Wraith said:We are just dust in the wind.
piinyouri said:Stardust, destined to return to our mothers in the grand end scheme of things.
thesilentman said:What are you? An immense system of biological processes, working autonomously to sustain themselves to the best of their ability.
Nokturos said:You're a pointless pile of protoplasm stuck to a grain of dust in a universe so complex you will never be able to fathom it. Enjoy.
Pebblig said:We're just dust in the wind, dude.
We just live out our lives that are essentially predetermined by nature and nurture.
That is BS, at least several mammal species choose routes dangerous to survival looking for pleasure (booze, sex). James G. Pfaus has clearly established that rats will follow dangerous routes for sexual pleasure.Candidus said:Human beings are only special insofar as no other animal misuses its consciousness and neglects the route that has the highest survival value as often as we do.
Er, did you quote me on accident? Not sure if the biological explanation is the same as the dust in the wind explanation. =PJames Joseph Emerald said:Wraith said:We are just dust in the wind.piinyouri said:Stardust, destined to return to our mothers in the grand end scheme of things.thesilentman said:What are you? An immense system of biological processes, working autonomously to sustain themselves to the best of their ability.Nokturos said:You're a pointless pile of protoplasm stuck to a grain of dust in a universe so complex you will never be able to fathom it. Enjoy.Pebblig said:We're just dust in the wind, dude.
We just live out our lives that are essentially predetermined by nature and nurture.
I've always found this line of reasoning farcical in how contradictory it is.
Long argument short: you certainly presume to know an awful lot about the true nature of the universe for such an "insignificant speck of dust."
Hell, over 80% of the universe consists of stuff [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_matter] we can't even perceive. We have no bloody idea what we are or even how many dimensions we exist in, or even what the other 80% of reality is up to.
The thing is, the worship of Jesus is the worship of the Sun. Most people don't recognize the similarities between Jesus and Mithra or Horus for example. The story with the three kings, Jesus born on the 25.12, Jesus dies and is resurected after three days...this is the story of the Sun.piinyouri said:If people really want to worship a creator, we should all be attending Solar Mass every Sunday instead.
Well, it depends whether your explanation was meant to be holistic or not.thesilentman said:Er, did you quote me on accident? Not sure if the biological explanation is the same as the dust in the wind explanation. =P
I agree on that as well, both on the dark matter and different dimensions.James Joseph Emerald said:Hell, over 80% of the universe consists of stuff [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_matter] we can't even perceive. We have no bloody idea what we are or even how many dimensions we exist in, or even what the other 80% of reality is up to.
Thanks for the above!MeisterKleister said:I would strongly recommend watching Daniel Dennett's lectures and reading his books on the subject. He is a philosopher who understands science and he uses it to explain consciousness, free will and the evolution of purposes. Great stuff.
"Some years ago, there was a lovely philosopher of science and journalist in Italy named Giulio Giorello, and he did an interview with me. And I don't know if he wrote it or not, but the headline in Corriere della Sera when it was published was "Sì, abbiamo un'anima. Ma è fatta di tanti piccoli robot - "Yes, we have a soul, but it's made of lots of tiny robots." And I thought, exactly. That's the view. Yes, we have a soul, but in what sense? In the sense that our brains, unlike the brains even of dogs and cats and chimpanzees and dolphins, our brains have functional structures that give our brains powers that no other brains have - powers of look-ahead, primarily. We can understand our position in the world, we can see the future, we can understand where we came from. We know that we're here. No buffalo knows it's a buffalo, but we jolly well know that we're members of Homo sapiens, and it's the knowledge that we have and the can-do, our capacity to think ahead and to reflect and to evaluate and to evaluate our evaluations, and evaluate the grounds for our evaluations.
It's this expandable capacity to represent reasons that we have that gives us a soul. But what's it made of? It's made of neurons. It's made of lots of tiny robots. And we can actually explain the structure and operation of that kind of soul, whereas an eternal, immortal, immaterial soul is just a metaphysical rug under which you sweep your embarrassment for not having any explanation."
- Daniel C. Dennett
"Not a single one of the cells that compose you knows who you are, or cares."
- Daniel C. Dennett, Sweet Dreams: Philosophical Obstacles to a Science of Consciousness
"Human consciousness is just about the last surviving mystery. A mystery is a phenomenon that people don't know how to think about - yet. There have been other great mysteries: the mystery of the origin of the universe, the mystery of life and reproduction, the mystery of the design to be found in nature, the mysteries of time, space, and gravity. These were not just areas of scientific ignorance, but of utter bafflement and wonder. We do not yet have all the answers to any of the questions of cosmology and particle physics, molecular genetics and evolutionary theory, but we do know how to think about them .... With consciousness, however, we are still in a terrible muddle. Consciousness stands alone today as a topic that often leaves even the most sophisticated thinkers tongue-tied and confused. And, as with all of the earlier mysteries, there are many who insist -- and hope -- that there will never be a demystification of consciousness."
- Daniel C. Dennett, Consciousness Explained
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