Slashdot Mirror
Closet Slashdotters: The 'Intellectually Curious'
An anonymous reader writes "Slashdotters are certified geeks, but apparently there's a bunch of other people out there who are very interested in science, technology, politics and culture but they don't want to be known as geeks. A media consulting firm called OMD did a study for the company that owns Space.com and LiveScience. They conclude that 60 million Americans can be called "intellectually curious." Intellectually, I'm curious what that makes the rest of them."
Ah, the vision of god as a cosmic watchmaker. Not a "banannas" view at all. It's actually one that's been around for centuries, probably most associated with the French Enlightment era of thought. It is a pointless vision, though.
The problem with the cosmic watchmaker idea is that though it sounds rational, it isn't. It can easily be used to support any idea you want. Don't believe in evolution? An intelligent designer created everything, thus evolution didn't happen. Believe in evolution? The watchmaker made the system that we now understand as evolution. Don't believe in abortion? The designer wanted you to have your baby. Believe in abortion? The watchmaker gave you the choice to terminate your pregnancy.
If there is a god that set everything in motion, but no longer takes a part in the world, how is that different from no god at all? Or, the flip side, if god set everything in motion, isn't it incumbent on us to fulfill his will?
It's not crazy to believe in a cosmic watchmaker, just pointless. It allows you to be both intellectually lazy (Don't understand what caused the the big bang? Don't do more research, just decide that god did it!) and religiously lazy (Don't know what is right and what is wrong? Whatever you do, that's part of god's design!).