Numbers for thought
"Whatever a man prays for, he prays for a miracle. Every prayer reduces itself to this: Great God, grant that twice two be not four." -Turgenev
"Even in the valley of the shadow of death, two and two do not make six." -Tolstoy, on his deathbed, at being urged to convert back to Christianity.
"In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it. It was inevitable that they should make that claim sooner or later: the logic of their position demanded it. Not merely the validity of experience, but the very existence of external reality, was tacitly denied by their philosophy. The heresy of heresies was common sense. And what was terrifying was not that they would kill you for thinking otherwise, but that they might be right. For, after all, how do we know that two and two make four? Or that the force of gravity works? Or that the past is unchangeable? If both the past and the external world exist only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable-what then?" -Orwell, from 1984
"2 + 2 = 5 for large values of 2 or small values of 5"- actual physics measurement notation, taking into account significant digit assumptions and margins of error.
I consider myself a scientific skeptic, one who demands that claims be backed by valid, empirical evidence, and that arguments be made conforming to the rules of logical discourse. To me, science is the only true magic. Psychics, ghosts, astrology, UFOs, homeopathy, feng shui, acupuncture, health supplements, chiropractic, the anti-vaccination movement, Alcoholics Anonymous, the entire "self"-help movement- all utter crap that simply does not stand up to critical observation and riddled with logical fallacies, and I suppose much of the blame can be laid on either mass media, the Church and/or the educational system for failing to instill the basic scientific literacy, critical thought and reasoning needed for most people to see all that for the bullshit that it is. The scientific method cannot itself be impinged as it is the very process and means with which to debunk any claim to a final, universal truth. There is always more to explore, and anyone who thinks he has all the answers is either intellectually lazy, dishonest, ignorant or God.
But I get up there and teach sunday school every week, when the consensus of the skeptical movement is that the logical position in light of the evidence is either atheism, or, for the more reflective (and some would say humble), agnosticism. What place does organized religion have in a world where we know and have proven that science simply works, and that faith healing does not? We don't even really need religion for moral authority and guidance anymore; as a system humanism (what that idiot ratzinger considers moral relativism, of which it is the exact opposite) works fine, if not better, as it is more openly self critical.
"Even in the valley of the shadow of death, two and two do not make six." -Tolstoy, on his deathbed, at being urged to convert back to Christianity.
"In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it. It was inevitable that they should make that claim sooner or later: the logic of their position demanded it. Not merely the validity of experience, but the very existence of external reality, was tacitly denied by their philosophy. The heresy of heresies was common sense. And what was terrifying was not that they would kill you for thinking otherwise, but that they might be right. For, after all, how do we know that two and two make four? Or that the force of gravity works? Or that the past is unchangeable? If both the past and the external world exist only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable-what then?" -Orwell, from 1984
"2 + 2 = 5 for large values of 2 or small values of 5"- actual physics measurement notation, taking into account significant digit assumptions and margins of error.
I consider myself a scientific skeptic, one who demands that claims be backed by valid, empirical evidence, and that arguments be made conforming to the rules of logical discourse. To me, science is the only true magic. Psychics, ghosts, astrology, UFOs, homeopathy, feng shui, acupuncture, health supplements, chiropractic, the anti-vaccination movement, Alcoholics Anonymous, the entire "self"-help movement- all utter crap that simply does not stand up to critical observation and riddled with logical fallacies, and I suppose much of the blame can be laid on either mass media, the Church and/or the educational system for failing to instill the basic scientific literacy, critical thought and reasoning needed for most people to see all that for the bullshit that it is. The scientific method cannot itself be impinged as it is the very process and means with which to debunk any claim to a final, universal truth. There is always more to explore, and anyone who thinks he has all the answers is either intellectually lazy, dishonest, ignorant or God.
But I get up there and teach sunday school every week, when the consensus of the skeptical movement is that the logical position in light of the evidence is either atheism, or, for the more reflective (and some would say humble), agnosticism. What place does organized religion have in a world where we know and have proven that science simply works, and that faith healing does not? We don't even really need religion for moral authority and guidance anymore; as a system humanism (what that idiot ratzinger considers moral relativism, of which it is the exact opposite) works fine, if not better, as it is more openly self critical.