[extropy-chat] Religion Rant

[MB]

Indeed there may be a kernel of truth in every myth. Yes, you are free
to investigate such things.

In the meantime, please do not overlook the threat to science that is
now alive and well in the USA - and, IIUC, migrating beyond its
borders to the Vardy schools in England and others like them
elsewhere.  Dover PA, Kansas, and Cobb County GA are not alone. To
teach disguised creationism *in the science class* at school and to
"let the students decide" is ... frightening.

Living in the Bible Belt has certainly worked me up into a spring
loaded anti-religious position on these things. Since my community is
also currently becoming a serious haven for New Age kooks, I'm having
a similar reaction there as well.

My religious rant comes down to a rather simple statement: just
because we do not presently know why/how something is/works/happened,
does not mean "god done it".

But I'm seeing just that every day in my part of the world.

Regards,
MB


On Wed, 25 May 2005, The Avantguardian wrote:

>
>
>      You all have been patient with my rants recently
> regarding the bioethicists attack on my profession.
> With that in mind I will now rant one more time. I
> would like to get some things off my chest with
> regards to this list.
>       It has not escaped my notice that some very
> general and very overt
> anti-religious-spiritual-paranormal sentiment on this
> list. I don't see any reason for this. If personal
> freedom is truly an extropian principle, then you must
> realize that no matter how accurate or "true" your
> paradigm might be to YOU, it stops at the tip of your
> nose.
>      I have had an amazing life and I have seen,
> heard, and felt some really extraordinary things in my
> travels. I am also a professional scientist and so I
> have to balance skepticism and credulity on the edge
> of Occam's razor on a daily basis. And I tell you
> this: I have seen things that no textbook can explain.
>      Scientific theories and the world-views built on
> those theories last only so long as nature complies.
> There is funny thing I have noticed about science and
> its predecessors alchemy, philosophy, religion,
> shamanism, and before that, fear of the dark. And that
> is this: for most of human history we have walked this
> planet thinking we know 99% of what we think there is
> to know about it. But inevitably sooner or later that
> 1% comes around and catches us by surprise.
>       After nearly a million years, we now know a
> terrabyte more about nature than we did back in those
> days of fearing the dark. That however is a
> quadrillion times more than we THOUGHT there WAS to
> know about nature back then. With a track record like
> that, I would not be laying any bets on your current
> paradigm.
>       So lighten up and humor people who wants to talk
> about the UNKNOWN. God may hide in the gaps these days
> but deeper we dig, the bigger the gap gets. I will
> tell you one thing, aside from the unexplainable
> things I have EXPERIENCED and that is this: From my
> biological studies, I have gathered that our brains
> evolved as biochemical computers to simulate the
> universe. As that simulation got better and better, we
> became increasingly intelligent. Why are you all so
> sure that the universe our brains are simulating
> ISN'T. Chew on that one for a while.
>      On a brighter note, even as a professional
> scientist with numerous colleagues, I have not come
> across a bunch of minds broader and deeper than yours.
> So as a favor to your own magnificent intellects don't
> cheat yourself of the kernal of truth that lies at the
> heart of EVERY myth.
>
>
> The Avantguardian
> is
> Stuart LaForge
> alt email: stuart"AT"ucla.edu
>
> "The surest sign of intelligent life in the universe is that they haven't attempted to contact us."
> -Bill Watterson
>
>
>
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