How The World’s Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind

[Skwim]

I would amend and say it's not "by accident". It's out of necessity. That's what most people fail to realize - nature is ALWAYS looking for the path of least resistance - how does a job get done with minimal effort, in the best possible way it can be done? A hexagon was the necessary model by which the creatures' structures would provide the necessary room and not collapse.

My reference to "accident" was from the bee's perspective. However, I'll go along with necessity, but not with your notion of collapse. Speaking strictly from the actual necessities of structural comb strength, triangle and square shapes would suffice equally as well.

But, of course, it is not as if the bees "chose" the hexagon. More or less, the hexagon chose them, after a fashion - through countless generations of success and failure, with the successes leading to greater and greater "pseudo-understanding" through instinct.

Nope. The hexagonal shape simply happens to be a result of the geometrical packing of circles. Where circles of equal diameter pack together each circle can have no more or no less than six surrounding companion circles. It's the nature of circles.

Note what happens after they are squeezed together, they form a hexagon out of the inner circle. A natural state of affairs. Thing is, bees and wasps, like other insects instinctually form round cavities, the most efficient shape there is (considering area to circumference ratio). That they assume a hexagon shape is just a matter of natural happenstance. Take a look a this bee comb whose cells have not been pressured into hexagons.

............................

Note their almost circular shape. ......................................................................... This stands in dramatic contrast to cells that do undergo pressure packing.
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It's been found that the hexagonal shaping occurs where honeycomb wax is at a premium, and bees and wasps squeeze their circular cells into one another to share cell walls as much as possible, which in turn makes them hexagonal.

No premeditation or instinct one the part of these insects to create hexagonal cells at all.​

 

[A Vestigial Mote]

Note their almost circular shape. This stands in dramatic contrast to cells that do undergo pressure packing. It's been found that the hexagonal shaping occurs where honeycomb wax is at a premium, and bees and wasps squeeze their circular cells into one another to share cell walls as much as possible, which in turn makes them hexagonal.

I stand corrected. And that is some interesting stuff. The circular design actually makes more "sense" from a natural-propensity perspective. And yeah - accident it is.

 

[Ouroboros]

He's a deist, not any sort of conventional theist, and he was never that notorious.

Agree to both points.

He was notable and semi-famous though in philosophical and theological circles. He was one of the greatest atheist philosophers of the 20th century.

 

[chevron1]

If samsara, and the universe, was infinite, as Buddhism suggests, then it is more than possible that all these things we find in our universe is one possibility out of an infinite number of possiblities.

if samsara and the universe are infinite then is there necessarily an infinite number of possibilities?

 

[chevron1]

I agree that the argument from design of 'living' things including DNA that has a blueprint for everything that accomplishes mindboggling things is a persuasive argument for intelligent design. I think the earth would like every other planet we see if left only to the forces understood by modern science. This is not proof but strong evidence for design. My reason for belief in intelligent design is based on other evidence and arguments also.

do you believe that the earth has its own dna? do you believe that the universe has its own dna?

 

[George-ananda]

do you believe that the earth has its own dna? do you believe that the universe has its own dna?

I'm not sure what that means or would look like. I'm afraid that one soars over my head.

 

[buddhist]

if samsara and the universe are infinite then is there necessarily an infinite number of possibilities?

I personally believe so.

 

[chevron1]

I personally believe so.

if you personally believe so, can we go to see any number of gods in this multiverse?

 

[buddhist]

if you personally believe so, can we go to see any number of gods in this multiverse?

Yes, according to Lord Buddha, through the cultivation of the correct, elevated states of mind corresponding with an appropriate level of spiritual development. Additional astral, mental, and spiritual senses are developed through this method, allowing oneself to experience and interact with these planes of existence, along with their inhabitants.

 

[LuisDantas]

Hmm, we sure drifted off-topic, didn't we?

 

[chevron1]

Yes, according to Lord Buddha, through the cultivation of the correct, elevated states of mind corresponding with an appropriate level of spiritual development. Additional astral, mental, and spiritual senses are developed through this method, allowing oneself to experience and interact with these planes of existence, along with their inhabitants.

is the lord buddha on all these planes? if so, can they all be different?

 

[Willamena]

Hardly.

Deism is not suitable to prophets, social pressure, dogmatic claims. It is a world away from theistic religion.

It's also a world away from atheism.

 

[LuisDantas]

It's also a world away from atheism.

By some measures. Not so much by others.