Comment

Comment by Sophia Kousiakis on November 17, 2010 at 3:35pm

America : End of Christian America?

Comment by Sophia Kousiakis on November 11, 2010 at 6:23am

Best selling author, political adviser and social and ethical prophet Jeremy Rifkin investigates the evolution of empathy and the profound ways that it has shaped our development and our society.

Comment by Sophia Kousiakis on November 11, 2010 at 6:08am

Carl Sagan: Pertinent message for humanity

Comment by Sophia Kousiakis on November 7, 2010 at 4:33pm

I enjoyed this post from: http://richarddawkins.net/discussions/543661-the-origin-of-religion...

"Religious morality comes from humans, human morality does not come from religion.

It is superstition that has benefited humanity throughout the years. It's based on the well known concept of a "false positive" being harmless but a "false negative" being potentially fatal. For example, in the middle of the night you see something in the bushes which looks like eyes looking at you and as a reaction you act as if your life is in danger. If you are wrong then all you have done is to waste a few seconds of your life, this is a false positive. If however you ignore the eyes and then you are killed this is a false negative. A false positive has very little cost, and yet has strong survival benefits, whereas a false negative has very little benefits and a strong survival disadvantage.

Now when it comes to superstition (which as all religion is) it is simply another case of false positives. Some people go into a swamp to hunt for food, they come out and all soon become ill. A link is made to the swamp but the cause of the illness is unknown. The pattern is established, whenever people go in there they get ill and potentially die. Now to explain this phenomenon these more primitive people imagine what the cause could be and anthromorphise it. They imagine that the thing in there causing it must be some kind of human with special powers to make things ill or die, and that they upset it by going into its swamp. As a consequence the people who fear the superstition stay away from the swamp and survive whereas the people who do not fear the superstition go into the swamp and die.

The superstition has a survival benefit. However many years later we discover the micro biological world and name the phenomenon "Malaria." Superstition no longer has a benefit, we can dispose of it.

By the way, Malaria means "bad air" which is what people used to think was causing the illness."

Comment by Sophia Kousiakis on November 7, 2010 at 4:23pm

William Lane Craig -I had the pleasure of attending a debate with him while he visited South Africa. I wish we could get him over to 'our' side. He is a phenomenal speaker...

Comment by Sophia Kousiakis on November 7, 2010 at 4:07pm

And still then I wonder, why is this man a believer?

Comment by Sophia Kousiakis on October 20, 2010 at 5:43pm

Christopher Hitchens: Death, Life & God. Diagnosed with cancer, sad but telling interview. A must see:

Comment by Sophia Kousiakis on October 20, 2010 at 5:43pm

Not Dawkins or Hitchens, but this is an excellent must-see video from Bill Maher's talk show. He chats with Richard Tillman. Takes balls! Have a look-see:

Comment by Sophia Kousiakis on October 19, 2010 at 6:08am

Roger Ebert gives us his insight on the idea of 'miracles': http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2010/10/post_3.html

Comment by Sophia Kousiakis on October 19, 2010 at 2:16am

Christopher Hitchens (HitchBitch on Twitter) recommends on Twitter: The Heiresses & The Cult: http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2010/11/bronfman-201011?...

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