Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Back to Reality
Linked Here is a NYTimes Lens article about a photo album from the early forties, chronicling a few events that were happening at the time. Its one of those things that makes you feel real~ because you know what happened after that photo was taken, how things would end... Those are real pictures from a time before PhotoShop, before a time where I CAN create a convincing photo of my son as an astronaut~ the only thing that separates us from that moment of time is the camera, and that feeling of being so close to the tragedy and importance of the people in those photos is addictive.. I recommend it to anyone who has a minute.
Monday, June 20, 2011
How Do They Do It?
New pictures of Centaurus A from Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 have given us an incredible view of another galaxy~ I can't help but wonder how those people who think the actions of any one person have a cosmic importance to the 'creator' of the universe can keep thinking that when seeing these pictures...
The answer is easy, really; they DON'T see the pictures. They don't understand the scale of these things, of how truly microscopic our existence really is, and how powerful this human imagination and lust for information and discovery really is. I don't think they want to.
When one begins to understand what 'cosmic' really means, how vast our universe is, and how small we are in relation, the real question for the religious should be "why would it care?" Do we take notice of that individual grain of sand somewhere in the beach? That individual grain is everything we've ever known, every human who's ever lived, every dream that's ever been dreamt.. Our entire existence is that single grain, a single drop in a cosmic ocean, and truly we never take heed to such an insignificant thing.
"but god DOES care!" they will say~ but why? What justification is there to care? Surely when you paint, you must focus on a single pigment, right? It's arrogance, not faith, that drives this notion of self importance~ It's fear, not love, that perpetuates this ignorance.
Accept the truth. Accept that we are only significant to ourselves, and not to the cosmos. Understand that when one stands at the level they prescribe to their god, that we aren't even noticeable~ we blend invisibly into the larger picture, and even that is an understatement. We toil and spend our lives doing things confined to this rock, things that will NEVER have consequence (at least for the foreseeable future) on a level as small as our solar system, let alone our galaxy~ or the hundreds of billions of galaxies outside of it. The door to our human imagination is only open once we discard these trappings of self importance, once we discontinue the inane act of observing ourselves in relation to our superstition, and begin to focus on the world around us, and the reality in which we exist~ there is so much there that I suspect there is no room for the supernatural...
When confronted with pictures of other galaxies, images of something so mind-numbingly large that we have no physical way of truly comprehending it, believing in a self-importance that extends beyond those things is truly the height of arrogance~ an arrogance disguised as pious humility.
~Dillinger
The answer is easy, really; they DON'T see the pictures. They don't understand the scale of these things, of how truly microscopic our existence really is, and how powerful this human imagination and lust for information and discovery really is. I don't think they want to.
When one begins to understand what 'cosmic' really means, how vast our universe is, and how small we are in relation, the real question for the religious should be "why would it care?" Do we take notice of that individual grain of sand somewhere in the beach? That individual grain is everything we've ever known, every human who's ever lived, every dream that's ever been dreamt.. Our entire existence is that single grain, a single drop in a cosmic ocean, and truly we never take heed to such an insignificant thing.
"but god DOES care!" they will say~ but why? What justification is there to care? Surely when you paint, you must focus on a single pigment, right? It's arrogance, not faith, that drives this notion of self importance~ It's fear, not love, that perpetuates this ignorance.
Accept the truth. Accept that we are only significant to ourselves, and not to the cosmos. Understand that when one stands at the level they prescribe to their god, that we aren't even noticeable~ we blend invisibly into the larger picture, and even that is an understatement. We toil and spend our lives doing things confined to this rock, things that will NEVER have consequence (at least for the foreseeable future) on a level as small as our solar system, let alone our galaxy~ or the hundreds of billions of galaxies outside of it. The door to our human imagination is only open once we discard these trappings of self importance, once we discontinue the inane act of observing ourselves in relation to our superstition, and begin to focus on the world around us, and the reality in which we exist~ there is so much there that I suspect there is no room for the supernatural...
When confronted with pictures of other galaxies, images of something so mind-numbingly large that we have no physical way of truly comprehending it, believing in a self-importance that extends beyond those things is truly the height of arrogance~ an arrogance disguised as pious humility.
~Dillinger
A Dish of Irony, Anyone?
How strange it is that members of our military (of which I am one) swear an oath to defend the Constitution from all threats, foreign and domestic, and yet we STILL have sectarian religion INSIDE of the military. Graduating from a course on leadership (WLC) I had 2 prayers in the graduation itself, both 'praising jesus' and making sure everyone remembered that it was THAT god that was protecting us, not our knowledge and diligence. Yes, that doesn't defeat the purpose of working hard and learning from experience~ no matter what we do, GOD gets all the credit in the end, and we're merely his marionettes.
Great.
Great.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Evolution Wins!
We have it, people! Final, concrete proof that Evolution is in fact an observable law! For so long, the Creationists have been asking for seemingly nonsensical "transitional" fossils~ but little did they know, some aren't fossils, but live creatures! I proudly present to you the Croco-duck! Final refutation of Creationist demands against Evolution!
Friday, April 15, 2011
Another Battle..
It's back, predictably, the conflict between science and religion! James Hannam has a new article on Patheos about the bruhaha rising from Martin Rees receiving the Templeton Foundation's annual award. Atheist scientist, religious foundation, its not hard to see where the conflict comes in, right?
Maybe.
Hannam seems to think all the fuss is posturing over nothing, because in his words (and I'm paraphrasing here) "Religion has never impeded science." While that is patently false, its interesting that his examples are all from antiquity, and he seems to disregard the fact that religious beliefs are impeding science NOW and are in conflict with rationality NOW, fuck the past! You have large portions of the population who blatantly disregard scientific findings on Global climate change (because God said the earth is for us/ Because God promised he won't flood the world again!) you have people who are trying to shut down one of the most pioneering branches of medical biology [stem cell research] because of passages NOT in the bible; and of course, people who discriminate against and deny rights to a large minority population in the US because of two or three lines of their "holy book" that say being gay isn't "ok." This is absolutely wrong, all of it, but the real point of Dawkins, Coyne and Meyers is that hypocrisy is never easy to swallow~ Science is completely pragmatic (or at least, by definition, it should be) and having beliefs is NOT. Religion and Science will ALWAYS be in conflict (at least traditional religion) because one is based on reason, evidence, testability, and repeatability, while the other is based on FAITH. Thats it, faith. That is what is at the core of religion, because there is no unrefuted/un-debunked evidence to support it. Seriously, that's it. The fundamental opposition of the two is staggering, and I don't care how nice they [the religious] are about it, the two should and are mutually exclusive in that respect. Just as the study of Unicorns is not comparable to the study of Cephalopods.
Ugh, sorry to cut it short, I'll write more on this later.
Dillinger
Maybe.
Hannam seems to think all the fuss is posturing over nothing, because in his words (and I'm paraphrasing here) "Religion has never impeded science." While that is patently false, its interesting that his examples are all from antiquity, and he seems to disregard the fact that religious beliefs are impeding science NOW and are in conflict with rationality NOW, fuck the past! You have large portions of the population who blatantly disregard scientific findings on Global climate change (because God said the earth is for us/ Because God promised he won't flood the world again!) you have people who are trying to shut down one of the most pioneering branches of medical biology [stem cell research] because of passages NOT in the bible; and of course, people who discriminate against and deny rights to a large minority population in the US because of two or three lines of their "holy book" that say being gay isn't "ok." This is absolutely wrong, all of it, but the real point of Dawkins, Coyne and Meyers is that hypocrisy is never easy to swallow~ Science is completely pragmatic (or at least, by definition, it should be) and having beliefs is NOT. Religion and Science will ALWAYS be in conflict (at least traditional religion) because one is based on reason, evidence, testability, and repeatability, while the other is based on FAITH. Thats it, faith. That is what is at the core of religion, because there is no unrefuted/un-debunked evidence to support it. Seriously, that's it. The fundamental opposition of the two is staggering, and I don't care how nice they [the religious] are about it, the two should and are mutually exclusive in that respect. Just as the study of Unicorns is not comparable to the study of Cephalopods.
Ugh, sorry to cut it short, I'll write more on this later.
Dillinger
Go Towards the Light!
Just walking about the internet as I normally do, and I happened to stumble upon this fine gentleman doing voice impressions~ I think he's quite good, but don't take it from me, check out his videos.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Unseasonal, but Relevant
I happened across this picture today, and while the Big Guy is hibernating (or whatever he does in the off season) right now, it struck me as oddly relevant to my day to day discourse.
Why is it that some fairy tales disappear with age~ I don't know anyone over 12 who believes in Santa Claus~ any yet others, although equally ridiculous, continue on for life? Typically children think their way out of the Santa Claus myth, and as they learn to reason (even though the image is perpetuated annually across the nation) they eventually realize that it was all just a game and fanciful tale. Why is religion any different? Are the claims of a god on earth, miracle birth, and resurrection from the dead really more believable than going to every house on earth in one night, carrying with him billions of presents, fitting down a chimney, or any of those other aspects of our "christmas favorite?"
Why is it that some fairy tales disappear with age~ I don't know anyone over 12 who believes in Santa Claus~ any yet others, although equally ridiculous, continue on for life? Typically children think their way out of the Santa Claus myth, and as they learn to reason (even though the image is perpetuated annually across the nation) they eventually realize that it was all just a game and fanciful tale. Why is religion any different? Are the claims of a god on earth, miracle birth, and resurrection from the dead really more believable than going to every house on earth in one night, carrying with him billions of presents, fitting down a chimney, or any of those other aspects of our "christmas favorite?"
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