His “argument from ignorance” raises all kinds of salient and timely topics for me! Among them, my own father’s pride in “not liking big words.” And it pries into a topic I’m researching now — “guilt-cultures.” We have one in the States now; the Ancient Greeks had one as well. Essentially, guilt cultures require fear as a foundation: fear of punishment, but fear also feeds ignorance. Arguably, ignorance cannot exist *without* fear.
His disparagement of human nature and “brain failures” reminds me of my own beloved Agent Smith soliloquy. How we continue to function and survive doesn’t prove evolution to me so much as Dumb Luck. There aren’t statistically enough Neil Tyson’s to keep the species moving forward. Ironically, the Neil Tyson types frequently choose *not* to procreate, which turns “survival of the fittest” on its ear in a most disturbing way!
Natural selection takes a long time. It hasn’t been that long since the Industrial Revolution. But you’ve gotta hand it to humanity; two world wars, multiple homicidal dictators, and the use of nuclear weapons – we’ve been giving it our best to curb our own population. Alas, being able to feed ever-more mouths just makes more mouths. We’ll have to come up with a better way than war and genocide to limit our own.
Welcome to Fables Agreed Upon at dansanders.net. I'm a tech geek in Nashville, TN who is also interested in history, philosophy, science, religion, music, art, and the outdoors. I've gone from Christian-by-Osmosis to Confused Agnostic to Reluctant Atheist. Wasn't an easy journey. I'm always willing to talk about it, especially now that I no longer have the burden of proof. Married with one cat and one Jeep. I don't use my kayak enough, I don't work out as hard as I should, and I need to take more pictures.
His “argument from ignorance” raises all kinds of salient and timely topics for me! Among them, my own father’s pride in “not liking big words.” And it pries into a topic I’m researching now — “guilt-cultures.” We have one in the States now; the Ancient Greeks had one as well. Essentially, guilt cultures require fear as a foundation: fear of punishment, but fear also feeds ignorance. Arguably, ignorance cannot exist *without* fear.
His disparagement of human nature and “brain failures” reminds me of my own beloved Agent Smith soliloquy. How we continue to function and survive doesn’t prove evolution to me so much as Dumb Luck. There aren’t statistically enough Neil Tyson’s to keep the species moving forward. Ironically, the Neil Tyson types frequently choose *not* to procreate, which turns “survival of the fittest” on its ear in a most disturbing way!
Natural selection takes a long time. It hasn’t been that long since the Industrial Revolution. But you’ve gotta hand it to humanity; two world wars, multiple homicidal dictators, and the use of nuclear weapons – we’ve been giving it our best to curb our own population. Alas, being able to feed ever-more mouths just makes more mouths. We’ll have to come up with a better way than war and genocide to limit our own.
tags
WP Cumulus Flash tag cloud by Roy Tanck and Luke Morton requires Flash Player 9 or better.
my twitter feed
feed
blogroll
flickr photos
More Photos