Ignore your instinct - think ffs

[Cartollomew]

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn1 ... ation.html

People exist to believe in God.

Wait.. whut?

New Scientist isn't always the best source for delivering... well... science, but they do have some interesting discussion points.

I suspect it's a bit of a leap to assume that our knee-jerk reactions to false teleological statements implies a desire for our environment to be designed.

It's just a kind of short/narrow vision, surely - "the sun exists so that plants can photosynthesise" - we have enough education to know that "plants need the sun in order to photosynthesise", so when presented, rapid-fire, with statements such as the false one above, it seems entirely reasonable at first glance. It's only when you actually test the statement in your mind that you recognise its invalidity.

Perhaps what we should be taking away from this is the idea that our initial gut reactions to something shouldn't be trusted - apply thought before formulating a response. And if that means you take more than 5 seconds to evaluate a statement correctly, then so be it.

It doesn't imply a belief - or a want to believe - in higher powers.

[Dropdeadqt]

Could it be true if you think of it in the sense of "God created Man to worship him"?

P.S. Ahhh, but then you must have first established that God exists /gg.

[Cartollomew]

P.S. Ahhh, but then you must have first established that God exists /gg.

Ja.

From a purely scientific point of view, there is no empirical evidence for the existence of a god.

Obviously, there's no evidence that there isn't/aren't god/s, either, which is how a perfectly rational scientific mind can resolve to have faith.

But research, technological development, medical advances etc etc - these don't spring from faith, they come about as a result of applied scientific method, whether or not a god exists.

More on topic - until it can be shown that the sun was created in order to enable life on earth, it is fallacious to say that that is the case.

[Johnnyrico]

my dick makes women believe god exists

does that count?

[Cartollomew]

my dick makes women believe god exists

does that count?

That's different - they believe that you are a god, and that's actually based on empirical evidence.

Rico, your dick is science.

I'm sorry.

[Dropdeadqt]

I suddenly had a mental image of a sliced Kabana the length of one of those super subway subs (The one that feeds meetings)

[Chappy]

i think ppl are can think wat ever they like on the subject, now im not a godly man myself but if ppl want to put their faith in it and think there is an afterlife then so be it who is it hurting unless its some fucked up god that demands ppl kittens and or wat ever be killed in hits name,

if ppl put their faith in it then there is an afterlife for them GG for them =)

if they put their faith in it and there is no afterlife for them well they are dead and gone and wont be able to complain about it any way,

as for ppl who have lost close ones it may be a compfort thing knowing they r having a happy after life, even if their body is nothing more then a wormfarm,
so for me its not an issue wuth ppl beleiving init or not, as long as i dont get the door knock at 5am on a sunday by a 38 year old virgen asking me if ive found god, only to reply ive had as much trouble finding him as he has finding someone that would let him stick his dick in them, i mean COME ON WHO THE FUCK gets off by waking me up @ 5 am on my "god" given day of rest??

any way
if u believe good on u thats great , if u dont then good on u too =))

and if the world was given to us by some god then i doubt he would do it again as we have done nothing but fuck it up anyway, so u can see im sure even gods make misstakes,


the whole issue has caused problems between cyri and me since she found god and i found out it wasnt me =S

[Cartollomew]

the whole issue has caused problems between cyri and me since she found god and i found out it wasnt me =S

I was trying not to comment on the philosophical or belief aspects, but obviously I failed.

The article is to do with what is observed, and what is assumed, rather than any philosophical understanding of (for example) the sun.

Science and philosophy don't make great bedfellows, any more than science and religion.

Look at it this way - the walls of a house are there to hold up the roof. They were put there because someone designed it and ordered people to put them there.
There is evidence showing that this is the case.

The walls of a cave happen to hold up the roof of the cave. We can find out how the walls were formed - maybe they're there because water flooded in and eroded the cave years before or something (I don't know, speleology isn't my thing). But we don't know that some person chose for that to be the case. The cave walls weren't designed to hold up the roof, it just happens to be that way.

Speaking from a religious viewpoint, people are within their rights to state that "God put the cave walls there to keep the roof up."

Speaking from a scientific viewpoint, you cannot say "the walls are there to keep the roof up", because there's no evidence to show that this is the case. We know they were formed naturally, but making any observation other than "the walls are there, and they happen to hold the roof up" is scientifically untrue. Until evidence exists to show that they were created with that purpose in mind, you cannot state that they were.

Futher: To say "there is an ozone layer because we need it to block out UV light" is scientifically useless. That's not why the ozone layer is there. There are many processes which led to there being an ozone layer. Our need of UV protection isn't one of them.

[Dropdeadqt]

The Sun burns.
God allegedly burns.
Therefore God is the Sun?

How exactly does someone "find" God? Does he hide in a washing machine and suddenly jump out saying "YA FOUND ME, GRATS YOU'RE RELIGIOUS!!!"?

What is the trigger where someone goes from not believing to believing? Is it a massive revelation or a horridly long process?

[Cartollomew]

What is the trigger where someone goes from not believing to believing? Is it a massive revelation or a horridly long process?

Anthropology attempts to answer some of those questions from a scientific viewpoint, but if you're serious in asking those questions, there are a large number of philosophical starting points.

I'd recommend Anthony De Mello's Song of the Bird and pretty much any of the late Graham Greene novels (in particular Monsignor Quixote).

If, however, you're being facetious, move along, nothing to see here

[Mews]

Cart's TLDR: Just because something does something doesn't mean that's what it was intended to do when it was made.

Alley; I stay away from religion, mostly because my rationality can't process the thought of all powerful being(s) looking over us like an ant farm.

And with that I digress, because if I ask anything or give my contrived opinion, this thread will spiral into nonsense and arguments.

[Lellybaby]

You guys make my business statistics text book look interesting...

[Cartollomew]

You guys make my business statistics text book look interesting...

Business stats is like home economics when compared to human affectivity.

Trufax.

[Lellybaby]

Did you know Cart that if your mother is incredible smart i.e. Doctor, Professor of something etc, that you have a 30% chance of doing well at university compared to a child from an average mother.

Or if your mother has/had gone to university that you would have a 60% more likelyhood of suceeding. (Especially if she was the first female in her family to go to uni) compared to a child who's mother didn't go to university

Don't make me quote you this shit all day...

[Cartollomew]

Did you know Cart that if your mother is incredible smart i.e. Doctor, Professor of something etc, that you have a 30% chance of doing well at university compared to a child from an average mother.[citation needed]

Or if your mother has/had gone to university that you would have a 60% more likelyhood of suceeding. (Especially if she was the first female in her family to go to uni) compared to a child who's mother didn't go to university[citation needed]

Don't make me quote you this shit all day...