the evolving mind

When in high school, and still going through the motions as a Catholic, I once got in a quarrel with the girl I was dating. What was the quarrel about? The Pope.

The girl and I had recently met at a youth bowling outing put on by our church. We hit it off and enjoyed a few weeks of good clean fun together.

One of the things that precipitated our break up was the scheduled visit to our state by the Pope. My girlfriend was very excited and planned to attend come hell or floodwaters. While I was okay with her excitement, she wasn’t okay with my ambivalence. No, I didn’t plan to waste a full day of my precious youth to go see “some guy.” I probably said, He lives in a castle and wears a fancy costume . . . big deal.

Decades later, this current Pope is likewise “just some guy” to me. Oh sure, he’s a politically important figure. But don’t expect me to revere his opinion an anything more than the opinion itself warrants. Ad hominem arguments — whether they reflect uncritical rejection or acceptance — are logically flawed. And I prefer to steer clear of such pitfalls.

[comic thanks to atheistcartoons.com]

Technorati Links: atheism, logic

Men are from Mars and women are from Venus. What about those assorted relatives that gather around your Thanksgiving table? My guess is that they are from Ganymede. Roughly the size of Mercury, Jupiter’s moon Ganymede is the largest of the moons in our solar system. It weighs in at twice the mass of “our” moon.

Ganymede is an oddish looking cosmic body. Kinda like more distant relatives. Sure, they resemble us, but are clearly different. Almost odd.

And what was that remark about no marshmallows in the yams? Was that serious?

Fortunately, land-bound spaceships will transport these relative aliens back to their own patch of terrestrial habitat when all the masticating and swallowing is done.

Wait. Maybe I’m the alien one!

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

[photo thanks to NASA]

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As is evident from the above image I screen-captured this morning, most of the recent visitors to this site are from the US. Particularly the East Coast.

But there are a few outliers that raise my curiosity.

Hey, Hawaiian, do you surf? What about you, Australian? I haven’t been surfing in ages. Need to make it a priority.

How’s the weather and flora transitioning to spring, South Africa?

Japan and South Korea . . . are you ex-pats?

So many questions. So much silence.

Technorati Links: internet

I am an atheist and I have teeth. And here I am talking about the figurative kind. What do I sink my teeth into? Anything I view as nonsense. Any regular reader of this blog knows that my favorite target is weak and/or outright bogus science. Another favorite target is religion. Why? Because I view it as a completely bogus “way of knowing.”

Otherwise, my teeth stay in my mouth. So to speak. I have loving relationships, am a productive, charitable member of society, etc. Sure, atheists have teeth, but so does everyone. We are not significantly different from the rest of society in that regard.

But yes, in terms of our view of religion, why tend to NOT grant it special treatment. For a whole, heaping helping of no-special-treatment, I recommend checking out the 124th edition of the Carnival of the Godless.

Technorati Links: atheism, belief, blog carnival

Personally, I like to travel to “see farther.” To chance upon some education and perhaps enlightenment while finding entertainment. No, cruises don’t appeal to me because you take the same 4 walls with you as you go (they seem a buffet of mediocrity: American McTravel). I like to have new, authentic experiences.

I am at this moment in the Bahamas, not because I like the tropical lifestyle (which ain’t bad) or sitting by a poolside (which ain’t bad either). I’m here for the alien life. Oh sure, the culture is mildly different and that’s worth something. But the alien lifeforms I have encountered have blown my mind. And that is why I am here and will come again.

Were someone to offer me a choice between a trip to the moon, or even to a moon of Jupiter, or a trip to the tropics for some face-time with fishes, I’d take the later. In a heartbeat.

Ever venture to a far-off desert? Kinda neat, huh? There you have it, a wild and weird part of this planet. But, for all most people know, that part could be part of any planet. On the other hand you’ve got a veritable cosmos of alien life beneath the surface of the ocean. My Gawd what a delightfully different world. Those creatures don’t even breath air! Since being here my wife and I have identified over 50 different species of fish.

Some people travel as if they merely desire a change in wallpaper and decorations for a few days. Okay, there is something to be said for that, I guess. But please, there is more to this world than lounge chairs and sweet drinks. There is even more to it than bipedal apes. Look farther, look closer!

And that concludes my poolside rant.

[photo thanks to NASA]

Technorati Links: culture, snorkeling

In a few days my wife and I depart for the Bahamas. No, not for the resorts. In fact, we’ll be staying miles away from that part of the island. Affordable access to a reef is the reason. It’s not the best reef in the world, but there is miles of it, a brief, inflatable kayak-paddle away.

Off the Florida shore nearest where we live there is sand, sand, and more sand. Not a rich ecosystem for wildlife. Reefs, in contrast, teem with life. And I can’t wait to do some silent, underwater exploring.

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It is often argued that religion provides people with a comforting mythology. And what distresses people most? Death. While it may be true that belief in an afterlife can blunt fears of death, I am not convinced it is true. I have encountered no good research on the matter. In fact, the one study I’ve read on the topic showed mixed results, with one category of believers actually fearing death more. Nonetheless, in the interim before conclusive data comes in, I view the hypothesis as a reasonable conjecture. But a conjecture it is.

How do atheists perceive death? I imagine there is quite a range. Yesterday I made a post over at Florida Freethinkers that tells of some of my thoughts about that final night. Including this paragraph:

Sometimes, when envisioning my last moments, I think it would be nice to have a little bit o’ religion. On the verge of the big good-bye, while other people can think “Jesus is waiting” (with open arms rather than a dope slap), what will I do? A Porky Pig imitation? Th-th-th-that’s all folks! Will I squeeze my wife’s hand, smile a sad smile, and tell her, again, how much I love her and have loved her and enjoyed our life together?

To read the entire essay, click here.

Technorati Links: atheism, meaning

Habituation –

is the psychological process in humans and animals in which there is a decrease in psychological response and behavioral response to a stimulus after repeated exposure to that stimulus over a duration of time. [Wikipedia]

Does the familiarity of home breed boredom and a desire to travel? When under-stimulated do we seek out the novel experiences provided by a fresh environment?

Having recently returned from some very stimulating travel — in a fun way — I am thrilled to be home. Perhaps my inner pendulum of emotional homeostasis has swung the other way. Has absence made my mind fonder of home, however temporarily?

Technorati Links: emotion, perception, travel

On Monday my wife and I were in Boston. On Tuesday night — in Montreal, where we are now. On the drive north we took a scenic route, stopping to stretch our legs by a small, ancient-looking cemetery tucked into the woods. Many of the tombstones were too weathered to read. This epitaph caught my eye and lodged itself into memory:

Death is a debt to nature due, which I have paid and so must you.

Blunt but profound. It brought to mind an element of the quantum world: virtual particles. These fleeting bits of matter appear out of a void. In a sense, they violate the conservation of matter and energy. But they do so for only a fraction of a tiny fraction of a second. I recall physicists referring to virtual particles as existing on a loan of energy. The more they borrow (the larger the loan of energy), the more quickly they must repay the loan.

As the universe expands, increasing entropy is the overall rule. A growing disorganization. And yet there are pockets, or perhaps packets, of life. Negentropy, negative entropy, an organization of atoms. Is this also akin to a loan that must eventually be repaid? Is all of life, in a sense, only virtually real, vs. an absolute existence?

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The following blog carnivals have recently been posted. I plan on reading ‘em both:

The 39th Humanist Symposium over at Daylight Atheism.

&

The 13th edition of the Carnival of Evolution at FYI: Science.

Blog post collections are like dining at a buffet. There is a bounty of items and you are almost certain to find something you like.

Technorati Links: blog carnival, evolution, humanism