> Actually, I think that we see far fewer miracles or healing today than seem to have been prevalent in Christ and the Apostles time because God doesn't want to share any glory with the medical community.
I think you're missing the point. God is merely applying Intelligent Design to the problem of creating a more amenable believer. Given enough generations, we'll all be stoning the adulterer.
But, all other gods are merely facets of The One True God, albeit worshipped imperfectly by those who have yet to receive the Truth from his more enlightened followers.
Use enough capitals and the right kind of high falutin' fancy-talk and you can justify almost anything.
> "In 75% of the cases the men report always having an orgasm. With women only 26% say they always have one, although 45% of men believe their partners always have an orgasm." - (Agencies)
It's still true, and it's also obvious. The trick, then, is to come up with a society we'd *want to live in*, where evolutionary pressures favour societally useful traits.
> Our superior intelligence has yet to prove useful for our survival.
Population 7 billion - the largest population of *any* large animal in the history of the planet. By far the most dangerous apex predator in world history. Capable of unprecedented levels of complex technical collaboration. Okay, on the edge of a major but not insurmountable hurdle with the looming energy crisis. The only species with any hope whatsoever of gaining a foothold off this world.
I'm sure I missed a few things, but all of the above seem pretty strong indications of the survival value of intelligence, at least to a naive and deluded creature such as myself.
You could look at it another way - your 'weak' genes represent genetic diversity in a species that has little in comparison with other large mammals.And, wars in general are a crucible for evolution - even more so nowadays given how dangerous they've become. Arthur C Clarke's comment about the survival value of evolution, tongue in cheek or not, was wrong. Intelligence has considerable survival value in the company of other intelligence, from both cooperative and competitive standpoints.
Finally, we've reached a point where we can modify our own genes. Evolution will still play a part where we deal with the unintended consequences of our experimentation and will continue to operate to spread our 'successes'.
I'm not attaching any emotional value to any of this - it's just the way it seems.
That's a very interesting thought. I've often considered the possibility that technical/scientific people tend to apply overly simplistic models to complex real-life systems. It's an observation borne of experience - I'm an ex-programmer and I've spent most of my life around scientists and technologists. There's no malicious intent in my echoing your thoughts - it's just that, just *maybe* - as a group - we should consider this to be a potential cognitive bias.
I often wonder, when people spout this kind of drivel, whether they're actually 5th columnists acting for 'the other side' to sow the seeds of discredit. I see so many posts from people whose politics couldn't possibly work in real life. Again, in debates on religion, it's hard to see how some of the more extreme positions could be anything other than satire. Maybe I'm just an optimist.
> Up to $2,400 bucks. That's less than the cost of a first class ticket for the average Joe who doesn't want to deal with TSA. It's also well within the budget of a terrorist organization. That's awfully cheap.
But that's what you get when you have people who are awfully badly paid, doing an awfully shitty job.
Slashdot Mirror
> They might all look like this well known virgin
Not funny, not nice.
You can't rule out the possibility, though...
Maybe in Europe and Eastern Europe.
Me too... and I *rock* at the humility thing... I am a GIANT of humility, spanning the world of the humble with one, single, awesome step.
Odin was kick-ass, and the Norse Gods actually had a sense of humour.
> Actually, I think that we see far fewer miracles or healing today than seem to have been prevalent in Christ and the Apostles time because God doesn't want to share any glory with the medical community.
I think you're missing the point. God is merely applying Intelligent Design to the problem of creating a more amenable believer. Given enough generations, we'll all be stoning the adulterer.
Praise be to Him and all His Works.
But, all other gods are merely facets of The One True God, albeit worshipped imperfectly by those who have yet to receive the Truth from his more enlightened followers.
Use enough capitals and the right kind of high falutin' fancy-talk and you can justify almost anything.
> "In 75% of the cases the men report always having an orgasm. With women only 26% say they always have one, although 45% of men believe their partners always have an orgasm." - (Agencies)
*facepalm*
It's still true, and it's also obvious. The trick, then, is to come up with a society we'd *want to live in*, where evolutionary pressures favour societally useful traits.
Damn the lower classes and their filthy ways! ;-)
Wow, cool. So we can expect to see random outcroppings of genius in the lemming population?
*Waits expectantly*
Well, you can deal with that. Buy yourself a pitchfork and go out and do whatever's necessary. We're counting on you.
> Our superior intelligence has yet to prove useful for our survival.
Population 7 billion - the largest population of *any* large animal in the history of the planet. By far the most dangerous apex predator in world history. Capable of unprecedented levels of complex technical collaboration. Okay, on the edge of a major but not insurmountable hurdle with the looming energy crisis. The only species with any hope whatsoever of gaining a foothold off this world.
I'm sure I missed a few things, but all of the above seem pretty strong indications of the survival value of intelligence, at least to a naive and deluded creature such as myself.
You could look at it another way - your 'weak' genes represent genetic diversity in a species that has little in comparison with other large mammals.And, wars in general are a crucible for evolution - even more so nowadays given how dangerous they've become. Arthur C Clarke's comment about the survival value of evolution, tongue in cheek or not, was wrong. Intelligence has considerable survival value in the company of other intelligence, from both cooperative and competitive standpoints.
Finally, we've reached a point where we can modify our own genes. Evolution will still play a part where we deal with the unintended consequences of our experimentation and will continue to operate to spread our 'successes'.
I'm not attaching any emotional value to any of this - it's just the way it seems.
Or indeed, one could indulge in a flight of fancy and concoct a story as outrageous as this...
We're well into the EAFE zone, right now.
That's a very interesting thought. I've often considered the possibility that technical/scientific people tend to apply overly simplistic models to complex real-life systems. It's an observation borne of experience - I'm an ex-programmer and I've spent most of my life around scientists and technologists. There's no malicious intent in my echoing your thoughts - it's just that, just *maybe* - as a group - we should consider this to be a potential cognitive bias.
> freetard
You like that word, don't you? It makes you feel all warm and fuzzy, right?
I often wonder, when people spout this kind of drivel, whether they're actually 5th columnists acting for 'the other side' to sow the seeds of discredit. I see so many posts from people whose politics couldn't possibly work in real life. Again, in debates on religion, it's hard to see how some of the more extreme positions could be anything other than satire. Maybe I'm just an optimist.
idk... maybe that greenhouses don't work?
> Perhaps the British were right way back when w.r.t. the Catholic Church.
Henry VIII may have been a fat, murdering bastard, but he was *our* fat murdering bastard.
Hmm... so what you're saying is: sufficiently nested irony is indistinguishable from a 12-year-old's humour? Okay.
> Up to $2,400 bucks. That's less than the cost of a first class ticket for the average Joe who doesn't want to deal with TSA. It's also well within the budget of a terrorist organization. That's awfully cheap.
But that's what you get when you have people who are awfully badly paid, doing an awfully shitty job.
I had a manager once who set his password to ch0pper... that's wood-related brit slang.
Perhaps if it runs a virtual machine simulating an environment in which the incense might be lit?
I'll have to try that. I can see why The Baroque Cycle came under fire, but personally I rather enjoyed it.