Final

4. Julie Schuhknecht5. Alljuwels6.Alljuwels@yahoo.com7. Phil 8 and http://julieschuhknecht.blogspot.com/8. Yes I have done all the reading for this class.9. Yes I have watched every film for this class. 10. I received a B-/C+http://julieschuhknecht.blogspot.com/2008_01_01_archive.html11.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Little Things that Jiggle
I wasn't too sure what the film had to do with the title, but i'll go with it. When it started to talk about the quantum field equations, I got a little lost. I understood the 4 different forces. It was interesting to hear which one did and help what in the world. It was interesting throughout the entire film. I liked hearing about the neutrons on a collision course. It did get confusing here and there, I wasn't too sure what the point was of the H bomb. Was he trying to tell me thats when things jiggle around, you can ultimately create something like it? I don't know if the reason he was telling me about all the different forces was to explain how things can go out of the norm for them or was it there to just confuse me. I think I understand it, but I am going to have to do some more reading to really see what its all about.
Posted by Julie S. at 7:12 PM 0 comments
Truth Lies
This film is so true in every way. We have to believe in something to able to fully live. If we think that there is a higher being that we can pray to that will help us with our problems, that will help us sleep at night. If we all believed in the same thing from day to day, then how would we know what was right and wrong. Being able to to believe something is true without knowing exactly if it is or not helps us have our own opinions. Knowing the truth of something wont necessarily help us. It can make us crazy. There are somethings that are better off not knowing the truth too. But with that, whose to say whats true and whats not anymore. It can be hard to determine what exactly is true or not. And sometimes its much easier to think what we want to think regardless of what the truth is anyways.
Posted by Julie S. at 7:04 PM 0 comments
Survival of the sufficient
I would have to agree with this film 100%. It doesn't matter who is the fittest to survive, its the one who is most sufficient to. We are 'editing' everything and everyone we do and are getting 'editing' as well. We are being told what is wrong with us, what we need to change, and what we need to work on. There are some people who are fit to survive but wouldn't what to do if they were the last one left here. You not only have to have smarts you have to be common sense smarts as well. There is more to surviving than just being able to take care of yourself. This film was interseting and want to hear more about this type of survival.
Posted by Julie S. at 2:51 PM 0 comments
A glorious piece of meat
I enjoyed this film. I found everything that was said to be very interesting. The idea of thinking for ourselves keeps coming up a lot and I just keep thinking that they might be telling us something. Maybe we are just programmed to think certain things no matter what and everyone of us is programmed differently. There are many things that I would like to think are my own thoughts, but its scary to think that they might not actually be. The chemicals in our body and brain tell us to do certain things. We sleep because we are tired and our brain tells us to go to sleep, we wake up because an alarm clock tells us or our brain tells us that we have had enough sleep.There are many things that go on in our brain that we can't understand. Its hard to think that we do certain things, not because we want to, but because we think we have to. Maybe we were all programmed like computers to say things and do things that we can't explain. We think we know what we are talking about, but what if scientists are programmed to try and convince us of their stupid ideas over and over again. Not because theu truely believe that their ideas are right, but because they think they have to.
Posted by Julie S. at 2:45 PM 0 comments
Myth of Eternal Recurrence
This film was strange. Hearing how you can be living forever with the same things that are happening to you would make someone want to kill themselves. I would love to have the chance to keep living, but I would want to as different people, different lives. If I had to live the same things over and over again without being able to change them, there would be no point. People do desire being able to live their lives over and over again in the same way, but its like a movie hit on repeat forever and you can't rewind or fast forward or even stop. I enjoyed hearing about this topic because it is something that people don't really talk about seriously. Its either a joke or not at all. I guess if we ever come in contact with a demon we shouldn't listen, just walk away, because if we don't they will sentence us to live our lives again and again. And yes there are always good things that happen in life, but how are we able to make our lives even better, if we can't change the bad things too.
Posted by Julie S. at 2:39 PM 0 comments
Logical Fallacies
This reading was interesting to me. I found it most interesting to seewhy it is that we study the wrong way to argue instead of the correctway. If we knew we were right 100% of the time, there is always goingto be that small part that is wrong in something that we say. If weunderstand what it is exactly that is wrong, then we can understand whyother people are arguing for it. And I liked the comparison to a roadmap. You have a destination, thats your goal you want to argue and youhave your starting point, your starting argument. With those, its hardto not get side tracked or distracted. And you can easily go acompletely different and opposite direction. It was interesting to readall the different types of Fallacies and see which ones that I canrelate to.
Posted by Julie S. at 2:39 PM 0 comments
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Beyond Belief session 7
Mind bugs, do they have more control over our decisions than our conscious. Thinking that what we see around the world might be something that can control our every thought can be quite scary. The media has been able to tap into our brains and makes us think things that maybe we wouldn't think if the media wasn't there. There are many influences that we allow to sway decisions about religion that we don't even realize it. I also found it very confusing with Richard Dawkins session. He was very hard to understand, but I would definitely love to learn more about the conscious relating to religion. There were some things that I could understand, but I wish it was just a bit more clearer.
Posted by Julie S. at 8:15 PM 0 comments
Beyond Belief session 6:
I enjoyed hearing about Susan Neiman. I would have to agree with her when she says the we should treat anything that is beyond our belief with respect in order to gain any understanding of it. If you are going to try and discourage any religion, how on we supposed to try and understand it at all. Why are we always trying to bring down someone else's beliefs instead of just accepting it? Who is to say that our beliefs here are the right ones, we shouldn't tell someone that their belief system is wrong. If we are expecting respect for our beliefs then in return we should give it. There is a fine line between asking for respect and demanding it and sometimes that line is broken, more than less. She also states that we don't necessarily need God to have ethics in our lives and I would have to agree. It kind of goes along with you don't have to be in a church to believe in God or pray. But you still go on with your life. Its hard to think of a religion when there are so many rules. Her session was very interesting and overall enjoyable.
Posted by Julie S. at 8:08 PM 0 comments
Sai Baba:
This video was funny to watch. It seemed just like any other magician show on television. There are those that are in the audience believing that everything that is going on is really magic. These people are believing that he his part of the higher being and actually think that he can makes things appear. We have people who will believe anything they see, believe that he has powers. They are just hoping that he is something more of the higher power then themselves, then they would have something else to believe in. We are so gullible to think that magicians are really pulling a rabbit out of a hat or cutting a girl in half. But if we all want to know the truth, we read up on it and find out that there was already a rabbit in the hat and it was trick box. We do things to trick the eye of anyone that will watch and thats exactly what he did.
Posted by Julie S. at 8:07 PM 0 comments
Mark Juergensmeyer:
This video was very interesting. The idea of bombs and innocent victims being harmed for no reason, makes me sad. This world is so caught up in the ideas of being so powerful that people are forgetting that there are those out there that are innocent. There is a great war going on around the world and its hard to really see what sides the right side and whats the wrong side. There are those that are trying to cover up things that are going up that we are so naive. We don't see the war thats going around us and if we do hear about it and read about it, we don't want to believe it. There is struggle between right & wrong, good & evil. If we don't realize whats wrong, how are we supposed to see whats really right in the world.This religion has a great power over its people and there is a great brainwashing thats going on everywhere else. We need to open our eyes to the world and actually see whats going on. We are only human, we can't hide from everything. We need to be exposed to war and poverty, because we can't keep living in a world that we think is perfect. We know that these things are going on, but if we don't see them, how do we really know that they are true. I enjoyed hearing that God has answers, we just have to let him give them to us. If we don't believe that he can help, how on earth are we going to get out of this? If we don't start doing something ourselves, shouldn't we allow ourselves the ability to believe that the higher power can help us?
Posted by Julie S. at 7:56 PM 0 comments
Eckankar: A former member Revisits the movement:
I was fascinated by this article. I enjoyed hearing about the reasearch that went on and hearing about the different religions trying to cover up their mistakes. I found it very funny that Twitchell copied from Radhasoami and then denied it. He copied it word for word and word, and people believed him. Its sad because we have people out there who will belive anything no matter what. If you tell them that if you take this pill, you will be able to walk on water, the pill would be sold out in a mere minute. There are so many superstitions out there that people will do anything to protect them and to get more people to join them.Its funny that John Rogers Hinkins was caught and then tried to cover it up. Robbing Mr. Lanes house to try and make it seem that someone else did as classic. If someone is going to go through so much trouble to cover something up, you know its good. There isn't much someone can do to make it better once it has been discovered. After reading this article, I definitely want to read more about this Eckankar religion or cult, and see what exactly it is. I have never heard about it and would love to start looking for over religions that might be a fake as well. Very interesting article, I feel sorry for the people who have fallen for these cults and can't find there way out them.
Posted by Julie S. at 7:55 PM 1 comments
Edgar Cayce and the Skeptic:
This was very interesting to read that all of our information is built mainly on an algorithmic system. We always seem to start at 1 and work our way down. Why? Why can't we start in the middle and pick a direction we want to go, or start at the end and figure out how we got there? This article was very fascinating to me. Its very true when it says that if we can't find a scientific explanation for it, we shouldn't jump to a conclusion that its just theory. This is something that we do on a daily basis. If we can't find something, we automatically think that its lost. Or if we can't go to Disneyland, then our entire day is ruined. Just because we can't find the answer right away doesn't mean that its over and done with. Allowing yourself to actually find the answer is something that many people don't do. I enjoyed reading this article and hearing more about Cayce.
Posted by Julie S. at 5:38 PM 0 comments
Edgar Cayce and the Skeptic:
This was very interesting to read that all of our information is built mainly on an algorithmic system. We always seem to start at 1 and work our way down. Why? Why can't we start in the middle and pick a direction we want to go, or start at the end and figure out how we got there? This article was very fascinating to me. Its very true when it says that if we can't find a scientific explanation for it, we shouldn't jump to a conclusion that its just theory. This is something that we do on a daily basis. If we can't find something, we automatically think that its lost. Or if we can't go to Disneyland, then our entire day is ruined. Just because we can't find the answer right away doesn't mean that its over and done with. Allowing yourself to actually find the answer is something that many people don't do. I enjoyed reading this article and hearing more about Cayce.
Posted by Julie S. at 5:38 PM 0 comments
Edgar Cayce and the Skeptic:
This was very interesting to read that all of our information is built mainly on an algorithmic system. We always seem to start at 1 and work our way down. Why? Why can't we start in the middle and pick a direction we want to go, or start at the end and figure out how we got there? This article was very fascinating to me. Its very true when it says that if we can't find a scientific explanation for it, we shouldn't jump to a conclusion that its just theory. This is something that we do on a daily basis. If we can't find something, we automatically think that its lost. Or if we can't go to Disneyland, then our entire day is ruined. Just because we can't find the answer right away doesn't mean that its over and done with. Allowing yourself to actually find the answer is something that many people don't do. I enjoyed reading this article and hearing more about Cayce.
Posted by Julie S. at 5:38 PM 0 comments
An introduction to critical thinking by Steven Schafersman:
Reading this article made me think about my own schooling. Not being taught HOW to think instead of WHAT to think was never even a question. Teachers always just told us what to believe and somehow we all did. In school systems in todays world, there is no thought about teaching kids the right ways to think, its only what to think. If kids were able to learn how to think and the proper ways to do so, maybe the next generations would be able to help this world out a bit more. It was sad to read that U.S. Ranks the lowest in math and science, and aren't those the two subjects that are taking over the world with new medicine and technology. If we are unable to think for ourselves, how on earth do we plan to help ourselves.Why were we never taught how to think? Why do we have to believe that trees are really called trees? If we are being told what to think, aren't we all just naive then. We haven't been able to make a decision for ourselves then. When ever a problem comes up, we simply ask someone else what to do instead of actually thinking for ourselves. If we started to think for ourselves more often, maybe we would actually get some right answers around here. We always rely on someone or something else to tell us the correct answer and who ever said that those answers are right. Learning how to properly get to a right conclusion is something that if we don't start to learn, then this world is in for a rude awakening.
Posted by Julie S. at 5:35 PM 0 comments
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Why I am not a Christian-week 3
Learning about the dynamics of this religion and what it is that ultimatly took Russell off the Christian course was very interesting. I would have to agree that you must have an amount of defininte belief in Christianity before you have the right to call yourself a Christian. There are those that are out there that believe in one small part of Christianity and call themselves Christian, but wont accept anything else. If you want to fully be able to call yourself a part of any religion, should be ready to accept everything that comes with that religion. If the religion calls to not drink caffine, then you shouldn't allow yourself to drink a Pepsi once a month, its not allowed by the religion. There shouldn't be a law on how to practice religion, but if you are ready to call yourself part of that religion, then you should be ready to do so.I liked reading about what a Christian is exactly. Hearing the two essentials was very intruiging to me because knowing that there are essentials to believe in to fully call oneself part of a religion is a smart thing. It's better to have these kinds of essentials then to not and have people who just want to abuse the name.
Posted by Julie S. at 7:28 PM 0 comments
Pretext 2
I enjoyed reading further on trying to understand the consciousness. The two directions that one can encounter while trying to figure out who they are are very interesting. Nothing more than a sophisticated neural net or a pure spirit. I wouldn't know exactly how to answer to which one I was. I would like to think I am a pure spirit, but in todays world and everything that we are exposed to that its very hard to keep your belief system separate from everything else. Its also hard to think that we are just neural nets that are transmitting DNA and brain censors connected to something that we are supposed to work for.The pretext is the neural net or connectionist, is this to the brain? And the text being the "I" consciousness and helps you deteremine what exactly you are along with the context that helps fill in all the little blanks with information. This article was interesting, its hard to think that our brain is so powerful to be able to think of things like this. Knowing that smaller things make up bigger things and everything seems to have a purpose. And without one of the three important factors, then something is missing and you can't fully understand everything. This can definintely be applied to life, I think thats what she was applying it to, not books. Why do we want to know what it takes to understand a sentence of a book which is finally broken up to little lines, that are broken up to electro's and atoms of ink.
Posted by Julie S. at 7:13 PM 0 comments
Freeman Dyson
The talk about mathematics and how it relates to science and religion confuses me. I do like his idea on how God is simply a mind that is beyond our understanding. And the idea of religion only being a life stay not a matter of belief because its true. We can devote our lives to studying a certain religion and making sure that our life style is the way it says to be, but we don't have to let it consume what we believe. If we don't like something that it says we should believe, we should have Every right to not believe in it.I enjoyed hearing him talk. He had some very interesting points and ideas that I would have to agree with most of. He knew what he was talking about. I didn't understand the mathematical parts of it, but I still found it interesting. It was also interesting to hear about Quantum science and how that plays a part in our world and the way people think. Over all it was interesting to hear him talk about religion and science and how they relate.
Posted by Julie S. at 5:25 PM 0 comments
Pretext 1
I found this reading interesting because it talked about how everything is made of something smaller. Everything seems to help make something bigger. This can be applied to life. Everything we do is part of something bigger and helps us do something us, maybe something bigger or smaller. I have gone and tried to read a book like she has mentioned she did, taking everything and breaking it down to the smallest it can possibly be. IT was hard, the lines that made of the letters didn't make any sense, and even the letters by themselves doesn't make any sense at all. We all know letters and associate them with certain words or meanings, but when I wanted to get the meaning behind the sentence, it was all gibberish.I like how she says that if the context is missing, then we can't fully understand the pretext and text. Trying to read a book without knowing everything about it is hard to do. I understand now what goes into, not only a book, but everything. If we are missing one thing then we can't fully understand it. If we miss the first 10 minutes of movie, when all the mishap is revealed along with all the background and characters, then we are lost until we try to watch it again. I have tried to apply this to life and have tried to not miss anything, so I can try to fully understand everything.
Posted by Julie S. at 5:18 PM 0 comments
Neural Vision- Nicholas of Cusa
This video was strange. The floating ship was something I think we can all relate to. That ship is something that we want, but we think it's too hard to obtain. There is always going to be obstacles in our way, we just have to learn how to deal with them. The quote " The unattainable is attainable by its unattainment" has stuck with me. If we think that something is too hard to achieve then we wont, but knowing that there are so many things that we want, we just have to accept that its going to be hard to achieve, we might have a better chance of actually achieving them.Having a video that is 2 minutes of nothing, just a floating ship was strange. The quote at the end " mans last and highest parting occurs when for God's sake, he takes leave of God," I would have to agree. We all believe in the higher power, but if we believe in ourselves first and know that if we believe we can do it, then we can. We shouldn't leave our lives up to a higher power to figure out, we are all smart intelligent humans that can figure out how to solve our own problems. Its good to have something to pray to, to find comfort in, but we shouldn't leave our hands of fate in the hands of someone that no one really knows exists or not.
Posted by Julie S. at 5:10 PM 0 comments
Secret of Faqir
This movie was strange. At first I was unaware as to what exactly the point was, but I think I understand it now. The different quotes about be what needs to change for religion and that your are your only help really interest me. Why is that people think that they aren't the ones that are really the only ones that can help themselves. If you don't think you need help or want help then there isn't anything that people can do to help you. I believe he was saying no to all gods and guru's which is something I would have to agree with. We all love the idea that there is something bigger than ourselves that will ultimately help us, but if you believe that we can do things for ourselves without the help of these gods, then I believe we will be better off.I wasn't sure if the person that was in the background was Faqir because it would be nice to see the man with all these ideas. I would also have agree with him when he states that the "Game is of your entire impression and suggestions that are in grained upon your mind through your eyes and ears and beliefs.." What we see in the world and around us help us believe in this crazy stuff. Whose to say they are right or what we think is right, but we are influenced by what others think, say, do, believe. Churches all want you to think they are the right choice, but whose to say that any of those are really the right one.
Posted by Julie S. at 4:59 PM 0 comments
Sunday, January 20, 2008
John Maynard Smith and Evolution
This video was hard to comprehend and really grasp what he was talking about. The only thing that I was able to pick out was that he gave up his faith because it wasn't giving him what he wanted. If I knew more about the mathematics behind it all, I think I would be able to understand a bit more. The game theory was interesting because it applied to animals and the reasoning genes in humans. Maybe this is all just a game and there is someone up there getting a kick out of the misery that is going on with poverty, war, global warming.The frequency dependant selection was interesting because its based on what we are depending on or what is in demand. This relates to the everyday life because we all want the newest gadget or the latest fashion, but no one is really demanding the natural things that we can't control. If we stopped using all our natural resources for the latest in technology or media, maybe we wouldn't be running out as fast as we really are. This video was interesting from what I was able to get out of it, maybe I should look more into this to see what he was really talking about.
Posted by Julie S. at 7:49 PM 0 comments
Ken Miller and Intelligent Design
Why are we taking Evolution out of the teaching of biology. Parents are telling their kids what they should believe and I think that the kids should be able to decide for themselves. Having cartoons that are telling kids that creationism is the creator of everything good in the world and evolution is everything bad and wrong is giving kids the wrong idea. Teachers aren't giving the proper study of evolution because they are scared that the kids will think for themselves. It's just a theory, so why is it so bad to believe in. Santa Claus and the tooth fairy aren't real, but we allow kids to believe in them.Allowing the kids to decide in schools if they want to learn about evolution is the better idea. It doesn't matter that the teacher doesn't want to teach it, who is the teacher there for anyways, they should be there for the kids to help them make different choices. Teachers should try taking out their own opinions from teaching and just teach. Teach everything about the world, the good and the bad and allow the kids to decide for themselves what they want to believe in. If kids don't know about evolution, how are they going to know its a good or bad thing. If we don't tell kids that gangs and drugs are bad and what can happen if you encounter them, then they wont know. And with not knowing, it can lead to them being curious and even trying it. I think we should allow them to just learn about it and see both sides.
Posted by Julie S. at 7:30 PM 0 comments
Beyond Belief Sesion 4
Stuart Hameroff talks about consciousness and I was completely unaware that there was so much into it. Hearing about all the different electros and gaps that allow us to think the way we do is fascinating. I didn't know there was so much to the brain and what goes on in it. Having the front and back of the brain be coherent is linked to consciousness and to think that all that is happening under some bone in our heads. Its interesting to see what it is that makes us think and I would love to get a brain scan done so I could see what it is about my brain that makes me think the way I think.When he talks about us being helpless spectators, I would have to agree. We do things that we think we can blame on our conscious, but in reality we are choosing to perceive what we want to. Thinking that we can control is simply an illusion. Gets me thinking that maybe were are all here to think many different things and see how it all plays out. We are unable to change we want to think and that leads to more things and so on and so forth. Letting myself talk to myself is weird now because is that really me or just some sub thoughts that were planted into my brain years and years before.
Posted by Julie S. at 7:21 PM 0 comments
Beyond Belief session 3
I enjoyed this session. I especially enjoyed hearing Caroline Porto talk because I like hearing about astronomy and the world. She brings up a point that I would have to agree with, people are afraid of death and what is to come after. Thinking about the after life is a scary thing, when we die, is that it, or do we really go on with our souls and live forever. And if we do, how long is forever. I think we should be aware of death because it is something that will eventually happen to all of us and if we are afraid of it, then when the time comes, we will be afraid. She believes that we will live forever in the cosmos, I don't think I believe that, but I don't know. It could be try, but no one will ever be able to tell and I think that's what scares people.Adults wont change their minds about religion because that's how they were brought up, but young children still have the ability to think for themselves. They have a greater chance to have an open mind about death and to accept the fact that its going to happen, don't live your life thinking about it, but know that its nothing to be afraid of. The Earth and everything on it will be extinct and there is nothing to do about. Just live your life to the fullest and don't be afraid. Its nice to hear that no matter what it will all come to an end, but its okay and we'll be okay.
Posted by Julie S. at 7:10 PM 0 comments
Himalayan Connection
Talking about UFOs isn't something that I am really interested in, but I found it to be interesting that that they are trying to get a better and accurate classification systems for studying UFOs. Thinking about UFOs and aliens isn't my point of interest and hearing about the different journey's to find out how other people studied them and learning more about them wasn't that stimulating.One part, however, did seem to catch my interest. The Chandian effect talked about when we perceive our own experiences, that will effect our attention. If that perspective alters then what we see will also be altered. We are all bias to some extent because we all will believe what we want to believe. Doesn't matter if its in a book or the president says the war is right, we aren't going to believe it if we don't want to. I also found the talking about the dream stage very interesting. I love recalling dreams to see what exactly was going on, who was doing what, who was there because the conscious is very powerful. We are going to this world that we don't believe exists and we live this other life where anything is possible.
Posted by Julie S. at 7:01 PM 0 comments
A Field Guide to Critical Thinking
The media today is able to feed the world what ever it is that they want us to believe. We only see what the media wants us to see of the world and there is so much more that we are missing. The truth about everything should be at our finger tips with all the right answers. But in today's world, we don't have that. We have every one's opinions about everything plastered all over the web and television that at the end we don't know what to believe any more. The idea of the paranormal is something that most people don't really care to talk about. Thinking about something that we cannot control and that is outside of this world can scare people, but its nice to know all the information about it before someone can judge it. Keeping an open mind about everything before making your decision can help the world with their close mindedness and allow something else other than the latest fashions or the newest car into thought.The rules that were presented in James Lett's article were quite interesting because I have never really thought about them individually before. Knowing what I should use to present my evidence logically and pragmatically are interesting. I don't honestly think that I would ever use all six of them because in all honestly, everyone is going to have their own opinions about what ever it is that they are trying to prove. The one rule that stands out to me is the ability to have your evidence Falsifiable. Having evidence that will prove what you think wrong is something that is rarely ever used. No one wants something that will persuade minds against them, so I think that its important to have both sides of everything because that way you can make a logical choice.
Posted by Julie S. at 6:51 PM 0 comments
Should Skeptical Inquiry Be Applied to Religion
Trying to find what "God" or " divinity" actually refer to was quite interesting to me. How do we know that when we say God was are meaning the higher power that we all pray to. Who was the first to say it and who went along with it. Being able to see where it all originated would be phenomenal. Millions of years ago, were people using this language or were they using something else to refer to a 'God'. In the world today, we have just accepted that this what they mean. Why hasn't someone tried to argue that maybe these words really don't mean that. And should science be able to try and prove otherwise.The ideas of science and religion coinciding with one another is hard to not believe to some extent. "Religion refers to a form of human behavior that can be investigated," well can't science help this as well. Isn't science behind the investigation. I don't understand why everyone is making it such a separate world between the two, when in fact they do go together somewhat. Science is to prove something false, and with religion, its a belief, well isn't science believing as well. Scientist have to believe that their experiment is worth trying. These two worlds shouldn't compete because they need one another, ultimately.
Posted by Julie S. at 6:17 PM 0 comments
Physics Behind Four Amazing Demos
Wow, is all I have to say. Why would someone want to tell people how to do something stupid and get away not hurt at all. It was interesting to see how these dangerous tasks were actually being performed so you wouldn't get hurt, but in all fairness, these are the types of things that you will see on youtube. Why would someone want to dip their hand into molten liquid or lay on a bed of nails. If someone was to try and do these and were to get hurt, they could blame this article for telling them how to do it. Walking on a bed of broken glass, well that doesn't seem like such a bad idea if you were a dare devil and now we have the knowledge of how to do it well and not hurt ourselves.This article suprised me. I wasn't expecting to see how to do all these things. I guess there was some things that I could learn from it though. If I wanted to take something out of the oven and it was smoldering hot, I now know that if I grabbed the corner that it wouldn't be as hot as the middle or sides. I don't really understand the physics behind it all, but if someone really wants to tell people how to do these without getting hurt and how to take caution I guess its better than just having them try it without any help. The glass idea was the only one that stood out to me because of how many times he smashed it. It was interesting, but at the same time, I just didn't get it.
Posted by Julie S. at 6:08 PM 0 comments
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Viruses of the Mind
Knowing that in todays world we are able to copy DNA cells and strategically place them elsewhere in the strands scares me. Our computers are getting viruses that are allowing them to copy bytes and spread itself from computer to computer. If technology is so good and high tech then how come it can't detect when there is a virus surfing through like a normal program. These viruses are able to damage over thousands of computers at a time and help wipe the memories of them as well. What is taking so long on finding a solution to stopping these viruses before they get out of hand. If these get released into our main frame data base, it can potentially do much harm to the United States and so forth. And with Memes floating around that spread faster than the speed of light, will it be stopped at all. This travels not only through computers and data lines, but it can also travel through printing ink and human lens. This and many other viruses are able to infect many things on your computer, its not even safe to save things to a disc anymore than it is to run a new program because anything can be linked to it that is a virus.Computers are supposed to be there to help us. We use them on a daily basis for work, school and simple pleasures, but why does it have to be something that will destroy them. Is the start of something that is going to happen all over the world. Maybe this is just a sign that we are way to in over our heads about technology and that we really don't need to be this advanced yet. From the day to day life, everyone relies on their computer to check email from friends, relatives, loves and to check the newest fashions or whats new on Myspace. Some people can't even go a day without going on line, they go crazy and then access it on their phones instead. No we don't need a computer to have Internet, but how long will it be until those viruses start to effect everything that the world wide wed touches. We have portable gadgets that give us everything at our finger tips, even our cars have access to this phenomenon, but how long will it be until the viruses effect everything that we trust in. Its dangerous to share any sort of disc or floppy that we put into our computer. Is this the software makes way of making sure that everyone buys their own. Maybe they all started these viruses so that if we do share anything then we are infected and then turn to our software makers for software that defends these viruses. Some computer nerd might have started it all hoping to get some money out of it knowing that people will want the programs that will fix their computers and safe their lives. We rely on our computer to help us, some people can't go without their laptops or phones because thats the only way they stay intouch with the world; email, text messages, instant messaging. Everyone has lost the idea of getting together with friends or talking on the phone, we all rely on letters now. Its like the olden days, but this pony express is much much faster than that.
Posted by Julie S. at 10:48 PM 0 comments
What is Cold Reading?
Psychics, mediums, palm readers, mind readers, we all want to believe that what they tell us is true. Believing in the paranormal can help people believe that what these people are telling you is actually true. I was always skeptical about them, but after reading about all the tricks that they use to get information out of you made me really not like them. For someone to actually believe that they are reading your mind when they are saying very normal topics that can be concerning someone is beyond me. If they were able to tell me something about me that is not the same as anyone, or very very few people, then I might try to believe, but unlikely. For their Golden Rule to be “tell the client what he wants to hear” tells me plain and simple that they have no idea what they are talking about. No matter if it's true or not, they are going to tell you anything that will make you happy or satisfied with the reading.If you are getting a reading done and someone comes out right before and starts talking to you, don't tell them anything. And if you are going to tell them something, just lie. The majority of the time they are just the assistants trying to fork out information from you for the reader, who then will tell you the same thing. Its hard to believe that people believe in this stuff. The whole crystal ball and tarot cards are just an act. They have no idea what they are talking about, they just want your money. They are simply actors or actresses who need work. They can be very dramatic if they have a ball or cards because they can stall easier and make the answers much more believable. It was interesting to see that this what people actually do for a living. They will tell someone that they are going to win the lottery tomorrow if that will make them a couple extra dollars. And to see that they actually ask you things before you even go in, and actually telling them things just helps them even more, shows that they are trying everything. Sometimes you will be the only one doing the talking, which in that case means you know your own future better than some ball or cards.
Posted by Julie S. at 10:47 PM 0 comments
Critical Thinking in an Online World
Since the age of the new technology era librarians have decreased. Its hard to say it but this is the world now and from here on out. Technology, computers, gadgets, and they are the world of today and there is no stopping it. Why is that we are only focusing on librarians? There are so many other jobs that are being taken away from technology as well, not just librarians. Yes for schools kids should be able to learn about technology and books at the same time because what if the whole system crashes and we are left with nothing. If no one knows how to work anything manually then wont we really be in bad shape. But today kids are able to access more than a billion sites world wide for all the answers they could ever need. For reports, is it not better to have the primary source and have a million different options than to have only a couple from a book. We are able to search all over the world for anything, but in our librarians that source is cut down to the bare minimum. We should try to advance our own librarian so that it can compete with the Internet of today. Give the kids the chance to see books and be able to touch the pages of historical books instead of just reading them on line.The technology that is being created today has helped teachers in the classroom with many different lessons and help expand the learning capability, but is that working against us? With the way things are going now, its very possible that teachers will be decreasing as well. With on line classes for colleges and complete schools on line as well, its the start of a new era. Its here to help us in anyway that we need it to and we should take advantage of it while we still have it. There could very much come a time where there is nothing manual at all and everything because robotic. Cars are already able to start without keys, play music and tell you where to go all without even touching a single button. How long will it take before our doors open automatically, we create virtual worlds with a simple chip implantation. We also have the luxury of shopping on line for everything from the grocery store right down the block to a high tech laser from Hong Kong. Americans are getting lazier and lazier. By the new generations come around we wont have to leave the house for anything. We will be able to project scenes of what ever it is that we want onto the walls of our houses. With the way Bill Gates is going, we will have that in the next 10 years anyways. Banning technology from schools and libraries isn't necessary, we aren't protecting our kids from anything that isn't going to happen anyways. Every home already has a computer and the majority have Internet access to match.
Posted by Julie S. at 10:46 PM 0 comments
Cargo Cult Science
Learning about the cargo cult science made me start thinking about what we are doing now that could very be the same thing as the early ages. As he does his study on witch doctors and what it is exactly that they did, he came across another question that I think everyone needs to ask themselves. Why do people believe the things that they do? This is a question I asked myself after reading his discoveries because not knowing why I believe something is curious to me. I believe in God and reincarnation. Was it because I was brought up on that or someone higher up told me that they do really exist that I believed? With all of the astounding religions that are here today, its hard to really pin point what exactly it is that let me to believe what it is that I believe. Feynman also believes that this is not a scientific world and I would have to agree. Yes we have technology that just keeps emerging everyday that help with science of today, but we also have so many believers out there who are not going to let their belief system shatter because some scientist in middle of nowhere says that they are wrong. Why are we allowing ourselves to believe this nonsense. This is a free country, no not a free world, but we are allowed to believe what we want to believe whether its public or private. We can pray to who ever we want to and shouldn't be put down for doing so.The idea of cargo cult science, doing something that has been done before, but still missing something, scares me because what are they doing in science now that could result in them 'missing' something. What about the tests to cure cancer, are they really just 'missing' something that they don't know about? If something is wrong, you must explain why it is wrong. You can't just say that it is and thats that, so why is it that when people are telling others that they are wrong to be worshiping a God that they are wrong, but not proving it. Are they simply just being prejudice against those that are believing because they are unable to? He states that one should “try not to fool oneself and other scientists” well I think thats what they are already doing. One man said there was no God and put together some mumble jumble to prove he was right and fooled another man. And then that man told someone else and so and so forth. They should be able to do a million tests to prove that they are right, but instead they do one and thats that. But one result can vary from tests to test and the only way to truly figure out if you are right is do multiple tests. They should all just get off their high horse and do more than one. Some scientists think they are just too good to more than one. That if one tests gives them the answer they want then they are too scared to do more because it can ultimately prove them wrong. This reading was extremely interesting to me because its true, testing more than one time for an experiment should just be required. What if they found the cure for cancer and didn't test it more than once and tried it and it failed killing millions of people. And all they had to do was try it again to make sure it was the same result more than once. Besides someones ego getting bigger, what is okay about doing only one test? I believe it better to be 120% sure that your answer is right with a hundred different tests than to be 99% sure with only one.
Posted by Julie S. at 10:45 PM 0 comments
Beyond Belief Session 2
The intelligent Design that was discussed was fascinating.I was intrigued to learn about the greatest and influential scientist of the world. There was a religious feeling only at the limit amount of knowledge that someone can have. If we knew everything that there was to know about something, would we still want to believe in it? Having the ability to not know everything or choose not to know everything helps us believe that what ever it is we want to. We don't have to believe that God is real no matter the evidence, or we can embrace it and choose to believe it despite what science is telling us. These Great thinkers were the ones that told us the Bible doesn't tell us how heaven goes, but how to get to heaven. Newton, however, was making no reference to God when he was discovering the laws of gravity and motion, but when he calculated the universe, he reasoned himself to believe in a higher power. There was a studied that showed 85% of the scientist denied there being a God, but they are more concerned about the 15% that do. Why? What makes believing in a God something so very big in the world. Why not be more concerned about the ones that are not believing and are set on the idea that there was and never will be a God.Believing in a world like ours seems like the only hope that some people have to having a great happy ending. They will spend their lives devoted to God and serving him and telling those that do that there is no God can ruin their whole being. We as humans are set on believing what we want to or what is in the now. We are starting to hear all over the place there is no God, then that may start to translate into our churches around the world. And without churches still believing in God then the world could really be in for a terrible ending. Hearing about how there are so many people, the ones that we look to for answers for some of the most complex questions, are the ones that don't believe in the greatest question that may never be answered.
Posted by Julie S. at 2:29 PM 0 comments
Beyond Belief Session 1
Some of the things that were talked about in this session are things that I have never really thought about before. The idea of Science and Religion effecting one another has put some thoughts in my head. There has been a clash of cultures and with those all surfacing around the world the beliefs are all starting to clash. If there was no God, could these all still survive? Could these belief systems be strong enough to with stand evidence of no God? Thinking about these kinds of things can make human nature scared. Knowing that everything that they believed in could be potentially false can make people go crazy. A religion is a system of beliefs, but science is trying to prove that those beliefs are false. But is this science really doing something good? No, its down grading the human race, its telling everyone that what we have built this world around was just a lie.Science is trying to get rid of the hope that there is something more powerful to this world we live in. It is trying to put the questions of morally and self reliance on the ideas of religion to find the truth behind it. It has been unable to prove that God never intervenes and without that it still gives humans the hope that there is something more to this crazy place. Thinking about science and it effecting a religion to the point that it is completely extinct is hard to think about. I believe in God, but it is something that should be thought about. How did we get here? How was God created if we were the first to walk to earth? The Big Bang theory doesn't seem like such a logical explanation. Millions of stars are exploding and creating new ones all the time, who's to say that those ones haven't resulted in life form either. Questions like these have been filling my head since watching the lecture. Is there a way that in a galazy made up of billions of stars that Earth is the only one that has life form. And if there is, do they believe in God as well? It's hard to believe that believing in something so wonderful is inevitably leading us all to something terrible, the end of the world.
Posted by Julie S. at 2:20 PM 0 comments
Bertrand Russell On Clear Thinking
I enjoyed this video because he was short and got down to the point. I would have to agree with him when he talks about clarity and exact thinking. Without those in sync with each other then you would be bias or prejudice. You would be able to think of bad things without even knowing that you were because your mind wouldn't be very clear and exact to what it is that you are trying to think about. If your mind has been corrupted with bad things and you aren't able to decipher what is wrong and what is right, then your mind could go toward the bad thoughts more often.I enjoyed hearing him talk about how the world doesn't need philosophy today, what it really needs it some simply clarity to the mind. There are many people who haven't been able to tell what is wrong or what is right, and those people are usually the criminals in the world today. Being bias in the world today can go either way. If you take it too far it can turn into prejudice and you don't allow yourself to be open minded in the world to new experiences and new people. But if you are having a good experience with something and it helps swing your opinion to having a very open mind and allowing new experiences into your life.
12.Mark Juergensmeyer talks about the terrorism with Iraq and the U.S and knowing that the government isn't doing anything useful to help the matter. Countries see us a threat because the government is making all of these decisions for us, even though we don't know about them. We see the war going on and we are only shown how bad the Iraqi look. We don't hear their sides of the story. What about those people who didn't know about what was going on, did they need to be bombed too? There are so many sides to this war, but we are only shown one. We are supposed to believe that we are the good guys and everyone else is the bad guys. There is definitely a fine line between good and evil, right and wrong. The government shouldn't be making all the decisions for us. It should show us everything that is going on, the good and bad. It should really open our eyes to see the world as it really is instead of just closing us off to everything that is going on. 13. Yes there is evidence to prove that Edgar Cayce was physic. He has been able to prove past lives and medical diagnostics. Being able to do so he has been able to help millions with his ability. There are many spiritual things in his readings that may lead us to more than we know. He was able to predict things that some machines could never and with that people would look to him for answers. Cayce has been proven to be right on his findings and readings and was looked up to by many. He had many followers who thought him to be a very spiritual leader who had insight to many things around the world. He believe we shouldn't give up on something right away if we didn't find the adequate scientific explanation for it. He was a deeply spiritual man who spread that through many people. With his ability to predict certain events, he found new followers because they believed him to be something of the higher power. 14. My professor is so critical of cults because they lie, plagiarize, and copy from everyone else. They aren't very interested in telling the truth, they are more interested in gaining popularity. The more people they can scam into thinking their religion is better than others the more people will want to learn more and the more money they will make. Instead of having free service like real religions do, they charge for theirs. They have classes that people want to take and seminars that seem to keep people interested that charge people. These religions, cults, are telling people that they know the meaning of life and they will tell others for only a small fee. Why should we charge people for gaining a deeper meaning of life? Religions are popping up all over the place trying to see how stupid people really are. There aren't many things that these new religions, cults, are telling us that isn't already written somewhere else from another religion from millions of years ago. The main reason for a cult is to see how many people you can convince what you believe is true. The more people you have, the more popularity you gain, the bigger you become. The leaders of these cults are looking to tell people the truth, they just want popularity, leadership, a God-like feeling. 15. Sai Baba's claim for paranormal powers is a fake. He is just a magician trying to pull tricks on his audience. There are those that believe him because they want to believe he has something more than them. They watch him in aw because he is able to do something that they can't. Everyone thinks magicians are interesting and that what they are doing is real, but there is always a trick behind every trick. And using these tricks Baba was able to trick his audience into believing that he had this amazing power. He had many followers because they looked to him as a sacred thing. Him, being able to trick them into thinking that he was really doing some of the things, was able to show people that there might be something more. 16. Thakar Singh believed that if he blindfolded children that it would further their spirituality. He wanted to blindfold children 22 hours a day/ 7 days a week in hopes that they will connect with to their inner self. He didn't want them to get outside stimulation because that could alter their thinking. And be keeping them blindfolded for the first five years of their lives, it will set them up for a life full of mediation and spiritual happiness. He wanted to also accelerate their development in hopes that they wouldn't allow the outside world affect them. He wanted to help children be able to see the good and get rid of the bad. He was also hoping that children would be able to continue with their meditation and spiritual ways that way they would be able to live a fulfilling life. Some religious followers lack critical thinking skills because they were never taught the right ways to do so. Some religions are very adamant on what it is that they want followers to learn that they will lack teaching it. Being able to learn certain skills on their own might be prohibited and if they were truly committed to their religion they wouldn't learn on their own. 17. John Polkinghorne believes both in religion and science because they both address aspects of the same reality. He goes on to state that they both provide a complimentary perspective on the world. Being able to show that these two major sides of the world can actually be useful for each other, I think has helped many people. He has his five points that help prove his point which are: Moments of enforced radical revision, a period of unresolved confusion, new synthesis and understanding, continued wrestling with unresolved problems, and deeper implications. Using these five points, I think everyone can really see that both of these sides can help one another be explained. Science can't prove everything and thats where religion comes in. And religion using God to the answer of everything can't be used and thats where science comes in. 18. When Nietzsche critiques religion he is very harsh in every regard. He does skip around when talking about certain topics and doesn't seem to make them connect in any way, but he will come down on all of it. His idea of criticizing is to not destroy any religion, but to reconstruct it to have new and improved one. Hoping to establish a new naturalistic source of value, he criticizes these religions. He doesn't want to be mean about it, but he believes that they need improving because they have all their information wrong. His main arguments against God are the idea of God being dead, suggestions of eternal life, morality, and notions of will power. Using these arguments he is able to spark many heated debates as to who is right. The ideas of eternal life can't reflect on God. Living forever is something that humans just can't fathom and seem to understand it. There is such a grand spectrum of ideas that can lead to it that its hard to not get lost in it. 19. James Watson believes that genetics holds the secret to our behavior because it makes up who we are. The genetics in our DNA is what makes us act the way we do and also what kinds of traits we have from our parents. The genetics can pass along mental diseases as well as physical features that can also effect the way we live our lives. It gives us the structure of our bodies, like a human size finger print. It also can determine how people treat you and how you treat other people. Obesity is passed on through genetics and if you suffer from obesity you are going to live differently than a fit person. People resist believing we are just a bundles of DNA because it doesn't make them interesting. If we are all the same with just bundles of DNA, no one is special. Everyone has DNA, no matter what, so it wont make them different from everyone else if they are considered to be the same. People do enjoy knowing that they are different from someone they meet on the street, like a homeless person. If they were to be told that they aren't any different, they aren't going to want to hear about it. 20. Evolutionary biologists believe that intelligent design is 'junk' because it also relates to evolution. Not only does it believe in evolution, its believes in a higher power. They believe its a hoax because it believes in an intelligent designer of the universe as well as a number of metaphysical myths. Having both of those seem to contradict themselves. Because there is no real lab work on these theories of intelligent design, they don't see how it can possibly be true. They believe that natural selection was done randomly and if something is done randomly it can't be created by a God of some sort. They believe that Intelligent design is just a fancy scientific word for Creationism and in fact not a science at all. And with that it only tells stories from the bible. Unlike creationism, evolution tells the history of the universe and everything around it. Saying that Intelligent design is a science is wrong because it can't be proven by any experiment, its just a theory. Evolution is a theory as well, but it can be proven by experiments and tests to see if the theory is actually true or not. Evolutionary biologists believe that Intelligent design is just a hoax and shouldn't be considered a science because all the answers just lead back to God and you can't really prove anything about it. 21. The movie the Zahir's underlying theme is that religion in its self is something that has the ability to be unforgettable and eventually drives us crazy. A religion can consume so much that it's hard to really see what the exact purpose of it is anymore. They become so well-known that they are everywhere you turn; seminars, books, Cd's, coins, television shows, have we lost the true meaning of religion. Its not to exploit its self so that it gains more people, its supposed to be there to help us and guide us. The meaning behind this movie is that religions are becoming more and more popular that its everywhere. Its becoming so popular to be apart of a religion that its lost all its meaning behind it all. There is no spiritual meaning behind it, its based just on how many people you can get and what kind of popularity you can have from it. 22.Little things that jiggle around are able to reveal the universe because when things use the four different types of force they can create something completely unexplainable. When neutrons are moved at all they create a reaction to the source. These reactions can be anything from electromagnetism, nuclear reaction, heat and others. After they have reacted with one element, they are then recreated into others and so on and so forth. As these elements are being recreated its creating energy. This energy is what makes up everything around us in the world and universe. With these new elements being created we are able to see new things and find out so much more. As new things are being discovered we are also able to test new experiments to find out answers to theories. Being able to discover more about the universe and world around us, we can see just how things actually work instead of just guessing at it.
23. Fundamentalism is a mental disease because there is so much complexity to it that humans cannot really understand it. When people are asked to choose between natural selection and evolution, there comes all these questions that make it that much harder. If we are too choose evolution, we are unable to blame God for anything that is happening or has happened. There is chaos then order then some more chaos at the end. Evolution is also an acid that once you can hold it, it will destroy everything in its path. Creationism on the other hand is taught by those who cannot think. If we want to follow something like that, does that mean that we cannot think as well. There is no right or wrong answer when thinking of these questions. There are so many things that can be considered when making a decision that it can take over your whole life. A Disease is/can be contagious and so can religion. It can spread like a deadly disease without any warning, it can take over thousands of people at a time. There is no real cure for it other than knowing the truth about it. Fundamentalism is like a disease. It can take over thousands of people without evening knowing it. Its hard to think that people who believe certain things will be the ones that will spread it without even knowing. All they will have to do is talk about it or even mention it and people will be curious as to what it is that it contains. People are always trying new things and trying to find our the meaning to life no matter what it takes. With religion, everyone is either happy with theirs or they want to try something that will give them a greater meaning to life. Trying a new religion or philosophy way of life can be addicting for some and can take over their entire lives. 24. 8 common Fallacies when arguing for a position are Force, Popularity, Nature, Envy, Authority, Ignorance, Consequence, and Celebrity. When using force to argue a position you might not always get what you want. When people are forced to do things that they don't want to or believe what they don't want to, they will shut it out or argue back. An example, would be shouting to try and get your point across or personally attacking someone because of their opinions. Popularity in an argument can get our of hand. Having popularity can mean someone is trying to use other people or things to help their side seem that much more popular. If there are twenty more people liking his story, I don't think the other guy will stick with his side. An perfect example that I have heard for years is, If everyone jumped off a bridge, would you? Well this idea is useful to a point, if there is group of fifty people in a room and only two people are on one side and the rest are on the other, I think they would definitely get out voted. Using nature when arguing your side can be an advantage. There is such a high popularity of the natural things in life and going green that you could argue it. An example is someone trying a new diet. I tried a diet that my friend told me about because it was an all natural diet. Everything was pure from nature, I tried it and loved it, and she used the natural argument. You don't have to use it only for foods, though. You can argue that certain things in life aren't natural like fantasy types. Having envy can swing someones argument both ways. You can start off with an argument that all Italian men are handsome. Then your opponent can come back and say that you only said that because she did earlier. You are able to discredit someones argument that way. Having the ability to tell someone that your argument isn't good because you wanted mine first can either make that person shut up or fight back.
Authority is bad to have when arguing because you will try to use it to your advantage. Telling some that they have to do something because you are higher up than they are doesn't make your choice any better than there's. I had this happen to me at work one time. I was doing my job and knew what I was doing perfectly well. A new level two came over to me and told me that I was doing it wrong, I told her that this is how I was taught by my manager, who is higher than her. All she told me was that I was doing it wrong, not how to do it right. Her showing me that all she knew that I was doing it wrong, but not how to correct it showed me that she didn't know what she was talking about. Using a celebrity to argue your point, isn't necessarily a good idea because not everyone likes celebrities. Telling your friend that Britney Spears loves this new top isn't necessarily convince her that she should go out and buy it considering she is now a nut case. All using a celebrity does is put a fancy name on something you agree with, nothing more. When someone ignorant is trying argue, its best to just stop trying in the beginning. No matter what you tell them, they wont listen. They will think they are right till the day they die. An example would be telling my father-in-law something about, mainly anything, and he will always think he is right. No matter how much evidence you have to prove you are right, he will always think he is right. When in an argument its best to not try and show them a consequence if they don't see your side clearly. Nothing is going to show them anything worse of your side if you threaten them to like it. This can kind of go along with force because you are trying to threaten them into agreeing with your side. An example, even though small, could be when my husband and I are trying to decide to buy something or not and I know he doesn't need it and will never use, but he refuses to listen at all, all I do is threaten him with no sex for a week if he buys it. No, it doesn't show my side as being the correct one necessarily, but its still not a good idea because nothing gets solved at all.
25.The war on terrorism is something that we face everyday. I would have to say that I am stuck in the middle. I believe that we shouldn't be teaching our children about war, but at the same time we shouldn't allow others to threaten us and get away with it. There are many deadly people out there that are just waiting to show us what they are made of. There is also a war against religion. There are those that are trying to get us to convert to their religion no matter what the consequences. They believe that they are right and vice versa. We think our religion is right and would rather they convert to ours then the other way around, as what makes us different? There is much more to both sides of every story. This is a war that has been going on for many centuries between countries, states, religions. Without the war, we wouldn't be where we are today. But with that the was has to affect someone badly and those are the ones that want more war.
The war between religions is one that might not be as easy to solve than one regarding land or oil. Trying to convince someone that what they believe is wrong is much harder. When it comes to religion, everyone is stubborn about what it is that they believe. Intelligent Design or Natural Selection, God or Science, these are the types of things that religions fight about. There is not necessarily a right or wrong answer to any of those questions, but there can be more evidence for one or the other. Criticizing someones religion because they believe something different is effecting everyone. People are getting criticized for believing in God, supporting the sciences, their sexuality. No matter what it seems to be there is will always be something that people want to argue about. At the end I would have to say that I am against the war on terrorism. We shouldn't be teaching people to discriminate against a religion or sexuality because they are different. Everyone has their rights to believe what they want to and for that I think we should try and end the war because with it still in existence, we aren't getting anywhere. Whose to say that it will ever go away, but we can at least try to help stop it.
26 In the Beyond Belief session there was a lot that was going on. There is talk from astronomy to war to the Bible. There is panel of scientists and atheists that are expressing their opinions on various topics. The first 5 sessions start off with Steven Weinberg bringing up the topic of science and the impact that it has on society today. He also states the heated debate of God. Do we need one? If not, then what do we believe in. These types of questions are what started the session off on a hot debate. There starts to be a clash of different cultures and ideas that are brought up. Up to bat after to him was Lawrence Krauss, Sam Harris, and Micheal Shermer. Sam Harris starts off his ideas that religion is leading us to something terrible. He later talks about these ideas further on. We now go to the next session with Neil DeGrasse Tyson, He starts now on the topic of Intelligent Design and spends time going over some of the most brilliant minds of our world. He eventually goes on to compare ID to the stupid design of the universe, Earth, and finally humans. The next session goes to have Carolyn Porco talk about how bad the science and religion debate has gotten out of hand. One of her topics that she brings up is that humans are afraid of the idea of death and rarely never talk about it. She goes on to talk about the idea of religion brain washing children into thinking that they have to follow a certain set of rules. Joan Roughgarden talks about everything in life belonging to a common tree as well as our DNA strands. Our next session begins with Quantum Consciousness with Stuart Hameroff. He goes on to talk about the complexity of the brain and just how much we don't know about it yet and are still discovering. He ends with telling us that we have created a God notion that connects our brain to a higher power. The fifth session starts with Paul Davies giving us his ideas of the universe from a physicists point of view. We continue on with Steven Nadler and morality. And we end with Patricia Churchland.
The sixth session begins with Susan Neiman. She states something that we should all learn, we should treat anything that is beyond our belief with respect in order to gain any understanding of it. There is a new meaning to knowing something we can't comprehend if we allow ourselves to respect it first. We also hear similar topics from Loyal Rue and Elizabeth Lottus. Our next session goes on to talk about mind bugs and how much they can seem to control of us. Mahzarin Banaji enlightens us with his ideas of why he doesn't believe in religion and how one must learn how to think of little things before one can think of the Big questions in life. Richard Dawkins brings consciousness in religion into the debate. The next session starts with Sam Harris talking about the war in the middle east. He believes that the only reason we are still over there is because everyone is so passionate about it, but no it is thinking rationally about it. Harold Krotto talks about a political leader that believes that the teachings of math and science was a waste of time. It ends with Annie Druyan saying, “only sin is to pretend.” The last sessions start with Sam Harris and his idea that people only rise to defense of God without really defending the Bible. Jim Woodman talks about the suicide bombers and that there are other factors to consider when thinking they were only doing it for religion. Then we have Richard Sloan, some more from Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Melvin Konner. Melvin Konner says there are four different ways that some one can answer the famous question of “Do you believe in God?”
Many of these brilliant minds have good points, but one in particular sticks out the most to me. Neil DeGrasse Tyson and his ideas for ID and stupid design. He goes on to talk about Galileo, Newton, Ptolemy, Huygens, and P.S. Laplace. When he talks about the Arabic's having naming rights to the stars and numbers, I found it very interesting because you never think about where the name ever came from. He brought up so many fascinating points that its hard to find something bad about his session. I enjoyed when he starts to talk about the stupid design. He starts with the Universe, saying that most of the planets that orbit are unstable, most places kill life instantly from heat radiation or cold. He goes on to talk about Earth talking about the natural disasters that kill thousands and level cities, how we can't live on 2/3 of the planet and that we are facing a mass extinction due to climate, disease and killer asteroid. These things may make someone scared to go outside anymore, but to me it's just reality. These things just make living real. Finally he goes on to talk about the stupid design of humans. We are faced with aggressive childhoods, vision loss with age, exhale most of the oxygen that we inhale, and are warm blooded so we must eat constantly. These facts are funny because we are designed stupidly. We need oxygen to breathe and survive, but yet we get rid of mostly all of it when we exhale. We are supposedly the intelligent species, but why is that we kill each other over stupid things, we aren't able to detect some of the harmful things to us and we are practically comatose for 1/3 of our lives. He also asks the funny question “ Why do smart people believe in weird things?” and his answer is because they rationalize better with their intelligence, education, and religiousness. If we all used even one or two of those strategies, maybe we wouldn't be in the mess we are in already. He was very enjoyable, he got to the point and was the mos interesting out of the entire session.
27. My favorite thing I learned this semester is how complex the debate between religion and science is. I was never aware that there was such a broad variety of people who were on either side. I am still not sure as to which side I am on, but I am definitely going to figure it out. I have been doing a lot of my own thinking since starting this class to ask myself what I really believe in. There are so many new ideas that have been presented that I am still unsure what to believe. With this class, I have began thinking about how the universe works. Is there a God or are scientists right? The guru's that have taught us many things, were they right? These kinds of questions have been filling my head week after week. I have learned in this class that there is much to the problem than I am aware of. I didn't know that much about science when it came to religion. I didn't understand why scientists were so against the ideas of God that they did experiment after experiment to prove that there was none. One thing that I will be taking from this class is to be open minded when asking myself what I believe in. I should definitely look at both sides, instead of just picking one because my family tells me too. There is so much more that goes into it, that I have more research to do.
One of my favorite videos was the one on crop circles. These things pop up over night and people still have the thought that humans did it. Maybe its not aliens, but I do think its a kind of outside force. Hearing about the ideas that it is some drunk humans having a good time just makes me laugh. Drunks can barely walk let alone maneuver something as grand as the tools used for crops. The entire series of Philosophy in 5 minutes or less was interesting. I enjoyed it because it got down to the point and made it short and sweet. There was an interesting video attached to each topic and I enjoyed them all. Even though some of them did seem confusing at times, they were all good and had some interesting ideas. One of my other favorites is the idea of having eternal life, but having to redo your entire life over and over again. Some people wish they could, I would love to if I was able to come back as a different person, different place. I would want to be able to learn about somewhere new and interesting, instead of the same place I have already been.
The question of evolution or creationism was also one of my favorite parts of the semester. Its such a heated topic that its easy to get lost in it all. There is so much more to the stories on both ends that I think people aren't willing to even listen. There is such a fine line between the two that I am unaware as to which one I believe to be true. There are good points to both of them, but after reading and watching all of the different points, its still hard to see one clearly. I enjoyed this class because before I thought I knew what I was talking about, but now I know I knew nothing of what I was talking about. I am hoping to do more reading and watching to fully understand all the concepts that have been presented to me. There is so much more to religion than just praying to a name and there is so much more to science than just an hypothesis. I did also like learning about all the different cults and how they really do things like this. I always thought those were things movies and television, but to see that they do exist is quite creepy. And to see that so many people believe them is even creepier that our society thinks this stuff is real. This class has been very exciting to learn about such a heated topic that no one really talks about. There is so much to it I don't think people understand. Everything that I learned was exciting because this topic is complex to talk about.