Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Moria Jackson on January 17, 2011 at 6:18pm

I also want to add that I think there is a difference between a world that NEVER knew religion, and one that lost it.

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Permalink Reply by Loop Johnny on January 18, 2011 at 4:16am

I think religion was helpful at the genesis of civilizations. Not too useful now, when we have science.

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Permalink Reply by Heather Spoonheim on January 17, 2011 at 6:27pm

I agree with most people here in that it wouldn't be a great deal different.  On the other hand, there would a big difference if there had NEVER been any concept of god.  Kings could not have invoked their powers by claiming to have been given them by god.  The poor would have had less reason to accept their place in life because they couldn't have comforted themselves with how great their afterlife would be.  It would be a lot harder to get people to fight wars because you couldn't delude them with the idea that they were fighting evil, and even if they lost their lives doing so they would be greatly rewarded later.

 

All in all, a lot more social maturity would be required because 90% of people today who believe in god still have their doubts but can't face them because they are horrified by the thought of living without their divine security blanket.  Without a church to tell them what to do, everyone would have to consider their actions independently, and I don't think many people are equipped to do that today.

 

Perhaps racism would have run our lives rather than religion.  Maybe political loyalties could have generated just as much hatred.  If nothing else, we might simply hate each other based on who opens their eggs from the small end, and who opens them from the big end.

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Permalink Reply by Galen on January 18, 2011 at 3:05am

who opens their eggs from the small end, and who opens them from the big end

 

I know this is off topic, but what does that mean?  Have I never noticed eggs being bigger at one end or something?  And if they are, is there actually a preference?  I just crack the egg in the middle and however it splits is however it splits.  Strange to think that there could be this whole egg thing that I never knew about...

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Permalink Reply by Heather Spoonheim on January 18, 2011 at 6:31am

It's just a reference to Gulliver's travels where some of the people he meets are divided into big endians and small endians.  In turn, I believe that is a reference to how people are arbitrarily divided into groups such as protestant and catholic.

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Permalink Reply by Gary Thomas on March 2, 2012 at 5:00pm

The Liliputins were waring over the proper method of eating a soft boiled egg which was usually served in an egg cup.

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Permalink Reply by Pope OoO (Out of Order) on March 3, 2012 at 1:29am

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Permalink Reply by Michael on January 17, 2011 at 10:54pm

Natural man appears to born with a propensity for both science, the arts, language and god.

Men have been noted to:

 do astounding feats of math in their head.

play 100 people chess while blindfolded simultaneously.

Memorized a library of information verbatim with total recall. 

memorized the icelandic language in a week. 

inferred the fabric of space-time. 

derived the counter intuitive equations of quantum physics.

An is in the process of harnessing the power of the sun with fusion energy.

 

Man is God-like compared to all other species and predecessors. 

Thus man fills the void in the presence of nothing else.

 

And after all of this, our brains are not utilized to it's fullest capacity.

 

But on the other hand.

 

The seat of consciousness appears to reside in the complex modulating  electromagnetic field induce by the iconic currents exchange in the neural synapsis.  In theory such a sustained modulating electromagnetic field could be sustained independent of the body. Here is a thought experiment. The electro-magnetic field induce by  a generators coils is still there when shaft work is remove and can cause the amateur to spin backwards. 

A person that is instantaneously vaporized, may still have a conscience presence until the field dissipates .

Thus a presence without a body in  a split second of time.  Hypothetically consciousness can therefore be present in a modulating electromagnetic fields independent of a biological body or even baryonic matter. 

With this said, consciousness of vast size may be out there in the universe dwarfing our capacity by stellar orders of magnitude.  Thus god  and /or gods and the universe maybe inseparable. 

 

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Permalink Reply by Moria Jackson on January 17, 2011 at 11:15pm

I recognize the first set of things as done by autistic individuals.  Imagine if we were all able to do that!

 

As for your thought experiment.... how many people have you vaporized to make this assumption?

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Permalink Reply by Michael on January 17, 2011 at 11:38pm

This type of musing is old hat.

click on the replied hypertext for further detail

 

Michael replied to Michael Sizer-Watt's discussion '"The Universe Is No Fluke" says the Pope.'

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Permalink Reply by Moria Jackson on January 17, 2011 at 11:58pm

far too long for me to read right now.

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Permalink Reply by Billy De Buck on January 18, 2011 at 2:47am

"And there was peace..."

Something like that, since the middle ages.

 

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