john5746

Craig is pulling magic out of his a$$, but he wants to be taken seriously. He is using our everday experienced cause as justification, so it should either remain within those confines or he should admit he has no foundation. As you stated, we have no experience with a God or spirit, so why try to justify the idea with anything in the natural world that we can experience?

I disagree. Even in the quantum world, some of our middle world logic gets twisted. Since God is an ill-defined placeholder, I can define it as "that which defies logic". Ta-Da! I agree with you that comparing the creation of matter, energy and time at the quantum level to the making of a table is pointless

True, and a huge part of this world are other humans. So, if humans don't "fit" together, how could they ever grow beyond a basic family unit? Too aggressive and they just go it alone, too passive any they are plowed under. A mixture of passive to the "in" group and aggressive to the "out" group might work.

I used to buy candy there when it would go on sale. I don't recall seeing a produce section, so I doubt most of their products are healthy. http://consumergrouch.com/wp-content/gallery/cvs/cvs-palatine3.jpg

I guess you think no other animal possesses at least a basic morality? Or do they also have religion?

For the Ham followers, it would be more effective to have someone who at least claims to be Christian, of course they can always think he isn't a "true" Christian. Its obvious that nothing will make Ham admit he is wrong. It looks as though Nye's main purpose was to reach the silent fundi-moderates who have doubts, but don't want to admit it. Not sure how many of them will watch. It really is exasperating to witness such willful stupidity. So many points could be brought up, but it doesn't matter - they just want their belief. Yeah, we are hypnotized by the accent.

Analytical on a science forum, imagine that. You are basically saying if all humans quit conceiving would that be "bad". Yes, in terms of continuing humanity. But, while homosexual sex doesn't create life, neither does most sex. If everyone became homosexual overnight, I imagine that conception wouldn't stop. Even leaving out bisexuality and sliding scales, 100% homosexual people could agree to "go hetero" for a little to have children. That would mean they really want to have children, I would expect better parenting as a result. Population growth would take a hit, but really, do we need more people on the planet? Wouldn't quality be better than quantity? To me, seems like bisexuality would be the best. People would understand both sexes better and probably get along with both better as well. If everyone changed to 100% heterosexual overnight, would that be an improvement? I doubt it. I'm 100% hetero, never had any thoughts like that. My bromance with Matt Damon and Brad Pitt is just my admiration for their acting, nothing else. NOTHING ELSE!!

I'll pull a line from Sam Harris - beliefs do matter. It is literally true that religions don't perform violence, but they are software on the brain. In that sense, they have an effect on culture and individuals. I'm too ignorant of Islam or really any religion to compare, but we can't just look the other way and blame culture or politics.

This was going to be my comment. Probably have been studies like this comparing the Abrahamic religions, but probably varied results. I know very little about Islam and have to admit I bought into the idea that its worse than the others, but seems to me if they had a reformation and adopted a secular government, they could dance around thier book like others do. We shouldn't expect a religion, especially a large one to be peaceful though. If a religion actually preached peace and was effective, those people would have been taken out long ago.

I think other animals show empathy, but we are probably the only ones to worry about our species. At the same time, while most of us do have empathy for certain individuals or groups, we also can have zero empathy for huge groups of people. Psychopaths are a problem, but it is normal people that carry out genocide.

I like you bro, just take it slow. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqrcCI8OifE

I have assumed this is the case as well - that the ped's were attracted to the church, not created by it. But a place where you are expected not to have a sexual relationship with an adult(meaning anybody for most people) would seem to add extra cover IMO.

Its hard to get past the reality of this, that in a real situation, she is bat crazy and you can't have someone like that treating people. Some drugs and therapy are in order. But in the interest of the discussion... Just to make this tighter, say this doc is the only person who can save certain people, no other doc can do it. And we know she will act as a robot, she will consistently save 5 a week and kill 2 a week. On the face of it, we have plus 3 net lives saved a week. But, you also have the damage of random people murdered vs people dying of an illness. I come down on telling her to off herself. There is some selfishness on my part, since I feel more responsibility for the deaths of the 2 than the deaths of the 5. If you change this to she goes out one weekend a year, then I am in favor of keeping her alive. So there is a ratio going around in my head. It isn't absolute, no killing no matter what.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/13/justice/florida-movie-theater-shooting/ Yep, finally had someone in a theatre with a gun, those people were safe and didn't know it. I guess the problem here was that EVERYONE didn't have a gun. More guns - in theatres, malls, schools. What could possibly go wrong?

I think it will die down nationally, but locally it will live for some time. I can feel the sharks circling the water now that a little blood has spilled. If anything arises with Sandy relief, that will prove a nail in the coffin. I doubt that will be the case, but we will see.

It may be morally correct, but in practice you have the problem of corruption, ala Minority Report.

Oh, my post was speculation on my part. I'm sure I've heard it mentioned elsewhere, but no evidence that I know of.

I think you are on to something with this. Seems to me that humans and wolves would have been in direct competition - hunting similar prey in a similar manner. Learning to cooperate with them would have been a key advantage for both sides. This might have been more selective for human groups. As far as neanderthals, new microbes probably were the main culprit.

IMO, capital punishment is moral in certain cases like you are describing. If a person is truly broken, then they are merely a predator animal that will kill again. Seems like it reduces suffering to eliminate it. It doesn't seem right to have people like this get better care than many poor people(food, shelter, healthcare, books, etc.) The problem is trusting a system to get it right. Keeping a few broken people alive and locked up vs executing a smaller number of innocent people. I reject it for this reason, that the state will make mistakes. Personally though, of course I would torture and kill anyone who did these actions, but I don't want a state acting like an insane person, which I would be in this case.

Throw out theory of aging as well. There are gaps between me and when I was a baby. Never seen a baby with an old man's head.

I agree with your conclusion that he is probably the best Repub candidate with any chance of being nominated, I prefer Huntsman, but he has no chance of nomination. But this ordeal really makes me question his character. I would be concerned about foreign affairs especially, Obama dropped the ball on healthcare, but at least we are focused on domestic issues, even with an impotent House. As far as working with Democrats, they are easier to work with than Repubs. Governors seem to be able to do that, but it doesn't scale to Washington.

http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/01/chris_christie_bridge_scandal_some_praise_his_response_others_skeptical.html Chris Christie, NJ governor is in the middle of a political scandal that could end his career. If no further links are found between him and the freeway jam for payback, I actually think this can help him. Christie is a mixture of establishment with out of the beltway maverick thrown in. Moderate democrats and independants could embrace him. His weakness is with the right evangelical/tea party types. I think many of them will find his abrasiveness towards "enemies" appealing. He did a great job of taking responsibility, but not the blame. Of course it was his close circle, not just random, rogue employees that did this. Of course he sets the tone that results in this juvinile behavior. I am almost positive that at the very least, he told someone "give them some payback, don't get caught and don't tell me". Instead, he appears to be an innocent that was a victim of bad employees. Assuming no further damage to him directly, I think he will be the republican nominee for President.

Scientocracy - the practice of basing public policies on science. Based on this definition, I see no evidence for it. It would be nice if lawmakers would be humble enough to listen to scientific consensus and just argue about solutions.

War and disease.

I would expect a God that cares about humanity should be easily detected all the time and one that doesn't exist would be difficult to find. Just my opinion There is no way to 100% disprove anything or really be certain either, but pragmatically, we must walk. So, do we walk as if there is an infinite future after life with some being that waits in judgement? I have never met anyone who lives as if this is the case. Everyone has petty concerns about this world - the suffering of themselves, others, etc. They act as if this life contains most of the meaning. I completely agree its really a political struggle. This is the power of religion. It wraps everything with your personal emotions. Its as if we say that if you love your mother, you must be pro-gun. Therefore, if someone speaks against guns, they hate your mother and they want you to hate your mother. Concerning death, well I doubt that I will experience this - what I mean is that I will only experience this life. So, my last moments might be suffering or painful, but at the end will be nothing for "I". My body will of course continue to exist - my atoms, etc. If there is a soul, I doubt that it will continue to contain my memories - why would I think that? Everything else - bodies, planets, suns, galaxies, even the universe, seems to transform completely, leaving really nothing of its previous form left. So it would be with "souls" - they would either disperse or merge into one. Either way, the current "me" would be unaware of this, I would think. Good luck with your recovery - have faith in yourself and anyone or anything else that helps your recovery.