What practical use is it for non-scientists to understand or know the origins of life?
Are there not more important questions for the rest of us?
Are there not more important questions for the rest of us?
The Origin of Life - Does it Matter?
- Thread starter fluff
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For Christians, Muslims, Jews, and any other religious folk that believe in a creator god, it's very important.fluff said:
An example of a more important question:
How much more progress would we have made in the fight against Cancer or HIV if half of the US defence budget for the years 1990-1995 had been directed to that rather than defence?
How much more progress would we have made in the fight against Cancer or HIV if half of the US defence budget for the years 1990-1995 had been directed to that rather than defence?
They've already cured those things. They're just keeping it hush hush so that the axis of evil doesn't get their towel-headed hands on the info. It's in the interest of national security.
I would say from a Biblical point of view that would do more towards bringing the Kingdom of God to earth than that defense budget................goodness I'm sounding like a pacifist...............fluff said:
I would agree, that is a much better question.............
Can't you ask these 2 quesitons about 90% of the things that occupy society these days?fluff said:
To me, that's no more or less important of a question. For people who believe in the Creation Story... teh question is VERY important... perahps one of the 2 or 3 most important questions. Besides, I could argue that if we didn't spend the money, the russians would have blown us off the face of the earth... in which case the money spent on disease research would have been pointless.fluff said:
I'd like to see you make that argument.jacksonpt said:
Why? What practical difference does it make?jacksonpt said:
History isn't my strong suit, so forgive me, but...fluff said:
In the early 90s... wasn't that Reagan and star wars? Weren't we spending the money on defense to "protect" the country against possible attack, more spefically, neuclear attack? Primarily from the Russians? Throughout those years, didn't the US and Russia baiscally spend the same money on defense... esentially constantly matching the other side?
So to me, it's not a huge leap to think that if the russians thought our defense system was weak, couldn't they have been more likely to attack? One well placed nuke in NY, DC, and LA would have put quite a dent in this contry's population, not to mention it's economy (just look at what has happened to NY since 9/11). If that were the case, would you still be suggesting we spend money on drug research?
I'm not saying drug research important... I'm questioning the relevance/importance of a "what if" question. All the bush hating and iraq second guessing aside, I think life for the average person in this country is pretty damn good. If you went back to the early 90s and changed how the govt spent money - who knows how different things might be now. Sure, we might have had an cure for aids by now... but we might all be dead too.
How are you defining "practical"? Measureable? probably none... but to religious people, it's not about being able to measure things... it's about happiness and being fulfilled and such "intangible" things like that.fluff said:
Early 50s, maybe...jacksonpt said:
I cant wait till my history rewind button comes in the mail. Space Madness yo.
The truth is it doesnt matter at all, its important to understand evolution and the basic outlines of how we became to be humans, and to stay away from catholic priests who 'carrie torches for kids who carry candles."
The truth is it doesnt matter at all, its important to understand evolution and the basic outlines of how we became to be humans, and to stay away from catholic priests who 'carrie torches for kids who carry candles."
How did you spell it correctly once?mack said:
mack said:
...and how do you know what a record is? I'd say I'm more a skipping CD...
It takes a special kind of stupid.MMike said:
Unless one can make (and many people can) an absolute division between your science and your religion, the 'search for answers' is really a search for justification of one's current beliefs. It's like we said in the other thread concerning mystery...modern thinking, both religious and scientific, doesn't deal well with intangibles, abstracts, and analogies. It tends to simply ridicule them instead.kinghami3 said:
So now instead of having your beliefs, you're looking to prove them with 'hard facts' after the fact of your belief, which pretty much subverts the scientific process. The scientific method starts with a hypothesis, but if the experiment proves the hypotheis wrong, you move on to a new one. With someone searching to justify religion, they keep their hypothesis and scrap the experiment, often skewing it and picking/choosing what to explore and report in an effort to provide support to his beliefs.
MD