Of Piranhas, Pythons, and Crocodiles: An Essay Against Evolution Denial

[Deep Dish]

The 30 hours you spent writing this could have been spent watching the wire or hiding in the bushes oggling large hooters

No. Writing essays is so fun if you choose the right subject and part of the fun is you learn new things along the way, but I do suppose some people lack any distinguishable mental life. These essays I write are part of a greater tapestry of a writing career and someday will comprise of a book on the subject of why smart people hold unsubstantiated belief systems and how thinking goes awry.

There is a sagely line in one of my favorite films, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, about how when you’re young, you’re full of potential and literally can be anyone—the next Einstein, the next Goethe, whoever—but there comes a point in one’s life where your potential gives way to what life you have lead. You weren’t Einstein, you weren’t Goethe—and realizing you didn’t do anything with your life is a sad moment. These matters are what I’ve decided to do with my life, greater than chasing tail of some dumb skank.

 

[wolf116]

Thanks for the top essay Deep Dish.

 

[thehexman]

No. Writing essays is so fun if you choose the right subject and part of the fun is you learn new things along the way, but I do suppose some people lack any distinguishable mental life.

There is a sagely line in one of my favorite films, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, about how when you’re young, you’re full of potential and literally can be anyone—the next Einstein, the next Goethe, whoever—but there comes a point in one’s life where your potential gives way to what life you have lead. You weren’t Einstein, you weren’t Goethe—and realizing you didn’t do anything with your life is a sad moment. These matters are what I’ve decided to do with my life, greater than chasing tail of some dumb skank.

Exactly. It is fun. I always regard writing something or just simply gathering information on something as a mental workout to keep those cells active. And in reality, it is just like that. My granma does sudoku and crosswords and stuff and is really fit, although she is over 80.

Sadly enough, most people lack the energy to gather information and create opinions of their own, instead they prefer to mask their "opinionlessness" by simply trying to punch holes or pointing out flaws in others' well thought-out statements.

 

[taiyuu_otoko]

..someday will comprise of a book on the subject of why smart people hold unsubstantiated belief systems and how thinking goes awry.

Nice essay. Dawkins proposed in his latest book "The God Delusion" that somewhere along the lines humans lost a lot of instinct, so to compensate we got brains that were easily programmable/brainwashable. Our spongy brains were left blank so that when the elders (authority) said stuff like "watch out for that there river next to the big bunch of trees, there's crocs that'll eatcha" we said "um.. ok.."

unfortunately, this is also susceptible to other authoritatively spewed nonsense such as "we need to sacrifice a virgin every year to ensure a nice corn harvest" and other currently in vogue religious and social irrationality.

When you write your book, make sure you put in a good take away, like an easy way to protect your brain from ludicrous memes

 

[6-heads lewis]

There is a sagely line in one of my favorite films, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, about how when you’re young, you’re full of potential and literally can be anyone—the next Einstein, the next Goethe, whoever

I’ve seen that film. I recall Schopenhauer describing how he looks at smiling children with pity and sorrow: they don’t know what awaits them. In the book Invisible Monsters, one character laments: “When did the future change from being a promise to being a threat?”

Your essay (a borderline literature review) is well done and if you sincerely enjoyed writing it, then by all means continue.

But spare us the intellectual superiority shtick. You're bringing advanced discussions to an open forum filled with average people, under the guise of helping when it’s clearly massaging your ego and fishing for compliments. You’ve written a multi-page answer to a question noone asked. Publish your works and have them reviewed by scholars in the field, then reevaluate the value of your input.

These matters are what I’ve decided to do with my life, greater than chasing tail of some dumb skank

At 70 you look back at your life and wonder if you took the right path, if you’ve lived up to your potential, how history will remember you. You are the narrator of this great story, awaiting a climax. And then at 71 you die and none of it matters. Porn star, President, alcoholic, scientist, whatever, noone cares. And if they do care, you’re not around to notice.

If you prefer writing essays to typically more enjoyable pass-times, then please continue. But do it only because you want to, spare me this “it’s my duty” crap.

 

[Deep Dish]

Scholarly review will most assuredly be necessary if when I do try to publish a book, but my target audience is the general population and consequently posting on a discussion forum of the general population is most appropriate, though admittedly this is not the best forum. (I do intend on reposting on other forums.) In fact, it may even be arguable this is not such a bad forum, despite it's topical slant, because most readers are young high school or college students and therefore the prime audience to reach. Plus, I find posting on a discussion forum (anywhere) is better than solitary confinement exactly because it exposes holes which I would probably otherwise not think of. While receiving compliments is gratifying, I always look more forward to constructive dissent and exactly because it pokes my mind.

 

[Ingeniarius]

Stephen Hawking talks about the origins and of life in our universe:

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/242

BTW, Ted is a really cool website where you can see a lot of good talks.

I want to draw your attention to something he said:

"This removes the distinction between time and space, and means the laws of evolution can also determine the initial state. The universe can spontaneously create itself out of nothing, moreover, we can calculate the probabilities that the universe was created in different states. These predictions are in excellent agreement with observations by the .... satellite... which is an imprint of the very early universe."

As far as science is concerned, evolution is a workable theory which actually permits its workability to be examined and verified by empirical findings. Please be aware that this is not mathematical ("absolute") proof [see what thehexman said], but rather a very strong indication that we have found laws that explain our findings within a reasonable, workable, and very very small margin of error. Science will most likely continue to slightly modify these scientific theories accordingly.

However, I would like to point out that the fact that even if we were created by chance, it does not rule out the existence of a creator. At the bottom line, the origin of life is at least at this moment and with our knowledge purely a matter of faith.

 

[Deep Dish]

However, I would like to point out that the fact that even if we were created by chance, it does not rule out the existence of a creator.

Yes, for the sake of agreement, I will agree the possibility of a creator can never be ruled out (since its ignores the burden of proof). After all, a rhetorical one out of 100 quintrillion possibility is still a 100 quintrillion possibility and not zero. The issue of a creator, however, is completely unnecessary, superfluous, and the gulf of irrelevance deepens with every passing year as more evidence of natural explanations continues to mount.

By "creator" one either means gods or aliens, and if I had to take my pick I'd pick aliens. However extremely preposterous, statistically remote, and I certainly don't believe, aliens are more likely precisely because it would be a natural explanation.

And, yes, TED is awesome.

 

[darwinian_sympathiser]

The author rubs me the wrong way. He calls himself "humble" and "eloquent," but his writing is horribly wordy and unedited. Being dorky is obviously all this guy has going for himself in his life, but he's too much of a science geek to use English well enough to make his arguments. His writing reeks of low self-esteem nerd.

If you think you have a consistent, logical framework of a theory please put it forward here.

You don't and that's what p*sses you off.

The theory of evolution will ALWAYS be a threat to all the major religions of the world simple because it attacks their claims, showing that they are wrong. People who uphold these religions cannot accept that, it's an affront to their ego and self respect. Their FEELINGS are deeply hurt and what they stand for under threat. It is for this reason alone they object to it or try to "bend" it to fit in with religious interpretation (don't you just love artistic license?).

I find the central problem with the acceptance of evolution is mainly amongst the religious community. By falsifying certain claims of religious texts, this puts the religion in question: to them that cannot be allowed. And they will fight it vehemently. This is the stance of all creationists. Here I state logic and reason have no use for feelings or emotion, because the latter is what the religious community think with (and that's most unfortunate).

Nobody really wants to accept that they live in a cold uncaring world where we (the human species) are not the centre of the universe, but that arrived here by accident from a long chain of accidents. To some it's an utterly brutal view of life.

By the way, Darwin was never an atheist. He was an agnostic to the end of this life.

At 70 you look back at your life and wonder if you took the right path, if you’ve lived up to your potential, how history will remember you. You are the narrator of this great story, awaiting a climax. And then at 71 you die and none of it matters. Porn star, President, alcoholic, scientist, whatever, noone cares. And if they do care, you’re not around to notice.

yes, and that's a horrible absurdist point that many people fail to grasp. It's this point that is basically the premise of the existential movement in philosophy (something that I'm not good at).