Your point is valid, but I think you have at least one historical misconception there.
I have no historical misconception. Here is the extract from an essay from Bertrand Russell, no less: http://bit.ly/r3O0Ym (Check the last lines in that page)
On the other hand, I can indeed point to civilizations that have fallen into the "quagmire of superstition". Lets see now.... the Mayans (who slaughtered their own en masse) and the invading Spanish conquistadors (who slaughtered the Mayans, but taking care to make sure that infants were baptized before being crushed underfoot) and Medieval Europe (that saw almost no progress in science or quality of life as compared to the Classical era of ancient Greece and Rome), present day Afghanistan (where doctors are shot because they keep looking at images of the human body)... darn... this list seems longer than I planned for!
...but fall into the despairing slough of materialism.
I really have no idea what that means. Can someone please point me to an example of a society that has fallen under the despairing slough of materialism because of their irreligiousness? Or even a person for that matter? Please, before its too late! You see I am atheist and I don't want to fall into whatever "slough" this Bahai fellow is talking about.
What about if we rephrased the question to: "How many scientists think that science disputes religion in the most important questions, namely, origin of the universe, origin of organic life and the purpose of life (if any)?"
I suspect the answer will yield startlingly different from 15%.
Hm... actually, I can't seem to muster any respect for the following dead people:
Adolf Hitler, Mussolini, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, Sadam Hussein, Osama Bin Laden...
I don't know what that makes me... alienated, misanthropic or an non-essential element of human society.
Accomplishing that task does not require "writing a program". From recording your own audio, to presentation video etc, or using a voice-synth even, the problem doesn't demand such an involved solution as writing a program. If that guy was a programmer, he would know that. I call shenanigans.
He probably had elaborate exception handling done: what if the bride says, "No". What if he said no? What if someone in the audience speaks up instead of forever staying silent? What if the bride tripped on her dress and fell.... Seriously, there are an endless list of exceptional circumstances to consider, definitely worthy of a program!
The Hoover Dam helped pull America out of the last depression. Investing in public infrastructure does work. Oh, but wait... America now hates Keynes and his policies... Well then, go Hayek! Though I wonder if the latter would have approved bailing out the banks. Oh well, I suppose America simply likes to base its economic policies on the worst of Keynesian and Free market economics. Hopefully, its piety will help lift it out of this depression.
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Your point is valid, but I think you have at least one historical misconception there.
I have no historical misconception. Here is the extract from an essay from Bertrand Russell, no less: http://bit.ly/r3O0Ym (Check the last lines in that page)
On the other hand, I can indeed point to civilizations that have fallen into the "quagmire of superstition". Lets see now.... the Mayans (who slaughtered their own en masse) and the invading Spanish conquistadors (who slaughtered the Mayans, but taking care to make sure that infants were baptized before being crushed underfoot) and Medieval Europe (that saw almost no progress in science or quality of life as compared to the Classical era of ancient Greece and Rome), present day Afghanistan (where doctors are shot because they keep looking at images of the human body)... darn... this list seems longer than I planned for!
...but fall into the despairing slough of materialism.
I really have no idea what that means. Can someone please point me to an example of a society that has fallen under the despairing slough of materialism because of their irreligiousness? Or even a person for that matter? Please, before its too late! You see I am atheist and I don't want to fall into whatever "slough" this Bahai fellow is talking about.
What about if we rephrased the question to: "How many scientists think that science disputes religion in the most important questions, namely, origin of the universe, origin of organic life and the purpose of life (if any)?" I suspect the answer will yield startlingly different from 15%.
Hm... actually, I can't seem to muster any respect for the following dead people: Adolf Hitler, Mussolini, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, Sadam Hussein, Osama Bin Laden... I don't know what that makes me... alienated, misanthropic or an non-essential element of human society.
Accomplishing that task does not require "writing a program". From recording your own audio, to presentation video etc, or using a voice-synth even, the problem doesn't demand such an involved solution as writing a program. If that guy was a programmer, he would know that. I call shenanigans.
He probably had elaborate exception handling done: what if the bride says, "No". What if he said no? What if someone in the audience speaks up instead of forever staying silent? What if the bride tripped on her dress and fell.... Seriously, there are an endless list of exceptional circumstances to consider, definitely worthy of a program!
Don't they have them interstellar gates that they can just jump through? Ask their scientists to the famous Dr.Nicholas Rush.
The Hoover Dam helped pull America out of the last depression. Investing in public infrastructure does work. Oh, but wait... America now hates Keynes and his policies... Well then, go Hayek! Though I wonder if the latter would have approved bailing out the banks. Oh well, I suppose America simply likes to base its economic policies on the worst of Keynesian and Free market economics. Hopefully, its piety will help lift it out of this depression.