pbaylis

JPD, if I wanted to do that, I could quite easily register under another name. Far from it, I myself am learning more and I felt inspired to share. Hopefully that's OK on a public forum.

pbaylis

Well, I got interested in the thread while Alf was talking and a few others who had scientific backgrounds and seemed to be open to talking without falling into the gutter as usually happens. I don't know...but it seems that threads get started well, with a bit of reasonable comment on both sides, a little bit like a lion making a good kill. It's enjoyable for a while but then the hyenas and vultures arrive and spoil the party. That's when I usually bail out. Sorry, if that's disappointed you.

JPD

I think that the hyenas and vultures appear once an unsupportable assertion has been made. The thing is, we do it because we want you to be thinking objectively aswell - we do it for your benefit. Last year I was here (under a different name) and I posted a load of complete and utter garbage about evolution without even understanding the mechanisms or timescales involved.
I then found it an uphill struggle and gave up. Following on from that, I re-evaluated everything and found a mental release in that (no jokes about my brain escaping please). So I came back - any theory will be considered on this forum but whatever it is that you postulate has to be backed up. Those items of evidence or data points must be observable and valid.

pbaylis

I think it's OK to have all the information and theories and once you have them all, it's tempting to want to tell everyone and look for opportunities to use this knowledge. I also have to watch myself.

What I'm here for is just a sharing of ideas and possibilities. From what I have seen of science as far as it explains the universe, with no disrespect in the slightest to the people as individuals, it is essentially just theory and can only go so far. I'm interested in discussing possibilities beyond what science can outrightly prove. Some may call it fantasy or just plain rubbish. I call it possibility. I'm a type that likes to think I have a reason here on this earth and when I die that there is something else. I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

Queen of Swords

Because any level of self-esteem would get in the way of being a good drone, I suppose. As for this supposed "debunking", I don't see how the paragraph you posted did that, much as the author might have wanted to do so.

What's wrong with believing in oneself, or seeing the human spirit for what it is - flawed at some times, but noble at others?

This reminds me of a story I read once. After the Titanic sank, a newspaper carried two pictures. One showed the great liner sinking into the sea, and the caption was "The weakness of man, the power of nature". The other showed a passenger stepping out of a lifeboat to give his seat to a woman carrying a baby. The caption was "The weakness of nature, the power of man".

I always like remembering those words. We do have heroes amongst us and within ourselves. We just have to find them, rather than denying they exist.

And thanks to human talent and work and determination, people no longer die of something as small as the smallpox virus. Let's hear it for the heroes of science, who didn't sit around on their butts waiting for god to save them.

I'm partial to love myself, but I fail to see how humility will get you anywhere, especially if it's the "I'm a worthless sinner and can't do anything to improve my life" kind of thing.