July 2008

I can’t even explain how spot on this is. The premise is that stop signs have not been invented yet. and that they are “being designed” by a group of marketing people from a major corporation.  Imagine me as that designer.  You can see why I am not a very good account guy.

Brillant.

Absolutely brilliant.

Found this little quote on religion in a 1964 interview with Playboy Magazine. She was asked if religion had ever offered anything of constructive value to human life.

..in the sense of blind belief, belief unsupported by, or contrary to, the facts of reality and the conclusions of reason. Faith, as such, is extremely detrimental to human life: it is the negation of reason. But you must remember that religion is an early form of philosophy, that the first attempts to explain the universe, to give a coherent frame of reference to man’s life and a code of moral values, were made by religion, before men graduated or developed enough to have philosophy. And, as philosophies, some religions have very valuable moral points. They may have a good influence or proper principles to inculcate, but in a very contradictory context and, on a very — how should I say it? — dangerous or malevolent base: on the ground of faith.

This is kinda how I see religion. It holds true to antiquated models of reality.  Since it is supposed to provide insight into the metaphysical, then shouldn’t it be updated as our knowledge base turns more of that metaphysical stuff into actual physical stuff…so to speak?  What I mean is that if religion tells me that the world is 4,000 years old…but I have reams upon reams of verifiable data which not only supports a different model but actually refutes the religious claim, then shouldn’t the religious model be updated to reflect this?

It seems sort of irresponsible to me, as a thinking, rational human being, not to explore all models of reality in search of the ultimate truth.  This is why I tend to gravitate toward models of reality which seem to align most gracefully with current scientific models of reality.

I’d prefer to take my leap of faith after I’ve exhausted what science can tell me.  There is still faith.  But its the leap that has been reduced.

Does that make any sense at all?