Re: A Lack of Understanding

Boy, I expected better from you. You didn't read a single one of those links, did you? Half the questions you're asking are answered fully and completely if you follow the links. The other half of your questions are metaphysical, which can't be explained by science. It's all just philosophy 101 and if you do a reading in that area, you'll find that people have been asking those questions since people first had language. And none of those questions have been resolved, because they CAN'T be. They're dealing with ideas that Science can't begin to answer. The only answers that Science can give are those for which evidence exists which can be analyzed, studied, and theorized about. Each scientific answer builds on many that precede it, and they in turn are built on as more evidence is discovered and more theories are proven correct.

All of your metaphysical questions don't do anything like cause "huge, gaping holes that rip the at the integrety of (evolution).." They say nothing that proves or disproves evolution, they are simply constructs of a human mind that is the end result of millions of years of evolution.

For example:

"Why is there SOMETHING instead of nothing?"

Who the hell knows? That's not a question for Science to answer; it's a subject for philosophers and poets to speculate about.

"How can you explain the stunning beauty of everything?"

It's beautiful because we say it is. What is beauty, anyway? The definition changes from society to society, from country to country, from one person to another. What the majority of people consider beautiful is based on a collective consensus, and is ever-changing.

"How can you explain conciousness?"

Boy, you really don't read much do you? That's something that scientists have been trying to figure out for a long time. There have been a lot of recent discoveries about consciousness, such as which particular parts of the brain control which feelings, tastes, thoughts, and everything else that we do. Science is trying to explain how consciousness works.

"How can you explain the concept of love -- and the miracle of pro-creation between male and female?"

If you don't know the answer to that one...ever heard of this really strong drive that all animals have in them to leads them to want to continue their species? It's called SEX. It FEELS GOOD, so we like doing it, and as a result our species continues on. But, you already knew that, didn't you? Love is inexplicable, as anyone who's ever experienced it can tell you.

"How can billions of people around the the world have a virtual built-in belief in divinity?"

Could be because a specific gene or set of genes are in our DNA that makes us want to believe, because it feels good, just like the body produces endorphins and hormones that also make us feel good. Helps to keep most people from committing suicide.

"Why does praying make us feel good and help us heal?"

Well, of course it makes us feel good to think that there's an omnipotent being out there that actually takes the time to listen to each and every one of our prayers. As far as helping us heal, it could be just the power of positive thinking. Maybe that acts like the endorphins I mentioned before.

"If evolution is random and if life so easily emerges and evolves from its surroundings then why isn't our universe teeming with life?"

How do you know it isn't? And who said anything about it being so easy or random? Again, you haven't read any of the links at talk origins, or you wouldn't be asking that.

"Why have staggering sums of people of the course of history experienced a deep inner peace after beginning a loving relationship with their creator?"

There also staggering sums of people through the course of history who have experienced a deep inner peace after smoking tons of marijuana. You have your choice of drugs, I have mine.

"At inception the sperm fertilizes the egg...but how does the miracle of life and consciousness of one's self actually begin? Who or what breathes life and love into that person?"

Why does something have to breathe life into anything? Do worms have life and love breathed into them? Cockroaches? Chickens? Horses? Life is just biology.

"If humans have no purpose why do we so many people spend their lifetimes looking for it?"

Well, maybe you would have no purpose without believing in a god, but you don't speak for me, or for lots of other people. We find meaning in life itself, not in what may or may not have created it, or what may or may not happen after it ends. We accept life for the gift it is and try to enjoy it as much as we can for as long as we can. How we got here and where we're going doesn't really matter to me, though I do love speculating about it, and I do love reading what other people think about it. But as far as figuring out "what it's all about?" There are as many answers to that as there are people.

"Much of Science at present is really the technology of describing how something works, its properties. I don't think scientists have a clue as to what life really is, and what its ultimate origin is. Obvioulsy not everything can be explained by science -- however that's what many of you seem to put all your faith in."

I totally agree with the first part of that. Of course everything can't be explained by science, and anyone who thinks it can is a fool. But science does a great job of explaining how life came to be on this planet, and how humans evolved from earlier life forms. That is the technology, that is how it works. Anything else is the territory of philosophy, the arts, and religion. Those are all things that do not require evidence, and they are not science. That does not mean they have no purpose; they provides us with ways of trying to understand the why, but only science can explain the how.


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