Anyone else find the concept of Christianity deeply offensive? : atheism

Fernapple comments on Dec 23, 2020:

I find the concept of religion deeply offensive, in some ways, but not Christianity especially. Since at the bottom, I do not think there is any such thing as Christianity. There is rather a whole range of religious, political and social movements that hardly have much in common at all, which generally fit within a vague nominal grouping, based on a historical and often slight connection to a usually misunderstood ancient set of texts. "Stephen Jay Gould, who spent his life studying fish, discovered that all sea-dwelling creatures are not of the same genus, nor are they in any way related to one other, and that there is no common evolutionary ancestor for all species of fish. He concluded that there is no such thing as a Fish."

study-milky-way-may-be-full-of-dead-alien-civilizations

Fernapple comments on Dec 23, 2020:

Interesting article up to a point, but a bit short on detail.

Don’t talk politics, religion, or sexuality.

Fernapple comments on Dec 23, 2020:

Same thing applies I often think to science, where some of your rules are. Accept reasonable doubt, test evidence, and qualify your statements. And you will always lose the arguments with those who don't.

Clearing land to feed 2050’s human population threatens biodiversity | Science News

Fernapple comments on Dec 22, 2020:

Should not really be news to anyone. But then it seems that the idea that the earth is a globe, is to some.

I’ve seen quite a few posts on here where something is deemed to be “unknowable”.

Fernapple comments on Dec 22, 2020:

Good point. If it is unknown, then you can not know it properties, including if it is unknowable. For if you know it is unknowable then you know something about it. Wonderfully silly.

And people in this country boo-hoo that we’re asked to wear a mask.

Fernapple comments on Dec 22, 2020:

So if she wanted to avoid fourteen days in her hotel room, twenty eight in a prison cell would seem about right.

Damn You Autocorrect!

Fernapple comments on Dec 22, 2020:

I would enlarge on that, by saying, 'bigger'.

Christmas time in the North of Germany

Fernapple comments on Dec 22, 2020:

Same here, but with added wind.

Wolf puppy from tens of thousands of years ago found frozen near Klondike: [arstechnica.com]

Fernapple comments on Dec 22, 2020:

Wonderful find, and a very readable article. Great.

Bowl of baby otters , today's cuteness

Fernapple comments on Dec 22, 2020:

Barrow load of baby orangutans. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOzI-D4LxR4

New Meat-Eating Dinosaur Species Found in Brazil: [sci-news.com]

Fernapple comments on Dec 22, 2020:

Love the picture, very creative, and lifelike.

The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague.

Fernapple comments on Dec 22, 2020:

Bit grim but true. Even today, the odd person still wakes up in the morgue, but in the past it was often very difficult to come up with good tests. I am told, that there is a well known account of how, the life-sign test for one crucifixion victim, was a jab in the dark with a spear point, to see if he grunts. Don't think that was likely to be very accurate. LOL

I might have posted this last year, but it isn't as if anyone would remember! Happy Solstice: ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 21, 2020:

A happy Yule to you too.

Happy Solstice to all. May your good fortune grow with the lengthening of the days ahead.

Fernapple comments on Dec 21, 2020:

Happy Solstice, and have a good and healthy new year.

Happy Solstice Everyone!

Fernapple comments on Dec 21, 2020:

Yule, enjoy yourself a lot more without the Christian nonsense.

One of my all time favorite Biblical contradictions.

Fernapple comments on Dec 21, 2020:

Yep, a good reminder.

This Online Community Is Sharing Pics Of Absolute Units, And It's Hard To Believe Things Can Get ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 21, 2020:

Great photos. Amazing what you can do with a wide angle lens though. LOL

Just thought members may like see a few pictures of Australian fossil remains.

Fernapple comments on Dec 21, 2020:

Interesting. Do you know what number three is ?

What Kinda Funeral Do Atheist Have?

Fernapple comments on Dec 20, 2020:

One of my friends had one a couple of weeks ago, pretty much like any other except no god mentioned. Some readings of poems and a short biography, and he picked a couple of fun songs. Personally I do not care what sort of service, if any, they give me. Though, if I had a choice, I would like to die alone and lost in the woods, so that the animals can eat.

“Once you label me you negate me”.............Soren Kierkegaard.

Fernapple comments on Dec 20, 2020:

You also make my skin sticky, and my hairs come out when I try to peal it off.

On A Happy Note ,just made Level 9 ,was my goal to do before Christmas ,

Fernapple comments on Dec 20, 2020:

A worthy winner.

So much for moral absolutes.

Fernapple comments on Dec 20, 2020:

I do not know your US politics well obviously. But I would not say Republican, more extreme. How about 'Fascist' . Look at it this way Fascism has got a bad name, and while a few really extreme Fascists may still accept the name, even they would admit that it is not going to help win them any popularity contests. So to really sell it, Fascism need a new name, (rebranding). Look around, is there a spare one available ? How about 'Christian', nobody really believes in that any longer, at least not in the plain teachings of it founder, and none of its groups believe in the same things, so its going spare, meaningless anyone can use it for anything. That will do nicely.

I've mentioned that I'm not prepared to discard "religion" simply because religious fundamentalists ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 20, 2020:

There are and have been, many definitions of the term 'religion'. And there is no reason why the same person should not choose to use more than one of them, according to circumstance. As long as they are plain about their usage and why they do so. Some definitions are narrow, and will only admit theist religion as true religion, while others are wide ranging, going beyond even none theist superstition and philosophy, to include even, social clubs, political movements, and personality cults. With that in mind, what would be perhaps the widest definition possible, encompassing the greatest range of usage. I would say that, a good and useful wide definition would perhaps be. 'Religion is the awarding of authority to things, without requiring the use of reason or evidence, to justify that award.' Whether those things be none existent sky fairies, spirits, myth, tradition, art, culture, political movements, old books, or cult leaders; the one thing that they all have in common. Is that they are considered to have authority, and be sources of truth, without attempting to expose themselves, to an unlimited degree, to questions of reason or evidence. Since this is perhaps the one thing that all the common usages of the term religion share, it is doubly useful as a definition. Since it makes plain the deep connection between the anti-social/criminal, and religion, from the playground bully and abusive spouse, to the political dictator. Since the things which every criminal wants more than anything else, are of course power and wealth, but especially power and wealth, which they do not have to expose to the trials of reason and evidence Your friends may be doing good, but they are also while doing so helping to build a house for crime. The fact that the odd blade of grass grows among the loco weed, does not make the loco weed good pasture.

Did i miss some rule disclosure where the use of the word fuck was prohibited?

Fernapple comments on Dec 20, 2020:

Bugger.

Wasabi farming in Japan. [youtu.be]

Fernapple comments on Dec 19, 2020:

Brilliant, just the sort of thing I love the web for.

I haven't been on here in a while. Erm, what's up?

Fernapple comments on Dec 19, 2020:

Not a lot, we just plod along as always. Welcome back.

What Are the Side Effects of COVID-19 Vaccines? [aarp.org]

Fernapple comments on Dec 19, 2020:

Several are recorded, as the article says, but my friend, who is 88 and quite frail had it last week, and said that it has just made her arm a bit sore, but that is going now.

Hi. I'm new here. Name's David. 🙂

Fernapple comments on Dec 19, 2020:

Hello and welcome. Enjoy the site, and do check out the groups if you have time, there is something for everyone.

Baby nursing parasite in fish

Fernapple comments on Dec 19, 2020:

OK I loved the 'you missed no. five bit.

15 arguments that PROVE Santa exists and DESTROY Santa deniers : atheism

Fernapple comments on Dec 19, 2020:

Yes that is funny, and so well put together.

By not opposing the ban, should they make that choice, the Jewish community has a serendipitous ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 19, 2020:

So if you can not buy meat that fits your religious law, because it does not fit the states law, then you are by default a vegetarian. Who ever said that, eating meat was a fundamental human right ?

Bibly people like to put out the classic: The wages of sin is death.

Fernapple comments on Dec 19, 2020:

And of course death did not exist until Adam and Eve plucked the apple. So the tardigrades can blame us. We have a lot to answer for. LOL

I am having a hard time understanding why I have to have a certain amount of points to join a group.

Fernapple comments on Dec 19, 2020:

Hello and welcome, enjoy the site. Some groups feel open to trolling, they set a certain value in points, so that only members who have proved that they are trustworthy can join. That is the main reason for the points system, it gives the site a chance to block and weed out, hackers, trolls, dealers and fakes etc. before they can do real damage. Some groups are more paranoid than others, sometimes with good reason (If they have, say, political content. ), sometimes not. But points come quickly if you take part.

Trump's been watching too many movies.

Fernapple comments on Dec 19, 2020:

I just don't understand why US presidents don't have to just go, as soon as they are voted out. Apart from France, perhaps, most first minister around the world go very quickly. It invites mischief.

Remember to say "please" and "thank you", wash behind your ears and hold the door for others. peace.

Fernapple comments on Dec 18, 2020:

Nice photo. Do you know the species please ?

Why Do Atheists Have Children?

Fernapple comments on Dec 18, 2020:

I do not think that having children, on an over populated planet is a good thing, I have not done so. But some people feel that giving life to children is a good and fulfilling thing: some people gamble, I don't: I drink, some people don't: some people do weed, I don't: I eat eggs, some people don't. And I am sorry to say that there will be as many different reasons for doing or not doing somethings as there are people, you will therefore end up with thousands of different answers, or none.

It doesn't get more classic than this. :D

Fernapple comments on Dec 18, 2020:

That gets the 'Groan Of The Week' award. No contest.

A Problem with Sacred Texts – TRUE? GOOD? BEAUTIFUL?

Fernapple comments on Dec 18, 2020:

Part of the problem with religious texts is expressed in the. "True, Good, Beautiful ? Part of your heading. The point being that for a text to attract followers, especially when those followers have come through education systems which do not teach the strongest critical thinking, the texts need only be the last, 'beautiful'. Which is why the arts of all sorts are so dangerous. That is of course basically the Dawkins 'memes' theory, of human culture, that ideas are not passed down and spread because they are correct or truthful, (though they may be that), but mainly just because they have the qualities which make them spreadable. Often by appealing to our prejudices, and fears, often because it is those that we are most sensitive and defensive about, or by appealing to our sense of beauty. I am sorry to say, that I can not go wholeheartedly with Keats, that "truth is beauty". Truth is only beauty to the already beautiful and perfect mind, and who has one of those ?

A Problem with Sacred Texts – TRUE? GOOD? BEAUTIFUL?

Fernapple comments on Dec 18, 2020:

It is helpful in such cases, to start perhaps, by defining religion, and there are, as you all well know, perhaps as many definitions of religion as there are religious people and sceptics put together. Especially when some people claim that, a religion has to have a deity and some claim not, while some say that even backing a football club can be religious. Here's a definition though, which always seemed to work for me, is very all embracing, and perhaps makes an important point about the main problem with religion. It is. “ Religion is the awarding of authority, to things which can not justify the authority by reason or evidence.” Whether those things are, sky fairies, old books, grand metaphores, political movements or people in office, etc. even sometimes science. ( I once saw a TV presenter ask a scientist to pronounce on a historical question, even though the scientist, said he had no knowledge of history, for example. ) In other words by this definition, religion is in many ways just the practical expression of the, proof from authority, fallacy.

Why do religious leaders complain about humane treatment of animals because it clashes with their ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 18, 2020:

Because they believe in the thin end of the wedge. If they allow even the smallest interpretation of their holy books, even if it is requires the most extreme interpretation in the other direction, to make it seem conflicting, then it raises for them the possibility that people may try to ask more questions, or even ask who gets to do the interpreting, and why. "And God forbid that."

Living near so many beautiful trees, I am trying to capture the huge variation in textures.

Fernapple comments on Dec 18, 2020:

You are getting there.

I have just seen "the bug" remove two successive posts remove the word c-h-i-l-d .

Fernapple comments on Dec 18, 2020:

The exact opposite happened to me yesterday, something duplicated several words in a comment I made.

My profile photo is a radio show about religion where I made a statement that "religion cheapens ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 17, 2020:

I agree wholly with that. Indeed even the desire for religion means a failing to appreciate life and nature.

My profile photo is a radio show about religion where I made a statement that "religion cheapens ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 17, 2020:

You mean that Jesus was not gay !?!?

Hello! Good to be here

Fernapple comments on Dec 17, 2020:

Hello and welcome. Enjoy the site and if you have time do check out the groups, there is something for everyone.

So where was everyone before they started "living in the moment?" 🙃

Fernapple comments on Dec 17, 2020:

A lot of people are still living in Dreamland.

Vitamin D and Covid 19 - Excellent information. [youtu.be]

Fernapple comments on Dec 17, 2020:

A number of people have been linking low vitamin D to bad C19 effects, for some time. It may not be the cure all some claim, but it certainly could help.

Can America Leave this Abusive Relationship?

Fernapple comments on Dec 17, 2020:

Why does it take so long for an American president to go ? In the UK as soon as the vote is counted, our Prime Ministers, get notice to pack their bags and go in days, and I think that applies to most of the rest of the world, as well.

"All of this massive cosmological churning and destruction (which is paralleled, by the way, on our ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 16, 2020:

Yes it could be the plan of a creator god, at least one which is not all caring and has no interest in suffering. But it is hard to see it as the plan of an all caring, Abrahamic god of human morality.

"All of this massive cosmological churning and destruction (which is paralleled, by the way, on our ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 16, 2020:

Amen.

Probably get the COVID vaccine this week or the next.

Fernapple comments on Dec 16, 2020:

My friend got it today. Says it is making her arm very sore and weak feeling. But she is in her late eighties and rather frail. In the UK people of my age ( 63 ) have still got to wait several months for their turn to come round. There is a bit of a debate going on here about whether, they should treat the elderly and in danger first, or go for the young most active spreaders to try for herd immunity.

What Box Do I Fit In?

Fernapple comments on Dec 16, 2020:

I would imagine that it is possible to fit in several of them at the same time. Why don't you tell us more about yourself ?

This one is excellent! Where do you fit in?

Fernapple comments on Dec 16, 2020:

Crude list really, and why probabilities not possibilities. But for what it is worth I will go 6.

16th December 1773.

Fernapple comments on Dec 16, 2020:

(Fun fact).Turkey went the other way. Being very vexed by the Arab domination of the coffee trade, when the Ottomans fell out with the Arab world. They took to growing their own tea, and now take a lot of national pride in their tea drinking culture. ( And it is lovely tea too.)

Thought to share it here

Fernapple comments on Dec 16, 2020:

I get the point, but really joking about mental illness.

I was raised feeling that my existence is a burden to others.

Fernapple comments on Dec 16, 2020:

Yes my mother was just such a parent, and my father being weak and absent a lot, did little to make up for it. Thankful to my grandparents. But one thing I found about gaining self worth, which you may like to try, is giving something to other people, be it charity work or socially active commitments. It adds a lot to your self worth to know that you have made a contribution, and especially so because you will know that it brings the kind of joy and rewards that abusers can never know. Because when you see what you have achieved lighting the faces of others, you will truly know that you have outgrown their intentions and understanding.

Quarantine central during this pandemic.

Fernapple comments on Dec 16, 2020:

Beautiful home, but you still need to be careful, even if you live way out.

So, now & then some of you have found me a tad harsh.

Fernapple comments on Dec 15, 2020:

Good luck. If guts alone can win you sure have those.

Between stimulus and response there is a space.

Fernapple comments on Dec 15, 2020:

Bit obvious, or am I missing something ?

Is this you?

Fernapple comments on Dec 15, 2020:

You posted this several hour ago.

Try to ignore the obvious oxymoron in the title of the article if you can 🤣🤣🤣 THE FLAT ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 15, 2020:

One line. "for Davidson, a born again Christian, " Says it all.

Sitting here enjoying my ciggie and cup of coffee when I hear through the window a little voice ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 15, 2020:

Yes but just think about how smooth and warm that paving is, after the sun has been on it. My wife liked outdoors, quite takes me back.

Sitting here enjoying my ciggie and cup of coffee when I hear through the window a little voice ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 15, 2020:

Perfect time to start education missed there.

Say buddy... Can you spare a few bucks?

Fernapple comments on Dec 15, 2020:

"Thanks for all the fish."

Try to ignore the obvious oxymoron in the title of the article if you can 🤣🤣🤣 THE FLAT ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 15, 2020:

Sorry it says, video not available in the UK.

Try to ignore the obvious oxymoron in the title of the article if you can 🤣🤣🤣 THE FLAT ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 15, 2020:

I have genuinely heard flat Earthers boast, that, their movement has gone global.

Since the season of Religious Insanity and Absurdity is almost ready to go 'full on' then please ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 15, 2020:

The first is certainly the best.

Eat your vegetables. Be kind when you can. Peace.

Fernapple comments on Dec 14, 2020:

You are kind I am sure. I hope the veg do you good.

Yes, there is a war between science and religion

Fernapple comments on Dec 14, 2020:

Putting it simply. I will probably never have absolute truth, but if I work really hard at it, and question everything especially my assumptions, perhaps I can get nearer to it. Science. I have absolute truth given to me, because I am chosen. Religion.

“Education is education.

Fernapple comments on Dec 14, 2020:

Beware pseudo-education. You can spend fifty years in the study of theology, and learn an awful lot about nothing worth a dam, which is the main point of it. Not that it is false, but that it wastes time. It is one of the cleverest tricks ever invented by those who wish to delude people.

No, the Moderna and Pfizer RNA vaccines for COVID-19 will not “permanently alter your DNA” – ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 14, 2020:

Ok I get the science. But here is a simple question that even the antivaccers should understand. IF a bit of RNA can alter your DNA when injected into you with a needle, why does exactly the same bit of RNA not have that effect when put into your body by a virus, especially when it is then accompanied by a whole lot more ?

[aeon.

Fernapple comments on Dec 14, 2020:

Sorry it says, "video not availlable."

So, earlier today, I'm on my bicycle, on this wonderful trail in a 3900 acre conservation area of ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 14, 2020:

No need to seek conflict, and spoil two peoples day. Plenty of needed conflict will find you soon enough. Well done restraint.

Working from home

Fernapple comments on Dec 14, 2020:

Always did work from home, so no change.

A few years ago in Upstate New York: Brook Glen Farm gave me a great opportunity to compost all the...

Fernapple comments on Dec 14, 2020:

Thats a good plot, enough to feed two families there.

This pisses me off.

Fernapple comments on Dec 13, 2020:

It may piss you of even more to know, that in the UK, female doctors keep the name under which they gained their doctorate, and do not change it when married. But then the US is a whole other world.

As the coronavirus explodes in North Carolina I'm at the point where if you do not take the virus ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 13, 2020:

If you lived in Europe, you would be made to feel guilty if you did not feel that way. For what it is worth therefore, there are hundreds of millions of people who feel just like you, your local area may not be a big enough sample of public opinion. Keep going you have a lot of moral support.

What a cage is to the wild beast, law is to the selfish man. Herbert Spencer

Fernapple comments on Dec 13, 2020:

The cage is full of holes.

Look what came in the mail today! Did you get one, too?

Fernapple comments on Dec 13, 2020:

I love the fact that the first line is. "Find an error, let us know..." Are they are inviting you to send them a five hundred page line by line dissection. LOL

I love to play with scammers who call me! Ring! Ring! An automated message says something about ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 13, 2020:

Well done. While you hold them up they can't annoy anybody else, so you are a public service, I wish I had your patience. My favourite is to say. "If you know your extension number, press it now, if not etc. etc." Or. "Sorry no bobby here spake a da English." I have thought of saying. "What colour are your underpants, you have a really sexy voice, can we talk dirty." But have not had the courage for that yet.

Seven of us went to the fabulous Theopolis Social Club tonight.

Fernapple comments on Dec 13, 2020:

Cute look.

Having fun wrapping Christmas gifts.

Fernapple comments on Dec 13, 2020:

People who are so well organized, they get everything done two weeks in advance. I am still shopping for my friends. Have you never though about the health benefits of a last minute adrenalin rush. LOL

I need someone to drink with.

Fernapple comments on Dec 12, 2020:

So you want two people to have serious problems ?

misanthropy philosophy

Fernapple comments on Dec 12, 2020:

I am happy to be a humanist. "Humans first before everything else, especially imaginary things." But yet have spent my whole life, opposed to a human centric view of the universe, and the idea of human exceptionalism. Is that too complex to carry off ?

Pastor: Planes Don’t Crash If There’s a Christian “On That Airplane Praying” | Hemant Mehta ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 12, 2020:

Funny enough. The last but one time I flew, I was sat in an isle seat between a fundamentalist couple and their children, ( Mother and two children on one side, father and eldest child on the other.) They seemed quite nice, and I spent a lot of time passing messages, sweets and toys, back and forth for them. But they got down and gave Allah a reminder at take off, then mid flight, then midday and just before landing. I thought. With me sat in the middle here, poor old Allah had better have a good aim.

Pastor: Planes Don’t Crash If There’s a Christian “On That Airplane Praying” | Hemant Mehta ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 12, 2020:

Is he aware, that there are thousands of internal flights every day, in countries with virtually zero christian populations ? Boy there are some closed communities on this planet, and a lot of them are christian. LOL

You guys! Wish me luck @ the casino, I go all the time and never win any jackpots 😩

Fernapple comments on Dec 12, 2020:

No body ever wins in a casino. Think about it this way. If we were friends and we met every night, with, say, a couple of other friends, to play, let us say poker. Then one night I said. "I want to change the rules of the game. We play our usual fair game. But, before we start, I am permitted to take the aces out of the pack, and keep them in my pocket so that I can use them when I like." "You will agree to do this because, I am such a good person, I should win more often than everybody else, and therefore if you do this, it will help me to do so. Sorry if it costs you a bit." You would, I think, very quickly tell me where to go. And you would be right to do so. Yet here is the rub, if you would not agree to play a rigged game, with a friend, who cares about you, and may have a real need for the money. Why would you be happy to go somewhere and play in games, which you know have their rules distorted in favour of complete strangers, whose only interest in you is to make money out of you, far beyond what it costs to lay on a few glittery lights and some space heating, to swell their already huge bank balances. I wish you luck always, and if you play in a charity lottery, for example, doubly, I am not opposed to games or a puritan, but a little imagination can make far more out of spare money.

What is most important and what is most important to you?

Fernapple comments on Dec 12, 2020:

I could never work that out, two things. But perhaps making a positive contribution, is the most important thing. That is not I hope, virtue signaling. It is simply that I have reached an age, when I have tried all the fun stuff that interests me, and found that you have just as much fun doing good things as bad or neutral things. So you may as well try to do good by default, even if there is no deep philosophical reason for it. The other thing which I think is the most underrated, and yet the most important thing of all, is improving your appreciation, which is the best route to joy, and best done by learning. At least it is better than the endless pursuit of novelty. Sometimes people who want to promote it, give it names like, 'awareness', 'spirituality', 'slow living', or 'mindfulness', but they are just talking about methods of getting there, and some methods are better than others, what it really comes down to is, appreciation, knowing how to value what the world gives.

When I was a young kid in elementary school there were many dangerous contagious diseases common in ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 12, 2020:

When the Black Death struck, whole towns and villages were closed down, infected houses had to be fumigated by burning sulphur, and in some cases whole streets of houses were burned, bodies had to be treated with lime and people working with the sick, wore large masks stuffed with herbs. Nothing new sorry, even in the sixteenth century some people were prepared to make an effort, and give something for their community.

Some important milestones in life happen only once and can never be repeated: birth, graduations, ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 12, 2020:

Yes but we are not talking about our own health, when we talk about safety measures. We are talking about not contributing to the deaths of other people.

It took me seconds to decide I didn't like the new visual style of this site.

Fernapple comments on Dec 12, 2020:

Why not post a voting form. If we can still do that ?

What do you think?

Fernapple comments on Dec 12, 2020:

I don't think, therefore I am not.

The weeks best dog and cat tweets.

Fernapple comments on Dec 12, 2020:

Yep dogs in winter for me too. I love the one helping to move the snow.

I may have posted this here earlier, I can't remember.

Fernapple comments on Dec 12, 2020:

I would be quite unable to answer. Since when I laugh really hard, I generally start to choke.

“It’s four hundred million million million million watts.

Fernapple comments on Dec 11, 2020:

Brian Cox is always fun.

Why is religion suddenly declining? | OUPblog

Fernapple comments on Dec 11, 2020:

Good article up to a point. Though I note that it does not mention the rate at which the world is becoming more connected due to IT. Which has several possible effects, including the rise of real multiculturalism, which gives people cause to question their adherence to one single culture and belief system, accompanied by more information with which to do so. Also the rise of so called fake news, conspiracy theory etc., which though they may delude some, perhaps forces most people to get into the habit of being much more critical and questioning. We may well be on edge of a world which values objective truth, good research and information, and a belief in objective taste more than ever, precisely because the opposites of all those things are so readily available and therefore cheapened.

Who created man with such a complex structure?

Fernapple comments on Dec 10, 2020:

You are perhaps not as complex as you think anyway. Humans still have the basic mammal design, which has been around for million upon millions of years, and is little changed in us. And that is in turn, only a slight variation on the basic reptile/tetrapod design. While if you think about, for example, your skeleton, you are basically just a bilateral tube, reinforced with bones in segments along the length, ( your ribs make this very clear,) while your pelvice, collar bone, and even jaw, are just highly modified ribs. In the end therefore, the basic pattern of a segmented worm, is still there and hardly changed.

If the world allows, my son and I will be headed to Alaska’s BearCamp in the summer.

Fernapple comments on Dec 10, 2020:

Sounds wonderful, I do hope that you have fun and that virus travel restrictions don't spoil your plans. You will I hope post all about it here.

Mosaic floor a puzzle, as Roman's should have been gone:[theguardian.com]

Fernapple comments on Dec 10, 2020:

Slowly fade away, with a whimper not a bang.

Who created man with such a complex structure?

Fernapple comments on Dec 10, 2020:

Evolution does not have any regard for how complex or not its creations are, the only criterion is, does it work, and anything that works is kept. Though of course the more complex of organisms are more prone to going extinct, due to even slight changes in the environment. Which is why some of the longest lived, or at least longest in an unchanged state, are the simplest, there are species of single celled creatures which have been around practically unaltered since the earliest fossil records, while few complex organisms survive more than a geological era. Amusingly, there is doubtful but interesting hypothesis about the saber tooth adaption, which illustrates this. Since there have been, many animals with the saber tooth form, cats, dogs, bears I think and even hoofed animals. Yet they all go extinct. The hypothesis goes that this happens because, having saber teeth is a very good adaption for feeding on large vegetable eating animals, which few predators are big enough or well armed enough to kill, so that saber toothed animals have a food source all to themselves. ( Not many things want to try an adult elephant.) And when once you have got your saber teeth and large strong body, then those with the biggest teeth and strongest bodies, thrive and prosper the most, in competition with their fellows, so that the bodies and the teeth get bigger and bigger. The problem comes when there is a climate change, disease, or a disaster of some sort which causes the plant eaters population to plunge. Eventually the plant eaters populations may recover, from a few individuals who stagger out of isolated valleys. But the saber toothed predators can not live on a few scattered individuals in isolated valleys, they need huge populations spread widely. And because they are big, perhaps slow and have clumsy teeth, they can do nothing else, they can not live on or even catch mice or birds, such as a modern wolf would in hard times. So they go extinct. And then, when thing settle down, evolution produces, because it is driven by inter-specific competition, another species of saber tooths. The process is mindless and remorseless. Competition says get better at your job, become ever better adapted, to out perform the fellow members of your own species. Until you are so highly adapted, you are a specialist, and you can do nothing else. Then a small rapid change is enough to tip you over the edge. And a few medium sized, none specialists, stagger of of caves in hidden valleys, diversify and it all starts over.