(no subject)

[ayoub]

"But they can rule by fraud, and by fraud eventually acquire access to the tools they need to finish off the job of killing the constitution."
"What sort of tools?"
"More stringent security measures. Universal electronic surveillance. No-knock laws. Stop and frisk laws. Government inspection of first-class mail. Automatic fingerprinting, photographing, blood tests, an urinalysis of any person arrested before he is charged with a crime. A law making it unlawful to resist even unlawful arrest. Laws establishing detention camps for potential subversives. Gun control laws. Restrictions on travel."

Does any of this sound familiar? When do you think this was written?

And on to another book, The Religion War by Scott Adams.

Can you answer the following questions? I'll share my answers later :)

1. If you suspected you were deluded, how could you find out for sure?


2. Are humans the product of a skilled or unskilled designer?


3. Would an omnipotent being need to think in the way that people understand it? Or is thinking unnecessary for a timeless indestructible being whose preferences are the same as reality


4. Why would God be so unclear about which book or books he authored?


5. Is consciousness anything more than a continual process of imagining, acting, observing the impact of an action, and imagining again with new information?


6. The dictionary defines "faith" as belief without evidence. It defines "stupidity" as unreasoned thinking. Is belief without evidence a form of unreasoned thinking?


7. Can the impact of your actions rippling into the future be considered an immortal soul?


8. Could atheists and believers accept the same definition of God?


9. If God's so smart, why do we fart?

Comments

[poetbear.livejournal.com]

1. not really sure of this
2. a highly skilled designer with an enormous sense of humor
3. no thinking, as we know it is vastly overrated
4. because he/she/it wants us to think, rather than go through life mindless following someone else
5. why does it have to be? but it is,
of course
6. it sure is, but "There are none so blind as he who will not see."
7. maybe, but that's a kind of limited explanation
8. yes
9. to prevent something even more potentially embarrasing, exploding!
~paul

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

As far as number 9 goes, whouldn't better design mean we wouldn't explode if we didn't fart?

[poetbear.livejournal.com]

it could. we could expand, like a
puffer fish, or just vent silently.
~paul

[jeremyb.livejournal.com]

# If you suspected you were deluded, how could you find out for sure?
Ask people who were smarter or at least better informed than me

# Are humans the product of a skilled or unskilled designer?
Unskilled. A skilled one wouldn't have screwed so many people up :)

# Would an omnipotent being need to think in the way that people understand it? Or is thinking unnecessary for a timeless indestructible being whose preferences are the same as reality
No. People think linearly, and can only pretend to think about more than one thing at a time. Being omnipotent requires thought on an entirely different level.

# Why would God be so unclear about which book or books he authored?
He didn't author them, they were written by man, who think they knew what god was saying. Why they even bothered is beyond me.

# Is consciousness anything more than a continual process of imagining, acting, observing the impact of an action, and imagining again with new information?
When you put it that way, no.

# The dictionary defines "faith" as belief without evidence. It defines "stupidity" as unreasoned thinking. Is belief without evidence a form of unreasoned thinking?
It can be, if you are doing things because someone tells you to, and it affects who you are. Believing in something good, positive and beneficial, that's love.

# Can the impact of your actions rippling into the future be considered an immortal soul?
If you like

# Could atheists and believers accept the same definition of God?
I don't see why not. A coworker of mine believes that a Jew doesn't believe in God. I think that's sad. I think your god is merely a higher power doing things for you which you can't do yourself. How is that different no matter who you are?

# If God's so smart, why do we fart?
I'll answer that by asking, why did he invent beans?

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

What does an omnipotent being think about?

Is it true that intelligence and faith rarely go hand in hand?

If we were a more intelligent design, then we'd be so efficient we wouldn't need to fart...

[lilgeorgiawhore.livejournal.com]

1. If I was deluded, would I even suspect it? Isn't that how delusion works, believing in your own reality and not suspecting, or accepting, another?
2. I'm of the evolution-party, but even then I still say skilled, at least in terms of anatomy. The mental and emotional baggage and the fuckups that come with it is something I attribute to humans.
3. When I read this question, the first thing I thought was "Are we talking about God, or George W. Bush?" ;-)
4. Because God didn't write the books. Man did and Man's had a hard time keeping it all straight.
5. No. I think that is a very good definition of consciousness.
6. I don't find that belief or faith have anything to do with thinking -- at least not for themselves. However, in the context of the question, I'm going with "of course."
7. I'm going to go with no. The affects of your actions might be immortal, but your soul is not. Not in this scenario, at least.
8. Atheists, as far I know (and I should know, since I'm dating one :-P), don't question the definition of God. It comes down to believing or not believing.
9. Eh. I'm convinced that if God DOES exist, we, as humans, are his version of a reality show, so I'm going with because of his sense of humor.

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

8. Would you be able to come up with a definition that he would accept?

9. LOL!

[inmyocean.livejournal.com]

1. If you suspected you were deluded, how could you find out for sure?

Try and act sane and see if there is much of a difference. Poll your loved ones and get their opinion.

2. Are humans the product of a skilled or unskilled designer?

Skilled because how else can we learn to see the beauty of ourselves if we weren't so flawed .... perfection loses its lustre. And that which doesn't break us, makes us stronger.

3. Would an omnipotent being need to think in the way that people understand it? Or is thinking unnecessary for a timeless indestructible being whose preferences are the same as reality

Since we really don't talk to any omnipotent beings as such, I do not think understanding their thoughts is very important. Though I do believe the omnipotent being should think like us so he/she can understand us, 'their creation'.

4. Why would God be so unclear about which book or books he authored?

Because God didn't author any book/s. All the books ever written were done so by mere mortals who interpretted what was said as the the word/meaning of a god.

5. Is consciousness anything more than a continual process of imagining, acting, observing the impact of an action, and imagining again with new information?

I think consciousness is the first moment we become aware of something different about us, our surroundings or another. It may be precipitated by us or others who "open our eyes". Imagining goes better with hope.

6. The dictionary defines "faith" as belief without evidence. It defines "stupidity" as unreasoned thinking. Is belief without evidence a form of unreasoned thinking?

It can be depending on how the followers of that faith act. If every word spoken by religious leaders, zealots, cult leaders is believed to the letter, and acted upon, without thought to the consequences or meaning, the world would be a dire place filled with ignorance and blind faith and blind justice.


7. Can the impact of your actions rippling into the future be considered an immortal soul?

No because it isn't your soul that is immortal in this case, it is your action and the meaning and consequence of it. Each of us will leave something of ourselves in this world even long after we're gone. An imprint to show we've been here and changed the world just by our presence. And other people in the future will hold onto an 'imprint' for reasons of their own. I think an immortal soul is bigger than a mere imprint or a ripple of consequence.


8. Could atheists and believers accept the same definition of God?

Why would they need, to is my question. Why does everything in this world have to be standardised and steralised .... I don't think they could have the same dfinition because God has a different meaning and purpose to them. Even if we had one definition of God we would find things to pick and fault over. It's just human nature to war over things.

9. If God's so smart, why do we fart?

He designed us for things to go in our bodies, so he needed to design us with an exit too. Otherwise we would eventually explode through all we consume. It's a wise design, everything has an escape hatch/route if it's a smart plan. ;)

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

Regarding No 8. Do you think human nature can change? And what would it take to change it?

And for 9, if we were properly designed, we would be 100% efficient, so we wouldn't need to fart ;)

[inmyocean.livejournal.com]

who says farting isn't properly designed? you are assuming farting is a flaw or mis-calculation ....

for human nature to change we need to stop thinking in selfish, self-centred ways. Yes we do need to look out for ourselves but not at anyone else's expense. so no I do not think human nature can change for now. I hope some time in the future we will progress and grow as a species or we will die out through our own ignorance.

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

Farting is an expulsion of what the body can't use, or produces as waste, but a 100% efficient being would use everything :)

We're too widespread to die out easily, and also too widespread to grow as a race...

[inmyocean.livejournal.com]

what woukd it take to change?

a great personal catastrophe that can be felt by all humans equally ... so each person can walk a day in another's shoes and feel the significance of individual choice and consequence.

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

Isn't it sad that pain will make us change more than pleasure?

[pandoralily.livejournal.com]

1. find many people of higher learning and get the general concensus.
2. depends on your definition of designer. to me, this planet is just a blip on the cosmic radar, and the fact that we evolved really doesn't fit in.
3. hey, if it can control reality, why would we need to understand it?
4. because religion's "message" they recived "from god" can be twisted by it's followers untill unrecognizable. if i was god, i would have smited us all by now.
5. i suppose not. i just take the other pill and move on.
6. technically, it is. but faith is strange, as people are willing to die over it. try telling that to soome of the jesus groupies that i call freinds and see what they think.
7. i like that idea, it seems almost karmatic. mabey our souls are the imprint we have made on the rest of humanity.
8. i don't think so, but anything is possible.
9. because little boys need something to laugh about.

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

4. LOL!

9. So, if God doesn't think the way we do, how would he understand humour? Who does an infinite being joke with?

[pandoralily.livejournal.com]

i never said that it doesn't think like we do, just that why would we need to understand it? if it's this high of a power to create worlds then it has to think on a much higher level then we do. it could be like in dogma, when you hear the voice of god your brain liquifies. or it could just be music.

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

I like the Dogma idea personally :)