An evolutionary perspective on cancer  

Posted by Matt Carter in ,

I found this, this morning. Honestly, its brilliant.

Religulous  

Posted by Matt Carter in , , , ,

I'm not going to lie, I was looking forward to this documentary, Bill Maher is a pretty funny guy, and normally I enjoy sceptical documentaries. What I don't enjoy is cut and paste interviews, with mostly fringe elements of the religious world.

If all you want to see is Bill Maher making people look stupid than this documentary is great. If you expected any sort of intelligent debate, then seriously, go elsewhere. If he was trying to make a case to religious people, then insulting them is the wrong way to do it. If he was trying to make a case for skeptics, why not delve a little deeper into the rhetoric, and mythology, instead of wasting time with making fun of people? I'll be honest... to me this documentary was very shallow. The only people who are going to get anything out of this are the ones who have a grudge against religion. It will appeal to the people who don't believe simply because they had a bad experience or because they don't like religion period. We don't need more intellectually impoverished documentaries playing on peoples emotions, this was almost as bad as expelled. Thats pretty bad.

We need the straightforward honest truth. There are very good reasons why people are skeptics or Athiests. People need to hear these reasons in a form that is not insulting or condescending. Bill is right, religion is tearing apart our world, and is a very destructive force. However the last thing we need right now is more divisiveness, and I can't imagine how this documentary could cause harmony.

I think the harsh reality that us skeptics need to wake up to, is that we are an exception to the general rule of humanity. I really don't think its possible for everyone to see the world as we do. People don't want to think that their lives are completely up to them. It's easier believing you have a friend in high places that has a plan for your life, than to realize that unfortunate circumstances are usually in some way your own fault. Something I hear a lot from religious people is "I wouldn't want to live in a world without a God." No wonder you get such incredible denial from the religious, I have a feeling most people would fall apart if they were forced to wake up from their fantasy.

Humanity cannot be forced off religion, we will have to be weaned.

Hopeful...  

Posted by Matt Carter

Maybe if I make an effort to post on here every day I might actually succeed. Its not like I don't have anything to say, I just never think to say it here. Its gotten swallowed up in the myriad of other internet things I have an account with, but never actually use.

This is ok, since I'll bet If I was to check or use every social site, music site, or whatever else everyday, I would probably have 30 seconds for each. The internet is definitely all about prioritizing. You just have to ignore certain elements of it, if you want to find any part of it useful. Being human I just don't have enough time to devote to all the things I would like.

This seems to be a theme in human life. It is downright maddening that one of these days I'm going to have to choose how I specialize my life hereafter. I've managed to postpone this, taking a few years off school but I know its coming. I can't be a musician, programmer, biologist, physicist, philosopher, etc all at the same time without some serious dilution.

I Fail as a Blogger  

Posted by Matt Carter

Yes I do, but I've never really had any pretensions to being one. One of my New Years resolutions is that maybe I might post on this a little more than Bi-annually.