I believe science is a direct descendent of the capacity for deduction as granted by our model-making brains.
In our internal symbol sense, we often use the subjunctive tense, if when why hypothetically depicting, don't call it science, fine,
it's still predicting what will happen
from what has happened. -- that's what i'm rappin'
First off, I second G.E.B. (hofstadter) and The Demon-Haunted World (sagan)
second, lets add
The Fractal Geometry of Nature (mandelbrot) -- see dialogue with curator of MOMA and benoit in an article in seed magazine about six months ago.
The Selfish Gene (dawkins),
maybe, just maybe,
The Quark and the Jaguar (murray gell-mann)
Neuronal Man (changeaux).....
But we can't blame the writers of E.W. for pandering to their audiences so self-destructively, they probably don't read much science.
It is not Science and Religion that are at odds, it is rational, intelligent thinking that accounts for reality as evidenced by somewhat objectively verified collection of subjective experiences, versus juvenile, uninformed, ignorant thinking.
Einstein believed not in a personal prayer answering God, but did have a sense of the divine apparent as awe in the wonder of the universe. Einsteinien God, the God of Science, Truth, Beauty!
Carl Sagan's book, The Demon-Haunted World, is amazing. I was literally a homeless cocaine and opiate addicted 24 year old on the streets of Seattle, and had been struggling for years with MEANING, and what I could count on and not count on. Carl Sagan reached out to me with his words, and eliminated a great expanse of time (literal eternal consciousness beyond death) as something to consider. I was so torn by concepts of karma, afterlife, mumbojumbo, etc, that I couldn't free myself. He fixed that-- made me ruthless in my "evaluation of the truth" and stopped me from being bamboozled for my time and energy.
Since I read that book a year and a half ago, I have been reading 2-8 hours a day, moved back to California to my friends and family, got off crack and methadone, am clean, got a job, am enrolled in school in the fall, am looking for an apartment, and am able to actually help people, to give and receive love and be confident in what I am doing.
I believe in a higher consciousness in the future (think superintelligence, ala the 'singularity') that we are all connected to by an inbuilt desire to persist, granted to us by our genetic evolution of brains. I think we are already, and are constantly refining and building, God: a self-aware universe.
Joseph Campbell who wrote, Myths to Live By, provides a scientific and rational exegesis of religion and ritual, east and west, present and past. I would recommend the book to anyone.
When people engage in ritual, they often feel a sense of the divine-- like at a rock concert when everyone is dancing to the music and aware, and you feel that 'magic' -- That deindividuation is part of group consciousness.
FUNDAMENTALIST religion, however, is a different story-- as a literal interpretation of the 'word of god' (whether it be allah, buddha, christ, whatever), fundamentalists contain a juvenile self that is NOT SKEPTICAL, RATIONAL, or INTELLIGENT. Skepticism and ruthless evaluation of the truth does not disbar faith or religion, for these things exist PAST IGNORANCE.
Carl Sagan's book was an ACT OF LOVE. In respect to love as God, what a wonderful merging of Love and Science for the good of all people!!!
To love is to be truthful.
I believe all meaningful words are 'the word of God' and that a new age of Science, truth, and beauty is beginning.
I have been reading slashdot for 10 years, and this is like my 3rd post-- I care that much about these issues, and actually feel like I can contribute. This is my favorite post-thread ever.
Singularities are where our knowledge and predictive power dovetail into a single idea-- at this point, the purely rational or skeptical gives way to myth and emotion. Our emotions and myths will guide us into new discovery of knowledge and predictive power, illuminating new ways of understanding and naming more properly of things in their right places. Black holes, the beginning of the big bang, these are also singularities. We cannot discount a singularity or the speculation and theorization around it. A good brain can filter myths for emotion and useful knowledge and so fears nothing in myth.
The potency of myth, isolation from contrasting ideas, and social pressure? This is a situation to avoid.
There has been accumulated a great difference between classes which has become more pronounced as cultures have begun to homogenize internationally-- classes of people not by money or material wealth, but by wealth of knowledge, freedom from slavery by knowing the world around them to know themselves.
When good information is made available, people do not always understand it, but it is in their best interests to build from a solid foundation the most immense and broadly encompassing (and variable) model of reality that they can. It may look like a singularity, still, to some, in fifty years. Remember that many parasitic worms are species that 'digressed' to their states (just that they are simpler for their environment inside intestines without all the bulky appendages) through darwinian selection. What of those who have no use for their minds?
If anyone has any questions, or would like a book list, email me @ expando@gmail.com
from the article: "Usually dolphins were controlled via signals transmitted through a neck harness. 'The question is, were these dolphins made secure before Katrina struck?' said Sheridan."
Is this to imply that these dolphins aren't relying on their friendly master's familiar scent or unique vocal pattern?? Their friendly master might not be friendly at all, and just a computer operated by a human, and any human at that!
Slashdot Mirror
I believe science is a direct descendent of the capacity for deduction as granted by our model-making brains. In our internal symbol sense, we often use the subjunctive tense, if when why hypothetically depicting, don't call it science, fine, it's still predicting what will happen from what has happened. -- that's what i'm rappin'
First off, I second G.E.B. (hofstadter) and The Demon-Haunted World (sagan) second, lets add The Fractal Geometry of Nature (mandelbrot) -- see dialogue with curator of MOMA and benoit in an article in seed magazine about six months ago. The Selfish Gene (dawkins), maybe, just maybe, The Quark and the Jaguar (murray gell-mann) Neuronal Man (changeaux) .....
But we can't blame the writers of E.W. for pandering to their audiences so self-destructively, they probably don't read much science.
It is not Science and Religion that are at odds, it is rational, intelligent thinking that accounts for reality as evidenced by somewhat objectively verified collection of subjective experiences, versus juvenile, uninformed, ignorant thinking. Einstein believed not in a personal prayer answering God, but did have a sense of the divine apparent as awe in the wonder of the universe. Einsteinien God, the God of Science, Truth, Beauty! Carl Sagan's book, The Demon-Haunted World, is amazing. I was literally a homeless cocaine and opiate addicted 24 year old on the streets of Seattle, and had been struggling for years with MEANING, and what I could count on and not count on. Carl Sagan reached out to me with his words, and eliminated a great expanse of time (literal eternal consciousness beyond death) as something to consider. I was so torn by concepts of karma, afterlife, mumbojumbo, etc, that I couldn't free myself. He fixed that-- made me ruthless in my "evaluation of the truth" and stopped me from being bamboozled for my time and energy. Since I read that book a year and a half ago, I have been reading 2-8 hours a day, moved back to California to my friends and family, got off crack and methadone, am clean, got a job, am enrolled in school in the fall, am looking for an apartment, and am able to actually help people, to give and receive love and be confident in what I am doing. I believe in a higher consciousness in the future (think superintelligence, ala the 'singularity') that we are all connected to by an inbuilt desire to persist, granted to us by our genetic evolution of brains. I think we are already, and are constantly refining and building, God: a self-aware universe. Joseph Campbell who wrote, Myths to Live By, provides a scientific and rational exegesis of religion and ritual, east and west, present and past. I would recommend the book to anyone. When people engage in ritual, they often feel a sense of the divine-- like at a rock concert when everyone is dancing to the music and aware, and you feel that 'magic' -- That deindividuation is part of group consciousness. FUNDAMENTALIST religion, however, is a different story-- as a literal interpretation of the 'word of god' (whether it be allah, buddha, christ, whatever), fundamentalists contain a juvenile self that is NOT SKEPTICAL, RATIONAL, or INTELLIGENT. Skepticism and ruthless evaluation of the truth does not disbar faith or religion, for these things exist PAST IGNORANCE. Carl Sagan's book was an ACT OF LOVE. In respect to love as God, what a wonderful merging of Love and Science for the good of all people!!! To love is to be truthful. I believe all meaningful words are 'the word of God' and that a new age of Science, truth, and beauty is beginning. I have been reading slashdot for 10 years, and this is like my 3rd post-- I care that much about these issues, and actually feel like I can contribute. This is my favorite post-thread ever.
Singularities are where our knowledge and predictive power dovetail into a single idea-- at this point, the purely rational or skeptical gives way to myth and emotion. Our emotions and myths will guide us into new discovery of knowledge and predictive power, illuminating new ways of understanding and naming more properly of things in their right places. Black holes, the beginning of the big bang, these are also singularities. We cannot discount a singularity or the speculation and theorization around it. A good brain can filter myths for emotion and useful knowledge and so fears nothing in myth.
The potency of myth, isolation from contrasting ideas, and social pressure? This is a situation to avoid.
There has been accumulated a great difference between classes which has become more pronounced as cultures have begun to homogenize internationally-- classes of people not by money or material wealth, but by wealth of knowledge, freedom from slavery by knowing the world around them to know themselves.
When good information is made available, people do not always understand it, but it is in their best interests to build from a solid foundation the most immense and broadly encompassing (and variable) model of reality that they can. It may look like a singularity, still, to some, in fifty years. Remember that many parasitic worms are species that 'digressed' to their states (just that they are simpler for their environment inside intestines without all the bulky appendages) through darwinian selection. What of those who have no use for their minds?
If anyone has any questions, or would like a book list, email me @ expando@gmail.com
from the article:
"Usually dolphins were controlled via signals transmitted through a neck harness. 'The question is, were these dolphins made secure before Katrina struck?' said Sheridan."
Is this to imply that these dolphins aren't relying on their friendly master's familiar scent or unique vocal pattern?? Their friendly master might not be friendly at all, and just a computer operated by a human, and any human at that!
I must find these dolphins.