Agnostic here. I'm more in the middle between religion and nonreligion. People seem to think I'm atheist just because I don't believe in any specific deity.
All right, well, I can say I know that there is something out there, but I'm not sure "what".
I don't care what religion someone is, just as long as they're not forcing it on me, or sacrificing people.
I really don't like your biological argument. Humans are not the only organisms to think at the same level. Koko is a gorilla that has been taught over 1000 words using American sign language and convey complex sentence structures.
And it is highly improbable to say that there are no other life forms in the universe. It's damn huge. The second nearest start to us, Alpha Centuari, is more than 4 lightyears away. It's not the smartest idea to say that because there is no life within our solar system other than us, there is no other life at all. Mars COULD have had life similar to ours, according to the traces of water left on the planet, but because the existence of life is quite improbable, it failed to create the complex carbon structures that make up all life on Earth.
First off, that's not intelligence.
I can teach a *crag* parrot to say hello when I say hello, but that doesn't make it smart.
That's basic animal training.
Look at Koko. When signing she doesn't exhibit any emotion in her face, she barely even pays attention to the person speaking to her.
She can make those words and respond to them, but it's doubtful she knows what most of them mean.
It is on some level communication, but even then you are stretching the meaning.
And you've already validated my other point with your Mars example.
Look how *crag* specific you have to be to get life.
You need the right chemicals, right minerals, correct distance from the sun.
If you are even a little bit off, you're done.
Nothing.
Intelligence is the ability to solve problems and stuff. We are not the only ones that have it. Dolphins are almost as smart as we are, and they even communicate in a complex language like we do. There are endless amounts of other species that have intelligence (Haven't you seen a monkey using a rock to crush nuts or something?), but they just don't have as much of it.
Geno wrote:
I don't care what religion someone is, just as long as they're not forcing it on me, or sacrificing people.
Or as long as they are bragging about their religion and saying that other religions/theories are stupid. It's really annoying when people do that.
I really don't like your biological argument. Humans are not the only organisms to think at the same level. Koko is a gorilla that has been taught over 1000 words using American sign language and convey complex sentence structures.
And it is highly improbable to say that there are no other life forms in the universe. It's damn huge. The second nearest start to us, Alpha Centuari, is more than 4 lightyears away. It's not the smartest idea to say that because there is no life within our solar system other than us, there is no other life at all. Mars COULD have had life similar to ours, according to the traces of water left on the planet, but because the existence of life is quite improbable, it failed to create the complex carbon structures that make up all life on Earth.
First off, that's not intelligence.
I can teach a *crag* parrot to say hello when I say hello, but that doesn't make it smart.
That's basic animal training.
Look at Koko. When signing she doesn't exhibit any emotion in her face, she barely even pays attention to the person speaking to her.
She can make those words and respond to them, but it's doubtful she knows what most of them mean.
It is on some level communication, but even then you are stretching the meaning.
And you've already validated my other point with your Mars example.
Look how *crag* specific you have to be to get life.
You need the right chemicals, right minerals, correct distance from the sun.
If you are even a little bit off, you're done.
Nothing.
Intelligence is the ability to solve problems and stuff. We are not the only ones that have it. Dolphins are almost as smart as we are, and they even communicate in a complex language like we do. There are endless amounts of other species that have intelligence (Haven't you seen a monkey using a rock to crush nuts or something?), but they just don't have as much of it.
Geno wrote:
I don't care what religion someone is, just as long as they're not forcing it on me, or sacrificing people.
Or as long as they are bragging about their religion and saying that other religions/theories are stupid. It's really annoying when people do that.
First of all, it's actually logic that's the ability to solve problems. Intellect is "the ability to learn or understand or to deal with new or trying situations."
As with anything, there really isn't a "absolute zero", so I agree with you that nothing living is completely unintelligent.
As an atheist myself, I actually have to agree with Popple on quite a few points. I do believe there is no supernatural anything governing our universe, and my only real evidence is that many things have the ability and are continuing to be explained by science. I feel better that I can see the evidence for various things myself with enough effort, (which I admit could easily be wrong) but I also prefer this to merely trusting someone else's word. However, I will be perfectly willing to believe in any religion once it does give me ample evidence, and still look into ways any religion works. As a sidepoint, I myself also follow many of the principles of Taoism without ever believing in a true Tao as well as some principles of morality in Western religion, as taken from Hammurabi's written code.
Anywho, to the main point. I know many atheists who do exactly the same thing Popple is saying, where it is just pure ignorance, never actually having come face to face with many of the ideas of religion, but just suckling and spouting their parents' views. No evidence and some half baked answer on why they are atheists. These are often the same people who go around as evangelizing atheists doing the same stuff that they advocate against. It disgusts me just as much as the people on the corner telling me to go hail Xenu or even the Christians who go about day to day doing the exact same thing. As I have said before, do whatever you want, just don't screw with anybody else.
I should probably make a note that again, this isn't all atheists, but I do know a lot that are rather stupid about things and a lot that aren't. There are many points I missed, but I just wanted to get my basic idea out. ~vg~
I really don't like your biological argument. Humans are not the only organisms to think at the same level. Koko is a gorilla that has been taught over 1000 words using American sign language and convey complex sentence structures.
And it is highly improbable to say that there are no other life forms in the universe. It's damn huge. The second nearest start to us, Alpha Centuari, is more than 4 lightyears away. It's not the smartest idea to say that because there is no life within our solar system other than us, there is no other life at all. Mars COULD have had life similar to ours, according to the traces of water left on the planet, but because the existence of life is quite improbable, it failed to create the complex carbon structures that make up all life on Earth.
First off, that's not intelligence.
I can teach a *crag* parrot to say hello when I say hello, but that doesn't make it smart.
That's basic animal training.
Look at Koko. When signing she doesn't exhibit any emotion in her face, she barely even pays attention to the person speaking to her.
She can make those words and respond to them, but it's doubtful she knows what most of them mean.
It is on some level communication, but even then you are stretching the meaning.
And you've already validated my other point with your Mars example.
Look how *crag* specific you have to be to get life.
You need the right chemicals, right minerals, correct distance from the sun.
If you are even a little bit off, you're done.
Nothing.
Intelligence is the ability to solve problems and stuff. We are not the only ones that have it. Dolphins are almost as smart as we are, and they even communicate in a complex language like we do. There are endless amounts of other species that have intelligence (Haven't you seen a monkey using a rock to crush nuts or something?), but they just don't have as much of it.
Geno wrote:
I don't care what religion someone is, just as long as they're not forcing it on me, or sacrificing people.
Or as long as they are bragging about their religion and saying that other religions/theories are stupid. It's really annoying when people do that.
You are using basic *crag* instinct and giving it the name "intelligence."
So, everyone is going on and on and on about about the facts of it all, and whenEVER someone says something, they call out either "post examples" or "GENERALIZATION! YOUR'RE A *richard*!"
What's so wrong about generalizations? Everyone does it, and yet people say it's so wrong. It's practiced everywhere, and yet it's preached against. I don't see why people make such a fuss, because their opinion differs from the general populous. It's just too hard for normal people to get into specifics.
Anyways, it seems to me, that too many people are concrete thinkers. They always want their facts straight.
I say, those who think in concrete, also have their hearts set in stone.
One thing a lot of people miss about Christianity, is that it's not a belief, but a way of life. One thing most people miss about God, is that God is not just a deity, but God is Love. The fundamentals of Christianity, is about loving for one another. To have compassion for others. To never be rude, to never accuse, to never... sin. In basis, civility.
Those who truly are followers of Christianity, are the most selfless people of all. The only other religion that comes close, that I've seen, would be Buddhists. No other religion helps others to the extent and the strength as Christians. As Christians, one shouldn't focus on the facts, but of the teachings. Is it truly wrong, if the ways of Christianity leads to a more peaceful world?
Also, as Christians, we are taught to be accepting of others, not fight them till we are blue/red in the face. Those who argue about whether God is real or not, and those who persist in the argument, are not true Christians. We are taught to say our word about what we believe, and if people reject it, we move on, and wish them good luck dealing with eternal pain and suffering. Those who force Christianity on others, those who are rude to sinners, are not Christians. Also, those who think that "everything" is a miracle, has the wrong idea as well. It's given, that many things in this world are not of God's will, but of our own doing. Probability does exist, and is shown frequently. It's only those few abormalities (watch, people will pick this one sentance out and ask for examples) that are "true" miracles.
Ever notice how those who truly believe in God, those who truly understand his Love, are happier people, and those that are godless tend to be less happy, and that most people who are depressed, but not clinically depressed, are out of touch with God in their life?
If you truly understand love, you start to care less of the concrete facts.
So, everyone is going on and on and on about about the facts of it all, and whenEVER someone says something, they call out either "post examples" or "GENERALIZATION! YOUR'RE A *richard*!"
What's so wrong about generalizations? Everyone does it, and yet people say it's so wrong. It's practiced everywhere, and yet it's preached against. I don't see why people make such a fuss, because their opinion differs from the general populous. It's just too hard for normal people to get into specifics.
Anyways, it seems to me, that too many people are concrete thinkers. They always want their facts straight.
I say, those who think in concrete, also have their hearts set in stone.
One thing a lot of people miss about Christianity, is that it's not a belief, but a way of life. One thing most people miss about God, is that God is not just a deity, but God is Love. The fundamentals of Christianity, is about loving for one another. To have compassion for others. To never be rude, to never accuse, to never... sin. In basis, civility.
Those who truly are followers of Christianity, are the most selfless people of all. The only other religion that comes close, that I've seen, would be Buddhists. No other religion helps others to the extent and the strength as Christians. As Christians, one shouldn't focus on the facts, but of the teachings. Is it truly wrong, if the ways of Christianity leads to a more peaceful world?
Also, as Christians, we are taught to be accepting of others, not fight them till we are blue/red in the face. Those who argue about whether God is real or not, and those who persist in the argument, are not true Christians. We are taught to say our word about what we believe, and if people reject it, we move on, and wish them good luck dealing with eternal pain and suffering. Those who force Christianity on others, those who are rude to sinners, are not Christians. Also, those who think that "everything" is a miracle, has the wrong idea as well. It's given, that many things in this world are not of God's will, but of our own doing. Probability does exist, and is shown frequently. It's only those few abormalities (watch, people will pick this one sentance out and ask for examples) that are "true" miracles.
Ever notice how those who truly believe in God, those who truly understand his Love, are happier people, and those that are godless tend to be less happy, and that most people who are depressed, but not clinically depressed, are out of touch with God in their life?
If you truly understand love, you start to care less of the concrete facts.
I find it highly ironic that your post is based from a Christian standpoint and you talk about being concrete and stuff.
Please respond after being exposed to more religions.
In other news, people like these general atheists exist in our world. We call them extremists. Christian extremists, Muslim extremists, Jewish extremists, Hindu extremists, atheist extremist. They all exist. It's just that the general impression of an atheist is an ignorant dickhat that's pretty extreme.
Ah, and someone picks a single flaw out of my post, and ignores the rest.
Predictions confirmed.
I was considering mentioning the Hindus and the Buddhists in my post, as well, but I didn't quite know where to fit them in. But yeah. I appreciate your assuming that I'm ignorant, it's a generally accepted way of thinking, I guess.
I really don't like your biological argument. Humans are not the only organisms to think at the same level. Koko is a gorilla that has been taught over 1000 words using American sign language and convey complex sentence structures.
And it is highly improbable to say that there are no other life forms in the universe. It's damn huge. The second nearest start to us, Alpha Centuari, is more than 4 lightyears away. It's not the smartest idea to say that because there is no life within our solar system other than us, there is no other life at all. Mars COULD have had life similar to ours, according to the traces of water left on the planet, but because the existence of life is quite improbable, it failed to create the complex carbon structures that make up all life on Earth.
First off, that's not intelligence.
I can teach a *crag* parrot to say hello when I say hello, but that doesn't make it smart.
That's basic animal training.
Look at Koko. When signing she doesn't exhibit any emotion in her face, she barely even pays attention to the person speaking to her.
She can make those words and respond to them, but it's doubtful she knows what most of them mean.
It is on some level communication, but even then you are stretching the meaning.
And you've already validated my other point with your Mars example.
Look how *crag* specific you have to be to get life.
You need the right chemicals, right minerals, correct distance from the sun.
If you are even a little bit off, you're done.
Nothing.
Intelligence is the ability to solve problems and stuff. We are not the only ones that have it. Dolphins are almost as smart as we are, and they even communicate in a complex language like we do. There are endless amounts of other species that have intelligence (Haven't you seen a monkey using a rock to crush nuts or something?), but they just don't have as much of it.
Geno wrote:
I don't care what religion someone is, just as long as they're not forcing it on me, or sacrificing people.
Or as long as they are bragging about their religion and saying that other religions/theories are stupid. It's really annoying when people do that.
You are using basic *crag* instinct and giving it the name "intelligence."
Ah, and someone picks a single flaw out of my post, and ignores the rest.
Predictions confirmed.
I was considering mentioning the Hindus and the Buddhists in my post, as well, but I didn't quite know where to fit them in. But yeah. I appreciate your assuming that I'm ignorant, it's a generally accepted way of thinking, I guess.
The thing is, you are presenting your case as if the board was made up of entirely a Christian community. And that strikes me as irony from your post. I was simply pointing out.
Now, onto your post. You want to know what's the worst part about generalizing? If you're an exception. It hurts to hear that others think you're this simply because of your race, religion, gender, etc. You'll realize the wrongness of it once you're a victim of it.
But yeah, I was simply pointing out the irony in your post, since you weren't basing it from a neutral standpoint.
This whole topic is bullshit. Why? You can't just come out of no where and bash a religion. Another thing is, let people believe what they want to believe. Fine, I'll admit it, I'm atheist. And so what? I'm pretty normal I do everyday things typical of humans. It pisses me off when people just make assumptions and I hate having this hear all this biased bullshit. And if you try to convert people to Christianity then guess what? You're just as bad as those atheist then. I hate hearing all this God bullshit everywhere " God is my savior lol Jebus Christ", I hate it. Don't shove your *crag* ing religion down my throat and I won't do this same. It's just like I'll say God's name in vein such as GD and I get yelled at my mom. I don't care. It's all about personal preference. And about Koko being smart and how you said it learned and is stupid is utter bullshit. You learned how to type and walk and think properly right? Yeah, you and it are pretty much the same.
This whole topic is bullshit. Why? You can't just come out of no where and bash a religion. Another thing is, let people believe what they want to believe. Fine, I'll admit it, I'm atheist. And so what? I'm pretty normal I do everyday things typical of humans. It pisses me off when people just make assumptions and I hate having this hear all this biased bullshit. And if you try to convert people to Christianity then guess what? You're just as bad as those atheist then. I hate hearing all this God bullshit everywhere " God is my savior lol Jebus Christ", I hate it. Don't shove your *crag* ing religion down my throat and I won't do this same. It's just like I'll say God's name in vein such as GD and I get yelled at my mom. I don't care. It's all about personal preference. And about Koko being smart and how you said it learned and is stupid is utter bullshit. You learned how to type and walk and think properly right? Yeah, you and it are pretty much the same.
You're completely missing the point of this topic.
Completely.
Also, ololol at kamoro citing wikipedia as his source.
This whole topic is bullshit. Why? You can't just come out of no where and bash a religion. Another thing is, let people believe what they want to believe. Fine, I'll admit it, I'm atheist. And so what? I'm pretty normal I do everyday things typical of humans. It pisses me off when people just make assumptions and I hate having this hear all this biased bullshit. And if you try to convert people to Christianity then guess what? You're just as bad as those atheist then. I hate hearing all this God bullshit everywhere " God is my savior lol Jebus Christ", I hate it. Don't shove your *crag* ing religion down my throat and I won't do this same. It's just like I'll say God's name in vein such as GD and I get yelled at my mom. I don't care. It's all about personal preference. And about Koko being smart and how you said it learned and is stupid is utter bullshit. You learned how to type and walk and think properly right? Yeah, you and it are pretty much the same.
You're completely missing the point of this topic.
Completely.
Also, ololol at kamoro citing wikipedia as his source.
Yup, I used wikipedia. Just because some of it is fake doesn't mean ALL of it is fake. I'm pretty sure that 99 percent of the stuff on there is accurate.
And I completely agree with Joshua. To me, generalizing Atheists as ignorant is flaming. I'm an atheist, and I was very offended when I read Popple's post on why Atheists are ignorant. I think that Popple should have been reported for posting that Atheists are ignorant. It is especially annoying when you are not how someone describes people of your religion/race/etc.
And Popple, I read the definition of intelligence in the dictionary. It said,
"Intelligence: 1. Ability to learn from experience, to solve problems rationally, and to modify behavior with changes in environment; faculty of understanding and reasoning."
Let's stop right there. The first thing it says is "Ability to learn from experience..." All sorts of animals learn from experience all the time. When a wolf cub tries to kill a porcupine, it gets poked by the porcupines quills. It associates the pain with the porcupine and learns not to attack porcupines. Birds learn not to eat monarch butterflies because it makes them sick, and dogs learn to obey their masters because of the reward of food. I could name endless other examples.
