What Do You Believe Even If You Can't Prove It?

An anonymous reader writes "That's what online magazine The Edge - the World Question Center asked over 120 scientists, futurists, and other interesting minds. Their answers are sometimes short and to the point (Bruce Sterling: 'We're in for climatic mayhem'), often long and involved; they cover everything from the existence of God to the nature of black holes. What do you believe, even though you can't prove it?"

Comments

Someday

[doublem]

That some day, somehow, I will get the elusive First Post.

Re:Someday

[nine-times]

ep... you have your proof... no longer counts.

Re:Someday

[Tackhead]

> > [doublem] That some day, somehow, I will get the elusive First Post.
>
> [nine-times] ep... you have your proof... no longer counts.

...for proof denies faith, and without faith, getting a first post is nothing.

"Oh dear", says doublem, "I hadn't thought of that", and promptly vanishes in a fog of (-1, Overrated) moderation.

"Oh, that was easy", says nine-times, and for an encore, goes on to prove that (+1, Funny) is indistinguishable from (-1, Troll), and gets himself confirmed dead at the next Netcraft parody post.

Re:Someday

[goombah99]

I beleive that I am the only human posting to slashdot and the rest are all machine generated.

Re:Someday

[daniil]

Someone on Slashdot once had a sig that read: "On the internet, everyone assumes you're a dog." I wholeheartedly agree: you're a dog.

That's easy

[Anonymous Coward]

The female orgasm.

Re:That's easy

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe the AC is a girl and hasn't tried out the Magic Wand yet.

WMD

[Anonymous Coward]

I believe that there are Weapons of mass Destruction in Iraq-

G.W. Bush

I believe I will have another martini, please.

[drewzhrodague]

I believe I will have another martini, please. Up, Sapphire, extra olives, and go easy on the vermouth.

Logic works?

[nine-times]

Being a bit of a student of philosophy, my old favorite is "logic works", or, in other words, "a proof means something".

I mean, go ahead and prove it, but you'll still be taking it for granted, or you wouldn't bother with a proof.

Re:I believe

[dbrower]

in intellegent design

So do I, but there seems to be darned little of it in the software that I see.

-dB

Christ

[bogaboga]

I believe in Christ Jesus and the "End of this Earth" as we know it today. I also believe that many of us will go to hell (the lake of fire) believe it or not.

Re:What comes around, goes around

[k4_pacific]

I think I've seen this in at least three different chain letters. You forgot to ask people to forward it.

Women can't fake orgasms perfectly

[cryptochrome]

There are difficult-to-impossible-to-fake signs, if you know what to look/feel for. The sex flush is the best one. Pupil size generally increases when it happens too. The vaginal contractions at 0.8s intervals would be very difficult to fake also. Also there's the whole issue of their acting skills.

So... go run some experiments with this new data.

Re:Women can't fake orgasms perfectly

[aceat64]

No offense, but I feel sorry for any woman you date.

Re:Women can't fake orgasms perfectly

[cayenne8]

"There are difficult-to-impossible-to-fake signs, if you know what to look/feel for. The sex flush is the best one. Pupil size generally increases when it happens too. The vaginal contractions at 0.8s intervals would be very difficult to fake also. Also there's the whole issue of their acting skills."

Hmm...very hard to observe signs such as these with the lights down low, and your behind her doggy style her head is either buried in the pillow, or bouncing off the headboard.

At that point in time....I'm probably NOT going to roll her over and shine a flashlight in her face to check out her flush or pupils...

:-)

Besides...she might start talking, and I'd miss something on tv...

Re:Women can't fake orgasms perfectly

[GoofyBoy]

>The vaginal contractions at 0.8s intervals would be very difficult to fake also.

Spoken like a true nerd.

Re:Women can't fake orgasms perfectly

[tritone]

>The vaginal contractions at 0.8s intervals would be very difficult to fake also.

And if they're only at 0.9 s intervals, what then?

Re:Me personally

[ArsonSmith]

Don't anthropomorphise computers and cars, They hate that.

Mob psychology

[WinterSolstice]

Yup. I believe that in tense situations groups are only as smart as the dumbest person there, and that all people are fundamentally like sheep.

I can't prove that, but I do fervently believe that :)

-WS

The Joke

[swb]

Q: Why do women fake their orgasms?

A: Because they think men care.