Memammal

Could somebody please assist with some knowledgeable feedback regarding this paper, please: By the way, the paper is from John C. Sanford, an advocate of intelligent design and young earth creationism. So far I have managed to unearth this one comment:

You are either a troll, or embarrassingly ignorant. Evolutionary theory is a scientific theory, not pseudoscience. Here, spot the difference: PS. Not sure what you implied by the BC/AD reference. It seems entirely irrelevant (and historically inaccurate w.r.t. its reference to the alleged birth of biblical Jesus).

The approx. 6,000 years refer to the biblical genealogy going back to the time that biblical Adam & Eve would have walked this earth. It can be stretched back to maximum 10,000 years according to most of the sources that I have read. The time line (6,000 to 10,000 years) fits in well with the Genesis narrative against a Neolithic backdrop. As such one can safely argue that biblical Adam & Eve could not have been the first humans. Not sure how relevant this is to the Quran though... Although "disprove" is the wrong word to use, the fact is that the scientifically established origin of our species is well supported by a plethora of evidence. If somebody wants to assert that our species was created ex nihilo, it will indeed contradict science.

Correct, not yet...I was referring to what has now become a very real possibility for him to enforce such a decision.

One dubious executive decision, one giant backward leap for climate science: Trump to scrap Nasa climate research in crackdown on ‘politicized science’

So the decision to act in a certain way...notwithstanding how it came about...equates to free will? If said decision to act is an entirely automated (akin to computerised) neurological process, how can it be free will? This school of thought seems to be gaining momentum within the scientific community. For example, from an article that I already referenced:

With respect, that forum does not appear to be much good at discussing any science...the little that I have read point to a lot of scientific misconceptions.

How did you reach such a conclusion...it reminds me of an article that I read many moons ago where the author thereof stated that the Big Bang confirms the existence of Jesus???

More or less according to Mr. Trump..."in the age of computers and all that, we cannot tell for sure" (re cyber terrorism, hacking, etc)...lol.

I don't want to interfere or upset the applecart, but that ^ is an odd statement...

Just pondering..?

^ Libya is hardly a neighbouring country; it is on the opposite (northern) end of a large continent. Different mind set in the case of SA & Africa, something that our ex president, Mbeki, has started during his tenure as vice president under Mandela and during his own tenure as president. He strongly advocated a policy of Africa-for-Africa, i.e. for African people to resolve African problems in the interest of Africa. You could argue that such an accord would still be in SA's interest, but in reality the benefit to our country would sometimes be negligible as it is only one of 54 recognised countries on the continent whilst some of these disputes have occurred very far away in central or northern African countries. Any way...

^ Who is Jezus?

My own country, South Africa, has done it on numerous occasions on the African continent with the aim to broker peace deals and has also been sending peace keeping forces into certain area's if required. To this day they are adamant that they would have managed a diplomatic solution to the Libyan crisis; something that they pleaded with the UN, but the USA & its allies insisted on a military intervention...and Europe is still reaping the consequences thereof. What would the USA benefit from a lasting Israel/Palestine co-existence?

I.m.o. America has sometimes intervened unnecessarily in the affairs of other countries/regions, often to serve their own interest. Also, I don't see how countries would enter into a pact if said governments do not understand the full implications thereof.

I found the gist of the OP's hypothesis quite interesting, thank you for sharing. One suggestion would be to add a link to "abecedarian intervention" in the first note, which was not dealt with elsewhere in the content of the post (unless I missed it), or just expand on the relevance thereof w.r.t. the rest of the post. This is a contentious topic, handle with care.

I watched an interesting program called Human Journey, Apeman - Spaceman (Ep.1), presented by Prof Brian Cox that was broadcasted on BBC Earth recently. In it he argues that there seems to be compelling evidence in the form of the skull sizes of our early ancestors to suggest that the violent climatic changes that coincided with the cyclical changes in Earth's orbital inclination might have impacted immensely on the development of hominids living during each such period. He showed that brain (skull) sizes increased dramatically and that it happened to coincide with periods during which Earth's eco system was affected. As for the 'fall' of man...if you are superstitious you would probably fall for talking snakes and forbidden fruits of knowledge..?

It is a superstition, something that our species acquired somewhere along the line. At this stage in our evolutionary development most people seem prone to have such a superstitious inclination. Some have argued that it must be in the genes, even referring to it as the god gene, but so far no luck in finding it. Probably a bit of nature, but I suspect more nurture. Perhaps an evolutionary spandrel making us susceptible for the spreading of a god meme..? This is a useful article to read...it starts off like this: The scientific idea that a trait or characteristic of an organism that is hard-wire means that it is a permanent feature should be retired. Case in point: God and religion.

Punishment..? For what, by who?

Well, I think the rest of us are pretty sure that we are not at the center of the universe and quite content with that knowledge. If we follow the above line of reasoning we could of course also start discussions about aliens visiting us in UFO's, whether they were being confused with angels in chariots and if we are all just part of their advanced simulation...and/or similar topics...

Debatable. It did not really help to dissuade the RCC and later the evangelists to collect from the suffering and sins of others. Also cannot help to think about that caveat of last-minute forgiveness on the cross, or that given by the Roman Catholic priest to the Mafia boss on his dead bed.

Do you think the Bible will dissuade them..?

Easy, just get somebody to rig the elections. That should trump all odds against you and not only get you through the primaries, but also into the White House.

^ But then in France coalitions have become the norm, not so? So it is possible for one of the major conservative parties (most likely Les Républicains?) to end up with the socialists in their ranks.

X-Files: The truth is out there... Scotty99, there are many people like you with similar imaginations and conspiracy theories in abundance. And that is perfectly OK. The world would have been a poorer place without the likes of you, just consider all the amazing movies, TV series, comic and fiction books that would not have been created (or watched/read) without utilising that part of our brains. Still, it is equally important to be able to differentiate between fact and fiction. So back to my first post in this thread - the facts are available...pls use them. I ended up in that same post asking you if you could consider nature to be our creator. Would that satisfy your needs, or is it too natural for you?