Talk about prejudice...

[shadowstriker86]

So i'm in my anthropology class having a discussion with the teacher about why humans are unique and i mention the words intelligent design and she immediately says she wont bring religion into the discussion and ends it by changing the subject completely and moving on as if the conversation never took place. I mean wtf, i never meant religion in the first place so what gives her the right to just assume and end what couldve been a complete rational discussion? mind you this teacher has a phd and later in the class said she was sad because indiana jones wasnt real -_- your thoughts?

 

[Lopunny]

I'd like to raise my hand at this point and say im an athiest and i'd subscribe to the idea of intelligent design ^^ having done A-level Biology, some of the things we learn about are just SO amazing...

 

[-Orpheus-]

Doesn't mentioning intelligent design automatically bring religion into the debate?

I am sure most teachers have been advised to shy away from this debate even if they find it an interesting subject. The potential for grief from parents and media is to much for them to start risking their jobs over.

Its a shame really as I find the debate interesting myself even though I don't believe in intelligent design.

 

[ThrobbingEgo]

I'd like to raise my hand at this point and say im an athiest and i'd subscribe to the idea of intelligent design ^^ having done A-level Biology, some of the things we learn about are just SO amazing...

You're an atheist and you believe that all life was created and manipulated by an intelligent supernatural agent? That kinda goes against the definition of atheism.

 

[sms_117b]

Intelligent design is generally looked down upon by the non-christian scientific community, especially the way the issue has been handled when regarding schools.

But it is one of those things I don't know too much about...

 

[Lopunny]

I meant agnostic XD I believe in SOME sort of higher power, not necessarily God..

 

[Nomad]

So i'm in my anthropology class having a discussion with the teacher about why humans are unique and i mention the words intelligent design and she immediately says she wont bring religion into the discussion and ends it by changing the subject completely and moving on as if the conversation never took place. I mean wtf, i never meant religion in the first place so what gives her the right to just assume and end what couldve been a complete rational discussion? mind you this teacher has a phd and later in the class said she was sad because indiana jones wasnt real -_- your thoughts?

Intelligent design is a religious idea.

I'd like to raise my hand at this point and say im an athiest and i'd subscribe to the idea of intelligent design ^^ having done A-level Biology, some of the things we learn about are just SO amazing...

Then you're not an atheist.

Edit: New posts while I was typing. Disregard the points that are not invalid.
Editx2: Actually, you're not an agnostic either if you believe in a higher power.

 

[Lopunny]

*sighs as I slink back into comfortably confused anonymity...* I thought agnosticism meant you weren't sure about the existance of gods and hadn't quite decided yet...

 

[shadowstriker86]

So i'm in my anthropology class having a discussion with the teacher about why humans are unique and i mention the words intelligent design and she immediately says she wont bring religion into the discussion and ends it by changing the subject completely and moving on as if the conversation never took place. I mean wtf, i never meant religion in the first place so what gives her the right to just assume and end what couldve been a complete rational discussion? mind you this teacher has a phd and later in the class said she was sad because indiana jones wasnt real -_- your thoughts?

Intelligent design is a religious idea.

"Intelligent design is the assertion that certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection."

now nowhere in there does it state that religion is the idea or basis for it. now i could argue from both sides but for the purpose of the discussion with my teacher i was trying to explain it from the scientific point of view rather than the religious point of view.

 

[ThrobbingEgo]

I meant agnostic XD I believe in SOME sort of higher power, not necessarily God..

That doesn't make you agnostic, that'd make you a non-affiliated theist. You'd be agnostic if you were undecided on the existence of a higher power.

 

[AbsoluteVirtue18]

Some people react the same way to evolution.

 

[Kpt._Rob]

The reason that Inteligent Design is a PURELY religious theory is that it requires that the point from which all life originates be highly complex. Richard Dawkins has admitted that it is possible (but note here, he still says highly improbable) that humanity could have been created by a lifeform so highly evolved that we would consider it a god. However, this being wouldn't actually be a God because it was itself brought about through a process of Darwinian Natural Selection. The point is that evolution allows life to start from very simple beginnings, while ID theory requires that life starts from highly complex beginnings. As a result, we apply Occam's Razor to find that evolution is a superior theory to ID. To believe that the origin of all life was something highly complex requires faith, and thus religion; to believe that the origin of life was much simpler does not, making it the scientific option.

 

[ThrobbingEgo]

So i'm in my anthropology class having a discussion with the teacher about why humans are unique and i mention the words intelligent design and she immediately says she wont bring religion into the discussion and ends it by changing the subject completely and moving on as if the conversation never took place. I mean wtf, i never meant religion in the first place so what gives her the right to just assume and end what couldve been a complete rational discussion? mind you this teacher has a phd and later in the class said she was sad because indiana jones wasnt real -_- your thoughts?

Intelligent design is a religious idea.

"Intelligent design is the assertion that certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection."

now nowhere in there does it state that religion is the idea or basis for it. now i could argue from both sides but for the purpose of the discussion with my teacher i was trying to explain it from the scientific point of view rather than the religious point of view.

Please explain how you think you'd have a scientific discussion about intelligent design with your teacher. What it amounts to is, the ID camp has no solid evidence, and rests their claims on "you can't prove it's not true" and "look how complicated this is." Even if I didn't think intelligent design is invalid, all it could possibly add to a conversation is "this is why I think god made us this way." Oh, that's valuable scientific inquiry.

Seriously, where do you think the discussion would lead?

 

[shadowstriker86]

So i'm in my anthropology class having a discussion with the teacher about why humans are unique and i mention the words intelligent design and she immediately says she wont bring religion into the discussion and ends it by changing the subject completely and moving on as if the conversation never took place. I mean wtf, i never meant religion in the first place so what gives her the right to just assume and end what couldve been a complete rational discussion? mind you this teacher has a phd and later in the class said she was sad because indiana jones wasnt real -_- your thoughts?

Intelligent design is a religious idea.

"Intelligent design is the assertion that certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection."

now nowhere in there does it state that religion is the idea or basis for it. now i could argue from both sides but for the purpose of the discussion with my teacher i was trying to explain it from the scientific point of view rather than the religious point of view.

Please explain how you think you'd have a scientific discussion about intelligent design with your teacher. What it amounts to is, the ID camp has no solid evidence, and rests their claims on "you can't prove it's not true" and "look how complicated this is." Even if I didn't think intelligent design is invalid, all it could possibly add to a conversation is "this is why I think god made us this way." Oh, that's valuable scientific inquiry.

Seriously, where do you think the discussion would lead?

honestly i dont know. it's easier to admit that i dont know where it wouldve lead rather than just try to make something up. like i said i was trying to have a rational discussion without having to bring religion into it because thats when people start getting butt hurt like my teacher does. but apparently i live in a time where science and religion are at war with each other for some reason and im pretty much trying to be a peacemaker, trying to get the little bastards to get along but no luck. but thats why i do my research to answer a few simple questions that are the most important to me:

1. when does life start/end?
2. when will we be able to use more than just 7% of our minds, and when we do, what will happen?
3. how does math work? (my dad bet me 1k that i couldnt figure it out within the next 5 years)

 

[Lazarus Long]

now nowhere in there does it state that religion is the idea or basis for it. now i could argue from both sides but for the purpose of the discussion with my teacher i was trying to explain it from the scientific point of view rather than the religious point of view.

But even the "scientific" way of looking at it is merely trying to figure out the mechanics of Jehovah or Allah or Zeus creating the universe. It is still fundamentally rooted in religious belief. ID doesn't even encourage rigorous scientific inquiry, because you always have that "out." Too complicated to figure out? Oh, well. God just miracled it that way.

There is absolutely NOTHING secular about ID.

 

[ThrobbingEgo]

1. when does life start/end?
2. when will we be able to use more than just 7% of our minds, and when we do, what will happen?
3. how does math work? (my dad bet me 1k that i couldnt figure it out within the next 5 years)

Addressing question 2: that's an urban myth. If we only used 7, 10 or 11 percent of our brains, then we could safely remove up to 93 percent of our brains with no adverse effects. We use all of our brain, though different areas have different purposes and we don't use all of them at the same time. Yay MRIs.

Math is a tool that we can use to understand how naturally occurring patterns work.

You might want to take a philosophy of science class, or something.

 

[Susano]

1. when does life start/end?
2. when will we be able to use more than just 7% of our minds, and when we do, what will happen?
3. how does math work? (my dad bet me 1k that i couldnt figure it out within the next 5 years)

1. Life starts when we are born
2. We only use 3% of our brains, but we use all of our brains. What I mean is only 3% of the neurons in our brain can fire at a time, but these are all different neurons for different tasks.
3. What do you mean?

EDIT: Dammit, Ninja'd

 

[shadowstriker86]

1. when does life start/end?
2. when will we be able to use more than just 7% of our minds, and when we do, what will happen?
3. how does math work? (my dad bet me 1k that i couldnt figure it out within the next 5 years)

Addressing question 2: that's an urban myth. If we only used 7, 10 or 11 percent of our brains, then we could safely remove up to 97 percent of our brains with no adverse effects. We use all of our brain, though different areas have different purposes and we don't use all of them at the same time. Yay MRIs.

Math is a tool that we can use to understand how naturally occurring patterns work.

You might want to take a philosophy of science class, or something.

well see thats the thing about math, we know the definition and its teachings but we dont know how exactly it works, like a doorbell. you push the button activating the electrical switch to activate the bell. that's the answer im looking for. but ya i should took a philosophy of science class to try to get a step further to my goal.

 

[Susano]

1. when does life start/end?
2. when will we be able to use more than just 7% of our minds, and when we do, what will happen?
3. how does math work? (my dad bet me 1k that i couldnt figure it out within the next 5 years)

Addressing question 2: that's an urban myth. If we only used 7, 10 or 11 percent of our brains, then we could safely remove up to 97 percent of our brains with no adverse effects. We use all of our brain, though different areas have different purposes and we don't use all of them at the same time. Yay MRIs.

Math is a tool that we can use to understand how naturally occurring patterns work.

You might want to take a philosophy of science class, or something.

well see thats the thing about math, we know the definition and its teachings but we dont know how exactly it works, like a doorbell. you push the button activating the electrical switch to activate the bell. that's the answer im looking for. but ya i should took a philosophy of science class to try to get a step further to my goal.

What do you mean how it works? 1+1=2, because one thing and one thing is two things!

 

[ThrobbingEgo]

well see thats the thing about math, we know the definition and its teachings but we dont know how exactly it works, like a doorbell. you push the button activating the electrical switch to activate the bell. that's the answer im looking for. but ya i should took a philosophy of science class to try to get a step further to my goal.

Or maybe you'll find something that will make you rethink your goal. Who knows?