Comments by Eshto

51. Evan Solomon Interviews Richard Dawkins

Comment #302926 by Eshto on December 17, 2008 at 10:34 pm

It's frustrating knowing that when average Americans saw this (a year ago), they, like the interviewer, most likely misinterpreted the word "misfire" and assumed Richard meant something bad by it.

Americans are too used to knee-jerk, emotional responses. We aren't encouraged to think logically very often. We are not encouraged to be cool and calm, and try to figure out what a person is saying before we get offended by it.

Lots of things I do are "misfires", not least of which that my career is in art. That's one huge misfire altogether. We see color because we evolved as hunters. I might have been a little offended if I didn't know anything about evolution and someone told me my life is a misfire.

But I did think Richard did a good job of explaining what he meant, and at least they didn't cut him off before he could.

52. Evan Solomon Interviews Richard Dawkins

Comment #302873 by Eshto on December 17, 2008 at 7:50 pm

You can't explain consciousness. What does the color red feel like to a color-blind bat that has 4 legs and evolved from pond-slime? You can't answer that, therefore evolution is evil and God exists

53. Evan Solomon Interviews Richard Dawkins

Comment #302775 by Eshto on December 17, 2008 at 5:16 pm

On behalf of Canada, I'd like to apologize for the insufferable Evan Solomon. What a fool. Egad. Truly, cringeworthy. A "Master of Religious Studies", indeed. Woof.

Where I come from, "woof" is a compliment.

54. Faith Equals Fertility

Comment #302720 by Eshto on December 17, 2008 at 3:24 pm

It is christiannymphos.org

Married Sex! Spicy the way God intended it to be!!

I officially hate everything now.

55. Hitchens Debates Rabbi Wolpe on God

Comment #302709 by Eshto on December 17, 2008 at 3:07 pm

DG:

You write a lot.

Hey wanna write my essay for art school? It's about art, which is really subjective so you can totally make no sense whatsoever and get people to think you are saying something.

I guarantee at least one of my art professors would fall for it.

56. The Latest Face of Creationism in the Classroom

Comment #302706 by Eshto on December 17, 2008 at 3:03 pm

pps Eshto, no just keep the good bits, remembering that some of the bad bits are the voices of the marginalised and so should not be ignored.

Oh now we're in dangerous territory!

What are the "good bits"? To an anti-gay Republican, the anti-gay verses are the good bits. To an anti-semite, all the anti-semitic, "the Jews killed our god" verses are the good bits.

To those crazy creationists, the creation mythology constitutes the real good stuff.

And since mythology and ancient values are intertwined throughout the whole thing, removing it would cause the already-contradictory narrative that's there to completely fall apart. It wouldn't even make sense in the in-universe style, as we wikipedians like to say.

If you just pick out all the humanistic values and ditch the bronze-age attitudes and mythology, you're left with... humanism. So why read the thing at all?

No, I think chopping out verses can be good political activism, or maybe performance art. But ditching it as the words of some magical being, and as a guide for how to live your life, and realizing it's just myth like any other is the only rational option.

57. Mekong a 'treasure trove' of 1,000 newly discovered species

Comment #302700 by Eshto on December 17, 2008 at 2:54 pm

The rabbit is the only thing that looks palatable.

58. The Latest Face of Creationism in the Classroom

Comment #302695 by Eshto on December 17, 2008 at 2:52 pm

"Words that stay".

Dark Crystal ftw.

59. The Latest Face of Creationism in the Classroom

Comment #302691 by Eshto on December 17, 2008 at 2:49 pm

Eshto I happily do do without those bits, they are an anathma to me and many others beside. Look at the split in the Anglican Communion.

Sorry, I added some to my post. Are you saying you would only do without the couple of anti-gay verses, or would you be willing to abandon other stories that seem barbaric to us, like the Flood, the sacrifice of Isaac, the invasion of Canaan and the murder of all the people living in it, etc...

The only real solution I can see is what Goldy is saying, realize this shit is myth and ancient history, and move on. Stop treating it like it's still alive.

EDIT: oh well he left. I'm typing too slow.

60. The Latest Face of Creationism in the Classroom

Comment #302677 by Eshto on December 17, 2008 at 2:38 pm

Conservatives seem obsessed with sex, which is actually a minority interest in scripture. Especially when it comes to homosexuality. (A bible with those bits cut out would be probably a couple of pages shorter)

Good point, but are we judging qualitatively or quantitatively?

There may be only two or three sentences about me in the Bible, but those sentences say I am an abomination and I should be put to death, my blood be upon me.

I don't see how it would make much of a difference if it said that in one sentence or took a whole chapter to say it.

EDIT: Actually I think Christians have even less of an excuse not to excise those particular sentences, as it would have no effect whatsoever on the Bible as a whole (though it would pull the rug out of the entire social conservative movement).

What about stories that aren't so easily filtered out? The several times Yahweh orders his followers to commit genocide? Or individual stories that Christians place an enormous amount of emphasis on? Yahweh flooding the earth and killing millions of people, or Abraham almost sacrificing Isaac to his bloodthirsty deity, those are pretty damn awful, but removing them might completely transform the Bible.

61. The Latest Face of Creationism in the Classroom

Comment #302675 by Eshto on December 17, 2008 at 2:33 pm

Your view seems to be based on a static view of religion. Religion is not static, it never has been, it is dynamic and reflects the society which it inhabits.

Hardly, I've been studying religion for years, I know all too well that it changes. That's my whole point. And thank christ it does, because otherwise we would still be stoning women for not being virgins on their wedding nights.

But the dogma and texts that ground it don't change, except in minor ways due to translation errors. Every once in a while something dramatic happens, like a schism, but other than that, same old Bible, still saying the same old awful things it said a hundred years ago. It's like a weight tied around society's neck as it tries to move forward.

I may check out the book you suggested, but I still won't consider Christianity a friend to me in any way until they ammend their Bible so that it no longer says to kill me.

Until religions realise that they are in flux and their mythology needs to be placed in the history shelves and their manifestos need constant updating, we'll always have problems.

Yup thanks Goldy, that's what I am saying.

62. The Latest Face of Creationism in the Classroom

Comment #302626 by Eshto on December 17, 2008 at 12:57 pm

Job done.

Good, then I can go to the local bookstore and expect to find much shorter versions of the Bible and the Quran?

63. Warning: A Truckload of Stupid

Comment #302625 by Eshto on December 17, 2008 at 12:55 pm

I am not surprised there is little or no funding for islamic studies. After all, is not everything known already...What possible topics would be covered? How not to integrate into western societies?

I assume Islamic Studies, like all other ethnic studies courses, would consist of classes that focus on the Muslim world, not classes for the Muslim world and Muslim students.

I've taken all kinds of ethnic studies courses - Africa and the African diaspora, Native American, Chicano/a, etc. I can easily imagine an Islamic Studies course, actually several of them dealing with a range of sociological and historical topics.

64. Report urges timetable for human mission to Mars

Comment #302621 by Eshto on December 17, 2008 at 12:48 pm

Let's just fake a Mars landing. I need the escapism.

65. Mekong a 'treasure trove' of 1,000 newly discovered species

Comment #302617 by Eshto on December 17, 2008 at 12:46 pm

That thing might not make the best fishing lure. It's practically wearing a sign that says "touch me and you're fucked".

66. The Latest Face of Creationism in the Classroom

Comment #302616 by Eshto on December 17, 2008 at 12:43 pm

Does Mr Stone really believe that every single Muslim advocates genital mutilation, and every Christian discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation

It's completely irrelevant if there are a few theists here and there who go against their religions. It says something about their character, but it's no compliment to the religion.

Not sure about (female) genital mutilation in the Quran, but the Bible itself discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation - the OT says to kill us, the NT says we are all lustful sinners, inherently.

If any Christian disagrees with this, they are BREAKING with their tradition. Moderates are only moderate insofar as they are capable of ignoring or permanently abandoning entire sections of their traditions and sacred texts.

I'm getting so sick of people trying to act like these "holy" books are all blank. "It's not the Bible that's the problem, it's the people abusing it." Bullshit, it's both. You give a book that claims the ultimate authority by saying it was written by GOD to a group of impressionable people, and it says women are inferior and slavery is hunkey dorey, then you are handing people a loaded gun.

It matters what people read and fill their heads with, and fill their children's heads with.

If there are Christians who aren't homophobic, or Muslims who don't hate women, or any other theist who disagrees with something in their religion, then I want to see them tear out all those passages of their holy books that they claim to disagree with.

67. The Latest Face of Creationism in the Classroom

Comment #302611 by Eshto on December 17, 2008 at 12:37 pm

Man oh man! I missed Shrommer attempting to develop an idea! Let me see if I've got this right; he's expanding the idea of 'mind', separating it from the brain and positing an intelligence at the sub-atomic level

Looks like he spent most of the time trying to convince people he had an idea. Then he spent one post trying to describe it, and it was silly, and he ran off before everyone could laugh.

68. Report urges timetable for human mission to Mars

Comment #302331 by Eshto on December 16, 2008 at 10:37 pm

Ugh I HATE time travel plots in science fiction.

The ship was called the Relativity.

69. Report urges timetable for human mission to Mars

Comment #302326 by Eshto on December 16, 2008 at 10:08 pm

Well I was with you up until Columbus. He was in it for the gold. And when he "discovered" land that already had people living on it, he initiated the enslavement and massacre of those people.

So let's aim a little closer to Star Trek. Not so much Columbus. Kthnx.

70. The Latest Face of Creationism in the Classroom

Comment #302321 by Eshto on December 16, 2008 at 9:48 pm

I'm made up of cells, and each cell is a little creature, and each one has its own intelligence.

...

(begins scratching uncontrollably)

71. The Latest Face of Creationism in the Classroom

Comment #302316 by Eshto on December 16, 2008 at 9:39 pm

It sounded like theistic pantheism.

Jesus iz in ur mitochondria.

72. Report urges timetable for human mission to Mars

Comment #302315 by Eshto on December 16, 2008 at 9:37 pm

What if we just took all the money out of the failed programs like abstinence-only education, the war on drugs and the D.A.R.E. program, all the millions of dollars the righties spend fighting gay marriage and occupying Iraq, and put it toward this?

I want people on Mars goddammit.

73. The Latest Face of Creationism in the Classroom

Comment #302312 by Eshto on December 16, 2008 at 9:32 pm

No it sounded like he was arguing that DNA is the designer, or the genes or molecules or something are the designers and actually carry the intelligence. Like genes mutate themselves on purpose and are trying to survive, intentionally.

74. The Latest Face of Creationism in the Classroom

Comment #302309 by Eshto on December 16, 2008 at 9:26 pm

Shrommer:

When we look at these complex machines, it leads us to believe that the behaviors going on there are due to a natural intelligence

What leads you to believe that? What observations are you basing this on?

What do you mean by "intelligence"?

Why do you assume there is a "missing piece of the puzzle" that must be accounted for?

EDIT: Aw guess he's gone.

75. Hitchens Debates Rabbi Wolpe on God

Comment #302304 by Eshto on December 16, 2008 at 9:19 pm

Dianelos Georgoudis:

Most of us atheists are constantly surrounded by theist friends and family members. We come on this site and read article after article of apologetics written by theists of various religions and philosophical viewpoints. Some of us even started out as theists before we gave it more thought and realized it didn't make any sense.

We already know how theists think. You're not revealing anything significant. We're just not impressed with it because you have no evidence.

76. Report urges timetable for human mission to Mars

Comment #302301 by Eshto on December 16, 2008 at 9:12 pm

Screw the costs, I want people on Mars, and I want it now.

EDIT: Obama rocks.

77. The Latest Face of Creationism in the Classroom

Comment #302299 by Eshto on December 16, 2008 at 9:05 pm

We are not there yet, but I have faith in science that one day we will be. Why should I close the door on a field where historically the door has just cracked open? Again, look how old zoology is, and it only came around to this Cambridge experiment in the 21st Century. Now look how long we've been doing genetic engineering ...

You're kidding, right?

You know the "I can't figure this out therefore I'll just assume some magical creator made it" explanation was, like, the first. Ever. Pretty much our most primitive attempt at understanding anything, really.

78. The Latest Face of Creationism in the Classroom

Comment #302292 by Eshto on December 16, 2008 at 8:56 pm

Damn it, the things you can learn on this site if you would only take your fingers out of your ears and put them in your fucking mouth, or some variation thereof, this being the Internet and all.

The ONE goddamn thing I want to learn is WHAT THE HELL ARE THESE PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT? What is their hypothesis?

Let's say they actually get to teach this shit in school. What the fuck are they going to do all day?? "Oh look at this class, we can't figure out what caused this yet, therefore we think it was 'designed' by Go- I mean, we can't say for sure who or what designed it."

GIVE ME A BREAK.

What are they seriously going to do in an "intelligent design" classroom other than stare at each other, and possibly the wall?!?

79. The Latest Face of Creationism in the Classroom

Comment #302289 by Eshto on December 16, 2008 at 8:52 pm

Shrommer:

Stop weaseling. Explain your hypothesis. How could it be tested? How could it be falsified? What observations is it based on? What evidence do you have? (even a hypothesis is based on SOME evidence or SOMETHING).

80. The Latest Face of Creationism in the Classroom

Comment #302282 by Eshto on December 16, 2008 at 8:42 pm

Shrommer:

What idea? You don't have an idea. You have no hypothesis. You have no evidence. You have no means of ever acquiring any evidence.

81. The Latest Face of Creationism in the Classroom

Comment #302278 by Eshto on December 16, 2008 at 8:37 pm

@Diacanu:

I tip my hat.

@Shrommer:

I throw a shoe.

82. Warning: A Truckload of Stupid

Comment #302149 by Eshto on December 16, 2008 at 4:08 pm

I wonder if there is a way we can notify the public that Bill Mahr is not the atheist's spoke person. I don't mind if Prof. Dawkins is but not Mahr, he's an idiot.

I like both Dawkins and Maher. The problem is the laziness of the people trying to criticize atheism. A lot of people still don't understand what atheism is, and it's easier to attack the one or two people making some headlines than it is to do actual research.

I think as more and more people come out as atheists that will get better. Especially since the "Out" campaign is intentionally mimicking the gay rights movement, which started off the same way, with outspoken leaders, but now has flattened out into organizations with lots of members rather than individual spokespeople taking all the heat.

83. Faith Equals Fertility

Comment #302143 by Eshto on December 16, 2008 at 3:38 pm

...

Yep I think that about sums it up.

84. Faith Equals Fertility

Comment #302139 by Eshto on December 16, 2008 at 3:33 pm

If a Martian were to look at a map of the Earth’s religions, what he might find most surprising is the fact that such a map can be drawn at all. How strange--he might say to himself--that so many of the world’s Hindus are to be found in one place, namely India. And how odd that Muslims are so very numerous in the Middle East. With the disconcerting curiosity that is so typical of Martians, he might wonder what explains this geographical clustering. Do people move countries in order to be close to others of the same faith? Or do people simply tend to adopt the religion they grew up with?

The martian would only wonder that if he was a complete moron.

85. Saturn moon Titan may have active ice volcanoes

Comment #302138 by Eshto on December 16, 2008 at 3:32 pm

Stupid computer. Wrong article.

86. Harun Yahya's Dark Arts

Comment #300958 by Eshto on December 12, 2008 at 11:53 pm

Er... so what the hell are the skeletons with progressively more limbs supposed to be illustrating anyway?

87. Vatican tightens in vitro opposition

Comment #300956 by Eshto on December 12, 2008 at 11:51 pm

The Vatican doesn't generally reject evolution, rod.

88. Vatican tightens in vitro opposition

Comment #300834 by Eshto on December 12, 2008 at 6:13 pm

It says most forms of artificial fertilisation "are to be excluded" because "they substitute for the conjugal act ... which alone is truly worthy of responsible procreation."

Responsible. Right.

In other news, my partner was asked by a lesbian couple for his sperm because they want to have a child. I think it's a great idea (we're certainly not using it for anything constructive).

A couple actually wanting to have a child, and planning for it. I can't think of any more responsible way to decide to become a parent.

89. Hitchens Debates Rabbi Wolpe on God

Comment #300796 by Eshto on December 12, 2008 at 3:02 pm

@Wosret:

That's really the key to Christianity though, isn't it? Sadomasochism. God is an authority figure, a daddy you have to submit to. The entire thing is a patriarchal hierarchy. Men submit to God, women submit to men. In Christianity, someone somewhere is always less than somebody else.

Debts are paid in blood. The torture of a Jew is considered a gift to mankind, and the torture device itself becomes a symbol of inspiration dangling from every believer's neck.

The single most important mind control device is guilt. From childhood they're brought up to believe they are worthless piles of shit and only someone else, someone bigger and stronger than them, someone better, more perfect, some "savior" can redeem them.

Just like in classic cases of domestic abuse, the victim internalizes the abuse and actually blames themselves, and finds ways to justify their abusers.

God is love. He loves me. He wants nothing but the best for me. But, you ask, why is there so much pain in the world if God is love? Why do I have this black eye? Did God abuse me? Oh no, no, I just fell down the stairs.

90. How to stop creationism gaining a hold in Islam

Comment #300770 by Eshto on December 12, 2008 at 12:44 pm

Mmm Indian food. Steve you just made up my mind on where my partner and I are going for dinner tonight.

But wouldn't the servers be Hindu? Or are they coming from Pakistan?

Maybe I'll ask our waitress if she's Muslim and whether she believes in evolution. After I've had a few drinks.

91. Hubble Finds Carbon Dioxide on an Extrasolar Planet

Comment #300476 by Eshto on December 11, 2008 at 10:48 pm

Re the Vietnam war – history is written by the victors, because they tend to be still alive. And the Americans have written most of the history. The recent movie Tropical Thunder being the best example.

Tropic Thunder. That movie is hilarious.

Um... I don't think it counts as an example of history though.

Opinion research also supports American’s belief in having won the Vietnam war, though similar surveys are less clear about whether they really put men on the Moon

Fortunately most people with opinions aren't writing out history books, and regardless of how dumb our average citizens are, I can assure you our historians do realize we didn't "win" in Vietnam in any conventional sense of the word.

The original Apollo project was eventually cancelled because NASA’s TV franchise couldn’t compete with shows like Star Trek for advertising revenue, even though NASA’s astronauts were definitely the better actors. Part of the problem was the lack of genuine scientific input, which was in Star Trek’s favour. Of course none of them were real scientists – though it is possible that some scientists may have worked as extras on one of the sets.

Okay I officially have no idea what's going on anymore.

92. Key Event That Breaks Continents Apart Discovered

Comment #300437 by Eshto on December 11, 2008 at 5:57 pm

At last we can retire the Paul Bunyan's axe theory.

93. How to stop creationism gaining a hold in Islam

Comment #300435 by Eshto on December 11, 2008 at 5:55 pm

I agree too, the problem I usually encounter when I read criticisms of Dawkins is that people tend to act like there should be one strategy and Dawkins is doing it wrong. I think there is a place in any social movement for various strategies, pushing from different sides.

But this person sounds reasonable, he doesn't accuse Richard of screwing up the movement, he just says his particular strategy probably won't work in a particular situation, which I can agree to.

But then of course that means some pro-evolution Muslims are going to have to step up and do the work. If they don't, and people like Richard get criticized for not doing it the way they want, well I wouldn't have much sympathy for them.

94. Hubble Finds Carbon Dioxide on an Extrasolar Planet

Comment #300431 by Eshto on December 11, 2008 at 5:41 pm

Well, "warp drive" is just movie techno-babble. I am not sure if it can be taken to mean superluminal travel

No like I said, I read a book that examined real physics through the lens of Star Trek, and it discussed this as a plausible thing. I mean I know when they made it up, the writers were just writing fiction, but they were doing that with hyposprays and things too, which we now essentially have. Sci-fi writers do look at real science as inspiration, and vice versa sometimes too.

...

Well here's good old wikipedia to the rescue: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcubierre_drive

I knew I wasn't just making this up.

...which is precisely why the people to whom the fact that money matters to us matters won't let us get to that point.

Well then I guess it's up to us to fight back, isn't it.

95. Richard Dawkins interviews Derren Brown

Comment #300427 by Eshto on December 11, 2008 at 5:05 pm

@Clairebear:

I agree, I thought in my psychology classes we learned that there wasn't much evidence for it, but the AMA and BMA both accept it as having medicinal value (not sure if it's as a placebo or not though).

I don't know though, if we think mind is all physically generated then, like any computer, there should be ways to.. um, mess with it, for lack of a better description. The various theories on how it could be explained are interesting, they range from social to very materialistic, treating the brain exactly like a computer and so planting suggestions is akin to inputting certain commands, or altering the method of input itself.

...

Yeah I really want to hear Richard (or anyone with more experience) comment on hypnosis now.

EDIT: After watching video Kiwi posted:

O.M.G. I want that power so bad now.

(begins practicing on friends and family)

96. Hubble Finds Carbon Dioxide on an Extrasolar Planet

Comment #300424 by Eshto on December 11, 2008 at 4:57 pm

and won the Vietman war.

Eh?

LOL I saw that too and then I couldn't tell if the whole post was sarcastic or not.

I have a hard time believing economic laws are really a constant in the universe. They depend on supply and demand; scarcity of resources; want.

If we can get to a point where our technology provides us with everything we need, I don't see how money will matter anymore.

(Look I just want to keep telling myself Star Trek is really going to happen, okay)

97. Muslim pilgrims stone devil amid tight control

Comment #300422 by Eshto on December 11, 2008 at 4:53 pm

He didn't flush it down the toilet. That would have been too dramatic, and he was trying to point out that it should be no big deal, and doesn't warrant getting excited over.

But it hardly mattered, the backlash was the same. It seems to have nothing to do with the proportion of the blasphemy.

98. Hitchens Debates Rabbi Wolpe on God

Comment #300418 by Eshto on December 11, 2008 at 3:55 pm

You mean, where does God's moral character come from? I am not sure that question makes much sense, but it's in any case irrelevant.

In other words, God must not be questioned.

We have a word for that: totalitarianism.

The question makes perfect sense. It's your position that doesn't make sense. You posit a creator. You have no idea what this creator is or anything about its nature whatsoever. You have ZERO information on him. Yet you're trying to use him to explain something.

Wherever God's moral character may come from, the fact remains that the theistic hypothesis (namely that reality is based on the existence of a God of personal perfection) works better than the naturalistic hypothesis (namely that reality is based on the existence of mindless matter following mechanical laws), and it works better under any criterion one can think of. Any non question-begging criterion that is :-)

It works... what does it work to do exactly? Make you feel warm and fuzzy inside? It provides absolutely no useful information about anything whatsoever. It does nothing BUT beg questions.

And I never got an answer to my first question: if God loves us and wants people to think, why did he kill my friend's daughter at the age of two before she reached an age where she was able to think about anything?

99. Hubble Finds Carbon Dioxide on an Extrasolar Planet

Comment #300399 by Eshto on December 11, 2008 at 3:05 pm

"Faster than light no left or right".

That was actually in one of the episodes.

Yes I am a huge nerd.

100. Hubble Finds Carbon Dioxide on an Extrasolar Planet

Comment #300395 by Eshto on December 11, 2008 at 2:52 pm

What about the warp drive? One version has it warping space in front of it to make it smaller, and warping space behind it to make it bigger. That way the distance between you and the object you're heading toward decreases, and the distance between you and the place you left increases.

I think I read about this in a book called the Physics of Star Trek (although the show doesn't actually use this, it uses an alternate dimension called sub-space which is even more of a convenient storytelling mechanism and not based on anything in reality).

The idea is that you get to your destination but you didn't technically move anywhere in the normal sense, so there's no time dilation.

Feel free to rip this to shreds, I study popular culture, not science directly. I'm only interested in how credible this actually is.