READING, MUSIC, ANIMALS (esp. the Gray Race: human and parrot) ....... BONOBOS , SPOTTED HYENAS , SEA HORSES , DUCKBILLS, this CUTE PROBOSCIS MALE , and that PRETTY NAKED MOLE RAT... (beauty is in the eye of the beholder!) + a whale of bats in the belfry)... and EVOLUTION: ...TIKTAALIK ... ... just read Neil (Tiktaalik) Shubin 'Your inner Fish', evolutionary psychology (not always), neuroscience.
Just finished: 'The Demon-Haunted World' by Carl Sagan.
I love Carl Sagan's statement: "Claims that cannot be tested, assertions immune to disproof are veridically worthless." A. L. Gleason is not bad either: '...if the biblical record can be proved fallible in areas of fact that can be verified, then it is hardly to be trusted in areas where it cannot be tested.'... ...
Currently reading: Matt Ridley 'The Red Queen - Sex and the Evolution of human Nature'.
BTW, god/prophets-hallucinations can arise from sensory deprivation, drugs, illness, high fever, and a lack of REM sleep.
Very interesting topics/discussions on:
http://richarddawkins/net/forum/ , http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/ ,
http:// freigeisterhaus.de/
I'd like to meet:
Wait and see!... Maybe you?
WANT TO MEET this great woman: ...and that great man: ...and this hot fellow (nicely staged): ........
DON'T WANT TO MEET: ...........
soapbubblegumheroes:
...Totally hilarious thread on http://freigeisterhaus.de/Weltanschauungen und Religionen/'Wie soll es konkret im Paradies zugehen?' (daily routine in paradise from 9 a.m. till 23 p.m.)...No need to meet part two:
'(Ge-)Brauche weder Augen noch Verstand, seit ich den Herren-Glauben fand!' ... ... ... strange bedfellows: ...or not so strange after all...what a nice match: .... ... ... ...His latest words of 'wisdom':
A German archbishop has sparked controversy by calling some modern art "degenerate" - a term used by the Nazi regime in its persecution of artists.Cardinal Joachim Meisner , Archbishop of Cologne, was speaking as the church inaugurated its Kolumba art museum.Cardinal Meisner warned that when art became estranged from worship, culture became degenerate...... ......Maybe the next nazi inspired pope?... ... ... ... ... ......No need to meet, part III:
HC-disciples of any organised religion, dealer of Intelligent Design. (A Designer-God is like a Designer-Drug: mind-damaging!).............. ......................
Designed, executed 'miracles' of the "Almighty":............
Chimaera (GG, BR, Generator):
"You took a time bomb and a case of crackers and you made a maelstrom of organic debris, then you took a work bench and a rusty anvil and you polished them for everyone to see. You have created an unhealthy monster but you're nowhere but nowhere to be found, so I guess I'll just cope with my provisions from now until the day they lay me down. You took a baboon and made him perfect, you took a lion and stripped him of his pride, then you took a million more varieties, a scalpel and a sartory, and you stiched up a horrible surprise. You have created an unsocial monster, and you're searched for all over the globe, and most believe that things would sure be better if you'd come down here and tell us what you know. Who is to blame for this? Someone tell me please. His handiwork is flawed, and it's there for all to see. Mutations, aberrations and blatant anomalies they multiply and give rise to this... monstrosity. You took the most abundant smallest bits of matter and you instilled them with affinity, and then you stratified accumulations weeded out bad variations and blended up your unique recipe. You have created a powerful monster with direction and purpose all its own and if you were here would things be any different? Or are you just a mosaic of thoughts alone?"..............
No need to meet, part four:
"GOD DESIGNED ME TOO TO FEED ON YOU." Yeah, it's God's Love, folks! (Disclaimer: That corona is neither a halo nor a crown of thorns, besides I am not some critic flea of Richard Dawkins. You can call me Al... though.)
Music:
BAD RELIGION (fav lyrics: The Grand Delusion:
If I could only get the tools, the stimuli and
molecules, frozen moments in time
I could be the archetype, a credit to the
Genotype, re-program your mind
But the storybook sages fill their pages
Hiding from the warming sun
Limitless distractions give no pause to distort a
precious delusion
Did you see the moralist retort and raise his fist
“You can’t make man a machineâ€
I can see the edifice crumbling in foggy mist,
Razed by discovery
But the storybook sages fill their pages
Hiding from the warming sun
Limitless distractions give no pause to distort a
precious delusion...
, Germs of Perfection, Grains of Wrath, Fields of Mars, recently I can totally relate to 'scrutiny': 'Cuz when death comes, it's swift, and, my friends, we end up all the same', and 'Submission complete': ... expectation, indoctrination, life's damnation... I love 'Grains of Wrath': ...and other American Punk Bands (Pennywise, Social Distortion, NOFX, old Dead Kennedys, ...), American Lesion,... ..
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JETHRO TULL (Ian Anderson) , favs: 'A Passion Play', 'Warchild', 'A', 'Nightcap', fav songs: Wondr'ing again, Baker Street Muse (and many more!). Current fav lyrics: Back-Door Angels: In and out of the front door, ran twelve back-door angels. Their hair was a golden-brown
they didn't see me wink my eye.
..Tis said they put we men to sleep
with just a whisper,
And touch the heads of dying dogs
and make them linger.
They carry their candles high
and they light the dark hours.
And sweep all the country clean
with pressed and scented wild-flowers.
They grow all their roses red,
and paint our skies blue
drop one penny in every second bowl
make half the beggars lose,
why do the faithful have such a will
to believe in something?
And call it the name they choose,
having chosen nothing.
Think I'll sit down and invent some fool
some Grand Court Jester.
And next time the die is cast,
he'll throw a six or two.
In and out of the back-door ran
one front-door angel,
Her hair was a golden-brown
she smiled and I think she winked her eye.
...THE VELVET UNDERGROUND (Lou Reed)
THE TALKING HEADS (David Byrne)
The Who, The Kinks, R.E.M., Singer/Songwriter (Randy Newman, Paul Simon, Billy Joel), Folk Rock, Folk Punk, Pink Floyd, The EELS; more mainstream: System of a Down, Pearl Jam, Beastie Boys, AFI, The Strokes, Billy Talent, ...+ more female punk, please ... ... ... ... Ilovesoccer
Movies:
Science , documentaries wildlife, DVD's of my favorite bands + you name it,
original Star Trek (the Holy Trinity in the shape of Kirk, Spock, McCoy = as 'real' as the Christian version but far more uplifting und much more fun!) there's even a religious cult, haha: hallowed...
...
... and, of course, this little gem by Jethro Tull , Who the fuck is Willie? (hahaha!!!)... and Tyson on 'stupid design':
...finishing blow:...what's this going on between our legs...an entertainment complex in the middle of a sewage system...no engineer would design that at all...(you're so right!), just bought 'Origins'!
Television:
documentaries wildlife,
evolution,
German science shows like 'nano',
German TV zoo stories on various channels,
Sex and the City,
Roseanne
Books:
'Philosophers stretch the meaning of words until they retain scarcely anything of their original sense; by calling "God" some vague abstraction which they have created for themselves, they pose as deists, as believers, before the world; they may even pride themselves on having attained a higher and purer idea of God, although their God is nothing but an insubstantial shadow and no longer the mighty personality of religious doctrine. (S. Freud)
EPICURUS: 'Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?'...
Trashy literature (glorification of violence, misogyny, gullibility, detestable morality). Best disinfection: ........I have done myself a favor: picked these meaningful books instead:
Science: all books by Richard Dawkins: THE SELFISH GENE, THE EXTENDED PHENOTYPE, THE BLIND WATCHMAKER (I like hierarchial reductionism!), RIVER OUT OF EDEN, CLIMBING MOUNT IMPROBABLE, UNWEAWING THE RAINBOW, A DEVIL'S CHAPLAIN, THE ANCESTOR'S TALE, THE GOD DELUSION.... QUINTESSENCE OF THE TGD CRITICS: http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/'The Courtier's Reply' by PZ Myers: Reposted from:
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2006/12/the_courtiers_rep
ly.phpThere's a common refrain in the criticisms of Dawkins' The God Delusion that I've taken to categorizing with my own private title—it's so common, to the point of near-unanimous universality, that I've decided to share it with you all, along with a little backstory that will help you to understand the name.I call it the Courtier's Reply. It refers to the aftermath of a fable.I have considered the impudent accusations of Mr Dawkins with exasperation at his lack of serious scholarship. He has apparently not read the detailed discourses of Count Roderigo of Seville on the exquisite and exotic leathers of the Emperor's boots, nor does he give a moment's consideration to Bellini's masterwork, On the Luminescence of the Emperor's Feathered Hat. We have entire schools dedicated to writing learned treatises on the beauty of the Emperor's raiment, and every major newspaper runs a section dedicated to imperial fashion; Dawkins cavalierly dismisses them all. He even laughs at the highly popular and most persuasive arguments of his fellow countryman, Lord D. T. Mawkscribbler, who famously pointed out that the Emperor would not wear common cotton, nor uncomfortable polyester, but must, I say must, wear undergarments of the finest silk.Dawkins arrogantly ignores all these deep philosophical ponderings to crudely accuse the Emperor of nudity.Personally, I suspect that perhaps the Emperor might not be fully clothed — how else to explain the apparent sloth of the staff at the palace laundry — but, well, everyone else does seem to go on about his clothes, and this Dawkins fellow is such a rude upstart who lacks the wit of my elegant circumlocutions, that, while unable to deal with the substance of his accusations, I should at least chide him for his very bad form.Until Dawkins has trained in the shops of Paris and Milan, until he has learned to tell the difference between a ruffled flounce and a puffy pantaloon, we should all pretend he has not spoken out against the Emperor's taste. His training in biology may give him the ability to recognize dangling genitalia when he sees it, but it has not taught him the proper appreciation of Imaginary Fabrics.I'm afraid that when I read H. Allen Orr's criticism of The God Delusion in the NY Review of Books, all that popped into my head was a two-word rebuttal: Courtier's Reply. You would be amazed at how many of the anti-Dawkins arguments can be filed away under that category.That's all you'll get from me on Orr's complaint—it's another Courtier's Reply. If you want a more detailed dissection, Jason Rosenhouse provides it...
... this one is great too: Those fanatical atheists
by Dan Gardner, The Ottawa Citizen
Thanks to Sasquatch for the link.Reposted from:
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/columnists/story.html?id
=62d4e647-9088-47dc-8a46-6397e3a6e30dIt's popular these days to equate those who question God with the worst kind of zealots, but it's not fairYesterday was one major religion's holy day. Today is another's. Tomorrow is a third's. So I thought this is an opportune moment to say I think all three of these faiths -- these mighty institutions, these esteemed philosophies, these ancient and honoured traditions -- are ridiculous quackery. Parted seas. Walking corpses. Nocturnal visits to Heaven. For goodness sake, people, the talking wolf in Little Red Riding Hood is more plausible.In the past, I've tried to avoid talking about religion in such sharp terms. It's not that I fear giving offence (which would be something of a limitation in my line of work). Rather, I know, as all humans do, that it's scary knowing you're going to die. And if belief in angels on high eases the existential fears of some, I won't begrudge them. Whatever gets you through the night, as a long-haired prophet once said.But a series of books doing quite well on bestseller lists -- by Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and, soon, Christopher Hitchens -- argues it's time to be a lot less deferential to faith, and I have to say I find it hard to disagree. After all, we live in a time when blowing children to bits is an increasingly popular form of worship, the most powerful man on earth thinks he's got a hotline to God, and much of the electorate who gave that man his power would never consider replacing him with someone who does not believe the son of a carpenter who died 2,000 years ago sits in heaven advising presidents, fixing football games, and waiting for the day he will return to the Earth to brutally murder all unbelievers and erect a worldwide dictatorship.Private, quiet faith is one thing. But when the guy holding the launch codes believes the end of the world could come any day and that's a good thing, those who believe lives are limited to one per customer have a problem.Those making this case have been dubbed the "new atheists." They have also been called fanatics who are dogmatic, zealous and intolerant of other views -- the mirror image of religious extremists. As one English university dean said in the Guardian, Richard Dawkins is "just as fundamentalist as the people setting off bombs in the Tube."Less Olympian thinkers have portrayed strident atheists as hacking away at the bonds of morality, which must inevitably lead to various forms of depravity ranging from the sexual to the genocidal.Don't you know Stalin was an atheist? That's the way it goes. First you read Richard Dawkins. Then you have an abortion. Then you're putting a fresh coat of paint on the Gulag.This frames the debate in a pleasingly symmetrical way. Over on that side are the insane religious fanatics who fly jets into skyscrapers and march around with signs saying "God Hates Fags." Over there are fanatical atheists. Between the two extremes are sensible moderates who take the Goldilocks approach to faith and reason. Not too hot. Not too cold. Lukewarm, please, keep it lukewarm.The appeal is obvious. "All things to moderation," the Greeks sensibly advised, and this looks perfectly moderate. Whether it can withstand a little scrutiny is another matter.The first problem for the moderate believer comes from those who like their faith hot. You've agreed God exists and that He mucks about in the world. You've agreed this book contains His holy commandments. So how do you respond when the mad religious zealot says, "hey, here on page 23, it says we should slice open unbelievers and use their guts for garters. And over here on page 75, it says we should bury homosexuals up to their necks and stuff olives up their noses. If God exists and these are his holy commandments, then shouldn't we get serious about the gutting and stuffing?"One response is to make like a Philadelphia lawyer and spin plain words ("and yea, the Lord saith, the nose of the sodomite shall be stuffed with olives ...") until they don't say what they plainly say. But the more common response is to simply pretend the garters-and-olives passages don't exist and prattle on about how God is merciful and loving.This is neither faithful nor reasonable. Still, as a practical matter, it will do in times of religious quiescence. But with religious zealotry in the ascendant, this non-answer is not going to keep the ranks of the nutters from swelling. And that's dangerous to us all.Then there's the problem on the other side -- among the atheists such as Richard Dawkins who have been labelled "fanatics." Now, it is absolutely true that Dawkins' tone is often as charming as fingernails dragged slowly down a chalkboard. But just what is the core of Dawkins' radical message?Well, it goes something like this: If you claim that something is true, I will examine the evidence which supports your claim; if you have no evidence, I will not accept that what you say is true and I will think you a foolish and gullible person for believing it so.That's it. That's the whole, crazy, fanatical package.When the Pope says that a few words and some hand-waving causes a cracker to transform into the flesh of a 2,000-year-old man, Dawkins and his fellow travellers say, well, prove it. It should be simple. Swab the Host and do a DNA analysis. If you don't, we will give your claim no more respect than we give to those who say they see the future in crystal balls or bend spoons with their minds or become werewolves at each full moon.And for this, it is Dawkins, not the Pope, who is labelled the unreasonable fanatic on par with faith-saturated madmen who sacrifice children to an invisible spirit.This is completely contrary to how we live the rest of our lives. We demand proof of even trivial claims ("John was the main creative force behind Sergeant Pepper") and we dismiss those who make such claims without proof. We are still more demanding when claims are made on matters that are at least temporarily important ("Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction" being a notorious example).So isn't it odd that when claims are made about matters as important as the nature of existence and our place in it we suddenly drop all expectation of proof and we respect those who make and believe claims without the slightest evidence? Why is it perfectly reasonable to roll my eyes when someone makes the bald assertion that Ringo was the greatest Beatle but it is "fundamentalist" and "fanatical" to say that, absent evidence, it is absurd to believe Muhammad was not lying or hallucinating when he claimed to have long chats with God?Of course I realize that by asking this question I may be contributing to mass depravity and a crisis of civilization. But I thought I'd risk it. That's just the kind of fanatic I am.It should also be obvious from this that the supposed link between Dawkinsian atheism and Stalinist butchery is pure nonsense. Yes, Stalin did not believe in God. But he believed in History, Marxism, Leninism and all sorts of Hegelian mumbo-jumbo for which he had not the slightest evidence.He was not a religious man, but he most certainly was a man of faith.Dan Gardner's column appears Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. E-mail: [email protected]...... ...pampering the suffer fetish: 'In your pomp and glory you are a poorer man than me, as you lick the boots of death born out of fear.' (Ian Anderson, 'Wind up')... ........ ......You cannot hurt my atheist feelings I haven't any. I am not my non-belief, that is why.
SOME OTHER BOOKS I'VE READ:
E.O. Wilson: On Human Nature, The Diversity Of Life, Die Einheit des Wissens. One of the best books I ever read: Carl Sagan - The Demon-Haunted World! Dan Dennett (no skyhooks! good reductionists think that everything can be explained without skyhooks! yeah!!!), mealy-mouthed M. Shermer (The case against IDiots), S.Pinker (no blank slate), H. Fisher (whylovehow), F. De Waal (bonobo/chimp strategies)etc. Currently reading: Ray Kurzweil "The Age of Spiritual Machines", one quote: 'A beaver and another forest animal are contemplating an immense man-made dam. The beaver is saying something like........... 'No, I did not actually build it. But it is based on an idea of mine.' (E. Fredkin)
literature: James Joyce, Dostojevski, Saul Bellow, Updike.
Science(?)Fiction: original Star Trek, favorites: First Frontier (dinos), The Three Minute Universe (lovable hideous decaying aliens), Uhura's Song (felines), etc. BTW, reading does not mean unconditional love! ...Schlussworte des Buches:
Und die Moral von der Geschicht:
Wer Gott nicht kennt, der braucht ihn nicht!
Der Gottesglaube auf dem Globus
Ist fauler Zauber: Hokuspokus.
Rabbis, Muftis und auch Pfaffen
Sind, wie wir, nur nackte Affen.
... ...
Heroes:
Richard Dawkins, Carl Sagan, Steven Pinker, Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, Frans de Waal, Jane Goodall, Birute Galdikas, Diane Fossey, Jared Diamond, Wafa Sultan, Mina Ahadi, and BONOBOS: 'Heroes' are my inspiration but other than that I try to think for myself (always remembering the self-deception, copying and pasting all the time). CURRENT FAV LYRICISTS:.........................IAN ANDERSON , RANDY NEWMAN , GREG GRAFFIN (esp. the science-related tracks). BTW (how bugging, once again!) heroes etc. do not mean unconditional love, such thing/notion is totally silly and dangerous IMHO!
