Quote from: Petelol

I am intrigued by your ideas and would like to hear more.

Quote from: GoblinGood things now - no. People do good things.

so people do good things, but when a person claims that condoms cause AIDs, thats religion?

It doesnt seem entirely fair or particularly rational that good things are always a persons fault but bad things are always the religions fault.

Quote from: Mongoose

Quote from: GoblinGood things now - no. People do good things.

so people do good things, but when a person claims that condoms cause AIDs, thats religion?

It doesnt seem entirely fair or particularly rational that good things are always a persons fault but bad things are always the religions fault.

When that person is the Pope...

Quote from: Goblin

Quote from: Mongoose

Quote from: GoblinGood things now - no. People do good things.

so people do good things, but when a person claims that condoms cause AIDs, thats religion?

It doesnt seem entirely fair or particularly rational that good things are always a persons fault but bad things are always the religions fault.

When that person is the Pope...

yet you dismiss out of hand the possibility that any religious leader has done anything positive...

I dont think I did, that would come under the "people do good things". I see people do bad things done because of religion, and people do good things because they want to do good.

To quote Weinburg: "With or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can do evil; but for good people to do evil -- that takes religion".

Quote from: PeteAlso, afaik there is no analogue to big bang theory (as far as being widely accepted in the scientific community goes) when it comes to the origin of life on Earth. Let's be clear. Evolution as a process involving natural selection and adaptation to changing environments is fact. Goovolution as a process involving a puddle of goo evolving into life via RNA and DNA is theory, one of dozens of scientific and mythical ideas that attempt to explain the origin of life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6QYDdgP9eg

^All you need is thermodynamics. And arguing against that is like banging your head against a brick wall.

Quote from: Chris H

Quote from: GoblinI am intolerant of religion *when it interferes with other peoples lives*.

People can believe whatever they want, but as soon as that negatively impacts on society then it is no longer a matter of personal faith. Thats like calling me hypocritical for being intolerant of murderers and rapists.

Thats fair enough, I think any logical, rational human being would think the same. You threw me off by describing yourself as an anti-theist, I assumed you were simply against all forms of theism no matter how accepting and peace loving they may be.

This is my opinion as an atheist too. I cant force anyone to believe or disbelieve anything; everyone must reach their own conclusions, their own personal truth.

Quote from: skidzilla

Quote from: PeteAlso, afaik there is no analogue to big bang theory (as far as being widely accepted in the scientific community goes) when it comes to the origin of life on Earth. Let's be clear. Evolution as a process involving natural selection and adaptation to changing environments is fact. Goovolution as a process involving a puddle of goo evolving into life via RNA and DNA is theory, one of dozens of scientific and mythical ideas that attempt to explain the origin of life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6QYDdgP9eg

^All you need is thermodynamics. And arguing against that is like banging your head against a brick wall.

Great movies

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEEXK3A57Hk

Quote from: skidzilla^All you need is thermodynamics. And arguing against that is like banging your head against a brick wall.

...So where did all the energy come from to kick start the Universe? The laws of thermodynamics are really a statement of how things look, and have looked, as far back as  we can see.  This might change at any moment, although it is unlikely. It would be very difficult for us to tell if the universe removed or inserted a few galaxies worth of energy while or where we were not looking.

Quote from: skidzilla

Quote from: PeteAlso, afaik there is no analogue to big bang theory (as far as being widely accepted in the scientific community goes) when it comes to the origin of life on Earth. Let's be clear. Evolution as a process involving natural selection and adaptation to changing environments is fact. Goovolution as a process involving a puddle of goo evolving into life via RNA and DNA is theory, one of dozens of scientific and mythical ideas that attempt to explain the origin of life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6QYDdgP9eg

^All you need is thermodynamics. And arguing against that is like banging your head against a brick wall.

"This video summarizes one of the best leading models. Yes there are others. Science may never know exactly how life DID start, but we will know many ways how life COULD start."

I find myself agreeing with Goblin throughout on 90% of his points and Mark wholeheartedly on the stupidity of Sunday Trading.

Seeing hundreds of people scurrying to the tills of Tesco in some sort of mass exodus from the store because of the dreaded 4pm tannoy (hell, why not have a whooping Klaxon to warn of the impending smiteth thee God-doom for wanting some bread and eggs after 4pm) is pure lunacy.

Quote from: Pete"This video summarizes one of the best leading models. Yes there are others. Science may never know exactly how life DID start, but we will know many ways how life COULD start."

True. But its also the most scientifically sound abiogenesis model Ive seen, and just as we started out with competing theories for gravity, one will eventually come out on top*.

No intelligent designers required, just simple natural laws over a massive timescale.

*Anyone care to devise an experiment?

Quote from: Serious...So where did all the energy come from to kick start the Universe? The laws of thermodynamics are really a statement of how things look, and have looked, as far back as  we can see.  This might change at any moment, although it is unlikely. It would be very difficult for us to tell if the universe removed or inserted a few galaxies worth of energy while or where we were not looking.

Honestly, no one will ever know unless theyre around to witness heat-death/the big rip/the big crunch. But we do have a few ideas. -)

And if the universe does spooky sh*t like that, a lot of astrophysicists are going to be pissed.

And yes Spooky sh*t is a technical term...

Quote from: Serious

Quote from: skidzilla^All you need is thermodynamics. And arguing against that is like banging your head against a brick wall.

...So where did all the energy come from to kick start the Universe? The laws of thermodynamics are really a statement of how things look, and have looked, as far back as  we can see.  This might change at any moment, although it is unlikely. It would be very difficult for us to tell if the universe removed or inserted a few galaxies worth of energy while or where we were not looking.

The energy didnt change, it was just in a very small area. As usual, there is an XKCD for that:



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COBE