i've read a little bit of work from the field of evolutionary psychology, but nearly all of this stuff comes across as pseudo-scientific bs to me.
much of this stuff just seems to me to be a case of preferring a particular human behaviour over another one, and then saying that this is what nature intended with a story about how it 'evolved'.
a lot of evolutionary psychologists also seem to use evolutionary psychology as cover for their misogyny or racism.. i think most of our behaviours are socialised rather than genetic.. i am hardly an expert here however so could, of course, be completely wrong.
Here are some articles that I think demonstrate some of the problems with evolutionary psychology:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/may/18/satoshi-kanazawa-black-women-psychology-today
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2011/01/darwins_rape_whistle.html
It would be unfair to tar all evolutionary psychologists with the same brush of course, but as a field it does seem to attract people who want to claim scientific support for their bigotry, unfortunately.
true believers, whether christian, muslim or whatever, want to convert you, they want you to believe what they do, and they're willing to go to extremes to make it happen.
atheists don't really care what you believe, and don't go out of their way to convert someone.. http://ow.ly/vn1jz an example of what believers in power do to suppress any difference in thought.
http://ow.ly/vraeo an example of why believers want to suppress different ideas (because they can't win in a fair fight, that's why).
Cofty, I think you misunderstood me. All I did was point out that non theists were doing most (not all) of the complaining about tone on this thread in response to the complaints about whiny theists. I never said I agreed with their comments, I actually defended the board's atheists in my post 961 on this thread.
true believers, whether christian, muslim or whatever, want to convert you, they want you to believe what they do, and they're willing to go to extremes to make it happen.
atheists don't really care what you believe, and don't go out of their way to convert someone.. http://ow.ly/vn1jz an example of what believers in power do to suppress any difference in thought.
http://ow.ly/vraeo an example of why believers want to suppress different ideas (because they can't win in a fair fight, that's why).
Viviane, why so dismissive? apognophos, frazzled, xanthippe, talesin and sammie were all non-theists who criticised the tone of some atheists on this thread.
i've read a little bit of work from the field of evolutionary psychology, but nearly all of this stuff comes across as pseudo-scientific bs to me.
much of this stuff just seems to me to be a case of preferring a particular human behaviour over another one, and then saying that this is what nature intended with a story about how it 'evolved'.
a lot of evolutionary psychologists also seem to use evolutionary psychology as cover for their misogyny or racism.. i think most of our behaviours are socialised rather than genetic.. i am hardly an expert here however so could, of course, be completely wrong.
DS, I have discovered that the biologist PZ Myers is also skeptical of evolutionary psychology: http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/category/bad-science/evolutionary-psychology/ so I am not yet convinced that I have to accept evolutionary biology and evolutionary psychology as a package deal, though of course I recognise that our brains were subject to evolutionary processes as well.
Cofty, thanks for your response, I was hoping you would contribute to this thread, I will try to come back with some examples for you tomorrow.
i've read a little bit of work from the field of evolutionary psychology, but nearly all of this stuff comes across as pseudo-scientific bs to me.
much of this stuff just seems to me to be a case of preferring a particular human behaviour over another one, and then saying that this is what nature intended with a story about how it 'evolved'.
a lot of evolutionary psychologists also seem to use evolutionary psychology as cover for their misogyny or racism.. i think most of our behaviours are socialised rather than genetic.. i am hardly an expert here however so could, of course, be completely wrong.
I've read a little bit of work from the field of evolutionary psychology, but nearly all of this stuff comes across as pseudo-scientific bs to me. Much of this stuff just seems to me to be a case of preferring a particular human behaviour over another one, and then saying that this is what nature intended with a story about how it 'evolved'. A lot of evolutionary psychologists also seem to use evolutionary psychology as cover for their misogyny or racism.
I think most of our behaviours are socialised rather than genetic.
I am hardly an expert here however so could, of course, be completely wrong. That is why I am curious to get the opinions on this 'science' by the board's actual scientists and educated evolutionists.
Thoughts?
.
apostate & ex-jehovalarious meme collection.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/jwmeme/.
Ha!
Very few of the male JWs I know would be comfortable studying with an openly gay man, those who would be willing would be considered suspicious by other males JWs.
true believers, whether christian, muslim or whatever, want to convert you, they want you to believe what they do, and they're willing to go to extremes to make it happen.
atheists don't really care what you believe, and don't go out of their way to convert someone.. http://ow.ly/vn1jz an example of what believers in power do to suppress any difference in thought.
http://ow.ly/vraeo an example of why believers want to suppress different ideas (because they can't win in a fair fight, that's why).
Hmm... Most of the people complaining about tone in this thread are not theists...
I didn't dislike Tec, I thought she was a nice lady, but it was difficult to have a conversation with her because her response to any disagreement was to tell you that you just didn't have ears to hear or something. Anyway, there's a big difference between strongly expressed disagreement and ridicule. The latter is something I've experienced here rarely and if it became the default way of dealing with me as 'a believer' I'd stop posting here for the same reason I rarely bothered with Tec, not because it would offend me but because it's not conducive to good conversation and would be a waste of my time. I don't foresee this happening however.
Meanwhile I genuinely enjoy posting here.
i use the word clinging, as i feel that is what i am doing.
as far as my knowledge of science, namely chemistry is concerned, i am satisfied there is evidence of a creator.
i am happy to believe this.
What if performing rituals is one of your interests?
I mostly liked Terry's post, I think the impact of our beliefs on our lives, whilst certainly not irrelevant, are often overstated.
this is the story of how i ended up here on this site.... .
i was stuck in a situation where reaching out took forever, an eternity.
it was ridiculous - no matter what i did, there was always more to do.
I'm guessing your Dad wasn't an elder? JWs are surprisingly nepotistic.
just heard the special talk about why god allows suffering.
ugh... can't believe i used to believe this crap.
what do you all think of the universal sovereignty issue?
Ugh... my sister's been trying to get me to go to the special talk tomorrow, I gave in on the memorial, no way am I sitting through another meeting that's twice as long. She said I was 'annoying' for persistently saying 'no'. Whatever.
The universal sovereignty issue is impossible to reconcile with Romans 8, for starters.
