Evolution, Science & Religion (Evolution)

by Balance_Maintained , U.S.A., Friday, June 22, 2012, 12:46 (4323 days ago) @ xeno6696


> My argument, and indeed dhw's argument as I interpret it, is that it is precisely this "unified" that doesn't exist. There are places where no matter how hard you try... a square peg won't fit in a round hole. It is these gaps that will always require HUGE jumps of faith to bridge. If you haven't met me, I'm the guy that is generally anti-faith. Not anti-faith as in anti-religion, but anti-faith in that I don't believe that faith is an appropriate strategy to deal with the universe. 
> 
And I would argue that if you have a square peg and nature presents a round hole, your peg is incorrect so you need to throw it out and find one that fits. If the scientific method(materialist method, if you will) is all about observing and building models that fit the observations, then square pegs should be discarded dispassionately. Yet, I have seen numerous articles of scientist trying to force their square pegs in natures round holes. Materialism has it's place, but that place MUST fit in with the bigger picture or it is just another excuse to create dysfunction within the system. - -> 
> You're either becoming as mercurial as myself, or you always were. This is a Nietzschean statement of profound entanglement. 
> -I've always been mercurial, and never stated otherwise.-> I don't believe at all that science is destroying us. In the worst case--global warming. But both yourself and David don't agree that it is occurring. What else does that leave?-Then you should study medicine. Or the 70% energy waste of automobiles. Or the waste produced by our power consumption. Etc etc etc. The reason ecological preservation groups have become so prevalent today is not because more or less people care about the environment, it is because it has become impossible not to see what we are doing to our home. -> 
> There have been less wars in the 20th century than in the first half of the 19th alone. 
> -LOL We are only a decade in. Give it time. -> We're not about to come unglued from the hinges and destroy each other. The crime rate in the US over the least 20 years demonstrates that we're on a massive "pacification" of our violent tendencies. 
> -Massive pacification of our violent tendencies? Where are you getting that from?-> So what then, is it... that you seem to be fighting against, Tony?-People thinking that they are above the natural order. People thinking that because "this is all there is", that they must get absolutely everything out of this life and damn the consequences of their actions. I will admit that my experiences have given me a very negative view of humanity as a whole. I have been around the world and I have seen nothing to make me as optimistic as you are. In nearly every country I have been too I have witnessed violence, starvation, deprivation, poverty, and death first hand. With the exception of Iraq, I didn't even stay that long in most of them. A 'feel-good' book about how great we are is not reflected in reality. Take a trip to Iraq, Somalia, Bosnia, Africa, China, North Korea, or even just down to Mexico and tell me how great humanity is.

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What is the purpose of living? How about, 'to reduce needless suffering. It seems to me to be a worthy purpose.