MigL

Thanks teacher. But a lot of us consider religion subjective. And don't really need you to tell us how to consider it.

'We' have been able to communicate extraterrestrially, in the form of transmitted EM radiation for about 100 yrs. The universe has existed for over 13000000000 yrs. That's a very small window. I wonder how many times we came close to ending our civilization during the cold war. I wonder when the next asteroid will hit to end our civilization, like it did the dinosaurs. It is a cyclic phenomenon. Civilizations rise and fall. Sometimes we don't even know why. What happened to the Greeks between 1200B.C. and 600B.C. ? You can spout all that abstract stuff about sentience, truth, understanding, self-identity and free will, but the fact is that the element carbon makes the most compounds of any other element. That is a likely reason life evolved using carbon compounds. I believe Sulfur makes the second most compounds. Who is to say that at higher temperatures, sulfur based life could not develop ? But this has probably nothing to do with the concept of God in Science anyway.

Don't be so thin skinned StringJunky, it does interest me. But is it useful ? As another thread failed to resolve, what problem does it solve ?

Gravity does not affect the speed of light. As Mordred has stated it is invariant in a vacuum. Gravity does affect time, so you're wondering why change in distance per change in time, or speed, shouldn't be affected. Well the effect is a little more subtle. Light being a wave ( picture a simple sine ), slowing time effectively increases the period of the wave ( stretches the peaks and troughs apart ). In other words, for light climbing out of a gravitational well, the wavelength increases and shifts towards the red, but its speed is always c .

If by 'right' we mean the ability to cast a vote without having to make any effort whatsoever, then I cannot agree. If no ID is required, no proof of citizenship, no address, etc., than what is to prevent one person voting twice, and thereby nullifying my vote ? In effect, by guaranteeing his 'rights', you have diminished mine. Never a good situation. I do think these issues have been discussed and agonized over, for centuries. And no-one has been able to eliminate all the disadvantages. All voting/political systems are compromises. I, and obviously the lot of you, think that Western Democracies have the most equitable compromise, or else we'd be 'voting' with an airline ticket to elsewhere. ( that doesn't mean there isn't a little wiggle room for improvement )

Oh, that's why politicians are always screwing us.

That's the difference between Philosophy and Physics. In Physics we just introduce a postulate that says the laws of Physics must be the same everywhere. So if a falling tree makes a noise next to an observer, it must, by necessity make a noise in the absence of an observer. Then we don't have to waste our time pondering useless trivia as, it seems, Philosophy does. ( no offence meant to any philosophers )

The right to vote for convicts is , at least for me, a conflicting issue. While a convicted murderer may have given up the rights bestowed by society, can the same be said for petty crimes or misdemeanors ? Obviously not. But then where does one draw the line ? When is a crime horrific enough to have your rights taken away ?

Sorry. Just a pathetic attempt at tricking Ophiolite to come back.

The question I asked about political affiliation was rhetorical. I was implying that he had a political affiliation and tended to see things in that light. Nothing else.

Actually I wasn't trying to be nearly that subtle. The pressure pulses have an effect on the leaves and make them fall, or scare animals away. The pressure pulses also impinge on your eardrum for your brain to 'hear'. Both are effects. Why differentiate between the two ?

Lets put this to rest shall we... Ophiolite, can you please come back and explain the fish reference ?

Very well, if you want to adhere strictly to the OP... Mr. Brown did NOT come in contact with Officer Wilson during a traffic stop. He was either walking ( or hanging out ) along with a buddy when he was approached by Wilson's cruiser ( IIRC its been a while, and I don't wanna look it up ). So what do your statistics about traffic stops have to do with what we are discussing ? As for the voting issue, Inow has been kind enough to open a new thread to discuss that aspect.

I think everyone agrees that ideally, it should be a right. Realistically, however, I consider myself privileged to be able to vote. One only has to look around the world to see how easily the 'right' to vote can be taken away. And even in Western democracies, how hard the battles were for some groups, to obtain the 'privilege' to vote.

These are all effects ? Of course they are ! So is hearing or seeing !

Einstein did not like the concept of entanglement because he considered it 'action at a distance'. That was the crux of the EPR paradox. Einstein postulated that there must be other unknown variables that affect the outcome of our experiments. These 'hidden' variables, once found, would get rid of all the strange, probabilistic properties of Quantum theory. That has never happened, and, as a matter of fact, Bell's inequality proves no hidden variables exist. That is what we understand from your Wiki quote. What do you understand ?

With regard to your comments about black absent fathers... What kind of institutional change am I arguing for ? ( If you've forgotten go back and re-read my previous post ) As for your opinion on voter restrictions, what is your political affiliation ? You see voting as a right, others see it as a privilege and want proof of entitlement, such as ID, residence, etc.

Not my holy book by any means, Moontanman. But I believe I ( and now overtone ) addressed that over two weeks ago, as that is a quote of my post from the 13th of last month ( see post #13 ).

And that is not a 'hidden' variable, it is simply a 'boundary condition'.

I thought the Casimir effect referred to the case where two plates, minimally separated, restrict the wavelength supported between them and thereby, the number of virtual particles. Don't see how this would apply to large bodies like planets.

If anything, this is science that disproves the OP. Space-time is a 'continuum of fields' would be more appropriate, scalar, vector and tensor. As Mike himself posted, matter, which is made up of 'disturbances' in the fields, is not the primary component and only a by-product of the fields.

Aw come on. Don't make a liar out of me.

Sorry Ten oz, but you're still misunderstanding my position. I am not arguing for personal responsibility, although that can never be a bad thing ( I agree Zapatos ) I am arguing for a different kind of institutional change. I don't want to see cops turn a blind eye to groups of young men loitering in the streets, prostitutes hanging around outside my house, or petty crime. No matter if its committed by whites, blacks or in-betweens. The change I want to see is opportunities provided to the disadvantaged, to lift them out of that kind of existence. I want to see black ( or Hispanics or any other American ) teens stay in school, get an education, get good jobs, have families, and put their kids through school. Something which we all take for granted. The only place I would argue for personal responsibility is the abnormal amounts of absentee fathers in the black American community As for states introducing voting 'regulations', I am going to generalize here, so take this with a grain of skeptical salt. Here in Canada most immigrants and lower income groups vote Liberal, the majority of the middle class vote Conservative, and the rich are in government ( Ha ! ). If I extrapolate this to the US, then these voter regulations would be seen as 'voter restrictions' to Democrats, and as 'fraud restrictions' to Republicans. Its all in one's point of view, but I expect the 'truth' is somewhere in the middle.

Christianity builds on Judaism, and Islam builds on Christianity. Their God is the same God, although endowed with the traits of His believers.

Hmmm. Can God exist and NOT exist simultaneously ? I had never thought of that Phi. Maybe our definition of 'exist' is limited. Just as our definition of wave and particle, or position and momentum are at the quantum level.