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Big Bang Busted!

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It was the name of the article. Sheesh, Angel don't worry. I'm sure Carl Sagan's ghost is working on a cure as we speak. :p Oh, that's right. Sagan doens't have a ghost. He was a brain fart. :D Anyway, I didn't title it. :cool:
 
Why is it so hard for you to grasp that we are just chemical reactions? Does it make it that much harder to enjoy your life? I just don't get why people can't enjoy life without adding in mythical mumbo jumbo.
 
Yes, Steve, the title is very accurate. Thanks for linking to this. I love Roger Penrose (in the academic/intellectual sense!). I've read his books, and am almost done with his newest one, which is a bit of a tough slog, but very, very interesting.

Roger Penrose also is a researcher into the nature of human consciousness, so he studies our brains and the cosmos at large. I really like his interview in a book I've recommended a number of times, and which is just plain fascinating. Links to that book and his latest are below. Thanks, Steve, for posting this article. Kim:)

Amazon.com: Cycles of Time: An Extraordinary New View of the Universe (9780307278463): Roger Penrose: Books

Amazon.com: Conversations on Consciousness: What the Best Minds Think about the Brain, Free Will, and What It Means to Be Human (9780195179590): Susan Blackmore: Books

Both these books are superb.:D
 
Angel of Ioren said:
Why is it so hard for you to grasp that we are just chemical reactions? Does it make it that much harder to enjoy your life? I just don't get why people can't enjoy life without adding in mythical mumbo jumbo.
Click to expand...

You need to read more about the nature of human consciousness, and by that I don't mean "mythical mumbo jumbo" or religion, which I know are red cape/red flag words.

I'd recommend you start with the book I linked to above, but I'll link to it again here. It's sophisticated enough, but a good primer, but you have to pay attention and I promise you it will fascinate you.

"just chemical reactions"???? Well, I think some major, major researchers would have something to say about that. It's called, literally, "the problem" in studies of human consciousness: is consciousnesss merely the by-product, an epiphenomenon, of the neuronal activity of the brain, or is it more?"

Also, another link to a superb book I recommend on human consciousness. You will find researchers who do, indeed, think consciousness is just a epiphenomenon, but even they describe it in a more sophisticated way than "just chemical reactions." And then there are others on the other side, and then there are scientists who are in between. Here are links:

Amazon.com: Conversations on Consciousness: What the Best Minds Think about the Brain, Free Will, and What It Means to Be Human (9780195179590): Susan Blackmore: Books

Amazon.com: Mind: A Brief Introduction (Fundamentals of Philosophy) (9780195157345): John R. Searle: Books

Quite a bit more to it than those phrases, I'm afraid. Kim:)​
 
Oh shit, I farted in the church of the secular humanist free thinkers society again. :eek: So sorry. I was just surfing through and thought it was an interesting article. I"m sure it's nothing, I'm nothing, you are nothing. We are Devo!
We are borg. Intention to assimilate the target ("You will
be assimilated"). :p
I gotta get some Beano before I come back to this church. ;)
 
My goodness, people are so touchy these days.
How about you just enjoy life? That's a novel idea, no? I know I can even though I don't believe in a soul or an afterlife. It doesn't change how I feel about my friends and family.
 
My goodness, people are so touchy these days

Pot meet kettle. ;) And even though you didn't say it "Yes I will forgive you for jumping too soon about the title of this thread." Ya know since you didn't bother to actually read the "Name" of the article before posting. :p
 
I did, and I read the article. It's just that it's misleading. It doesn't "bust" the big bang. Article titles like that are just baiting people. There's been an air of silliness in this forum about spirituality and religion as of late, this thread just being the latest.

At the end of the day, whether there's a god, gods, or absolutely nothing other than chemical and biological evolution, what does it change? I'm still going to go home tonight and play with my kid and then relax with my wife, and think that I'm glad to be alive since this is the only shot I get.
 
Angel of Ioren said:
Why is it so hard for you to grasp that we are just chemical reactions? Does it make it that much harder to enjoy your life? I just don't get why people can't enjoy life without adding in mythical mumbo jumbo.
Click to expand...

Well Angelo, one man's "mumbo jumbo" is another man's divine spirit. Who are you to say who is right and who is wrong? Hmmmmmm?

Decker
 
I'm not saying it's wrong. I'm saying you can enjoy life without it. Although i will add that I don't believe in that stuff and I'm doing perfectly fine.
 
I wanted to come in and apologize to Angelo about perhaps coming on too condescendingly in my last post in this thread, and I do. I do recommend that he read more about human consciousness, but I came on too superciliously (love that word: from Latin, meaning above the eyebrow).

But in light of Steve's analysis of the thread, I want to add my own.

1. Steve links to a superb article by no less than Roger Penrose, which would, you would think, lead our minds to great things, the meaning of the cosmos, a universe before the Big Bang.
2. Angelo enters and wonders to Steve why he had the title wrong. HUH?
3. Steve, his mind on the wonders of the universe(s), replies well, that's the title of the article.
4. Angelo reenters the thread with this incongruous, irrelevant, inflammatory, incendiary bit of profundity "why is it so hard for you to grasp that we are just chemical reactions? Does it make it that much harder to enjoy your life? I just don't get why people can't enjoy life without adding in mythical mumbo jumbo." WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?
5. Spookymulder praises Steve for his article.
6. I praise Steve for his article and provide two links about Roger Penrose. I must admit I'm wondering what prompted that comment in #4.
7. Rick came in with a comment. I didn't understand it, but I don't criticize it. I'd like to know more about what he meant, an intriguing idea.
8. Steve provides us with a couple of very funny faces that inform us, in my opinion, that my gosh, all I did was link to an interesting article.
9. I, yes, take a bit of offense at Angelo's comments, which are so incredibly incongruous to the thread, and rather provocative, and for what reason? So I post a bit of condescendingly phrased information about two books Angelo might like to read that shed a bit more scientific light than his comments in #4 say about the deep nature of human consciousness. And for that condescension, I apologize.
10. And then, well, I'll stop. But Angelo, what is his reaction?

THE ULTIMATE REFUGE: "My goodness, people are so touchy these days. How about you enjoy life? That's a novel idea, no?" And so on. HUUUHHHHHHH??????????????

Anyway, I apologize for any contribution to the thread that led it to "evolve" as it did. But I think this is a perfect example of what happens on this forum. Kim:)
 
The bigger question is, why do so many people care what others choose to believe? I'm an agnostic that leans toward atheism but I couldn't care less if others don't share my view and it doesn't make them any less deserving of basic human decency. What people believe is a combination of what they were taught, what they learned and their life experiences, given that, is it really that hard to understand that everyone isn't going to share your specific view point? I'd also like to point out that even with my position on religion as stated above, I think it's the epitome of hubris to say that you know, with 100% certainty, even with no way to empirically prove it, that there is no God. How is that any different from the opposite view which you so disdain?
 
All of you know in your heart of hearts that it is turtles all the way down. You are all in denial or at least creative avoidance. I'm reasonably sure of it in the way you're sure you turned the coffee pot off before you left the house as you pull into the neighborhood and wonder where all the firetrucks are going. Contemplating the origins of the universe is like wondering where all those AOL disks went. If you were able to answer the question what would you do with the information?
 
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