Has there been such a thing as "moral progress" in the history of mankind?

Quarm comments on Apr 7, 2019:

Moral progress is tied to economic largess, education, shared heritage and many other positive factors. The sad thing is moral decay reverses many of these same gains due to war, lack of education, greed, selfishness etc. Humans think technology somehow defines progress, I think technology allows ...

Fernapple replies on Apr 7, 2019:

Yes I also think that technology creates the wealth needed to fund education, which is one of the driving forces of moral growth. While the two of them together drive aspiration which is the other main one.

Science suggests that people are only aware of 5% of the activity in our brain.

Fernapple comments on Apr 7, 2019:

Those exact figures have been questioned, but there is certainly a lot which goes on behind the scenes. You are for example, not conscious of your brain regulating your heart beat and your body heat. Or the vast amount of work that your optical system does to clean up and sort the inputs that come ...

Fernapple replies on Apr 7, 2019:

@Cast1es Yes if you don't callenge yourself you can sleepwalk through life. LOL

"If God has a plan, then why the fuck is everyone praying all the time?"

MsDemeanour comments on Apr 7, 2019:

God's a narcissist. He wants the adulation

Fernapple replies on Apr 7, 2019:

@MsDemeanour Yes I know, I was just engaging light heartedly, but it is important to be aware of the huge vanity and self importance of those people all the time.

"If God has a plan, then why the fuck is everyone praying all the time?"

MsDemeanour comments on Apr 7, 2019:

God's a narcissist. He wants the adulation

Fernapple replies on Apr 7, 2019:

No god is a fiction and therefore does not have wants, it is his priests who want second hand adulation.

There's so much CO2 in the atmosphere that planting trees can no longer save us ...

WilliamFleming comments on Apr 6, 2019:

The article is based on misconceptions. Plants take CO2 out of the atmosphere, and along with hydrogen and water and light they manufacture food for their own use, some of which is consumed by other organisms. When that food is consumed, every last molecule of the carbon that was made returns to the...

Fernapple replies on Apr 7, 2019:

@WilliamFleming You are basically right and the contribution of trees etc. is small, but new and replanted forests will absorb a little until they reach a state of balance, and small amounts of fossil carbon are still being laid down in for example, peat bogs. It did not end with the Carboniferous. Though it is a small effect that will not make any real difference while peat bogs are themselves under threat from human activeties.

The Marsh Marigolds, Caltha palustris are flowering in the garden pond now.

Cast1es comments on Apr 6, 2019:

They're lovely ! Had never heard of those before .

Fernapple replies on Apr 6, 2019:

They are a UK native, you may not have them, though they spread so easily I would be surprised.

Why do so many member of this site spend so much time talking about religion on this site?

Fernapple comments on Apr 5, 2019:

I don't think that they do, if you get out into the groups you will find people posting about all sorts of things, and hardly a mention of religion. It is only on the front page that you find that, perhaps because that is the entry port for what is a mainly anti-theist community. If you stand ...

Fernapple replies on Apr 6, 2019:

@Storm1752 THank you, I think that my last was to be adressed to both you and wordywalt but it seems both read it anyway.

20% of Tennesseans believe Creationism should not be taught in public schools. Only. 20. Percent.

Jprice422 comments on Aug 19, 2018:

I know, that’s nuts. I’m a transplant here, and love the lakes, mountains and Music. But I have a hard time living among people who don’t believe in evolution and still say prayers before every event in PUBLIC schools. I started dating a very attractive and successful woman that I was ...

Fernapple replies on Apr 6, 2019:

I had that from a lady. So I said. Camel, cow, rabbit ? Sadly she did not think it was funny.

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

Fernapple comments on Apr 6, 2019:

I wonder who did they get to pose, a good Darwin look-a-like.

Fernapple replies on Apr 6, 2019:

@WilliamCharles Yes could be.

This may not be news to American members, but it should be interesting to the rest of us, Did ...

chazwin comments on Apr 5, 2019:

Such "Ages" have more to do with archaeological taxonomy than socially emically recognisable shifts in behaviours or social structure. Fact is people of any age do not know they are part of "an age". It was possibly Vere Gordon Childe that was responsible for this emphasis on economic materialism. ...

Fernapple replies on Apr 6, 2019:

Yes that is very true, though as I read it, it is the main issue which the video attempts to address. One of the reasons that the idea of ages, is so deeply rooted in education and popular culture, is of course because, the ages idea, dates right back into the nineteenth century, (If you disregard the classical ages of the ancient Greek Roman world ) when the understanding of history was in its infancy, and people were just begining to grope their way through the mists using the evidence of early archaeology, to try and find some structure in the past. Structure perhaps being a nineteenth century obsession, and much of modern scientific history has been about adding nuance to that and exploring how messy history really is, which I find endlessly fascinating. And of course, education tends to reflect the historical narrative of discovery, to use as its structure for teaching children, so that for many people who never progress very far into the sciences, that early schooling becomes their framework for understanding. That may not be a good thing for the popular understanding of history, but in biology in many countries it has proved disastrous, with many people being schooled in plant classification and anatomy (early developments ), yet never reaching evolutionary theory, which was usually only taught to advanced classes, yet which is of course at the core of the subject, and the main source of even begining to understanding it at all. And sadly I am sure that the churches had a hand in making sure the teaching was framed that way. Thank you for your comment and hope I have not gone on too long, but I find the history of science itself a very interesting subject.

Kids More Likely To Be Molested At Church Than In Transgender Bathrooms

SeaGreenEyez comments on Apr 5, 2019:

Of course!!! (Did anyone watch the video at the bottom of the story? The Arch Bishop of St. Louis didn't know it was a crime for priests to have sex with children. *OH FFS!* *smfh*)

Fernapple replies on Apr 6, 2019:

I guess that if you make your living telling lies all the time, then you get to think that it is a normal thing to do, can't tell what is true any longer and/or think that you will always be able to get away with it everywhere, and you will never see that it makes you look like a clown in other situations.

Why do so many member of this site spend so much time talking about religion on this site?

Fernapple comments on Apr 5, 2019:

I don't think that they do, if you get out into the groups you will find people posting about all sorts of things, and hardly a mention of religion. It is only on the front page that you find that, perhaps because that is the entry port for what is a mainly anti-theist community. If you stand ...

Fernapple replies on Apr 6, 2019:

@wordywalt A very few of the groups are self-reinforcing divisions, but not many, I joined ten and nearly all the members of all of them, take part fully in the whole of this site. The groups simply reflect the range of members interests. While if anything the main page is just a speciallist goup in itself which reflects the common thread that connects us, and is really only a introductory starter page; if you never leave that you will never understand this site.

For a lot of folks today, their "identity" is the most important anchor in this confusing, messy ...

WilliamFleming comments on Apr 5, 2019:

I feel left out. I can’t think of an identity for myself. Well, I’m sort of an ethnic Cracker but not a very good one. I know! I’ll be a member of the class of confused, bewildered people who have no identity other than as conscious beings! I’ve already been trying hard to promote myself...

Fernapple replies on Apr 5, 2019:

@WilliamFleming Done.

For a lot of folks today, their "identity" is the most important anchor in this confusing, messy ...

WilliamFleming comments on Apr 5, 2019:

I feel left out. I can’t think of an identity for myself. Well, I’m sort of an ethnic Cracker but not a very good one. I know! I’ll be a member of the class of confused, bewildered people who have no identity other than as conscious beings! I’ve already been trying hard to promote myself...

Fernapple replies on Apr 5, 2019:

If I start a confused, bewildered, old persons "neo-community" would you like to join that ?

For a lot of folks today, their "identity" is the most important anchor in this confusing, messy ...

Amisja comments on Apr 5, 2019:

This post is very Western and probably middle-class centric. For a start I take issue with the whole choosing to be trans thing. Being trans is rarely (if ever) a matter of choice. Lifestyles in general are far far less about choice and far more about your situation. For millions and millions of ...

Fernapple replies on Apr 5, 2019:

Well said. And sorry I don't get the ident thing, too busy living for that. And what is it about being an activist which stops you being a citizen, surely being active makes you a better citizen.

I've learned of atheists throughout history.

Gwendolyn2018 comments on Apr 4, 2019:

Do you mean "Democritus"? Actually, the Greeks did not see gods as all knowing, all powerful, or all loving. Can you give a source for that quote?

Fernapple replies on Apr 5, 2019:

@Wallace Yep that's the one I heard, I don't know where the one at the top came from but suspect that it is just a miss quote.

Michael Tomasello (in his excellent book "Becoming human".

Fernapple comments on Apr 4, 2019:

"Whereas great ape social relations are based mainly on competition and dominance, with a dash of cooperation,." Sorry this is a terrible straw-man argument, just about every social species has a "we" concept. There is only one difference between human society and those of the other social animals, ...

Fernapple replies on Apr 5, 2019:

@Gmak I am sure I will read his book and it is unfair of me to critique his work without. But. Firstly Chimpanzees are known to cooperate when patrolling the boundaries of their territories, and also when hunting, where they even show organized division of labour. These would be quite impossible without a concept of “we”. Indeed it would be almost impossible for any social animal to even function at the most basic level without the idea of we, think just of the simple. “ There are more/less of them.” Which must be at the bottom of all group conflict. These are well known and accepted fact in commonplace knowledge. One of the main reasons why pseudo-science takes hold, is the human tendency to want single simple answers, despite the fact that life is never that simple. No animal exists in the niche it does for any one single simple reason, least of all humans. It is natural for those who instigate ideas to overrate them, and that is forgiveable but this is at best a very weak idea anyway.

Michael Tomasello (in his excellent book "Becoming human".

Fernapple comments on Apr 4, 2019:

"Whereas great ape social relations are based mainly on competition and dominance, with a dash of cooperation,." Sorry this is a terrible straw-man argument, just about every social species has a "we" concept. There is only one difference between human society and those of the other social animals, ...

Fernapple replies on Apr 4, 2019:

@Matias No I have not read it and it may be unfair of me to judge before doing so, but the whole thing smells of woo with a hidden theist agenda. The fact that as you say he sites hundereds of studies, makes me suspect cherry picking. As to language, there is some albeit questionable evidence that many animals are capable of understanding human language to a limited degree, therefore the origin of language may be on more than a quantitive rather than a qualitive effect, plus perhaps some physical changes such as changes in the shape of the larinx which makes sound production easier. There is also the factor of abstraction and that language may develop for the mental ability to lie.

Michael Tomasello (in his excellent book "Becoming human".

WilliamFleming comments on Apr 4, 2019:

What comes to mind are team sports, something uniquely human so far as I know. But don’t forget that we are bettered in social cooperation by ants and bees. It would vary, depending on the environment, but maybe there is an optimal degree of cooperation, and too much of it has a negative ...

Fernapple replies on Apr 4, 2019:

Don' forget that too much may be the start of war in the first place.

"Alternative" medicine and pet care. [skepticalinquirer.org]

Fernapple comments on Apr 4, 2019:

One other possible though not very likely problem with herbals that they did not mention, is that some herbs especially if give often over a long time, may prove mildly or seriously toxic. It is well to remember that many if not most of the active chemicals that plants store in their tissues, are ...

Fernapple replies on Apr 4, 2019:

@Elganned Quite, you nailed her response exactly. I will have to remember the horse shit one, that's a good one.

Michael Tomasello (in his excellent book "Becoming human".

Fernapple comments on Apr 4, 2019:

"Whereas great ape social relations are based mainly on competition and dominance, with a dash of cooperation,." Sorry this is a terrible straw-man argument, just about every social species has a "we" concept. There is only one difference between human society and those of the other social animals, ...

Fernapple replies on Apr 4, 2019:

@Elganned Yes, but I have seen filmic evidence of a chimp bringing a stone for another to crack nuts with. While fires etc. are only advanced technology that we enjoy because of the teaching and organizing qualities of language. When talking about ideas and motivations you are getting into the realms of subjective judgements, and it is very easy to "spin" what looks like theory out of a slight and subjective judgement.

So this religious group came door knocking(should be illegal) and where going on about how gods so ...

Fernapple comments on Apr 4, 2019:

Don't you will get arrested. Instead tell him that you would be glad to attend one of their meetings, and listen to them tell you about god. But unfortunately times have moved on, so you can not. Because and while in the past it was quite acceptable for people to go into the poor house and the then ...

Fernapple replies on Apr 4, 2019:

@irascible Good question. Don't give them money.

Classic Sartre . . .

Fernapple comments on Apr 3, 2019:

Don't see anything satirical in that, it just about as plain a truth as you can get. And also remember that if you can't govern well, give everyone fair rewards and fix the problems at home, then you can always blame foreigners, and if that does not work then you can always ship people out to fight ...

Fernapple replies on Apr 4, 2019:

@callmedubious Sadly its not new, it is what all dictatorships and failed democracies have always done, countries mainly make war abroad because that's easier than fixing the problems at home.

If Russia hadn't entered Syria and Asad regime fell, we might have seen Islamic State forming ...

CeliaVL comments on Apr 3, 2019:

Assad was as democratically elected in Syria as US presidents are in the USA. Syria is the only secular state in the Middle East and needs to be supported as a bulwark against Islam. The only thing the US is interested in getting control of oil resources. Destroying viable countries and creating ...

Fernapple replies on Apr 3, 2019:

@CeliaVL And winning votes back home by seeming to do something and even declaring "victories" when all that has really been done is a little random vandalism.

Lux Aeterna.

Fernapple comments on Apr 3, 2019:

Its "Nimrod" I thought Lux Aeturna was the name of the piece, and then thought that's some Elgar I never heard of before. LOL

Fernapple replies on Apr 3, 2019:

@Marionville Yes very beautiful, and I assume that Lux Aeturna is the group.

Does anyone recognize this flower bud, it's about 3 inches in diameter?

mzbehavin comments on Apr 2, 2019:

Magnolia bud or Tulip Tree bud.

Fernapple replies on Apr 3, 2019:

I would go for magnolia because the leaves are magnolia like though, they certainly are not tulip tree leaves.

Next time the like button wont work, just mellow and look at the scenery.

Pralina1 comments on Apr 2, 2019:

Absolutely beautiful . Perfect this morning . Thank u for sharing .

Fernapple replies on Apr 2, 2019:

"LIKE" manual, button not working.

Next time the like button wont work, just mellow and look at the scenery.

Marionville comments on Apr 2, 2019:

Beautiful....music and Italian scenery! Love them both!

Fernapple replies on Apr 2, 2019:

Could not find anything better for a cold wet day, first cav. rust. I tried D. Trump was in the audience, so thought I had better not show that one. "LIKE"

Does anyone recognize this flower bud, it's about 3 inches in diameter?

Fernapple comments on Apr 2, 2019:

Photoshopius magledmagnolia

Fernapple replies on Apr 2, 2019:

@RichieO "LIKE"

Yesterday I watched a YouTube video of a Iman answering questions about Islam.

UpsideDownAgain comments on Apr 2, 2019:

Well, I'm still going to hell.

Fernapple replies on Apr 2, 2019:

If I see you there I will buy you a drink.

I saw this garden gate at the weekend and quite liked it, I especially like the way they used the ...

Hathacat comments on Apr 2, 2019:

Beautiful!

Fernapple replies on Apr 2, 2019:

"LIKE" .Manual, button not working.

Fans of serial works like series of novels, comic books, movies, TV shows, and computer games are ...

Fernapple comments on Apr 2, 2019:

What a mess. And they are not even serial works written by authors who knew one another and worked as a team, the bible is just a scrap book of press cuttings (Mostly gutter press.) from the late Bronze early Iron ages.

Fernapple replies on Apr 2, 2019:

@lpetrich Some people try to give the bible extra ceredibility by saying that the original was written in very good, Greek/Hebrew. But in those days nearly everyone employed professional scribes to do their writing for them, who, while not educated in the modern sense, were very adept at their job no doubt, and given that what comes down to us probably passed through dozens of such hands before the earliest copies we have, it is likely that at least one in the chain would be a very good stylist. That does not mean therefore that the originals were not written by primitive barely literate goatherds.

I highly recommend that we all take an "adult dose" of this, sit back, refrain from attempts to ...

SeaGreenEyez comments on Apr 1, 2019:

I had NO idea "likes were so important. Duly noted.

Fernapple replies on Apr 2, 2019:

@SeaGreenEyez They show appreiciation for other peoples efforts, without having to bore them with unneeded, banal and shallow commentry.

April fools day is over .

Fernapple comments on Apr 2, 2019:

I am not sure but it still seems to be affecting people who use computers not phones.

Fernapple replies on Apr 2, 2019:

@Mofferatu I can double "LOVE LOVE". yours. lol

April fools day is over .

Fernapple comments on Apr 2, 2019:

I am not sure but it still seems to be affecting people who use computers not phones.

Fernapple replies on Apr 2, 2019:

@Mofferatu "LIKE" .Manual button not working.

See why scientists are geeking out about this new find [cnn.com]

Fernapple comments on Apr 2, 2019:

"LIKE" .Manual button not working.

Fernapple replies on Apr 2, 2019:

@MojoDave Yep it came back for a hour and then went away again with me.

We are in a new geological era.

ScienceBill72 comments on Apr 1, 2019:

I've always found Humans Arrogance towards their importance in nature quite Alarming

Fernapple replies on Apr 2, 2019:

"LIKE" .Manual button not working. I do not know that however dramatic it has gone on for long enough yet to appear in the fossil record in say 50 million years, though I suppose some architectiure may.

The buttons are up one day, down the next for me. What is going on????

CaroleKay comments on Apr 1, 2019:

Fernapple replies on Apr 2, 2019:

"LIKE" .Manual button not working.

The buttons are up one day, down the next for me. What is going on????

David1955 comments on Apr 1, 2019:

The Gods are finally taking their revenge. .. or maybe the Russians .. or the Chinese... .. or the Republican party ..or maybe...

Fernapple replies on Apr 2, 2019:

"LIKE" .Manual button not working.

This seems a useful and interesting bit of history, which comes over as sober and complete.

LB67 comments on Apr 2, 2019:

Interesting. I had only heard the version of it having great similarities with christianity, which seems to be unsubstantiated. It is good to have the facts straight.

Fernapple replies on Apr 2, 2019:

"LIKE" .Manual button not working.

Business took me to the village of Bishop Burton in Yorkshire at the weekend.

MissKathleen comments on Apr 1, 2019:

Charming, not corny.

Fernapple replies on Apr 2, 2019:

"LIKE"

Business took me to the village of Bishop Burton in Yorkshire at the weekend.

ToolGuy comments on Apr 1, 2019:

Really pretty.

Fernapple replies on Apr 2, 2019:

"LIKE"

Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.

Marionville comments on Apr 1, 2019:

My happiness has been restored.....the like button is working again! Hurrah! ?

Fernapple replies on Apr 1, 2019:

Not mine. I can't under stand why it works for some people some of the time and then does not work for others.

REVIEW PREVIOUS POSTS! It would be super amazing if some of you would quickly review the recent ...

Rob1948 comments on Mar 31, 2019:

And part of the problem comes from reading a post about a broken what ever and then seeing a comment about it being fixed. Yet, it isn’t fixed for you. And, you don’t know that anyone knows it isn’t fixed for you. So, you post or message because you can’t be sure a comment will be seen.

Fernapple replies on Apr 1, 2019:

@Rob1948 "Like" It did for me for a bit, now it has gone again.

Business took me to the village of Bishop Burton in Yorkshire at the weekend.

Sheannutt comments on Apr 1, 2019:

Beautiful ❤

Fernapple replies on Apr 1, 2019:

"Like " Manually.

Business took me to the village of Bishop Burton in Yorkshire at the weekend.

RichieO comments on Apr 1, 2019:

More pretty than petty, that's one big duck-pond...

Fernapple replies on Apr 1, 2019:

Thanks for the spell check that's what I meant.

Something is wrong in the submit post portion.

Kafirah comments on Apr 1, 2019:

It told me yesterday that I had misspelled illiterate... I almost died of irony. Luckily, it was a false positive.

Fernapple replies on Apr 1, 2019:

How ironic is, " I almost died of irony", I will try to remember that, its bound to come in useful.

Everyone believes that their religion is the right one, but who is right?

David1955 comments on Mar 31, 2019:

One of the "good" things about the religion "industry" is that there are never any return dissatisfied customers. Pay now, die later, no refunds. It's the perfect scam, really. As for which is "right", the real question is which is proven. Answer, none. Roll up! Roll Up! Join the religion ...

Fernapple replies on Apr 1, 2019:

"LIKE" manual button not working.

REVIEW PREVIOUS POSTS! It would be super amazing if some of you would quickly review the recent ...

Rob1948 comments on Mar 31, 2019:

And part of the problem comes from reading a post about a broken what ever and then seeing a comment about it being fixed. Yet, it isn’t fixed for you. And, you don’t know that anyone knows it isn’t fixed for you. So, you post or message because you can’t be sure a comment will be seen.

Fernapple replies on Apr 1, 2019:

"Like" Manual like because button still not working.

As an atheist, this is something I enjoy, so don't bust my balls.

skado comments on Mar 23, 2019:

OK, I’ll give it a try. If, on a rainy Monday afternoon, I write in my diary “It’s raining.” I would be telling the truth. If later that week, on Thursday, the sun is out and I write in my diary “It’s not raining.” I’m also telling the truth. After I die, somebody picks up my ...

Fernapple replies on Mar 31, 2019:

@Mcflewster Agreed I have always felt that way about science and the arts. Yet the view that good taste in the arts is the same as the adoption of objective truth is at least original to me, though I have always thought that art was only good, in so far as it told usful and objective truth anyway. Can not like your comment as the button is not working.

Anyone had any experience with the challenges and problems of teaching evolution in schools?

Mcflewster comments on Jun 8, 2018:

The most dangerous misuse of a soundbite regarding evolution is " Evolution is the survival of the fittest ". It should always be replaced with "Evolution is the survival of the most adaptable".

Fernapple replies on Mar 31, 2019:

No it should be, "best fitted" most adaptable implies that adaption has purpose and is itself intended, evolution has no foresight.

I came into existence by happenstance with an indeterminant probability and I will die by ...

Amisja comments on Mar 31, 2019:

Virgin births are actually fairly common

Fernapple replies on Mar 31, 2019:

@Amisja LIKE. best I can do, like button not working.

I came into existence by happenstance with an indeterminant probability and I will die by ...

Count_Viceroy comments on Mar 31, 2019:

Christianity is a fraud because it's a religion.

Fernapple replies on Mar 31, 2019:

Sorry can't like this because its not working. LIKE

I came into existence by happenstance with an indeterminant probability and I will die by ...

Amisja comments on Mar 31, 2019:

Virgin births are actually fairly common

Fernapple replies on Mar 31, 2019:

Only in Accrington.

When David Cameron allowed the 2016 Referendum to go ahead he did not realize that it would release ...

Fernapple comments on Mar 31, 2019:

Sadly whatever happens the one thing that will not happen is better democracy.

Fernapple replies on Mar 31, 2019:

@Mcflewster If you would like to know about my thoughts on science a other things a good way would be to look at my debate with Skado on this post. Warning it is a long debate so sit back for a good read. https://agnostic.com/post/316388/as-an-atheist-this-is-something-i-enjoy-so-dont-bust-my-balls-i-like-things-to-be-logical-and-co?cid=1187018

When David Cameron allowed the 2016 Referendum to go ahead he did not realize that it would release ...

Fernapple comments on Mar 31, 2019:

Sadly whatever happens the one thing that will not happen is better democracy.

Fernapple replies on Mar 31, 2019:

@Mcflewster You misread me I am sorry to say, science is my greatest passion and the way that I see the world. If anything my view as presented here was mainly influenced by chaos theory, which deeply affected my thinking many years ago partly because of events like the one described. Part of my point was that we were told that he was a very top government employee, though certainly no scientist, or a very bad one since I would hope that no scientist would have the dishonesty to speculate like that about the future, since that would be the very opposite of true science.

When David Cameron allowed the 2016 Referendum to go ahead he did not realize that it would release ...

Fernapple comments on Mar 31, 2019:

Sadly whatever happens the one thing that will not happen is better democracy.

Fernapple replies on Mar 31, 2019:

@Mcflewster But iI will quote you a post I made the other day. It may happen, it may not happen, if it does it will most likely be all of the above working together, plus some others like resource exhaustion, grid breakdown etc. Few things in history occur for single simple reasons, historians have found forty plus reasons why the Roman Empire ended, most of which could never have been foreseen and all of which contributed. But if you want to know the future then you can try a fortune teller, or a futurologist, neither work but they are your best shot. When at college forty years ago we went to a lecture given by a government advisor, very senior, who job was to predict future trends for the government, we were told that it was very special that he agreed to talk to us. Over the years I remember how many of the things he said came true; exactly none. History is chaotic and all attempts to foresee it are doomed to fail.

When David Cameron allowed the 2016 Referendum to go ahead he did not realize that it would release ...

Fernapple comments on Mar 31, 2019:

Sadly whatever happens the one thing that will not happen is better democracy.

Fernapple replies on Mar 31, 2019:

@Mcflewster No just a sad old bloke.

As an atheist, this is something I enjoy, so don't bust my balls.

skado comments on Mar 23, 2019:

OK, I’ll give it a try. If, on a rainy Monday afternoon, I write in my diary “It’s raining.” I would be telling the truth. If later that week, on Thursday, the sun is out and I write in my diary “It’s not raining.” I’m also telling the truth. After I die, somebody picks up my ...

Fernapple replies on Mar 31, 2019:

@skado Yes I do see hope, but first it is needful to outline the problem clearly. Richard Dawkins famously was the first to propound the idea that religions are infections of the mind which grow, reproduce and evolve, just like organic diseases. I think that he failed however to see the extent to which that is true of all human culture, and the way in which a culture is able to evolve to improve the way in which it does that. When two cultures merge, or one is absorbed by anther, sometimes without conflict but sometime in the most violent way such as by physical conflict and imperialism; the winning culture will often then absorb parts of the other. But of course it will always take the best bits, which means the bits which enabled the loosing culture to most successfully infect other minds, and the parts most used by the dominant humans within it. This is very like bacteria exchanging genes, or sex in plants and animals. Successful cultures therefore gradually gain more powers which they can use to control people and to compete for that control with other cultures. At this time there are many cultures competing for territory, or in other words control of humans. For example American capitalist imperial theist culture, is in sharp conflict as we all know with Islamic medieval capitalist culture, and socialist culture, though there are many others. At some stage in human development, the biological and evolutionary ground work needed for the development of human language and culture had been completed, and since that day most of our growth and evolution has been of a technological form, language and culture being themselves only technologies in the broadest sense of the word. Nor would I think that many would argue when I say that it is technology which has created almost all that we have gained since then. It is a fashionable worry for many people, that the new computer technology might prove to be dangerous to the human mind. Especially in danger are the minds of the young. Who it is thought, will be easily seduced into an alternate world, where they would loose all contact with what is called objective reality. Yet, the people who attach themselves to this new fashionable “worry” miss something vital, and are at least ten thousand years too late. Since humanities really serious loss of contact with reality may well have occurred long centuries ago, soon after we first began to do no more than tell tales around the camp fire. If culture is a disease of the mind, it is an intellectual infection to which humans have no pre-evolved resistance in our biology, for evolution has no foresight and only works retrospectively. There is a common theme in the popular imagination, especially expressed in science fiction, which sees human technology as...

Apart from the Daffs everything seems to be blue in the garden now.

Zoohome comments on Mar 30, 2019:

I love blue flowers

Fernapple replies on Mar 31, 2019:

@Zoohome With you anyway.

Some people think that Forsythia is a bit vulgar if not overdone, but it could just be a case of ...

Carin comments on Mar 30, 2019:

Very sweet.

Fernapple replies on Mar 30, 2019:

Maynbe even bordering on twee, but what the hec I am old enough to make a fool of myself and not care who sees it.

As an atheist, this is something I enjoy, so don't bust my balls.

skado comments on Mar 23, 2019:

OK, I’ll give it a try. If, on a rainy Monday afternoon, I write in my diary “It’s raining.” I would be telling the truth. If later that week, on Thursday, the sun is out and I write in my diary “It’s not raining.” I’m also telling the truth. After I die, somebody picks up my ...

Fernapple replies on Mar 30, 2019:

@skado History is as the saying goes, written by the winners. And since we are cultural creatures living in a cultural environment controlled by people who are culturally successful, and culture itself controls even those who think they control it, we are therefore bound to over estimate the value and goodness of culture. Culture is a living thing which evolves, and what it evolves to do is to exploit humans, the most successful cultures are those who can manipulate humans the most successfully., Cultures which can get people to die, slave and kill for them the most, win over those that can't. Yet especially it is the things which seem like the bests bits, which have to be distrusted the most, the best bait always covers the most deadly hooks. The finest arts are used to draw people into the temples where the most evil of crusades are preached.

Apart from the Daffs everything seems to be blue in the garden now.

Zoohome comments on Mar 30, 2019:

I love blue flowers

Fernapple replies on Mar 30, 2019:

Me too.

Apart from the Daffs everything seems to be blue in the garden now.

Lllewis comments on Mar 29, 2019:

Lovely colours

Fernapple replies on Mar 29, 2019:

Thank you, just natural no filters or cromatic changes in photoshop.

Like a shag on a .......

ToolGuy comments on Mar 29, 2019:

What kind of bird are we looking at?

Fernapple replies on Mar 29, 2019:

@JustRyan adjectiveBritish adjective: twee; comparative adjective: tweer; superlative adjective: tweest excessively or affectedly quaint, pretty, or sentimental, especially when used as a euphemism. "although the film's a bit twee, it's watchable" synonyms: quaint, sweet, bijou, dainty, pretty, pretty-pretty;

"Mercier and Sperber (in their book Enigma of Reason) proposed a novel theory of human ...

mordant comments on Mar 28, 2019:

The problem of course is that one can appeal to *faulty* reasoning or even quasi- or false-reasoning. And many forms of religion are ripe for such fallacious appeals (as are politics and various claims of superior reasoning by peoples, clans, families, races or tribes). More generically, we are less...

Fernapple replies on Mar 29, 2019:

@mordant My thoughts exactly, although meant to be true my comment was half joke, but you nail it eloquently. At the end of the day, anyone in any sphere who does not assume but tests, is doing science, it is not much more complex than that..

Conservative Bible Project aims to rewrite scripture to counter perceived liberal bias - New York ...

AnneWimsey comments on Mar 29, 2019:

But, it says right there, in several places, that altering the words of the Babble will condemn the alterer-er to fiery Hell for eternity. These people either got Huge balls, or do not believe their Babble....

Fernapple replies on Mar 29, 2019:

A lot of them tend to love the King James best of all, which is known to be one of the most heavily edited and rewritten of them all, with many extra verses, one or two whole extra chapters, and an extra commandment for good measure.

"Mercier and Sperber (in their book Enigma of Reason) proposed a novel theory of human ...

mordant comments on Mar 28, 2019:

The problem of course is that one can appeal to *faulty* reasoning or even quasi- or false-reasoning. And many forms of religion are ripe for such fallacious appeals (as are politics and various claims of superior reasoning by peoples, clans, families, races or tribes). More generically, we are less...

Fernapple replies on Mar 29, 2019:

@mordant Citing an authority on sociology, which is either a science and therefore science exists, or a pseudo-science in which case you can not cite it against the real thing. QED

Conservative Bible Project aims to rewrite scripture to counter perceived liberal bias - New York ...

The-Krzyz comments on Mar 29, 2019:

Only god can change the bible! Put a double-spaced copy on top of a rocket with a red pen. If it comes back with edits, well, there we go!

Fernapple replies on Mar 29, 2019:

That's what they think anyway.

Apart from the Daffs everything seems to be blue in the garden now.

btroje comments on Mar 29, 2019:

I saw someone's lawn covered with scilla once. so beautiful. love the blue of the first pic

Fernapple replies on Mar 29, 2019:

Wow that musyt have been a sight. Some people just get lucky.

Apart from the Daffs everything seems to be blue in the garden now.

CeliaVL comments on Mar 29, 2019:

I love blue. One day I will have a blue and pink garden.

Fernapple replies on Mar 29, 2019:

@CeliaVL The most famous white garden of course was the one at Sizzinghurst, and that gave rise to a lot of the others, but even that was white, green and silver if you read V .S.-W. original writings about it. And though it works well I have not seen any other that does. To pull off themes you really do need at least V.S.-W.s tallent, themed gardens rarely work because you start by restricting what you can use, and for ordinary mortals that is just an extra difficulty to overcome.

Apart from the Daffs everything seems to be blue in the garden now.

CeliaVL comments on Mar 29, 2019:

I love blue. One day I will have a blue and pink garden.

Fernapple replies on Mar 29, 2019:

Nice idea, though colour scheme gardens can be hard to do, especially if you don't want to end up with something dull.

A woman is like a tea bag - you never know how strong she is until she gets into hot ...

Lllewis comments on Mar 29, 2019:

Very true ?

Fernapple replies on Mar 29, 2019:

@Marionville That sounds like a toilet paper add.

Apart from the Daffs everything seems to be blue in the garden now.

Spinliesel comments on Mar 29, 2019:

That is so pretty! I have real challenges with growing blue flowers. Most come up white and orange and purple.

Fernapple replies on Mar 29, 2019:

Sonmetimes soil chemistry can alter flower colour, usually cleated iron, or lime can help, depending if you are acid or alchaline.

Just read this bit of Woooooo..En.joy!

Sticks48 comments on Mar 29, 2019:

Who the hell are Sara, Joy, Hope, and Mellisa. I have dated White Angelica (and Black Angelica as a matter of fact), Harmony, and Ruta VaLa. Ruta was a little crazy, but she was a sweetheart. Yes, a few drops here and a few drops there from these ladies, and I would feel MUCH better. :)

Fernapple replies on Mar 29, 2019:

@Sticks48 Watching strippers would do you more good.

Not sorry for posting something on this group mainly because I think its cute.

Robecology comments on Mar 28, 2019:

So...in effect...we don't become fully human...homo sapien...until we've aged 2-3 years! Wow!

Fernapple replies on Mar 29, 2019:

Yep, I think I managed that stage, not frightened of mirrors anyway, but I'm still working on the rest.

Like a shag on a .......

ToolGuy comments on Mar 29, 2019:

What kind of bird are we looking at?

Fernapple replies on Mar 29, 2019:

Shags in England. I guess the Australians are trying to be twee, which is odd because that's not like them usually.

I'm wondering about something which is going to cause me to post this same question twice, once from...

Fernapple comments on Mar 28, 2019:

Where do posts from people on this site appear on Humanist.com I can't find them ? Or is there more than one Humanist site ?

Fernapple replies on Mar 28, 2019:

@1of5 Thanks that explains it.

They taught us to postpone judgments, to acknowledge mistakes, to mistrust your own work and give ...

Marionville comments on Mar 28, 2019:

Yes! It’s a pity our politicians didn’t seem to have any of these good teachers,

Fernapple replies on Mar 28, 2019:

Sadly not all teachers even get that lucky with their teachers in the first place.

What Are Your Thoughts About Spiritualism ?

Paracosm comments on Mar 27, 2019:

As long as they aren't trying to force their beliefs on others, legislate it to deny others rights, or use it to justify harm it doesn't bother me.

Fernapple replies on Mar 27, 2019:

Yes but they may be taking money of the weak and vunerable.

What is worth believing in?

Fernapple comments on Mar 27, 2019:

Can't disagree with any of that, but then can't find much that is new in it either. I think that you will find that on this site you are preaching to the long converted.

Fernapple replies on Mar 27, 2019:

@Caymen True, though such people are unlikely to be reading this site. But for my snobbery I am rightly told off.

What’s the world’s worst religion?

Fernapple comments on Mar 27, 2019:

I would like to add another one to your list if I may, though it is not usually thought of as a religion which is perhaps why it is not on Wiki as such. And that is Art especially with a capital "A", because it is the enabler in manipulating human minds which spans all of the religions. It has a so ...

Fernapple replies on Mar 27, 2019:

@Closeted Yep, of course for some art you really do have to be a believer, to think that there is something specially which makes any painting, even one that seems to say little, art with a capital "A" and a pair of shoes however well made, carefully designed, and crafted with however much creativity, only a work of craft. This is the sort of thing, not possible to define, that you encounter with that other meaningless word "spiritual", which is what makes it religion. And the way it feeds the other religions. Walk into a church and it feels like a special holy place, in a way that impresses the easily fooled, and what makes it so is the art and architecture. Read a good religious poem, and do you not feel that a poet who wrote so well must have a special understanding and is therefore surely right. Even though the craft of putting words together does not enable you to see god, any more than anyone else.

Landscapes — 1: Another view from Mount Sugarloaf, South Deerfield, Massachusetts, taken in ...

Fernapple comments on Mar 26, 2019:

You seem to be very well traveled, I like the first one it is almost a pattern.

Fernapple replies on Mar 27, 2019:

@Coffeo I am sorry to hear about your wife, you must of course limit your travels, and at least if you can still travel in your own country. Any little lane however small, that has not been traveled down before, is a new and fresh sight, and if you drop upon something serendipetus as you often do when traveling. Then you may have the unique chance to apprieciate something no one else has ever seen, and which, unlike the tourist attractions, would go unapprieciated though the whole history of the universe if it was not for you. Sorry if that's a little purple , but I am sure it is true.

As an atheist, this is something I enjoy, so don't bust my balls.

skado comments on Mar 23, 2019:

OK, I’ll give it a try. If, on a rainy Monday afternoon, I write in my diary “It’s raining.” I would be telling the truth. If later that week, on Thursday, the sun is out and I write in my diary “It’s not raining.” I’m also telling the truth. After I die, somebody picks up my ...

Fernapple replies on Mar 27, 2019:

@skado Good list. Tool making is sometimes harmful sometimes not, leaded petrol from example, was I think you will agree, not good, neither are bombs and swords, but smallpox jabs certainly are. Rule of law is generally good, but there can be exceptions, no one would say that the laws which build concentration camps are to be mindlessly respected. Recipes are often neutral sometimes fun, but no one would say that the vast number used to deliberately fuel sugar addiction, especially among the poor, are good things and among humanities greatest works. ( They are also just a sub-set of the arts, see below.) Manners can be good, but formal manners can often be the sticking plasters which violent and unfairly divided societies, used to cover injustice and violent oppression, the most mannered societies are often the most cruel, while truly caring societies, if such things could exist, would not need them. Beauty comes for the most part from nature, and is inherent in us because we are animals, so does not really belong here. Art and style can be wonderful especially if treated as games, and not seen as a source of truth, (especially so called, artistic truth) . But they can also in some ways, especially art with a capital "A", be another form of religion, and are perhaps the greatest of all the evils afflicting humanity. For humans, the word art means using the tools and the skills they learned for presenting and spreading their ideas. There may be some good in this, for if we use all our talents skills and tools to help them, then our ideas will spread more easily and be more fruitful. Yet even so the arts will always be a greater friend to the liar than to the honest, for they work just as well for an untruth which needs them more, as they do for the genuine, making no choice between them and spread untruth as well as good. Will it not always be then, that the deceiver and the tyrant know this, and the false and the vicious will always be the first to reach for these tools? Certainly the biggest investors in the arts have always been the great religions and political tyrants. Part of the problem being that not only are the arts a subculture where the skills of hyper-stimulating human emotions are practised, enabling them to sell anything, however evil, without any checks from objective truth. But the arts self promote creating their own subculture and the artistic truth idea, and since there is in fact no link between the arts and objective truth, the artistic truth idea can the be borrowed and used to validate anything. The concentration camp and the gulag were born on the drawing board and in the editors office. Many people especially in the modern urban world have no contact with anything which does not come to them through the channel of ...

Some people think that Forsythia is a bit vulgar if not overdone, but it could just be a case of ...

Bigwavedave comments on Mar 26, 2019:

My wife hates it.

Fernapple replies on Mar 26, 2019:

@Bigwavedave Oh I am sorry but at least you have a good wife.

I’m noticing a recent influx of followers of Jesus (Harold?

freedom41 comments on Mar 26, 2019:

Block them would be the best to deal with them. Making them see logic and enlightenment would be best arrows we can use. If they are questioning the bs, we can help them journey from ignorance.

Fernapple replies on Mar 26, 2019:

@BohoHeathen Ignore if you want, but just do a little if you like. Remember you are not alone on this site, even if you only deliver a pin prick, a lot of tiny chinks in their armour soon add up.

Fear of Death

KKGator comments on Mar 26, 2019:

Know NO fear. Personally, I think it's pretty fucking stupid to be afraid of something that happens to everyone. I have nothing but contempt for anyone who believes in an afterlife. Except my aunt. I can't with her. She's too dear to me, and I forgive her her delusions. I realize that's a...

Fernapple replies on Mar 26, 2019:

You are lucky to have an aunt who means that much.

Landscapes — 1: Another view from Mount Sugarloaf, South Deerfield, Massachusetts, taken in ...

Fernapple comments on Mar 26, 2019:

You seem to be very well traveled, I like the first one it is almost a pattern.

Fernapple replies on Mar 26, 2019:

@Coffeo You should always have one last big adventure planned, even if you never do it.

Some people think that Forsythia is a bit vulgar if not overdone, but it could just be a case of ...

Heidi68 comments on Mar 26, 2019:

I love it! Hello look at me! Yeah I got your attention. ?

Fernapple replies on Mar 26, 2019:

Certainly shouts, but like several here said, at this time in spring who wants pastel shades.

Some people think that Forsythia is a bit vulgar if not overdone, but it could just be a case of ...

Bigwavedave comments on Mar 26, 2019:

My wife hates it.

Fernapple replies on Mar 26, 2019:

Get a job lot cheap.

As an atheist, this is something I enjoy, so don't bust my balls.

skado comments on Mar 23, 2019:

OK, I’ll give it a try. If, on a rainy Monday afternoon, I write in my diary “It’s raining.” I would be telling the truth. If later that week, on Thursday, the sun is out and I write in my diary “It’s not raining.” I’m also telling the truth. After I die, somebody picks up my ...

Fernapple replies on Mar 26, 2019:

@skado It may be true that science is to a degree just another culture and is infected with many of the evils of culture, it is after all a human construct and could hardly escape being human. But it is certain that the real good and value in science, its practical value above all others, and the thing which makes it possible to say that it supersedes all other cultures, is the fact that it provides a challenge to the great, indeed overwhelming, mass of received folly which is generally described as human culture. I do not like using quotes like this, but if you wish to use quotes and find them amusing here goes. “Science at its best is an open-minded method of inquiry, not a belief system.” Rupert Sheldrake. “A voguish fad sees science as only one of many cultural myths, no more valid than the myths of any other culture. There are even a few vocal fifth columnists within science itself who hold exactly these views, and use them to waste the time of the rest of us.” Richard Dawkins. And here's one from someone who is often seen as one of Dawkins protagonists. “Science is not 'organized common sense'; at its most exciting, it reformulates our view of the world by imposing powerful theories against the ancient anthopocentric prejudices” Stephen J. Gould

Landscapes — 1: Another view from Mount Sugarloaf, South Deerfield, Massachusetts, taken in ...

Fernapple comments on Mar 26, 2019:

You seem to be very well traveled, I like the first one it is almost a pattern.

Fernapple replies on Mar 26, 2019:

@Coffeo Great, more still to come then, good traveling.

Religion. The root of evil?

Pedrohbds comments on Mar 26, 2019:

Religion is a consequence of a biology evolved to recognize patterns and avoid false negatives even at a cost of false positives. Once the patterns are structured and have shown to be efficient (of course our god is true, we grew more than the neighbor group and defeated them), it starts to ...

Fernapple replies on Mar 26, 2019:

@Pedrohbds Agreed, and as I say I do not dispute your main point, only that as writen your final paragraph gave an impression of factual inaccuracy on that point.

Religion. The root of evil?

Pedrohbds comments on Mar 26, 2019:

Religion is a consequence of a biology evolved to recognize patterns and avoid false negatives even at a cost of false positives. Once the patterns are structured and have shown to be efficient (of course our god is true, we grew more than the neighbor group and defeated them), it starts to ...

Fernapple replies on Mar 26, 2019:

@Pedrohbds Yes that is all very true, but there is no evidence of regular hunger. Most of the stone age societies contacted in the last century show no signs of regular famine, or more than occasional disease, before contact. While there is a mass of evidence that the main dip in standards of human nutrition occured just after the adoption of agriculture, so much so that the average size of humans went down as a whole, and skeletons begin to show the signs of malnutrition much more frequently after that. Human history is not just a simple ladder of upward progress on all fronts.

Religion. The root of evil?

Pedrohbds comments on Mar 26, 2019:

Religion is a consequence of a biology evolved to recognize patterns and avoid false negatives even at a cost of false positives. Once the patterns are structured and have shown to be efficient (of course our god is true, we grew more than the neighbor group and defeated them), it starts to ...

Fernapple replies on Mar 26, 2019:

I agree with most of what you say but there is no real evidence that early natural societies resulted in people "fighting for survival, sick, in the brink of subnutrition". Those were, even then, most probably quite rare events, even though they may have been the dramatic events which affected survival and therefore had the greatest effect on evolution.

As an atheist, this is something I enjoy, so don't bust my balls.

skado comments on Mar 23, 2019:

OK, I’ll give it a try. If, on a rainy Monday afternoon, I write in my diary “It’s raining.” I would be telling the truth. If later that week, on Thursday, the sun is out and I write in my diary “It’s not raining.” I’m also telling the truth. After I die, somebody picks up my ...

Fernapple replies on Mar 25, 2019:

@skado Quite the contrary. I define religion in the mainstream way, and do not think that a tiny minority on the fringe of it, who cling to it out of sentiment for lost culture, are of much consequence when addressing it. In any case I regard all culture as potentially a source of superstition and error, the great weakness of religion is that it is a cultural phenomenon, and like all culture can therefore be equally successful at promoting falsehoods as truth. All culture therefore has to be regarded with suspicion. My main reason for being devoted to science as a philosophy as much as a method is that it is anti-cultural. The most important step that anyone can take in life, is to recognize the value of trying to outgrow the culture into which they were born, it is not completely possible but the effort can only be rewarding.

Can I make a small plea and ask PDUA of all members, it maybe a personal thing but I think that I am...

1of5 comments on Mar 25, 2019:

As a dyslexic I'd like to tell you TGFYS about how easy it is to spell things.

Fernapple replies on Mar 25, 2019:

@1of5 That's true, it may in part be due to the fact that it is worst in males, who it seems are fair game for some. But I am of an age, like you perhaps, when there was no such thing as dyslexia when I was at school. In those days the cure was regular punching, slapping and being treated like an idiot, at least I got used to that early on.

As an atheist, this is something I enjoy, so don't bust my balls.

skado comments on Mar 23, 2019:

OK, I’ll give it a try. If, on a rainy Monday afternoon, I write in my diary “It’s raining.” I would be telling the truth. If later that week, on Thursday, the sun is out and I write in my diary “It’s not raining.” I’m also telling the truth. After I die, somebody picks up my ...

Fernapple replies on Mar 25, 2019:

@skado Do you refuse to put a fence round the cesspool because people can always fall into another one ? And mass ignorance is best abolished by education, to which religion is the main opponent politically, and if only because of the time it wastes, QED.

Can I make a small plea and ask PDUA of all members, it maybe a personal thing but I think that I am...

1of5 comments on Mar 25, 2019:

As a dyslexic I'd like to tell you TGFYS about how easy it is to spell things.

Fernapple replies on Mar 25, 2019:

Yes I am dyslexic too, I don't think that most members apprieciate just how much extra effort some people have to put in to making nice posts.

Can I make a small plea and ask PDUA of all members, it maybe a personal thing but I think that I am...

Amisja comments on Mar 25, 2019:

I agree Mr Apple, acronyms can be difficult for the dyslexic or ppl on ASD. I have to say they are endemic in both my professions.

Fernapple replies on Mar 25, 2019:

That is so true, I am dyslexic too so I have an idea. And you also have to remember this is an international site, not all countries share the same convensions.