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I thought it diplomatic and tactful of you to include the phrase "almost as if". I've rarely been accused of either tact or diplomacy and would simply note the phrase was probably unnecessary. (But it was courteous and thoughtful.)It's interesting that, for so many people, the 'real' answers to the 'big' questions invoke ill-defined supernatural entities, have no explanatory or predictive power, and require special pleading... almost as if they are just a psychological ploy to banish uncertainty with imagined agency.
Evolution is important because it answers questions. It just doesn't answer all questions.Why discuss Evolution when we really don't even know what started life?
In fact, we will probably never know how life started.
I don't think it is even possible to know how the Universe began either.
I am sometimes puzzled as to why we cannot know the answers to these two questions.
Such a strange existence we have.
All we have is a belief system in the end, nothing more and nothing less.
Why discuss Evolution when we really don't even know what started life?
Thanks - I said that because it's really just a (to me, plausible) hypothesis. In general, I try to be impersonal, especially in criticism, because I think people are more likely to consider what other people might think than what I think individually - and I'm not interested in slanging matches.I thought it diplomatic and tactful of you to include the phrase "almost as if". I've rarely been accused of either tact or diplomacy and would simply note the phrase was probably unnecessary. (But it was courteous and thoughtful.)
Not sure.Yes, in a democracy we get the government we deserve.
You're funny.How many is too many? A couple of hundred, maybe?
If you say so Speedwell,,,Because that's all there are.
Can you name even 200?If you say so Speedwell,,,
I've been thru this before with you and it's pretty pointless.
There's an association whose FELLOWS number about 50 or so.
So I think it would be really easy to get to 200 scientists that do not believe evolution is a good model for how we got here...and I'm talking world-wide anyway.
Too much doubt.
I don't really see this doubt in other areas of science.
And there's plenty more here for those that might be interested and reject your theory that there are not even 200 scientists that frown upon evolution.
You don't mean the Discovery Institute by any chance? A gang of radical Calvinists with an ugly totalitarian political agenda and a concocted theory to use as what they call a 'wedge' for it? Their only real biologist, Michael Behe, abandoned them when he realized that he was being made to look a fool. The only people who are pushing ID now are creationists of the "evolution says there is no God" school, who don't understand that ID doesn't support biblical creationism either.There's an association whose FELLOWS number about 50 or so.
Ultimately, knowledge in itself of Greek history, in the long run, benefits who? You will be gone in a few decades time. So what was all the fuss about in the long run?Is that a serious question? If it is then you must feel it pointless to discuss Greek History, the voyages of Columbus, or the Civil War. All are part of the same sequence.
Whether the glass is half full or half empty is irrelevant. All the accumulated knowledge did not make any real difference, to the generation I am from. They are old now and departure time is approaching for us all. My parent's generation have dropped off the perch. My grandparents are no more. Pointless and futile.Your pessimism is noted, but probably unjustified.
Mankind has been interested in nature for millennia. The study of nature is more focused and methodical, but the early life on this planet. Did not leave the evidence behind for you to find. The earth has recycled that evidence. You will only ever have theories on early life, never the evidence to support the theory.We have only been working on the problem for barely half a century, yet we already have some promising hypotheses and a wealth of basic data.
Tell me whether the advances in scientific methodology have unlocked the universe. Tell me if other universes exist (String theory). How large is the universe? How did the universe really begin?It would be remarkable if a further thousand years of increasingly sophisticated analysis and orders of magnitude more data did not deliver a reliable answer.
A trick I will not fall for.Can you name even 200?
Also tricky.
Not to you or me. We live are short life and then we leave this planet, usually in worse shape. Than when we arrived.Because we observe that populations of organisms change over time. And it turns out that knowing how that works is useful.
Great post.Ultimately, knowledge in itself of Greek history, in the long run, benefits who? You will be gone in a few decades time. So what was all the fuss about in the long run?
You don't seem to be able to see that we have already been through a thousand generations already. All that accumulated knowledge that each generation gained and passed on. Was in effect, really a waste of time for the future generations. The outcome is the same, the end is the same for all generations.
I am shocked that you cannot see through this endless repetition of generational futility.Whether the glass is half full or half empty is irrelevant. All the accumulated knowledge did not make any real difference, to the generation I am from. They are old now and departure time is approaching for us all. My parent's generation have dropped off the perch. My grandparents are no more. Pointless and futile.Mankind has been interested in nature for millennia. The study of nature is more focused and methodical, but the early life on this planet. Did not leave the evidence behind for you to find. The earth has recycled that evidence. You will only ever have theories on early life, never the evidence to support the theory.Tell me whether the advances in scientific methodology have unlocked the universe. Tell me if other universes exist (String theory). How large is the universe? How did the universe really begin?
As far as I can see the big questions are increasing in difficulty exponentially. Has subatomic physics revealed the fundamentals of matter? Or are we realizing that science may not be up to the job of understanding subatomic physics?
You have been deluded into think that knowledge will set you free. Enable you to know. Know what?
You have a destiny with your own end and nothing will stop that, knowledge or no knowledge.
In the short term I agree. In the long term, it alters nothing. we do not know and it appears we may never know.Because we observe that populations of organisms change over time. And it turns out that knowing how that works is useful.
What is the real problem?Not to you or me. We live are short life and then we leave this planet, usually in worse shape. Than when we arrived.
If you acquire some knowledge about say crocodiles or ferns. I don't think that will make a lick of difference to you or me. That kind of knowledge is largely useless.
We are actually involved in trying to understand what specific knowledge matters? Or if knowledge in itself, alters a destiny if we have one.
I am afraid that no one knows the answers to what we are supposed to be doing here. Surely not eating, killing, and reproducing the species. Given our enormous intellects.
We can always believe something. Yet the knowledge itself, the knowing, what to think about and what to do is unavailable to us.
I repeat, how long a crocodile lives is useless information. A thousand generations have already lived and died. The knowledge of biology made no difference to them. Even if farming practice improved, we became healthier. We still will pass and so will every coming generation.
The real problem has not been solved.
Academic knowledge can be handed down but common sense, and really knowing what to do. Is a generational issue that no one can solve.Great post.
I was thinking about this lately.
If each generation could have passed on what it knew, we'd be so far ahead, and I don't mean in a knowledgeable way...but with what we learn about emotional problems, decision making, and life in general.
But, no, each generation has to learn for themselves.
The "elders" are not given much attention, and at times they are even put down for being old and not knowing anything. Some things I hear the young say to older persons makes me shutter.
So, yes, although knowledge is necessary and useful, in the end it is worth little. Some wise persons I know living up in high mountains know more about life than some that have studied for years.
And they always seem to believe in a higher being....
(well, not always, but mostly).
If you acquire some knowledge about say crocodiles or ferns. I don't think that will make a lick of difference to you or me. That kind of knowledge is largely useless.
Well said.Academic knowledge can be handed down but common sense, and really knowing what to do. Is a generational issue that no one can solve.
That is why the continuous wars and internal conflicts plague mankind. Domestic violence and disputes. Increasing economic competition. Dwindling resources, global warming, growing world population, e.t.c.
There are no concrete solutions to these complex problems. Really nothing has changed over millennia because mankind can't change. We have a destiny it seems and nothing will stop it.
Well, PragerU has that reputation, so you shouldn't be surprised. But if you can't argue against the theory of evolution without misrepresenting it, why bother?A trick I will not fall for.
Also tricky.
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