tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11522380.post115720714087684490..comments2023-10-26T05:57:03.209-07:00Comments on Skeptacles: "Risible Sprint" - Sam Harris has a way with wordsStevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02211730939356678631noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11522380.post-1157564712637081172006-09-06T10:45:00.000-07:002006-09-06T10:45:00.000-07:00The Christian community that I know is a cure for ...The Christian community that I know is a cure for loneliness and a powerful tool for effecting community action. It has severe handicaps, I admit. For one thing, there is the <B>willful ignorance</B> that others besides you and I have described. There is deliberately excessive confidence in the <B>one way</B> mentality. There is too much distance between the preacher and the flock, and too much respect accorded to the preacher. (Quakers are an exception to this.) <BR/><BR/>The ability of the preacher exists to mesmerize, polemicize and fractionalize the congregation. The temptation to demagoguery has been yielded to so often that the Church has been split into rediculously numerous counter-dogmatic lineages whose protective meme-barriers filter rationality and compromise out of all interaction. Ecumenicism is a pipe dream.<BR/><BR/>Nevertheless, the core beliefs, once separated from violent meme-inspired purity wars, are very positive. The communities themselves, especially those of non-denominational churches, are positive and productive. The people are the soul of the Church. The preachers are a problem. The dogma is a problem. Fanaticism is a disaster, but it's not that big any more.<BR/><BR/>And that's my opinion, or some of it at least.jj mollohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15011855944240477996noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11522380.post-1157562908171186922006-09-06T10:15:00.000-07:002006-09-06T10:15:00.000-07:00Fractals are fascinating, but the Mandelbrot set i...Fractals are fascinating, but the Mandelbrot set in particular is spooky to me. That such a simple process could generate such a visually appealing universe is surprising, somewhat disturbing, to me. I've seen a film with continuous zoom-in on a particular point of the Graph, leading to ever-changing but familiar fractal landscapes.<BR/><BR/>I know that we are evolved to find pattern where none exists, but this seems like the product of a conscious mind, almost an effort to communicate. Why should such a thing appear spontaneously as the result of pure mathematical analysis? I guess the film-maker is doing a lot of selection, shifting centers of successive frames toward more interesting action. There is theoretically an infinite amount of surface to choose from. The color-coding has an opening for artistic choice as well. Nevertheless, no amount of rational analysis seems to remove the whiff of other-worldliness for me.<BR/><BR/>One of my favor movies is <I>Contact</I>, from the book of the same name by Carl Sagan. Carl Sagan was not a novelist by trade, but when he finally wrote one, he went directly for the crux of the matter. For one thing, he suggests the possibility that numbers could be messages from God, or someone emirically indistinguishable from God.jj mollohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15011855944240477996noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11522380.post-1157416032058279822006-09-04T17:27:00.000-07:002006-09-04T17:27:00.000-07:00Wilson is said to be a secular humanist, so I don'...Wilson is said to be a secular humanist, so I don't know if he has any more religious inclination than I do, but I'm reasonably certain that he rejects the traditional or literalist view. That he tries to find common ground with religious people is obviously a good thing.<BR/><BR/>I've never <I>tried</I> to be an atheist, I just seem to be >this< close to being one. There might be something out there, but I'm pretty sure Wilson and Einstein and Hawking are closer to reality than fundies of any stripe.<BR/><BR/>Along with the good that Christians do, do you agree that there's a lot of harm to go along with it? I tend to think the core notion of anthropocentrism is very harmful, especially around this point in human history, and that some of the good works of well-meaning people are ultimately harmful.<BR/><BR/>What do I know, though? I always stand to be corrected.<BR/><BR/>Fractals are cool. I still remember reading (reading, not fully understanding) the article Scientific American did on Mandelbrot and his then-newly-discovered set. One of the ideas I had for a senior project was some sort of fractal-based electronic art (I quickly settled, though, for something simple that I stood a chance of completing - a heliostat). What aspect of fractals leads you to doubt doubt? Is it the "always something new" aspect?Stevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02211730939356678631noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11522380.post-1157412393059505712006-09-04T16:26:00.000-07:002006-09-04T16:26:00.000-07:00I don't think that a waterfall or a gaggle of mour...I don't think that a waterfall or a gaggle of mourning squirrels are indicative of theistic intervention in our affairs. They certainly don't validate the scraps of papyrus (or vellum or whatever) collected in the second or third century by Christian friends of the emperor. The teachings of Jesus, however, are remarkably insightful, at least as explained by learned proponents. <BR/><BR/>EO Wilson is someone I admire greatly. You can see that he is doing a Chuck Yeager on this problem, but it is not unlikely that his professions of religious feeling are sincere. The universe is passing strange, and the biological world he studies is wonderful beyond words. He is so right that we have to build bridges and Christians are the most effective and interconnected do-gooders on the planet. If you want good to be done, it's a good place to start.<BR/><BR/>My own efforts at atheism have failed. I am too impressed at the virtues of Christian communities and I am, perhaps emotionally, unable to banish all thoughts of deity. One of the puzzles that keeps me in doubt of doubt is the <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandelbrot_set" REL="nofollow">Mandelbrot set.</A> There are surprising things here.jj mollohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15011855944240477996noreply@blogger.com