WITHTEETH

A scientist has as much right to speak about god as much as a preacher has the right to talk about Biology right? Well can one really be an expert about something he made up? I am a fan of The Lord Cantousent! I'm a HUGE fan of The Lord of The Rings. The stories we create, that move us are created by our psyche. Am i stupid and foolish just because I do not believe humans history as tortured and degenerating. So because some people killed a person 2000 years ago, humans are only prone to killing and suffering? This is not a truth of history. Talk to an independent woman, a a child with a free education, a cancer survivor, human progress is real. The Christian viewpoint based from the bible clearly points that humanity is doomed. There is no hope. Tolkien believed that losing hope makes people do bad things. But our story has not already been written! Looking at the world, the human condition has gotten better and its is possible to make it even better if we replace bad ideas, with good ones. Yes we are capable of doing terrible things, but we are also capable or great, kind, beautiful things. Scientists should start to tell the story of progress and hope.

I don't believe people who want to be part of that "other realm" are all wicked at all. I don't want to criticize them, just there reasoning. I want to have an open ended discussion about this, its healthy to share reasons, and it helps maintain human civilization. There are issues such as abortion, , contraceptives. stem cell research, gay marriage, that many religions have a problem with, and morally speaking from a humanistic perspective, they cause more human suffering than help. I believe people are generally good, when we do something we generally have a reason, but is that reason sufficient? With all the contradicting viewpoints, contradicting books from a gods, and ignorance in the world we don't always make the best reasoning i believe. I have hope for humanity, that it can become greater and greater, but to do so, we need to criticize some ideas. We have done so in the past, with slavery, women rights, and communism, i believe we can achieve greater too, especially with the willingness to talk, and have an open ended discussion just like we are right now.

Sounds like an awesome game!!! I want it now!

OK I've been playing Stalker Shadow of Chernobyl and... It seems like a cool game, but i just can't get into it yet. Maybe because I tend to be a perfectionist, and I'm still pretty lost in the game still. I'm failing missions and I'm suppose to get rewards, and then I fail that mission even though I pick up the reward for it already... Like the fight at the garbage area, i failed it even though I received the reward.

I get the feeling the answer to your question may need very basic answer Cantousant. What makes art beautiful? Sure a scientist can look at it and see the brush strokes, the textures, and date it, but can it judge its beauty? No, that takes feelings, and judgment comes from feelings. Everything is a matter of feeling (Hegel would say I believe.) What makes your bible correct, because its says so? Yes, but you have a feeling. Importantly, my feelings are grounded in the empirical realm, not another realm.

Why be moral? Why be healthy? It feels good. There is this natural tendancy in many human beings depending on how they were raised (and genetically i suppose too) of the pleasure to please, and the capacity for empathy. Empirically, i see another suffering in despair, i feel empathy, I've been there. So I help them out because it will help me feel good then too! Is that selfish? Well, i just made 2 people happy, myself and another. And later on, that person will reward me back (in theory haha!) This is the best reasoning i can come up with. Anyone want to chime in?

I don't think religion should be part of any science class. Morals themselves should not be part of any science class. science is completely amoral. It does not care in the least about morals and does not recognize their existence. Science is science. The very idea of empirical morality is laughable. Science doesn't have any vested interest in policy. At best, it can predict what will happen and record the happenings after the fact. All policy is moral and none of it is based on science. Science argues after the fact in a policy discussion, not before hand. Morals can can come through experiences of the senses. but just like reading the bible, its hard to pick and choose what is the good and the bad. This is the main reason why people denounce an atheist, because they think we have no moral basis. My moral status may flux over time due to different empirical findings, but to say i don't have a moral basis is at the very least, untrue. Can a person feel pain? Can a person feel pleasure or tranquility? These feelings can be felt empirically through the senses, and partly even through certain brain scans. So, should i do everything that feels pleasurable good? Of course, not. what may feel good to me may hurt another, so i have to take other people into account. So now it becomes the greatest good(pleasure/tranquility) for the greatest amount of people, this is utilitarianism, a form of hedonism, because every good should not persuade, and not every bad should be avoided, we have to look at the the larger picture. And Compassion is possible through our capacity of empathy, and through that we can understand people and try to cause less harm. As for science being amoral... well duh. Science is statistics. and the bible is a clump of stories. But to believe stories over hard statistics is a reasoning fallacy!

he just came out with another book called "Religion As A Natural Phenomenon" and he gives his views on how science can interpret memes. He goes onto list many biological virus' and parasites that control another animals body or mind, and these animals submit to these parasites. Do we do anything like that? Islam means To Submit. How we don't have virus' and parasites in our mind but ideas that attach onto emotions, that motivate the root of our consciousness that can go against our self interest. He goes to list many ideas, not all religious. Communism, justice, and if your in the US you can go a few miles north and see what freedom is( .) He talks about how these ideas are replicating themselves from human host to host. These memes main goal is to reproduce, and not for the benefit of its host, but for itself. Daniel Dennet is one of my favorites speakers, he is great at articulating his thoughts. I'm very interested to see where science takes the idea of memes to.

Yes Christians benefit from the secular government just like atheists do. But do you really think that the a majority Christian population would have an atheists back when getting in office anytime soon? A poll was taken for the least trusted American and Atheists where rated as the least trusted of all Americans. Thats pretty sick to me. I'm guessing because of what Krauss and Dawkins were discussing, how science does not explain morals. But my morals do root from empiricism, there are just not indoctrinated because they are open to empirical debate anytime. Secular humanists do not try to hold a monopoly on absolute knowledge. Or maybe its because many Christians have been brainwashed from an early age to discredit people of no religion. Ever see the CNN panel discussing the least trusted Americans? CNN Panel Commentary

A classic example of a syndrome the philosopher Daniel Dennett has called “belief in belief.” What does that word mean?

Yes i voted this as one of the worst games I've played through. The humor was just weird, and the game play clunky. It really didn't have much of the NOLF elements.

Umm... Stalker is hard. Well, not really since the save feature makes it easy to return to where you last saved... but you don't get alot of health. Which is kind of cool. I like the sneaking aspect of it. How I have to be extra careful. Great feel to the game. Anyone have any tips for a n00b1E?

80%

Just bought STALKER, Seems like my kind of game so far. The graphisc look great and it runs smooth. We'll see how it goes!

I still play Unreal 2K4 online and also tying up loose threads in oblivion. I just received a hundred dollar gift certificate to best buy soooooooo Im going there to today!

I thought the graphics in Doom3 were... So-so. BUT it ran like butter on my machine, which i have to give props for.

I BEAT OBLIVION!!!!!!!!! :- Fighters guild - Check! Mage guild - Check! Dark Brotherhood - Check! Daerda Quests - Check Knights of The Nine - Check! Shivering Isles - Check! Master Quest - Check

I typically lose or give my old games away that I don't play anymore. My Current Lists of PC games I own consist of: Max Payne Max Payne: The Fall of Max Payne The Longest Journey The Longest Journey: Dreamfall System Shock 2 Hitman 2:Silent Assassin Hitman: Blood Money Quake 4 Half-Life 2 Half-Life 2:Episode 1 Vampires:Bloodlines KoTOR KoTOR 2 Unreal Tournament 2K4 FarCry Return To Castle Wolfenstien GTA: Vice City GTA: SA Oblivion w/ expansions and plug ins HALO Dawn of War Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition Civ IV No One Lives Forever No On Lives Forever 2: A Spy In Harms Way Doom 3 FEAR NWN 2 I beat most of them. I haven't even touched NWN2, FEAR and Civ 4. Anyone recommend any games after sKimming my select few list of games?

Great choice! The graphics in this game still look amazing! I really want to get my hands on the new one.

OMG why did you mention NOLF? I want NOLF 3...like, NOW! I just bought NOLF2 from Fry's for $9.99! By "just" I mean Thursday. One of my favorite games of all times. This game should have won more Games of The Year award I believe.

The last time i was wowed was with Oblivion, very impressive even though its another extremely buggy RPG game. No One Lives Forever 2 was awesome for its time, and still looks great because the animation wasn't aiming for realism but for style. I think Hitman: Bloodmoney had solid graphics all around, I loved how they used lighting. This topic reminds me when i use to play Quake, awesome graphics, or even myst, even though it was basically a picture book. Now im just waiting to see some Unreal engine 3 out there. That should be good!

I believe you can change it in partition magic.

I felt the same way about the sounds of pressing the fan in. I thought of putting the fan in first before putting it in the case, but i thought the fan might block the motherboard screw holes that attach the mobo to the case... Well i regret it, but everythign seems to run fine.... Except maybe once every couple months i turn to hit the power switch on my case and nothing... I have to unplug the power cord to the mobo and replug it back in. weird...

Peach ice tea... Mmmmm, i think its my only addiction I've ever had.

I see my caption was deleted to protect me from my own poor taste and others from my NOT-PG rated lewd and lascivious humour.