Space

Druvius comments on Jan 1, 2018:

Yes. The rate at which time passes varies depending on how fast one is travelling and proximity to mass, but it's still passing. According to what I understand of this link at least: https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/98917/does-time-exist-in-a-vacuum

Rapture by 2018?

Druvius comments on Jan 1, 2018:

Since at least 2800 BC: http://www.abhota.info/end1.htm My favoirite: "Drawing from theology and astrology, German prophet Johann Jacob Zimmerman determined that the world would end in the fall of 1694. Zimmerman gathered a group of pilgrims and made plans to go to America to welcome Jesus back to Earth. However, he died in February of that year, on the very day of departure. Johannes Kelpius took over leadership of the cult, which was known as Woman in the Wilderness, and they completed their journey to the New World. Fall came and went and, needless to say, the cultists were profoundly disappointed at having traveled all the way across the Atlantic just to be stood up by Jesus. (Cohen p.19-20)"

Are you bothered that we count time based on when Jesus was supposedly born?

Druvius comments on Jan 1, 2018:

No, It's pretty arbitrary in any event. Maybe someday there will be some globe shattering event that will make us want to restart. As an aside, boy, some Christians can get as worked up about BCE and CE as they do about Happy Holidays.

I regularly have conversations with a colleague who is also a pastor.

Druvius comments on Jan 1, 2018:

Yeah, I've given this a fair amount of thought, and never come up with anything really concrete. Almost anything I can come up with has at least two other equally likely possibilities. Hyper advanced aliens messing with us, or we are living inside a simulation. Either is as likely as a god, and from our perspective how could we tell?

I want everyone to think logically and realize that God, religion, and other deities are made up ...

Druvius comments on Dec 31, 2017:

"If wishes were horses, beggars would ride."

15 Scientifically Unexplainable Places That Actually Exist

Druvius comments on Dec 31, 2017:

Fun list. Yeah, click bait, but still a nice list of curious phenomena. I love stuff like this. Unfortunately they include the Bermuda Triangle, which is a fictional creation, but hey, this is not exactly intended as a scholarly post. Fun link.

The bible is BS.

Druvius comments on Dec 31, 2017:

Can't argue the point, the OT is a Bronze Age morality fable whose science and morality is, well, Bronze Age at best. And then there's the talking snakes and other magical woo. Right. The NT isn't much better, even if it avoids some of the most horrid excesses of the OT (Leviticus comes to mind) it's still full of magical woo. And yet here we are, it's still possibly the most read book of all time, and still influencing people today. Saying it's BS may be true, but that's hardly going to have an impact on your typical Christian. And the real problem, to my way of thinking, is those that have hijacked the Bible to preach hate. I mean the only thing that every made Jesus angry was bankers, he never said a word about gay people. And yet here people are, thinking Jesus condones hatred. Jesus wept. Anyhow, sorry to ramble, it's an interesting if troubling topic.

No matter how far up and out into space you go, you won't find him.

Druvius comments on Dec 31, 2017:

https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2008-11-24

Magical Thinking

Druvius comments on Dec 31, 2017:

Try to spot it when it happens and don't let it interfere with your life in a negative way. Other than that, have fun with it! It's not just human nature, it is literally how our brains evolved to process reality. The big downside these days is that the science of advertising and propaganda has grown increasingly effective at manipulating these tendencies to affect how we think. I don't know the answer to that one. Interesting article.

Anyone been following what's going on in Iran?

Druvius comments on Dec 31, 2017:

Yes, interesting. No idea what's really going on, as the western media is a sad joke when it comes to Iran. Can only hope some good comes of it, instabity in Iran would not be a good thing. And hope it doesn't inspire Trump to do something stupid.

What has been the dumbest religious comment/response/statement you have ever heard personally?

Druvius comments on Dec 31, 2017:

Lol, yeah, that's a good one. Can't recall any good personal anecdotes, but I like how the Church handled it when medievil scholars pointed out that everything Jesus said and did can be found in earlier writings attributed to earlier prophets, you'd think if Jesus eas the one and only, he'd have something new to say? Well, turns out Satan knew Jesus was coming, so he sent out earlier imposters to confuse people! Impeccable logic, problem solved. @@

Should we be making plans for "when the shit hits the fan?

Druvius comments on Dec 31, 2017:

There are all sorts of events that could cause disruption short to long term. There's no need to go nuts, but you should have the necessities on hand to go a week or more without utilities and the grocery store. If you want to go the extra mile, lay in a box or two of supplies that will be good in a barter economy: https://www.backdoorsurvival.com/41-items-to-barter/

Higher power or Human psychology?

Druvius comments on Dec 31, 2017:

Some human civilizations/societies have been stable and ecologically conscious for millenia. Usually they were eventually destroyed by a rapacious civilization. So it's certainly possible we will get our act together. Not looking particularly promising right now though, lol.

Life on other Planets? Yes or No?

Druvius comments on Dec 31, 2017:

While the probabilities are superficially good, until we actually find life elsewhere, we can't say for sure. If the odds of life arising are low enough, we may be unique. Like the odds of a monkey typing Hamlet by chance. Doesn't matter how many monkeys you have, it's odds are so low as to be effectively zero.

Christian terrorists are quite smart

Druvius comments on Dec 31, 2017:

Terrorism is a tactic, not an ideology. So there really isn't any such thing as a terrorist, it's just a label applied to people we disagree with. And as a tactic, it varies. Since 1967 about 42% of groups using terrorism stopped after acheiving their goals and being mainstreamed into the political process. Think the IRA. 40% were defeated by police and intelligience services. 8% were defeated by war, which really should make people question the wisdom of the"war on terror." And 10% of the time they simply won. Like any other tactic, sometimes it's dumb, sometimes it's remarkably effective. 9/11 would be a great example of the later. So no, characterising terrorists as dumb is sophmoric thinking at best.

What's your favorite poem?

Druvius comments on Dec 30, 2017:

For I Will Consider my Cat Jeoffry https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/jubilate-agno-fragment-b-i-will-consider-my-cat-jeoffry

I don’t think anyone understands and accepts real evolution and god.

Druvius comments on Dec 30, 2017:

Why would the idea that the Big Bang and evolution are how God created us be incompatible with believing in God? Even within the parameters of your argument, people can and do believe in completely contradictory things. It's not disengenuous, it's just how people are.

What is the non-theist replacement for "I'll pray for you?"

Druvius comments on Dec 30, 2017:

If I have a religious friend or loved one who would be comforted by me saying "I'll pray for you" I say "I'll pray for you." They are words of comfort we use to be supportive of our friends and loved ones. Trying to come up with some sort of secular alternative is shallow and narcisistic if those are the wotds they want to hear.

Should we create a lexicon for words that can replace common expressions like OMG, with a ...

Druvius comments on Dec 30, 2017:

If you don't believe, they are just word's, God's grace is the equivalent of Fod's grace.

Tolerance! The only way I believe that we can change anything is to encourage education.

Druvius comments on Dec 30, 2017:

Sadly education has been on a downward spiral in the US for decades with the rise of home schooling and charter schools, with millions of Americans now having grown up more indoctrinated than educated. And it's getting worse, not better. I am all for tolerance too, but alas find myself in a country growing increasingly less tolerant. I don't think it's going to end well.

-Science vs Religion

Druvius comments on Dec 30, 2017:

And yet, in the entire history of science, God has yet to overrule even one single scientific fact. In fact, by every observation, science appears to be 100% in agreement with God's facts. Wow, it's like God created a universe that science can explain and understand.

What's your favourite animal, and why?

Druvius comments on Dec 29, 2017:

Ring Tailed Cat, native to western US. They are incredibly cute, and can be domesticated. I saw one once before I knew what they were, was like, that's half cat and half racoon, what the heck? Was thrilled years later when I found out I had indeed seen a real animal. :)

I wish religious people who live in first world nations understood that the reason they don't see ...

Druvius comments on Dec 29, 2017:

The reason Africa and the Middle East are a disaster is because of centuries of European, and then American ongoing wars, invasions, meddlings, and colonialism. And when some nation in the region starts to become a modern secular nation ... we destroyed them. Look at Iraq, Saddam was working very hard to turn it into a modern nation .... he had this crazy idea that the Mideast's oil wealth shouldbe used to develop the Mideast. Look what they did to him. You are basically regurgitating western propaganda, the world's problems are far more complex than "their religion is bad."

Extra terrestrial life

Druvius comments on Dec 29, 2017:

Well, SETI has come up with nada for decades, and a number of promising searches have found nothing. At this point it seems clear that intelligent life such as us is very rare, or worse, it's an evolutionary dead end. If we do discover same, while obviously it would have some profound implications, I don't think it would change us much. Unless they have stumbled upon some fix for the unrestrained greed that has caused thousands of human civilizations to collapse and self-immolate, a path we have gone quite far down in our current global civilization.

Do you believe the 'Fairness Doctrine' should be restored?

Druvius comments on Dec 29, 2017:

Yes, in some ways ending it was the beginning of the end for educated public discourse in the USA. Ending it is what allowed the rise of Faux News, Rush Limbaugh, and their ilk. And now even the mainstream media has pretty much gone the way of Faux News. It should be restored, by the republic has been so propagandized and damaged the past three decades I don't see much hope for a return to sanity.

Wall St. is doing very good! Is the 'bubble' about to burst?

Druvius comments on Dec 29, 2017:

Sooner later. Don't worry, like Obama, Trump will bail them out when it happens. Socialism for the rich, Merika!

A thought I had...

Druvius comments on Dec 29, 2017:

People choose all of their beliefs, it's certainly not limited to religion.

Oldest human fossils discovered in Morocco - Axios

Druvius comments on Dec 29, 2017:

Most religious people have no problem with science, unfortunately a science (and reality) denying fundamentalist cult has grown very powerful in the USA. Not sure what it will take, if anything, to get through to them. Scary times.

Precognition

Druvius comments on Dec 29, 2017:

Yes. Have had dreams that came true. Sometimes knew something was about to happen, like the time I knew a car accident was imminent and took off my glasses. Alas, every incident can be explained without precognition. And tons of scientific research has never been able to demonstrate precognition. So we can safely say, actual precognition doesn't exist, the future hasn't happened yet and is known to no one.

If you could visit any planet in the Universe, which one would it be? And why?

Druvius comments on Dec 29, 2017:

Titan has its appeal too, but would require really special suit. Imagine, hydrocarbon rain, weather, clouds, rivers, streams. Illuminated by lighting, beautiful orange clouds in the sky. And once in awhile when the clouds thinned, there would be a giant Saturn and its rings hanging in the sky. It would be eerily beautiful.

Religion is dangerous because it allows human beings who don't have all the answers to think that ...

Druvius comments on Dec 28, 2017:

The Dunning-Kruger effect is by no means limited to religions. And politics also is filled with people who think they have all the answers. The problem is hubris, not religion.

Something to ponder.

Druvius comments on Dec 28, 2017:

In Jesus' time the world population was somewhere between 150 million and 300 million.

If you could visit any planet in the Universe, which one would it be? And why?

Druvius comments on Dec 28, 2017:

I'm with you, Mars it is. The only planet we know of where one can walk around without a cumbersome space suit. Just a pressure suit and an oxygen tank, and the low gravity would make the oxygen tank easy to lug around. And all the pictures from the surface look so stark and beautiful, it wuld bd incredible to wander around on. :)

My high school guidance counselor used to have this sign on her door when I was in school.

Druvius comments on Dec 27, 2017:

What did Mark Twain say? Paraphrased: "When I was 14 I thought my father was the dumbest man on the planet. When I was 21 I was amazed at how much the old guy had learned in 7 years."

Oooh ooh oooh, now it's after midnight (in my time zone at least), there's only ONE MORE DAY until ...

Druvius comments on Dec 27, 2017:

Waycool, best series in a long time, very much looking forward to it. :)

Is there a possible path to peace between religion and science, or must it be a battle to the death?

Druvius comments on Dec 27, 2017:

Most religions have no problem with science, and science certainly has no problem with religion. We've had the rise of a powerful anti-science religious movement in the US the past few decade, but that's as much due to politics as religion. And by no means the norm.

The western liberals feel ashamed of their ancestors who enslaved the Africans and killed the native...

Druvius comments on Dec 27, 2017:

Western liberal guilt over slavery is a Faux News straw man argument. Never met one, never heard of one, doubt any such exists. Since the premise of your argument is simply untrue, everything that follows can safely beignored. :)

Should I attend a wedding at church as an atheist?

Druvius comments on Dec 27, 2017:

Why would you skip your daughter's wedding? Walking into a church isn't an endorsement of religion. Remember, it's HER wedding, it's petty and selfish to refuse to go to her wedding because of your personal peccadillos. Go to your daughter's wedding dude. :)

What is your argument against pascals wager?

Druvius comments on Dec 27, 2017:

God isn't going to be fooled by someone "believing" in him just to hedge their bet.

How comfortable are you with the word "Atheist" ?

Druvius comments on Dec 27, 2017:

Always seemed weird to me to define yourself by something you're not. Whatevs though. I'm ignostic myself, so am safely left out of this particular debate.

Alien Astronaut Theory

Druvius comments on Dec 27, 2017:

There is as yet no evidence for alien visitation of Earth that passes the laugh test. Pretty much all that needs to be said on the topic. If new evidence is ever presented, I will happily reconsider. :)

World champion quits Saudi Arabia chess event, refuses wearing abaya, other misogynist rules

Druvius comments on Dec 27, 2017:

Saudi Arabia is one of the most shameful regimes on the planet, a family run medieval monarchy. Propped up by American guns and money. Sickening.

Is life "fair"?

Druvius comments on Dec 27, 2017:

Yes, the universe is implacably, remorselessly, utterly fair. No exceptions, its rules are never violated. :)

In your opinion, what is the most fascinating thing happening in the world of science right now?

Druvius comments on Dec 27, 2017:

We are living in a Golden Age of space exploration. When I was a kid everything we knew about tbe Solar System pretty much fit in the first few pages of an atlas. Now have visited every planet, landed probes on several of them, and including some moons. Never ceases to amaze, I visit APOD regularly.