[aldo_14]

Glass jars... I'd be more concerned with the beavers personally, they'll want to give those teeth a workout sooner or later.

bugger the beavers, what about the tigers?  Not much point worrying about holes in the boat when you don't have a leg to stand on.

Looks like i'll miss that webcast; it'll be on when I'm driving home.  ****.  Let me know if there are interesting highlights.

[Shade]

Ah crap, I forgot GMT doesn't care about summer time, so it's two hours behind now instead of one Well ok, strictly speaking it's just GMT and we're the ones ahead by two hours. Guess I can drink the tea anyway though, and eat dinner while this goes on instead.

[Lt.Cannonfodder]

I originally didn't meant to post this, but I like some humour while waiting for a response from either Charismatic or Zman



Inspired by you guys, keep up the good work.

[Shade]

[Indy]It belongs in a museum![/Indy] Real nice

[Edit] Webcast is running now, nothing happening yet though.

[Ford Prefect]

And with crap-"theories" like ID getting so popular, it is little wonder why people are so afraid of the chinese catching up to them. You don't see them teaching religion as science (or psuedo-science as science).

"Three quarters of the American population literally believe in religious miracles. The numbers who believe in the devil, in resurrection, in God doing this and that - it's astonishing. These numbers aren't duplicated anywhere else in the industrial world. You'd have to maybe go to mosques in Iran or do a poll among old ladies in Sicily to get numbers like this. Yet this is the American population."

--Noam Chomsky

[Shade]

Just watched the webcast, and wow. That guy knows how to do a lecture. Funny, interesting, to the point, and pretty much game, set and match against creationism for anyone possessing the mental capacity for scepticism. And of course, bonus points for comparing Bush to an ape, even if it's kinda old.

[karajorma]

Yep. I enjoyed it. Been a long time since I've listened to a good scientific lecture

[Shade]

Only bad thing is that the people who really needed to see it, probably didn't.

[aldo_14]

Only bad thing is that the people who really needed to see it, probably didn't.

I wanted to see it and bloody missed it, sniff.  Any copies?.

[vyper]

It'll be available for on-demand viewing within 24 hours. Or so says the website.

[aldo_14]

Yay!

That's lunch tomorrow sorted then, hopefully.  I lost the website link the miasma of this thread.

[Shade]

On page 8 somewhere if I remember right.

[aldo_14]

Excellent.  I had a peek at their messageboard, and lo and behold there is a creationist making an incredibly vapid and nonsensical arguement in the first 3 posts.  Gah.  I despair, I really do.  Still, I suppose at least he watched, even if he didn't actually understand it.

[karajorma]

Actually that was there before the lecture started

[Shade]

Oh. Wow. The creationists on their board are as ignorant about evolution as ours. They even brought up the big bang as evidence against evolution, just like ours... is there a handbook or something that these guys follow that tells them how to most effectively ruin any chance of being taken seriously? And the bible doesn't count, as we've already established that it does not actually contradict evolution.

Ah well, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Better get to bed anyway, one last workday before the easter holiday (guess that's one perk of religion... days off!), and have to get up at 5am for it.

[Ghostavo]

Am I the only one who thinks about physically damaging these people when they start saying such nonsense?

[aldo_14]

Am I the only one who thinks about physically damaging these people when they start saying such nonsense?

Yeah, but that'd only reinforce them - they want to be martyr-types, and their arguement is all about hot air and posturing.  You need to cooly display the vast amount of evidence the supports evolution and discredits their theories.  They won't listen, whatever you do (and there's me thinking faith was meant to be examined and questioned - honestly, that is), so what you need to do is present it to neutrals, people who honestly don't know about it (i.e. have not been pre-fed propaganda) and hence can be convinced by simple rational reasoning.

[Ghostavo]

Am I the only one who thinks about physically damaging these people when they start saying such nonsense?

Yeah, but that'd only reinforce them - they want to be martyr-types, and their arguement is all about hot air and posturing.  You need to cooly display the vast amount of evidence the supports evolution and discredits their theories.  They won't listen, whatever you do (and there's me thinking faith was meant to be examined and questioned - honestly, that is), so what you need to do is present it to neutrals, people who honestly don't know about it (i.e. have not been pre-fed propaganda) and hence can be convinced by simple rational reasoning.

But do neutrals exist anymore?

[aldo_14]

But do neutrals exist anymore?

Should do.  Everyone starts neutral, after all, they just have to be convinced one way of the other.

[Turey]

Oh. Wow. The creationists on their board are as ignorant about evolution as ours. They even brought up the big bang as evidence against evolution, just like ours... is there a handbook or something that these guys follow that tells them how to most effectively ruin any chance of being taken seriously? And the bible doesn't count, as we've already established that it does not actually contradict evolution.

Ah well, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Better get to bed anyway, one last workday before the easter holiday (guess that's one perk of religion... days off!), and have to get up at 5am for it.

well, if the ones over there are as bad as ours, i suggest we enlighten them. I'm already starting:

"Darwin - decent theory, first one to "develop" that third arm so we can pick our nose and drive at the same time gets a prize!"

Ok, sure. However, Ill need complete control over the entire population of the world, so that those who show the beginings of a third arm can be mated together, regardless of their preference of mate. Surely, the concept of "Love" can take a back seat until everyone has the desired third arm.Oh, and Ill also need the authority to exterminate anyone, even children of any age, whos genetic material, if propagated, would not contribute to the desired third arm.

"Additionally, your grand sweeping statements regarding the mathematical odds against our astoundingly ideal and apparently unique life-supporting position in the universe are once again merely ignoring the unbearable (to your positition) facts.

If one calculates the mathematical probabilities even some of the most fundamental "stages" or mutations that evolutionary theory relies on, even ignoring the initial origins problem, one is left in no doubt that evolution is proven almost hillariously impossible."

yes, the chances of any ONE SPECIFIC evolutionary path are EXTREMELY SMALL. HOWEVER, the chance of ANY evolutionary path is very high. Confused? Heres an example:

Lets call the evolutionary path that led to the world today EP#1. the chances of life following that evolutionary path are almost absurdly small.

However, EP#1 is not the only way to go. what about EP#2, in which the Neanderthals whiped us out instead of the other way around? How about EP#3, in which some other organism took dominance? Or EP#4, in which the dominant primate was one with prehensile toes and a tail? Or EP#42, in which Earth was completely unsutiable for life, but life instead evolved on another planet in the universe that happened to be just right for life? The different paths are infinite in number, and each adds a small amount to the probablility of life.

in conclusion, its not that our life somehow beat huge odds against there BEING life, its that our VERSION of life won the evolutionary jackpot and edged out all those other equally improbable might-have-beens.

EDIT: and now the evolutionists are flaming me.

"We all believe in the big bang. But not 4000 years ago. Your priests/Idols are in error and are leading you astray to have power over your humanity and income. You must give Money to your cult/church. Try free, logical thinking, you may yet be free to respect the rest of humanity, instead of thinking others who do not think as you do are disposable heritics. May your creator/priest be with you."

"Your bible stated the earth was flat! Your kin murdered honest people who contradicted this dictat! Did your priests carry out scientific experiments to defend these honest men/ heretics? No! you just killed the curious or more inteligent on account of their "herisay" Please give up this debate as you have FA to realisticly to put forward in the name of humanity/common sense."

Please read what I say before replying to it. I never stated once that I believe the "young earth" idea, or any of the obviously wrong statements made in the Old Testament. I have reconsiled my beliefs with science, and I am trying NOT to destroy, ignore, or modify any existing science, but merely to enlighten those whose religious beliefs have clouded their judgement (the Creationists).

Honestly, the instant I say that I am Christian, I am attacked by people blaming me for things my ancestors did based on ideas i do not believe. You people disgust me almost as much as the creationists do.

The worst thing to do in a war is to start shooting at your allies.

EDIT AGAIN: At least he appologized. No harm done.