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Basically, Weinstein is saying there is a genetic basis for genocide. We find it naturally abhorrent, but when the right environmental conditions arise and a leader pushes us in that direction, the desire to kill off a competing tribe kicks in and becomes viable as a survival strategy, and to enough people it becomes the “right” thing to do. Weinstein’s theme is, we need to get to know ourselves better, know that we are capable of this violence, so we can overcome the nature with our mimeticly evolved skills and knowledge.

I’m just peeking in and no time to pursue those links today, still dancing on the razors edge – I realize it’s all predetermined, but that this point it’s still a toss up between a car wreak and a good column.  One more day.

I’ll listen to what Weinstein’s talk later  –  Is that supposed to be a revelation that we are all capable of genocide, given proper circumstances?    Isn’t that how America became the Land of The Free?

To the other point,  I’ve long ago appreciated that we need to recognize our own demons and dark sides – After all, I couldn’t speak about the Passion of Jesus with such self-assured understanding, if I hadn’t tasted the fires of my own burning on the cross of my own making along with some  hell and damnation and I know what comes from honestly facing one’s own failing and sins and waking up to a new day.

.    And right in that we have the key to appreciating why Christian has owned the human imagination so well – because Jesus speaks directly to the human drama within each of us individuals.

What confuses me is what any of that has to do with any of this:

Within science respecting discussions regarding Evolution, seems to me the monster in the closet that’s rarely mentioned is Intelligent Design – and when it is, it’s beaten right back into the closet.

I believe it would be valuable for scientists to acknowledge our humanity and our mind’s constant curiosity about our ‘origin’ and the ‘why’ question.
I’m pretty sure all of us possess little voices in our heads constantly prattling on about the world it’s experiencing – even if that world doesn’t get beyond Reality TV and shopping programs, or Bible stories.

When seriously learning about Evolution, particularly lay-people with no formal or deeper understanding of the ways of science, its natural for the incredible details to overload our mind and simply overwhelm.

The impression of a grand directed pageant is staring us in the face and its utterly magnificent – that is where the Intelligent Designer comes into play – like an automatic safety valve.  Why?  Because it helps our minds process the truly mind-boggling information we are constantly hit with when studying evolution, or biology at the molecular level.

I believe that needs to be acknowledged.

Besides, what does science have to fear, it already has an Intelligent Designer at hand, MATHEMATICS.

Don’t we?    Why not celebrate that ? !

Another matter, Creationists make much of “randomness” – yet as we learn more and grow, it becomes ever clearer that “Randomness” doesn’t exist in our natural universe.  There are constraints that begin with the Big Bang and are further amplified through biology and evolution.

Why not celebrate that?

They say people need stories and myths to make sense of the world around them – why not supply some fact based stories, that are so much more satisfying than myths, because they enable a life time of nonstop learning and personal discovering regarding the existence beyond us.

What does the Christian offer?  A demand for obedience and constant obsessive worshipping?  Seriously, what else do the loud mouth phony Christians offer?

Me, I have the wonder of a speck of dust that wanted to be more and an inspired life time worth of discovery and deeping appreciation that I belong to this world and to this time with a visceral awareness that vapid preachers of self-delusion can’t touch.

I also have a worm that simply wanted to live and have babies, oh but the places her babies would go:

How do we get from a simple worm to all this complexity?
Martin Smith – Origins Ecdysozoan Body Plans – What a scientist sounds like.
https://confrontingsciencecontrarians.blogspot.com/2019/09/martin-smith-origins-ecdysozoan-body.html
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Oh, and lets not forget about the
Mathematical connections to Intelligent Design.

NOVA The Great Math Mystery – The Language Of The Universe

NOVA leads viewers on a mathematical mystery tour — a provocative exploration of math’s astonishing power across the centuries. We discover math’s signature in the swirl of a nautilus shell, the whirlpool of a galaxy and the spiral in the center of a sunflower. Math was essential to everything from the first wireless radio transmissions to the prediction and discovery of the Higgs boson and the successful landing of rovers on Mars. But where does math get its power? Astrophysicist and writer Mario Livio, along with a colorful cast of mathematicians, physicists and engineers, follows math from Pythagoras to Einstein and beyond, all leading to the ultimate riddle: Is math an invention or a discovery? Humankind’s clever trick or the language of the universe?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lR84HJP54fg