Re: The universe looks designed to me

Puppet_Sock wrote:

> Wall of Sleep wrote:
> [snip reference to the FAQ on http://www.talkorigins.org]
>
>>I've read it. As I said, I used to frequent this newsgroup, and that was
>>where everyone pointed me. They are very convincing in that they show
>>that natural means *could have* accounted for the steps to life as we
>>know it. What they don't discuss are the odds against such mechanisms
>>occurring in the wild and the exponential odds which must be considered
>>when considering the number of plant and animal species that have
>>existed from the beginning of time.
>
>
> I'm pretty sure they *do* discusss the odds. Are you sure you've
> read the entire thing? I'm pretty sure there's extensive text on
> the notion of "exponential odds" and that the huge number of plant
> and animal species is in fact evidence *for* evolution.
>
>
>>As for my lack of expertise, you'll get no argument from me there.
>>Perhaps it's blissful ignorance on my part, but I'm quite happy with my
>>world view and see no reason to depart from it. My view fits the world I
>>see and is the more likely explanation - why should I change it?
>
>
> Try this on for size.
>
> When you were a young child, you probably got fed various fairy
> stories. Santa, the tooth fairy, the easter bunny, etc. When
> you were a child, these may have been appropriate, even useful.
>
> As an adult, would you consider the tooth fairy as a sound
> economic premise upon which to base your retirement fund?
> Would an expectation that Santa would continue to provide
> a huge load of loot for you each xmas be a sensible plan
> upon which to organise your life? What if you *really*
> feel that there is an easter bunny, and that he will bring
> you your load of empty calories every year? How would you
> deal with an adult who still held to those ideas? Other
> than to direct him to vote Democrat that is.
>
> The reason your view fits "the world you see" is because you
> don't see very much of the world. When you start to see more
> detail, you will find that your notions of design are naive
> in the extreme. This is the experience that the human race
> as a whole has gone through over the last few centuries.
> Actually the last couple thousand years if you include such
> things as dropping the notion of gods throwing lightning bolts
> and making it storm when they were angered.
>
> Science didn't race towards these ideas. Scientists had to be
> dragged. Kicking and gouging and biting and screaming every
> single step of the way. They were dragged by the observations.
> When you examine living things it gradually becomes manifest
> that they evolved. It becomes so materialistically obvious
> that you'd need to believe in entire forests full of fairies
> not to believe in evolution. You'd have to doubt your own
> sanity to doubt evolution.
>
> Just as an individual has to grow to become a more experienced
> and more adult person, so to do cultures. And through much the
> same method, by having experience, by thinking about what has
> happened before and what may be happening now and in the future.
> And by adjusting ideas to better fit reality. Just as a culture
> that fails to do this becomes distressed, decadent, backward,
> and eventually very pathological, so to individuals. You need
> to learn and grow to stay healthy and sane.
>
> If you still *feel* that you are right, try this on for size.
> I *really*feel* that you are wrong. Since I'm *waaay* smarter
> and more experienced than you, you now have to change your
> mind and believe my opinion. Or admit you were being silly
> and childish to base such things on nothing more than feeling,
> and go learn the details until you understand enough to
> see where these ideas come from, why science accepts them,
> what the evidence for them is, and why science declares
> evolution as a fact.
>
> Here's a starter point. Try reading _The Wellspring of Life_
> by Isaac Asimov. It's quite easy to read, very engaginingly
> written, and it's Asimov so you know you will learn something.
> If it's not at your book seller, you should be able to get
> it at a local public library. He will give you some insight
> into the origin of life from non-living material.
> Socks
>

Thanks for calling me childish and backward. You did it in a nice way!
However, I don't think learning from a book will increase my mental
capacity or my ability to reason. On the contraary, it may just make me
a mindless follower. I have not, and I will not ever, read every book
out there on science, but that doesn't mean I'm incapable of looking at
the world around me and developing reasonable conclusions. Now, I might
not be very good at articulating my thoughts, but my logic is sound.
Design is the more plausible explanation for life as we know it.

.

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