Happy Darwin Day!
daizi
February 12, 2009, 09:53 PM posted in General Discussion
祝大家达尔文节快乐！
Zhù dàjiā Dá'ěrwén jié kuàilè！
Atheism day is here! How 'bout some evolutionary vocabulary in celebration of one of our most important godheads?
tvan
February 16, 2009, 02:26 PMjoachim, leaving the validity of religion in general aside, it seems as though people need to believe in something beyond the material. You may dispute the worth of such beliefs, but I challenge you to find a society where it doesn't hold true.
I find it ironic that in suppressing Buddhism Mao ultimately opened the door wider for other religions, both home grown (Falun Gong) and foreign (Christianity).
kimiik
February 13, 2009, 04:27 PMMiantiao,
According to the same Gallop page "Belief [in the theory of evolution] drops to 24% among frequent church attenders". I will call it a regression.
I'm not directly speaking about religion here (swing to god Vs swing toward non-believers). I just notice how the "fact of Evolution" (aka the theory of evolution) proved by Science is only accepted by 39% of the population of the United States of America.
daizi
February 13, 2009, 09:04 PMProbably a greater percentage than 39 don't know what a theory is (vs. a hypothesis), or what evolution even means. How many believe the Earth is only 5,000 years old, or that universe was created in a week?
At least 39 percent of United States-ians believe in the existence of an invisible friend who has nothing better to do than meddle in their daily lives, usually for the worse.
50 percent of all people (not just US-ians) are below average. It often takes fewer than 50 percent to elect a president, i.e. Bush in 2000. Bush was anti-science and anti-intellectual, or at least pretended to be to garner the ignorant vote.
Apparently, we're beginning to evolve smaller brains. I guess that's better for the planet in the long run.
However, none of this should take away from Darwin Day. What an amazing light his ideas continue to shine on ignorance.
daizi
February 13, 2009, 11:31 PMThanks, Joachim.
The offending lyric is:
讀進化論我贊成達爾文
Dújìn huà lùn wǒ zànchéng Dá'ěrwén
After reading the Theory of Evolution, I believe in Darwin
沒實力的就有淘汰的可能
méi shílì de jiù yǒu táotài de kěnéng
Without real strength, I might be eliminated by natural selection
Sort of Valentine's Day meets Darwin Day. An anthropocentric hijacking of a beautiful theory for yet more saccharin Chinese pop. Ironically, if we apply Darwin's theory of natural selection to culture (memes vs. genes), as some propose, I suppose we would have more and more milquetoast music, as "culture" has to appeal to the masses to survive.
Joachim
February 14, 2009, 06:05 PMNay, don't forget genetic drift, evolution on islands, and increased diversity of species in large areas with diverse conditions and scarce resources.
daizi
February 14, 2009, 09:43 PMAnd how 'bout memetic mutation. Maybe that's what happened to Michael Jackson.
miantiao
February 15, 2009, 06:41 AM那么， 当然不信宗教的人也不会承认天帝的存在，不过别忘了他们奇怪的punters， 就是说他们 swinging punters; one who has two bob each way by taking out an insurance policy,万一lucifer真的存在的话！
从你提供的数据分析下去，可看到美国教徒相当真诚，信仰很强， 不过因为100分之24的教徒还是承认达尔文的演变理论，就表示教徒中的swinging punters也不算少数。
changye
February 15, 2009, 08:30 AMI'm not a religious guy, but let me confess, I always feel that the more I read about the origin of the universe/life and their evolutions, the more blur the line between science and religion seems to be. Darwin's theory of evolution and its modified versions might be "better" than Genesis, but they are still far from perfect. As far as the mysteries of the universe and life concern, I sometimes feel myself compelled to shout like this, "God knows!"
miantiao
February 13, 2009, 04:01 PMkimik
so does that represent a swing to god or is it in fact a swing toward non-believers since the last poll?
of the 39% of believers, how many choose god as their preferred leader?
what percentage of voters were happy with god's performance?
RJ
February 15, 2009, 06:11 PMDoh,
Every day I thank God for life and limb after which I ask him to forgive me for not being smart enough to understand him and his nature. There is only one commandment - do unto others as you would have them do unto you. End of story.
frognotinawell
February 15, 2009, 07:25 PM"Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you" -the very basis of my morality. Being commanded to do so by a spirit in the sky does however get my back up. I've a question, people. I want to write:
"May you be touched by his noodly appendage."
祝你被他的面条的触须触摸。
zhù nǐ bèi tà de miàn tiáo de chù xū chù mō.
Am I anywhere near being right or is the sentence a total dog's dinner?
Joachim
February 15, 2009, 07:43 PMfrognotinawell:
What is this? Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster??
kimiik
February 15, 2009, 07:46 PM吃饭前或拿食物前要洗手
If the first commandment of every religion could have been "Wash your hands before eating or touching food" (no allusion to Pontius Pilatus), it could have saved so many human lives around the word.
tvan
February 15, 2009, 08:22 PMI think Marxist China was a very good place to be an atheist. Interestingly, given the utopian nature of communism, political communism in general and Maoist communism in particular, found religion to be anathema, most likely because it represented an organization outside the government's control. Also, of course, China has suffered numerous large scale incidents of religious unrest, mostly Buddhist, but also Christian and Muslim.
无神论: Atheism.
唯物论: Materialism
共产主义: Communism
However, it seems to me that, for a significant part of China's population, the Maoist flavor of atheism left a gaping spiritual void.
kimiik
February 15, 2009, 09:25 PMTvan,
If you consider communism as a religion, communist China rejecting the other religions seems quite logical.
tvan
February 15, 2009, 10:20 PMkimik, excellent point, at least during Mao's time.
Joachim
February 16, 2009, 01:22 PMtvan: What is a spiritual void? Lack of self-illusion? Do we need spirituality if it is based on misconceptions of self and reality ?
daizi
February 15, 2009, 05:29 PMSwinging punters sounds like Blaise Pascal's "wager" that, even though the existence of god cannt be determined through reason, one should bet on god's existence since, in doing so, one has everything to gain and nothing to lose. There's also everyman Homer Simpson's philosophy that, if one picks the wrong religion then every day you're just making god madder and madder. Hah.
kimiik
February 13, 2009, 10:09 AMA new Gallup Poll shows that only 39% of Americans say they "believe in the theory of evolution".
http://www.gallup.com/poll/114544/Darwin-Birthday-Believe-Evolution.aspx