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  1. Yazata

    Science-Religion separation

    So what should the relationship of laypeople to priests and scientists be? Should laypeople be free to decide for themselves what they believe? Or should the priests and scientists be in the position to dictate and control other people's beliefs?
  2. Yazata

    Science-Religion separation

    In a sense religion, philosophy and science are all one and the same thing, human beings seeking and probing into the unknown, perhaps ultimately the transcendent, and finding emotional inspiration there. In another sense, philosophy is totally different than religion and science. Philosophy...
  3. Yazata

    Public Education And Independent Self-Taught Research

    Universities have two very different purposes. First, there's the educational function of imparting theoretical knowledge and practical skills. Since the 19th century and the rise of the PhD, that's been extended to research training as well. And second, there's the certification function of...
  4. Yazata

    Science-Religion separation

    Historically, Natural Theology has been a thing. This is the idea that reasoning from observations of this world can lead one "upwards" towards its hypothetical Source/Creator. (I personally am inclined to take Natural Theology more seriously than many today do.) Natural theology - Wikipedia...
  5. Yazata

    Italy's far right set to win election

    Congratulations to Italy and the Italians! I'm very pleased by the election of the conservative coalition and the rise of Georgia Meloni to Prime Minister!
  6. Yazata

    If Science Can't Answer it...

    Where does that leave mathematics and logic?
  7. Yazata

    If Science Can't Answer it...

    Science and the practice of science depend on multiple assumptions. The assumption that there are fundamental regularities and principles that govern what reality is and how it unfolds. The assumption that these fundamental principles are knowable by human beings and are discoverable through...
  8. Yazata

    Media analysis

    Please pardon these comments from an American... What do you take "media" to be? Various technologies for presenting content to people (recitations, sculpture, painting, live drama presentations, books and other print media, films, TV, assorted interactive digital media)? Or the creative...
  9. Yazata

    Will China/North Korea invade Taiwan/South Korea ?

    I think that a Chinese military attack on Taiwan is almost a 100% certainty. The only question is how and when. I'm not convinced they will attack Taiwan directly, since that would require a huge amphibious invasion and I'm not sure China is up to it. My guess is that they would try to put a...
  10. Yazata

    Credulous skeptics

    Tyson has a PhD in Astrophysics and actually did some work in the subject when he was a graduate student and the years immediately after. That's his area of expertise, the area in which he was professionally trained. Today he's a planetarium director and a writer of popular science titles (some...
  11. Yazata

    Even Republicans are with ya Nancy.

    I'm an "Ultra-MAGA" Republican (Joe Biden's term but I'll embrace it) and though it pains me abominably to say it, I support Pelosi visiting Taiwan. I hope she does it and doesn't back down. Taiwan is effectively an independent country. It has its own government, its own military, its own...
  12. Yazata

    Is change in biology--any change--variable in timing or quick and constant??

    Well, changes in the fossil record often seem to be sudden. The idea seems to be that species seem to be fairly stable and constant over time, with speciation events rather quick and sudden. Punctuated equilibrium - Wikipedia Yes. It isn't true that everything in biology is sudden or gradual...
  13. Yazata

    End times?

    I'm not convinced that Christians need to literally believe that the universe is going to come to an end in short order. As some late 19th century German theologians argued, the point might arguably have been to encourage early Christians to live their lives as if it was so. So now is the time...
  14. Yazata

    Happy Birthday Rival!!!

    Happy Birthday, Rival!
  15. Yazata

    What book r u reading?

    Heidegger and Theology by Judith Wolfe, 2014 T&T Clarke
  16. Yazata

    How can your belief be falsified?

    Isn't "nonianity" just a coined word for 'lack of belief'? A way to falsify it might be for someone to elicit beliefs from the one who claims to have no beliefs. And one might want to ask how the mere absence of belief (intellectual voidness) can possibly qualify as an "-ianity".
  17. Yazata

    How can your belief be falsified?

    I'm not sure whether evidence is even applicable to our most fundamenal beliefs. Suppose one believes that 'All beliefs must be falsifiable'. (Though I don't believe that Karl Popper ever said that. I think that he was trying to define a criterion of what is and isn't scientific. So in his...
  18. Yazata

    Question for Gun Owners

    Perhaps, if I perceived the risk of violent crime to be high. It's the criminals that I'm most concerned about. And the criminals are going to be armed with something, no matter what the law says.
  19. Yazata

    2nd Question for Gun Owners

    I own a firearm here in the US. If I was visiting England, I wouldn't bring it with me. I don't think that "my attitude to gun ownership" would influence my decision whether or not to visit very much. I perceive England as being reasonably safe. I'm sure that there are dodgy parts of London and...
  20. Yazata

    Bertrand Russel's message for the future

    I basically agree with everything that Russell says there. Entirely in the abstract. Unfortunately, he doesn't tell us anything about how to put his two points into practice. And as Mikkel says, it gets complicated fast when we poke into it. If intellectually speaking we are to concern...
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