401. Stephen Hawking Says Universe Created from Nothing

Comment #28196 by Spinoza on March 28, 2007 at 10:00 am

Yeah... I should clarify... I didn't mean my list of 10 people to be exhaustive, nor uncontroversial, nor correct, nor absolute... it was just an example of 10 people I'd think of before thinking of Hawking or Penrose, or Godel for that matter... or Turing, or Dawkins, or Weinberg, or Descartes...

Yorker is actually creeping me out a little bit, he is starting to remind me of Stuart Hammeroff... getting angry and defensive when people don't agree with his narrow subjective view of things... The similarities go as far as this worship of Penrose...

Oh and I should also mention that there are random Penrose worshipping nut jobs on several forums I've been to... or maybe there's just one, and it's Yorker.

Of course Penrose did some great work, and Hawking has done some... but they're human... as Einstein was... and as EVERYONE is.. and they can fuck up... they can have limitations to their understanding... their view of the world can be mistaken...

And in this case, I'd say logic is clearly failing some great minds...

When Quantum physicists talk about "nothing" they don't literally mean "nothing" the way it's used in colloquial language... and if they do... they're confused...

Real creation ex-nihilo is pure and utter nonsense. If quantum physics is telling us that that's what happened, then there's something wrong with quantum physics...

I am not going to venture a guess as to what... though I have an idea, based on what little I know of the field...

402. Stephen Hawking Says Universe Created from Nothing

Comment #28194 by Spinoza on March 28, 2007 at 9:51 am

LOL, Yorker, I made that list up off the top of my head.. I didn't "get it from somewhere"...

And Quine, yeah you're right... Archimedes is up there, but Leibniz didn't ONLY invent calculus on his own (after Newton), but he was a polymath, he was doing huge amounts of philosophy (he has some 30,000 pages that have yet to be translated into English at an archive in Germany)... he invented a computer 300 years before anyone else (it never got built)... etc. etc. Of all the universal geniuses, Leibniz was one of the best... even though I personally don't like his work in Philosophy (too Christian, lol).

Anyway... the objections to the things I said are funny... When I said "This is retarded" I meant the article... I meant the idea that the universe was created ex-nihilo. Nothing more... I do not engage in ad hominems... I didn't mean YOU were retarded, Yorker... I have no idea why you got so defensive...

403. Stephen Hawking Says Universe Created from Nothing

Comment #28166 by Spinoza on March 28, 2007 at 7:29 am

And by the way, Penrose isn't even close to the top 10 smartest ever.

1. Geothe
2. Einstein
3. Leibniz
4. Newton
5. Spinoza
6. Plato
7. Aristotle
8. Kant
9. Wittgenstein
10. Hume

Q.E.D.

404. Stephen Hawking Says Universe Created from Nothing

Comment #28164 by Spinoza on March 28, 2007 at 7:27 am

This is retarded...

I really wish Einstein hadn't recanted his view on this in favour of the pseudo-Christian ex-nihilo big bang...

There's NO reason to think there was "nothing"... I don't care what the math tells you... the math is wrong.

405. Neil Peart cites The God Delusion in new album's liner notes

Comment #28075 by Spinoza on March 27, 2007 at 8:37 pm

Say what you want about Ayn Rand, if you have a certain personality type, the characters of Roark and Galt are BRILLIANT... her philosophy is garbage though... no one doubts that... Peart was into her work 30 years ago... (dedicated 2112 to her) but hasn't said a word about her since then... so whoever said they don't like Rush because of Ayn Rand, give it another shot...

The guy who said there is no good Canadian music is a silly bitch... there are loads of crappy Canadian bands... I agree.. (god I hate Nickleback and all the creed-soundalikes, but these are common in the US too...)

But there are several extremely good Canadian bands (especially indie) who are currently doing great things... i.e. Godspeed You! Black Emperor, The Arcade Fire... and my old favourite from a decade and a half ago, I Mother Earth...

Remember, we've got 1/10th the population of the US, and we live right above you guys (the culture dominance is staggering, but certainly appreciable often)... so you gotta take that into account when you consider our music industry... if there are 300,000 active American bands (low estimate) signed to major/indie labels, then there are likely somewhere around 30,000 active Canadian bands... and out of those two sets... you might get 1000 bands worthy of listening to from the Americans... and transitively speaking, that leaves Canada with probably 100 bands worth listening to...

Out of those 1000, and 100, probably 1% of them are getting played on the radio regularly... so 10 American bands, and 1 Canadian...

See what I'm saying?

406. The Case for Teaching The Bible

Comment #27762 by Spinoza on March 26, 2007 at 3:27 pm

I don't think it should be its own class.

I think there should be high-school electives for the English requirement where you can choose to read sections from one of any of the major canons of the world's religions, and/or write a comparative summary, critical analysis, or literary paper on it... It should be an English class... and I'd have no problem if my kids were interested... I have ALWAYS been an atheist, and I read the entire bible when I was 9. I know more about the damned book than most religious people I know, and we should not be afraid that knowledge of the Bible will corrupt our atheist children, if we start talking like that, we're no better than the crazy religious nuts.

407. Are You Right Eyed Or Left Eyed?

Comment #27726 by Spinoza on March 26, 2007 at 11:03 am

Interestingly, I'm a left-handed person who suffered an injury to my left eye as a young child (8 years old), but was "Gifted" prior to, and after this, especially in terms of reading comprehension...

When thinking about this article, I wonder if there is a correlation among left-handed people with "right-eyedness", which I must be, by necessity, since I definitely don't read with my left at all (too blurry). And in such a case, left-handed, right-eyed people should be just as benefited by this arrangement as right-handed, left-eyed people.

Maybe?

408. Brain Injury Said to Affect Moral Choices

Comment #26939 by Spinoza on March 22, 2007 at 12:31 pm

This article assumes far too much.

Namely, that utilitarianism is true.

Which almost no one thinks it is.

Hence why brain-damaged people will adhere to it.

And anyway, this commits the fallacy of the is/ought distinction.

Just because brain-damaged people choose utilitarian principles doesn't mean they ought to (morally), and it doesn't mean we ought to either.

Oh, and by the way, utilitarianism isn't the only naturalist position in ethics (for those of you who know what I'm talking about)...

I rather think Blackburn's Quasi-realism is better... and these brain-damaged people don't operate under expressivism (since they CAN'T)... therefore they're not moral according to Blackburn (and me). Q.E.D.

However, this is interesting for other reasons.. even if the assumptions made in the article are ridiculous.

409. The Fourth Flea!

Comment #26646 by Spinoza on March 20, 2007 at 10:19 pm

"I was at a philosophy conference in Dublin last week, celebrating the work of Hilary Putnam, a brilliant man. It was very interesting that even here, where religion was only discussed for half an hour (it was a four day conference), Dawkins was mentioned by Putnam. Now Putnam was quite disparaging of Dawkins, though he acted like he had never read Dawkins' work. This was a shame for me, because I suspect that the story Putnam would tell concerning religion would be similar to the so called Einsteinian view of religion and so he wouldn't be a million miles away from Dawkins' position."

Well, keep in mind that Putnam is good friends with Alvin Plantinga (though they disagree about theological matters quite a bit), and Putnam is also known for the enormous changes in his academic career since the early years, flipping entirely on a few things... perhaps he's just not overly concerned with being right about this... a passive "deist"... not very useful at all if you care about such things, I suppose... but that's his choice.. the man is brilliant for a great many other reasons.

It is a shame that he felt the need to discourage vehement criticism though...

410. Did You Know? Shift Happens - Globalization, Information Age

Comment #25700 by Spinoza on March 14, 2007 at 6:54 pm

Globalism is dead... lol

411. Free Speech

Comment #25629 by Spinoza on March 14, 2007 at 11:36 am

WOooOooO! Holla at a UofT!

412. Understanding Genetics - Daniel Dennett Interview

Comment #25180 by Spinoza on March 10, 2007 at 5:27 pm

I'm a "Proof Reader" of religions, not a sifter. :)

413. Why there are almost no genuine atheists

Comment #24580 by Spinoza on March 7, 2007 at 11:54 am

[quote]Bush is considering nuclear war because of his religious delusions.[/quote]

I seriously doubt that this is true, and seems to be the silly sort of speculative comment weak atheists tend to make.

I really wish more of us were as intelligent as we all like to think we are (on both sides of the divide by the way).

Bush is an idiot and a cretin, but not because of some Far-Leftist Chomsky-vision fantasy that he's preparing us for a nuclear showdown in 2012 (to coincide with the end of the Mayan calendar and Nostradamus' prediction of end-times LOL).

Atheism and silliness like this ought not be conflated.

414. Why there are almost no genuine atheists

Comment #24484 by Spinoza on March 6, 2007 at 9:26 pm

Gordon Brown, I too recognized IMMEDIATELY the lack of understanding of the Euthyphro problem, and I thought that EXTREMELY ODD for a law professor (since Philosophy is often the undergraduate degree for many lawyers).

I said as much in my comment to him.

I told him that I as an atheist think he OUGHT to have known better. ;)

415. The Dawkins Confusion: Naturalism ad absurdum

Comment #24078 by Spinoza on March 4, 2007 at 4:46 pm

To Janus, (from a fellow Atheist philosopher)

Your post was good, but I thought I should point out one minor issue... you ask the theist to show you a simple mind...

Well, Leibniz did exactly that 300 years ago. That's what a Monad is.

Just FYI.

416. The return of God?

Comment #23878 by Spinoza on March 3, 2007 at 10:02 am

I've been aware of Craig for at least half a decade now... and I think the man is a horrible philosopher who "wins" debates by committing serious errors. The guy is not a well respected man in philosophical circles, and imho, someone needs to once and for all make him look like a fool.

417. Atheists come in last

Comment #22845 by Spinoza on February 23, 2007 at 3:03 pm

Um...

"Family and religious life

While working at the corporate law firm Sidley & Austin in the summer of 1989, Obama met Michelle Robinson, an associate attorney at the firm.[118] Michelle and Barack Obama were married in 1992 at Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ by their pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright.[119] They have two daughters, Malia, 8, and Natasha, 5.[118] A theme of Obama's keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, and the title of his 2006 book, The Audacity of Hope, was inspired by one of Rev. Wright's sermons.[120] In the book, Obama describes his non-religious upbringing:

I was not raised in a religious household. My maternal grandparents, who hailed from Kansas, had been steeped in Baptist and Methodist teachings as children, but religious faith never really took root in their hearts. My mother's own experiences as a bookish, sensitive child growing up in small towns in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas only reinforced this inherited skepticism. [...] My father was almost entirely absent from my childhood, having been divorced from my mother when I was 2 years old; in any event, although my father had been raised a Muslim, by the time he met my mother he was a confirmed atheist, thinking religion to be so much superstition.

Obama writes that his religious convictions formed during his twenties, when, as a community organizer working with local churches, he came to understand "the power of the African American religious tradition to spur social change":

It was because of these newfound understandings–that religious commitment did not require me to suspend critical thinking, disengage from the battle for economic and social justice, or otherwise retreat from the world that I knew and loved–that I was finally able to walk down the aisle of Trinity United Church of Christ one day and be baptized. It came about as a choice and not an epiphany; the questions I had did not magically disappear. But kneeling beneath that cross on the South Side of Chicago, I felt God's spirit beckoning me. I submitted myself to His will, and dedicated myself to discovering His truth.[121]"

Barak is a United Church of Christ follower... not even close to Muslim or Atheist.

418. We all fund this torrent of Saudi bigotry

Comment #21511 by Spinoza on February 9, 2007 at 3:47 pm

There's nothing "wrong" with circumcision. In fact, it has several awesome benefits. ;-)

1. Now proved to reduce risk of AIDS
2. According to many women it looks nicer.
3. It is EASIER to keep clean (obviously it's clean after you shower regardless, but you SWEAT... and that is not tasty after being under foreskin... hahaha)
4. It does deaden nerves... but this allows men to last longer! (and I have honestly never heard of a circumcised man complaining about how shitty his orgasms were.... COMPARED TO WHAT?)
5. Yeah I thought perhaps it shouldn't be done without the consent of the child.. but then they might just be pissed when they got older that you didn't get it done for them when they were too young to be fully conscious of the pain! (or at least, to remember) lol.

419. Does Richard Dawkins exist?

Comment #21416 by Spinoza on February 9, 2007 at 5:33 am

Isn't the easiest way to debunk this sort of retardation the following:

1. It took a few billion years for our DNA to form into these "complex patterns".
2. "The God Delusion" was (probably) written in billionths of that time (perhaps a year, or two? maybe less)
3. Ergo, if God exists, he's incredibly retarded.

420. Atheist Rap: Extian, The Verse from Atheist Nation Pt III

Comment #20664 by Spinoza on February 5, 2007 at 3:51 pm

"Liked it. Even if I didn't understand all the words. Not used to listen to rap. Can it be that being 66 and not being American has something to do with it?"

That's funny, sir. I don't generally "listen" to rap either, but I had no problem understanding a word he said. Articulate, with a good sense of rhythm and rhyme... Very impressive.

421. U.S. 'Satisfied' With Religion's Public Role, But More Want Less

Comment #20587 by Spinoza on February 4, 2007 at 3:43 pm

It won't open because there's a U in the word "quotes".

http://www.twainquotes.com

duh...

422. 12 Year Old Girl Prodigy Paints Pictures of God

Comment #19081 by Spinoza on January 24, 2007 at 5:38 pm

Why did you paint the portrait of Jesus?


It was God's timing; I had been looking for a Jesus model for two years, and I could not find the right face. Then one day I asked my family to pray with me all day. We petitioned God to send the model right through our front door. The next day a tall carpenter came in. He was so humble, and I was surprised that he agreed to model for me. But a week later he called back to say that he was unworthy to represent his master. We all prayed together again, and a few days later he called back to tell us that God wanted him to do it, but he had to cut his hair and beard in three days. So we took a few pictures and I studied his face for a long time. After dozens of sketches, I started painting. It took me 40 hours to finish the first Jesus painting –The Prince of Peace-- and I still remember I lost four teeth in that time!

:|

423. Pat Robertson: God told me of 'mass killing' in 2007

Comment #15924 by Spinoza on January 3, 2007 at 9:40 pm

Poor, sad, pathetic old man...

I really hope the Mujahadeen can't understand Evangelist.