiments in the 1960s suggested that people are biased toward confirming their existing beliefs. Later work re-interpreted these results as a tendency to test ideas in a one-sided way, focusing on one possibility and ignoring alternatives. In certain situations, this tendency can bias people's conclusions. Explanations for the observed biases include wishful thinking and the limited human capacity to process information. Another explanation is that people show confirmation bias because they are weighing up the costs of being wrong, rather than investigating in a neutral, scientific way.
Confirmation biases contribute to overconfidence in personal beliefs and can maintain or strengthen beliefs in the face of contrary evidence. Poor decisions due to these biases have been found in political and organizational contexts.[2][3][Note 2]
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Quality Thinking - Warning: Long Post Ahead
by Viviane inrecently, several threads have had some debate about logic, evidence, critical thinking and skepticism.
i wanted to write a post discussing those things, hopefully to clarify what those things are, why they are important and how to use those tools.
first, logic, at its core, is simply a method for how to reason validly, how to draw conclusions based on a premise.
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DJS
Phiz, Strong and Viv,
Ditto. The only thing I would add is that if the only thing you've bothered to learn about evolution, biology, etc. does nothing but confirm your biases, then your opinions on the truths of these subjects also don't carry any weight.
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579
Won't get fooled again ...Moon Landing.
by The Rebel inso i was fooled by the witnesses.
what can i learn from that?
not to accept things at face value but to seek out opinion and different view points.. hence my question " do you believe man landed on the moon?.
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DJS
FMF,
Viv=Big dog in picture above. Rebel = little dog in picture above.
The foreplay has been entertaining.
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579
Won't get fooled again ...Moon Landing.
by The Rebel inso i was fooled by the witnesses.
what can i learn from that?
not to accept things at face value but to seek out opinion and different view points.. hence my question " do you believe man landed on the moon?.
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DJS
The Rebel,
You should have quit while you were ahead. This image entered my mind while reading your recent posts to Viv:
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Evidence there is no God
by Coded Logic incheckmate thiests!.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09ntwccqtua.
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DJS
CL,
Funny Stuff!! It's nice to see Dr. Hawking enjoying himself. He has made several visits on Big Bang Theory.
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Angus Stewart calls the JW religion a captive organization
by oppostate inif you watched the questioning of terrence o'brien by angus stewart at day 7 part 3 on youtube--thanks so much for uploading these videos--you'll see that mr. stewart puts quite clearly to brother o'brien that the jw 0rganization is a "captive organization".. he makes this reference regarding the practice of da/df'ing and shunning, which he mentions is the one thing that makes ex-jw's the most angry.
because insisting on shunning ex-members causes psychological trauma and separates people from their family, friends and their community of support; therefore, they are held captive by the organization if they don't want to lose those most dear to them.. i believe angus stewart is to be commended for seeing clearly what the wt/jw religion is truly like in practice, and it isn't pretty.. the term "captive organization" is usually used in finance to mean a business front, a legal veil that shields the parent company from liability and having to make big insurance payouts.
for example if the australian branch gets sued and loses, the "wt australia" corporation will pay the amount awarded by the judge to the complainant.
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DJS
I'm sure Mr. Stewart knew this before the email I sent him last week, so I won't take credit for it as lots of ex-Dubs have likely sent him the same thing (below):
"Mr. Stewart,
I am humbled that you took the time to respond. I am certain you already know more about the JWs than most JWs, but just in case you don't I thought the following would be helpful in understanding how this religion works to control its members.
Since its inception early in the 20th Century, the governing members of the JWs have strongly discouraged higher education. This continues today. They reinforce the message routinely in meetings, conventions and in their literature. Members who do go to college are often viewed as weak and 'privileges' are restricted. As a result, JWs are typically the least educated - and rank last in household income - of all religions. Educated people are much more difficult to control and to keep quiet when things don't appear correct, as you know.
In addition, their shunning policy is used as a weapon to control members and discourage dissent. This is probably the most damaging aspect of this religion. Silence is golden to the governing members, so it shouldn't be so surprising they would allow/enable child abuse to occur for so many decades; I am very happy that you are helping to give a voice to those harmed by these men.
Nearly 2/3 of JWs born into the religion leave it. That number would most certainly be much higher if the hateful shunning policy was ended.
These are just a sample of the hateful policies implemented with an iron fist for so many years by these men. Thank you for giving a forum to some of those this religion has harmed.
Good luck sir." -
579
Won't get fooled again ...Moon Landing.
by The Rebel inso i was fooled by the witnesses.
what can i learn from that?
not to accept things at face value but to seek out opinion and different view points.. hence my question " do you believe man landed on the moon?.
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DJS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmVxSFnjYCA
When astronomers from around the world want a precise measurement, they bounce lasers off of 1 of 3 retroreflectors left on the moon by Apollos 11, 14 and 15. They're exactly where NASA says they should be. Mythbusters demonstrates this before your very eyes.
This type of data should shut the brain dead theorists up, but it won't. And sir82, spot on.
