jakelafort

Mike,

You remind me of Deepak Chopra. I won’t call ya names. And you are a half-decent sophist. Woops, was that a name? However there are places in your writing in which logic fails. On the other hand if you take it on the road the majority of your audience may not be aware.

The universe may well be more Alice in Wonderland than we can ever…[Read more]

Mike, that is a leap followed by a leap.

If i understand, it is your contention that mind-altering drugs/physical deprivation enable humans to access something otherwise inaccessible-namely god and or gods. Also you are asserting that using the aforementioned we are able to SEE universal and therefore true (idk world of gods) that our unaided…[Read more]

@Reg,

Law, horse racing, literature, poetry, Sunday school, drug-induced euphoria, drug-induced discovery, anti-theism; the gods know beyond my limited purview. Have you no shame?
or
I was carping, being a little baby bitch (baby bastard to be politically preferable) Sorry bout dat.
or
Fail to respond having been mildly chastised as you count coup.

Reg, you say you would agree with Mike if one word were added-SUBJECTIVELY. I would change the word proof to believe. It is easy to subjectively believe..

Proof and subjectivity are at odds.

Fair point.

WHO created the universe? I know it is god who did it. Who else is powerful enough to do that? Anyways sumthin can’t come from nuthin. Atheists just like to be contrary…either that or they’re communists.

You guys and gals are mostly not addressing Ivy’s question.

Yes, sexual orientation is real. As pope indicates it is necessary in terms of evolution. Sexual fluidity is also real. However, not all humans are fluid.

I have not read many studies. But there are obvious ways to investigate the issue: anonymous polls, prisoners and especially…[Read more]

I doubt it.

Asexuals are asexual. Strong heteros and homos are what they are. Prison is an artificial environment…if that is makin ya think as you are. And i assume that many prisoners are celibate by design.

Robert, is it true that pop. growth rates are slowing? It seems as though those in least favorable conditions have the most offspring. No work? No problem. Not enough to eat? No problem. Not enough clean water? No problem.

On other hand those in Japan and those with higher education and lacking in religion have fewer..
Are couples in those…[Read more]

It is strange how little we know. Am guessing that the issue of when consciousness arose is nebulous. The earliest life interacted in its environment in a way that allowed it to survive. That means it had to recognize its environment and navigate the obstacles and locate food. We assume that those life forms were insensate and unaware. What caused…[Read more]

No argument Robert.

But it bears mentioning that bacteria and viruses are kickass killers. Think about the plague…Spanish flu…malaria…yellow fever…newly evolved super bugs.

Pope, the tenor of your writing is anthropocentric egoism. (You used the word anthropomorphic which is what the scientists thought Jane Goodall was being.) I am not debating the wonder of our brains. I strongly suspect there are aspects of our working brains which are unmatched in the animal kingdom. On the other hand i strongly suspect that many…[Read more]

Pope, i think you are making assumptions without justification. Our biology is our gift and our curse. When we credit our consciousness as the supreme arbiter or register of experience, reason and knowledge…or even as the driving force in our sense of autonomy we do so out of ignorance. We simply lack the knowledge to be so cocksure. At some…[Read more]