B
Bradskii
Guest
It would reveal that we were utterly different to any other form of life.
- Status
W
whatistrue
Guest
While very likely, this is not guaranteed to be true. On the other hand, if a truth doesn’t align with both of us, can it be said to be truly fundamental? In any case, my post was just a sort of a semi-random thought and not intended to be a completely coherent, consistent, and defensible position.
M
meltzerboy2
Guest
Vive la difference! Yet we too are evolving into a different species: I can see that much in my students.
Last edited:
M
meltzerboy2
Guest
Yes, reality is ugly and messy, but, due to the wonders of the human mind, we, including even those who intensely suffer more than the norm, can, at the same time, find it beautiful and orderly.
Last edited:
E
edwest211
Guest
I think Marvel and DC share the trademark on Multiverse.
E
edwest211
Guest
Those who have been given gifts by God can add whatever beauty they can.
M
meltzerboy2
Guest
Oh darn it!
B
Bradskii
Guest
Yeah, no worries. I think a few of us are just shooting the breeze this evening.Bradskii:
While very likely, this is not guaranteed to be true. On the other hand, if a truth doesn’t align with both of us, can it be said to be truly fundamental? In any case, my post was just a sort of a semi-random thought and not intended to be a completely coherent, consistent, and defensible position.
L
lelinator
Guest
Perhaps the mind creates a reality that’s consistent with the fact that it exists. But it cannot create up without down, or hot without cold, or unfortunately good without bad.
And so it creates them both.
Even proposing free will, and the fall, it doesn’t make sense that a loving God would create such a reality.
But it does make sense that a conscious mind that’s incapable of conceiving of good without bad, would inevitably create a world that had them both. Perhaps the mind simply creates a reality that’s consistent with its own existence.
Last edited:
B
Bradskii
Guest
I don’t think that it creates it. I think that it might interpret it differently in different situations and for different people. But it’s there. And if I’m hungry or scared or someone beats my head in with a rock then it’s a pretty accurate representation.Bradskii:
Perhaps the mind creates a reality that’s consistent with the fact that it exists. But it cannot create up without down, or hot without cold, or unfortunately good without bad.
And so it creates them both.
Even proposing free will, and the fall, it doesn’t make sense that a loving God would create such a reality.
But it does make sense that a conscious mind that’s incapable of conceiving of good without bad, would inevitably create a world that had them both. Perhaps the mind simply creates a reality that’s consistent with its own existence.
M
meltzerboy2
Guest
The late great Gestalt psychologist, and a teacher of mine, Mary Henle, wrote about how the human mind tends to think mainly in terms of dichotomies rather than trichotomies and so forth. We are perhaps programmed by means of our brain neurons to think this way, that is, according to opposites. That is perhaps why it is difficult to have what psychologists call “cognitive complexity,” which means that our mind can tolerate ambiguity, shades of gray (not necessarily 50), and need not have a definitive answer to all of our questions.
L
lelinator
Guest
But the mind can’t simply create whatever it wants to create. What it creates must be coherent, because the mind creating it must be coherent. Which means that if X is true, then Y must also be true, and so as much as the mind may desire to create the perfect world, it can’t. because it cannot create good without bad.
At least not yet.
Last edited:
L
lelinator
Guest
Agreed
10 characters
N
niceatheist
Guest
I don’t think there’s any scientist who thinks we evolved from one person. We evolved from a population of, for lack of a better term, “pre-humans”. Now there is a genetic “Adam” and a genetic “Eve”, but whether that represents single individuals or a progenitor population is probably unanswerable, but generally we don’t discuss evolution in terms of individuals. Evolution is what happens to populations, so if we’re talking about a genetic “Adam” or a genetic “Eve”, we’re talking about individuals where we can trace back some gene or specific set of genes.
The real issue with any attempt at a literal reading of Genesis is that it would push back Adam to some very distant ancestor, almost certainly not genus Homo. But even if we imagined Adam as a member of, say, H. erectus, who appears to be the common ancestor of modern humans, Neandertals, Denosovians, and some other hinted at Eurasian hominids, that, to my mind, causing the Genesis narrative some serious problems. H. erectus had a significantly smaller brain than H. sapiens and the Eurasian descendants of H. erectus.
The real issue with any attempt at a literal reading of Genesis is that it would push back Adam to some very distant ancestor, almost certainly not genus Homo. But even if we imagined Adam as a member of, say, H. erectus, who appears to be the common ancestor of modern humans, Neandertals, Denosovians, and some other hinted at Eurasian hominids, that, to my mind, causing the Genesis narrative some serious problems. H. erectus had a significantly smaller brain than H. sapiens and the Eurasian descendants of H. erectus.
L
lelinator
Guest
The manner in which the conscious mind would create reality is amazingly similar to the theist’s understanding of how God creates reality.
Last edited:
N
niceatheist
Guest
Ethan Siegel does a very good job of critiquing some recent claims about the age of the universe. Beware of getting your science information from the popular press.
No, The Universe Cannot Be A Billion Years Younger Than We Think
There really is a cosmic conundrum about how fast the Universe is expanding. Changing its age won't help.
www.forbes.com
E
edwest211
Guest
The Genesis narrative is quite clear. As time passed, Neanderthals went from brutish cave men to looking like us and behaving like us, to some of us having Neanderthal DNA. This would not be possible if Neanderthals were different from us. It appears they were completely human.
E
edwest211
Guest
Halton Arp, who worked with Edwin Hubble, cataloged anomalous galaxies where high redshift portions were connected to low redshift portions. Hubble himself told Arp that redshift may not be a measure of speed but something else. Then there are reports of galaxies moving away from us at superluminal, faster than light, speeds.
N
niceatheist
Guest
Methinks you didn’t read the article.
W
Wesrock
Guest
From where does the mind learn and know the concepts it makes the reality with? Are you supposing it just has them innately? But then, why aren’t you at all times knowing these things instead of the normal human experience of coming to know things?Bradskii:
But the mind can’t simply create whatever it wants to create. What it creates must be coherent, because the mind creating it must be coherent. Which means that if X is true, then Y must also be true, and so as much as the mind may desire to create the perfect world, it can’t. because it cannot create good without bad.
At least not yet.
- Status