A little time with PZ Myers

Allena, her roommate Heather and I got to listen to PZ Myers at DeAnza college today. He talked about the things Creationists do to try to argue against evolution and science. Is that it? Mostly is was list of adjectives you could use to describe creationists. Obtuse is my favorite one.

Obtuse: lacking in insight or discernment; dense: slow to learn or understand; lacking intellectual acuity;

Actually, I think creationists like Ray Comfort isn't obtuse, I think he is deliberately lying for his own gain. He has a lucrative gig with his creationist character and is milking it for all it is worth.

After the talk was an even longer Q&A session that was wide ranging and quite interesting. I had a couple of questions but held them to myself... hard to break the shyness barrier. I did at the end get PZ to desecrate (sign) Allena's copy of the Comfort edition of Origin of Species. That was pretty funny.

At the post event beer and pizza at BJ's in Cupertino, there was too much noise from the football game to hear what was going on at PZ's end of the table, but we had some great conversations at our end with some young people. Very nice time!

Moral Absolutes

Ok, who's watch did 9/11 occur on?

It's been pretty aggravating to see the talking right blather about how there weren't any terrorist attacks in George Bush's time in office after 9/11 (??). Never mind the 9 months prior to 9/11 he didn't stop the attack. Never mind the anthrax attack. Or Richard Reid. Or the LA airport shootings. Never mind the thousands of Americans who died in Iraq for no apparent purpose. Never mind Osama Bin Laden remained on the loose throughout his Presidency. Rudy, Palin, etc can just STFU.

blithering batshit imbecility

"Is there some theoretical limit to how fucking stupid Sarah Palin can be?
You know…some mathematical formula which describes the absolute limit of stupid, beyond which not even thought can escape…the event horizon of brainlessness. If there is, I have little doubt that Sarah Palin would laugh as she demonstrated that she can shrink her brain beyond infinitely small and infinitely dense, and utter a new string of blithering batshit imbecility that would make drool seem smart."

This cracked me up. I had to send it to everyone.

Being a spiritual atheist

Being atheist doesn’t mean you can’t meditate, be in the moment, experience the awe of nature and life, empathize with those in pain, be very close to those you love. If that isn’t spiritual, I guess I don’t know what it is. Next time you look at a flower and think of the maelstrom of quantum physics driving the bubbling chemistry in every cell producing the biology of that plant whose place in the ecosystem is just one small piece of the cycle of life you are part of... You are being many times more spiritual than someone who says “what a pretty flower god made”. But all you often can say to someone who says you are spiritually bereft is “how little you know.”

The presumption of Rick Warren

"While we have all the flaws concomitant with being children of chance, we also have an advantage: we're free. There is no cosmic fiddler. There is no domineering father in the sky who has a mission for us, who decreed at our birth that there is something we must do with our lives, who has slotted you into one specific role without your consent. You are not driven by an arbitrary external purpose, and you should find the idea of such a daily dictator of every detail of your existence abhorrent to an extreme.

It's a real mystery to me why anyone would find the deterministic slave-philosophy of Rick Warren at all appealing or consoling, especially since the evidence all says that it is wrong, as well. There must be something some people find pleasant in surrendering responsibility to an imaginary scapegoat.

Personally, I appreciate the fact that I'm a combination of traits, some lucky and some unlucky, that are mine and not the product of the whims of some puppetmaster. I'll make of them what I can and what I will, and who I am is my responsibility and to my credit or blame."

Zoe Keating

I sure enjoy watching and listening to her.

This atheist enjoys the Holidays!

Atheists enjoy the holidays as much as anyone else. We don't observe the religious aspects, obviously; but we care about family and friends as much as anybody, and we are as happy to celebrate with them during a time of darkness and cold as much as anybody.

I am having a very nice Holiday. I had a nice visit to my Grandfather's house where my sister, her family and parents were also visiting along with my daughters. We had a great time yesterday with Liz's sister and nephew and made a very nice dinner, and I have had a relaxing day at the airport with friends and at home with Liz. The days are dark and cloudy but the time with friends and family has been relaxing and rejuvenating.

I cracked up...

I got this t-shirt for Christmas from Liz's sister and nephew. I love it!

The Reason for the Season

At the time of the winter solstice, let reason prevail.

There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell.

There is only our natural world.

Religion is just myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.

"...the midwinter seasonal holiday was created by people with the superstitious belief that supernatural transitions accompanied natural ones, and these few days are traditionally special because of a belief in their magical importance, and every religion attaches some godly event to the solstice season. It's why you'll get a day off on Christmas, which means it was good for something. So just pause, bow your head, and think about Jesus. And reject him.

Also consider God, the Holy Ghost, all the prophets and saints, the angels and demons, the Great Old Ones, any pantheon ever erected in heaven, all the ghosts and boojums, and deny them, every one. Think about all the pious, sanctimonious god-bothers who tell you to worship their dead gods on this day, and tell them, "No."

You're free.

Feels good, doesn't it? Remember the reason for the season, and be sure to go "Ho ho ho!" at it now and then, and let laughter fill your home."

Theodicy III: Primo Levi versus Francis Collins « Why Evolution Is True

Theodicy III: Primo Levi versus Francis Collins « Why Evolution Is True:
"Silence slowly prevails and then, from my bunk on the top row, I see and hear old Kuhn praying aloud, with his beret on his head, swaying backwards and forwards violently. Kuhn is thanking God because he has not been chosen.

Kuhn is out of his senses. Does he not see Beppo the Greek in the bunk next to him, Beppo who is twenty years old and is going to the gas-chamber the day after tomorrow and knows it and lies there looking fixedly at the light without saying anything and without even thinking anymore? Can Kuhn fail to realize that next time it will be his turn? Does Kuhn not understand that what has happened today is an abomination, which no propitiatory prayer, no pardon, no expiation by the guilty, which nothing at all in the power of man can ever clean again?

If I was God, I would spit at Kuhn’s prayer." - Primo Levi, Auschwitz survivor


“Frequent miraculous interventions would be at least as chaotic in the physical realm as they would be in interfering with human acts of free will.” - Francis Collins

And this same Collins shamelessly argues that God has fine-tuned the Universe, manufacturing, out of complete chaos, a Perfect Order of every molecule and every physical law in order to produce Mankind.

His God can shuffle galaxies at ease but is powerless to prevent cancer in children. And he worships this sh**head because he can make a frozen waterfall pretty.

He froze it in 3 strands as a special and personal “sign” that Christianity is true and delivered this sacred sign to the “humble” Collins himself. (Surely such signs take god’s time from the excision of cancerous cells in children.)"

I am finally understanding this free will crap. God gave us free will and won't interfere in the acts of men or of nature. Some such shit. God cares that I don't fly around the room but won't prevent me from killing a puppy? I have free will? Why can't I fly also? Killing a puppy is a physical act, why can't I fly? Francis Collins claims he found god when he came upon a waterfall one winter day frozen in three strands and is making these comments above quoted from his book. He was appointed by Obama to lead the NIH and was the director of the Human Genome Project which sequenced the human DNA. Incredible.

PZ gets email

"I do not concede an iota of respect to your stupidity, and will be spending the rest of my life opposing it."

PZ Myers in a comment about some mail he received from a creationist. The arrogant ignorance of the guy was infuriating.

Why Science is Important

Hey Religious Believers, Where's Your Evidence? | Belief | AlterNet

Hey Religious Believers, Where's Your Evidence? | Belief | AlterNet:

"So how is it, exactly, that atheists are the close-minded ones?
Having an open mind doesn't mean thinking all possibilities are equally likely. It means being willing to consider new ideas if the evidence supports them. And it means being willing to give up old ideas if the evidence is against them.

So to any believer who thinks atheists are close-minded, I want to ask you this:

What would convince you that you were mistaken?

Most atheists can answer that question."

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