From: "Russell Blackford" <rblackford@hotmail.com>
> OTOH I'm happy to get rid of words that I think contain false
> preconceptions, such as "sin" and *perhaps* ("perhaps", I say carefully
> because I'm not wanting to pick a fight with Samantha and Amara, so I'm
> prepared to bracket off the issue) "spirituality".
Sin and spirituality are words which derive their meaning from religiosity.
Debunk religiosity, and these terms become irrelevant linguistic artifacts on
a par with archaic mythology.
"I am all in favor of a dialogue between science and religion, but
not a constructive dialogue. One of the great achievements of
science has been, if not to make it impossible for intelligent
people to be religious, then at least to make it possible for them
not to be religious. We should not retreat from this
accomplishment."
-- Peroration of a talk by Steven Weinberg at an AAAS conference
on anthropics, reprinted in the _New York Review_
"Science has nothing to be ashamed of even in the ruins of Nagasaki. The shame
is theirs who appeal to other values than the human imaginative values which
science has evolved."
--Jacob Bronowski (1908-74), British scientist, author
"Philosophy is a century behind science. Theology is a thousand years behind
that."
--Shirley Eugest
"Some say science is a religion. If that were so, scientific associations
would not pay taxes, and scientists could all be Conscientious Objectors."
--Chrom Blackstone
Stay hungry,
--J. R.
Useless hypotheses, etc.:
consciousness, phlogiston, philosophy, vitalism, mind, free will, qualia,
analog computing, cultural relativism, GAC, CYC, and ELIZA
Everything that can happen has already happened, not just once,
but an infinite number of times, and will continue to do so forever.
(Everything that can happen = more than anyone can imagine.)
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