Comments by Red Foot Okie

Comment #242080 by Red Foot Okie on September 3, 2008 at 11:16 am

Man... republican operatives are freakin' everywhere, aren't they?

2. McCain's VP Wants Creationism Taught in School

Comment #240409 by Red Foot Okie on August 31, 2008 at 12:55 pm

Speaking of teaching the controversy- Best T-Shirts EVAR!:

http://controversy.wearscience.com/

3. Animal Intelligence and the Evolution of the Human Mind

Comment #240264 by Red Foot Okie on August 31, 2008 at 7:40 am

Human intelligence fascinates me. I have suspected that, when all is said and done, our "smarts" are not due to some huge difference between our brains and other mammals. Or, as this article points out, it may be just a bunch of little differences, each difference adding up to a greater survival for the individual and the cold mechanics of evolution takes over from there.

I'm also fascinated by how animals perceive the world. I've heard that animals with a powerful sense of smell can not only tell what objects/creatures have been in a particular area, but that they can tell how long ago they were there.

4. McCain's VP Wants Creationism Taught in School

Comment #240261 by Red Foot Okie on August 31, 2008 at 7:32 am

And, just in case nobody else has said it,this is another reason to vote Obama/Bidden '08!

Hell yeah.

5. Genesis and the origin of the Origin of the species

Comment #239719 by Red Foot Okie on August 30, 2008 at 8:42 am

The believer may ask--

Actually the believer already knows that god did it and doesn't really ask at all.

That's what makes them so scary.

6. It's no wonder evangelical atheists need to shout so loud

Comment #238147 by Red Foot Okie on August 27, 2008 at 4:20 pm

I've sent a letter to the editor of the paper. Long odds that it will get published, but that transport is away.

7. It's no wonder evangelical atheists need to shout so loud

Comment #238137 by Red Foot Okie on August 27, 2008 at 3:58 pm

Ugh. So painful to read. It seems to me that, as is often the case with creationists, he's not really addressing the issues of athiests, as much as trying to wave off other curious believers with a "nothing to see here, move along, this isn't the Truth you're looking for" kind of thing.

I also think that the greatest irony is that athests aren't really shouting, as Cooper claims, as much as we just won't shut up this time around. I think that is what is so terrifying to "people of faith", that the socially unassailabl position that "faith" has enjoyed is being eroded away: there is a large segment of the population who regards your "faith" kind of like they regard your favorite TV show.

8. Science Has No Place in Politics

Comment #238081 by Red Foot Okie on August 27, 2008 at 3:00 pm

I so want this debate to happen. Just to see how much (or little) the candidates know. Heck let them bring their science advisors. "Seconds" if you will, like old-school pisols at dawn.

Do they even have sciene advisors?

Is there a petition or something I can get on to show my support for this?

9. Richard Dawkins on Talkback Radio

Comment #237047 by Red Foot Okie on August 25, 2008 at 7:58 pm

Others have said it (Gyokusai two posts up), the "questions" that Prof. Dawkins is answering, over and over and over again really aren't questions they are assertations; they are desperate to get the words out. Do they honestly think that Prof. Dawkins hasn't heard this question before?

Are they just trying to keep other fence-sitters on the fence? Or are they just hoping to nag him into silence? Like a slow aunt that will just keep saying the same things over and over agian in the hopes that you will shut up and agree with her?

That's what makes Professor Dawkins such a great public speaker, and such a powerful threat to the religious order, is that answers these questions every time, he never looses his temper, he hardly seems to get flustered-- even when he has to answer the same question multiple times in one Q&A session.

I don't see how he does it, but I'm awful glad he does.

10. Richard Dawkins replies to Libby Purves

Comment #227413 by Red Foot Okie on August 9, 2008 at 9:00 pm

R. Dawkins: A class act, all the way.

11. Jefferson Bible reveals Founding Father's view of God, faith

Comment #214551 by Red Foot Okie on July 20, 2008 at 3:38 pm

I'm glad to see an article like this in a major newspaper like the LA Times. The optomist in my hopes that the more people who realize that,no, the founders of the US were NOT the bible thumpin' types that certain groups make them out to be, the weaker the pull to superstition will become.

Of course, the "He was a product of his age" quote kind of implies that you couldn't get away with that sort of thing in THIS age.

12. The New Theology

Comment #113329 by Red Foot Okie on January 19, 2008 at 9:48 am

I suggest we coin a new acronym: DRGA! Desperate Rear-Guard Action.

Which is all this kind of thing is- DRGA! An attempt, however feeble, to keep butts in seats at churches and delay the faithful (and I kind of feel sorry for Van Till because he so wants to be faithful) from thinking about the clumsiness of their positions for just a few more years.

Also, and I'm sure someone else pointed this out, it is lucky that Van Till lives in a nation where he has the freedom to ignore/re-interpret/make-up things that his holy book actually says, as opposed to a nation run by true believers, who would never allow such deviance from doctrine.

13. Mother Nature is Not Our Friend

Comment #106345 by Red Foot Okie on January 2, 2008 at 5:30 pm

On the one hand, I think Mr. Harris is kind of overreacting. I mean, asteroids and such are things that we can deflect with current technology. I think there have even been some movies made about that.

But the creepy thing is that we, ourselves, are likely our own worst enemies. Allow me to throw this out- the majority of human history has been spent in the stone age. During that time we were able to live pretty much any habitable place on earth using nothing but stone, wood, and bone (and sometimes, only two of the three). And, once we figured out how to feed ourselves and such, we were pretty happy to stay at that level of technology until inter-tribal competitition spurred us on.

It seems that we go through a cycle of making loosly agreed-upon rules about compeition (in its most blatant form- war) but as soon as somebody starts smelting bronze or iron or invents the stirrup or gunpowder or what-have-you, those rules go right out the window.

And I see that the whole 'posthuman' thing is just another expression of that- the only reason to be posthuman is to out-compete everybody else. That's where a lot of the fear of genetic engineering and such come from- that it will give certain people too much of an edge. And, judging from our history, it probably will.

So perhaps the big change we need to splice into our genes is an overwhelming desire to get along.

To build the asteroid defense system, if nothing else.

14. Pope's exorcist squads will wage war on Satan

Comment #104979 by Red Foot Okie on December 30, 2007 at 9:06 am

I think this is probably the greatest weakness of the believers- the belief in the devil and various demons. This is where all of the very carefully crafted talking points about intellegent design and such fall apart. This is where the medieval mindset and sheer, naked, mind-control of religion comes out.

The believer, the TRUE beliver, lives in a world where an omnipotent "good" diety is testing your faith constantly (by, say, hiding fossils all over the world that prove both evolution and the age of the earth) AND a nearly omnipotent "deciever" is constantly trying to tempt you away from your faith (by, say, hiding fossils all over the world that prove both evolution and the age of the earth), and only an ancient holy book can illuminate the difference between the two.

Such a worldview must be a horrifying thing.

15. Man and God

Comment #103376 by Red Foot Okie on December 25, 2007 at 10:17 am

These kinds of articles smack of desperation, to me.

I mean, there are so much better arguments that the author could have brought to bear, but instead they went for the low-hanging (and easily debunked) fruit. However, those better arguments are still not right, and are more technical and complicated, so I suspect the author knew he's lose his target audience.

In the end, it's a fluff piece, designed to keep butts in seats and the deeply entrenched religious deeply entrenched.

16. This Week's Flea

Comment #100430 by Red Foot Okie on December 18, 2007 at 3:42 pm

Actually, the response on the Salon.com letters section was almost overwhelmingly against Haught. I didn't go through all of them, but that's the gist I got.

Which is a good sign.

Although Haught DID come out ID at the Dover trial, though. So you have to give him props for that.

Although he then tries to argue (I think) that science can't say anything about god, but that religeous "faith" is a crucial part of science.

17. Believe it or not

Comment #98237 by Red Foot Okie on December 13, 2007 at 10:33 am

The term we should go by is "Athiest", since that is what we are.

Any name we choose will simply be degraded and marginalized by our opponents, so we might as well state it clearly, concisely, and courageously.

Yeah, it's not a popular term, but neither was "Irish", or "black".

18. Functional Neuroimaging of Belief, Disbelief, and Uncertainty

Comment #97650 by Red Foot Okie on December 12, 2007 at 1:24 pm

You know, sometimes I think that space exploration, nanobots, genetic engineering, and artificial intellegence is all old-hat. The future is the fMRI and the inner workings (and not-quite-workings) of our brains.

If nothing else, it could enable us to tell who is a sociopath/narcissist. And, I guess, an unbeatable lie-detector would be nice.

Of course, it might also reveal some things about ourselves that we would rather not know...

19. American kids, dumber than dirt: Warning: The next generation might just be the biggest pile of idiots in U.S. history

Comment #82465 by Red Foot Okie on October 26, 2007 at 11:47 am

A bit of an alarmist article, really.

But, I do keep hearing that the overwhelming culture of "cool" in middle and high school (and even infiltrating into college), is seriously hampering students' abilities to try to excel or even scrape by. Since it isn't cool to care about grades, and it IS cool to get by with as little work as possible. Even cooler to fail, shrug, and not care. Sizzle!

I hear stories of kids and young adults studying and struggling in secret- almost in secret shame- to make good grades, then trying to keep it secret that they made good grades, and then trying to blow it off if word gets out. It's kinda cool to just make good grades, it is incredibly uncool to study, though.

I don't know how you change that kind of youth culture, though.

20. A Response to Jonathan Haidt

Comment #70005 by Red Foot Okie on September 13, 2007 at 3:31 pm

Ah, I love Sam Harris' writing.

Go Sam, go!

21. Young Muslims begin dangerous fight for the right to abandon faith

Comment #69440 by Red Foot Okie on September 11, 2007 at 9:02 am

Ah, this is good to see. I hope their movement gains momentum and publicity.

Theirs is a much harder road than mine.

22. A Virus Among Honeybees

Comment #69423 by Red Foot Okie on September 11, 2007 at 8:02 am

You know, the author's point about causation is interesting. "Causation, in the nonscientific sense, is just a way of organizing our worries."

I've often thought that prayer is just a form of active worrying. It lets you work off some of your nervousness.

23. Honest Mistakes or Willful Mendacity

Comment #68332 by Red Foot Okie on September 6, 2007 at 9:46 pm

Hello, all. Been a long time since I posted.

I haen't heard the interview/debate, but one thing that I think is happening is that the religious are not really trying to find new converts to their cause, they're just trying to keep people from jumping ship.

It's all about keeping butts in seats. So they tell those people what they want to hear. And if they have to lie or stretch the truth a bit, so what. It keeps the butts in the seats.