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Comment Re:Fallacy (Score 1) 8

There are none so blind as will not see. This conversation cannot progress until you're able to move past your current cognitive biases and start expanding beyond those parameters. You are wrong -- and, setting aside the original positions of this conversation, you are distinctly factually wrong in your statements here:

Which is what i said.. skipping the "discern a problem part", which is just the motivation for the hypothesis.
Why? Because all of science is founded on the "discern a problem". You say it is "just the motivation for the hypothesis" and in so doing reveal that you have utterly no comprehension of the scientific process. The hypothesis is the result of the motivation, which is to uncover new problems -- those problems being the answers to previous problems, as I described above. The problems are the motivation of science. The theophile, however, first derives the answer -- and then seeks to fit to it. This is God.

There is always an attachment to the outcome.. hence the reason for pursuing the truth in the first place.
Again, you show an utter and irresponsibly absolute lack of comprehension of the scientific process. Methodologies for accounting for cognitive bias now represent a vast bulk of material -- and effort -- on the part of scientists. Just google "cognitive bias" and you will see it.

When i say guidance it was a soft way of meaning his rules.. if you care to look all of his rules are quite straightforward, love thy neighbor as thyself.. i don't see it getting easier than that.. there are only 2 rules for Christians.. love thy god above all else, love their neighbor as they self.. these are the summation of all of God's laws and the litmus test for your actions. In your examples above of "Christians" doing "evil" I would say obviously they are failing this litmus test wouldn't you?
Again you show an apparently willful failure to comprehend what is being said. Your point is irrelevant: you believe those are the rules. That's your opinion of the interpretation of someone else's opinion . Where's the exact Word of God? Where's the 'heavenly guidance'? The Bible? Say it with me now -- I'll say it slowly. //THE// ... Bible ... IS ... N.O.T. ... evidence . "Dot". The bible is an accumulation of the writings of dozens of people over hundreds of years, without even so much as ONE single eye-witness account of any events it purports to describe! Where there are authors who were alive at a given time of the events they record, they disagree . Example: The fig tree's wilting after being cursed by Jesus. Did it happen that very instant, or did it happen during the evening? Second example: the bible states that any man with a beard ought be stoned to death. And that's new Testament. Yet Jesus is depicted as having a beard. Third example: Peter states in his letters that men of faith ought have their penises fully removed. Does that mean any man with a penis can't go to heaven? What rules are we to follow, and which not? Is it a judgment call? Then what use as guidance is that anthology 1,700-4,000 year-old books? You say there are "two rules" -- but those are your selection . Are you God?

This also supposes that doing good for certain reasons (e.g. a promise of eternal life) is inherently "bad", but who determines what is a "bad" reason.. you can throw out the possibility of God because you think you know what is "good" and what is "evil".?!? This touches the Arrogance i spoke of previously.
Again, you are factually erroneous: I, as an atheist, throw out good and evil as concepts in anything other than the fictional senses. Your own bible makes it explicitly clear: doing good works only for the promise of reward is sin. Good works are to be done of their own sake; in all religions which depict the benevolence/malevolence dichotomy, greed is viewed as evil.

Overall i am interested in this one thing (although i love the discussion in total) "how would I preserve proof of God for anyone to Know for 2000+ years? (that's a 2 part question, one.. what proof would be sufficient, how would i preserve that proof for an extended period of time (e.g. 2000 years).
Why do all conversations with theists wind up boiling down to who can repeat themselves the most?
GET HIM ON FILM.
It's not that complicated an idea.

That's a good question, from a Christain point of view it is how God's power is manifested through those who believe in him.
Again, you are simply wrong. From a Christian point of view the reason you believe in Jesus -- specifically Jesus -- is because if you do not, you are doomed to death. If you do, then you are a good person and all you do is good, and you will live forever. That, and only that , is acceptable to the Christian faith as described throughout the bible. Period. This is what makes Christendom intolerable.

I think you mean "says the bible." I am not just saying things on my own, everything i am saying is in the bible.. in this case it says those who do not know God's law will be judged by their conscience (paraphrased). If you are arguing he judges something other than our actions in life i am confused.. can you elaborate?
... Go back and read what I said, in the format I said it. Pay attention. Fundamentalist evangelists read exactly what you've read, and they say I'm fucked -- I'm Satan's eternal servant. Even you just did: I know "God's Law" -- and I've refused it. So, no -- I don't mean "Says the bible" -- I mean exactly what I said: "Says you." And only you.

I'm not sure what you mean.. i don't see where "Christendom" disagree with this.. everything i am saying comes from the writings of the bible.. no particular religion... if "modern Christendom" disagrees it isn't with me...
God demands faith. Faith is belief in the absence of evidence. All faith is blind faith. Period. So, again -- your thinking is, here, muddled.

I could go on, and on -- but until you can gain more accuracy in your ideologies and analysis -- this is pretty much a show-stopper. I invest this much effort on the chance that you will surprise me.

User Journal

Journal Journal: An Atheists guide to Ramadan: Day 1 5

As those of you who have followed my Journal probably already know, I'm an atheist, and Gigi is Muslim. Beyond the whole God issue, however, Gigi and I perceive the world in much the same way -- she isn't so much religious as she is spiritual. She doesn't pray five times a day (or even once a day) or anything -- she just feels that there is a Supreme Being, it initialized the Universe a long time ago, sent a prophet, sends bad people to hell after they die (and good people to heaven), but o

Feed Science Daily: LCD Televisions May Soon Look Outdated: Field Emission Displays Promising (sciencedaily.com)

Although relatively new to the market, liquid crystal display (LCD) televisions soon may be obsolete, thanks to a new technique that allows nanotech devices to be mass-produced. It could move the television industry away from the LCD display to the superior field emission display (FED). FEDs use a large array of carbon nanotubes – the most efficient emitters known – to create a higher resolution picture than an LCD.
Robotics

Submission + - Robotic Presence for a Telecommuter 1

McGregorMortis writes: Ivan lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and telecommutes to work in Waterloo, Ontario. But in meetings, speakerphones suck. Can't hear everybody, can't move around, no visual contact. So, he made an IvanAnywhere robot to give him a physical presence in the office. If Ivan wants to talk to you, he just steers radio-controlled IvanAnywhere into your office for a chat.
Science

YouTube for Science? 96

Shipud writes "The National Science Foundation, Public Library of Science and the San Diego Supercomputing Center have partnered to set up what can best be described as a "YouTube for scientists", SciVee". Scientists can upload their research papers, accompanied by a video where they describe the work in the form of a short lecture, accompanied by a presentation. The formulaic, technical style of scientific writing, the heavy jargonization and the need for careful elaboration often renders reading papers a laborious effort. SciVee's creators hope that that the appeal of a video or audio explanation of paper will make it easier for others to more quickly grasp the concepts of a paper and make it more digestible both to colleagues and to the general public."
Supercomputing

Submission + - Quantum Computing & Optically Controlled Elect (physorg.com)

eldavojohn writes: "A new paper on quantum computing about using optically controlled electrons to make an ultrfast quantum computer. From the article, "Scientists have designed a scheme to create one of the fastest quantum computers to date using light pulses to rotate electron spins, which serve as quantum bits. This technique improves the overall clock rate of the quantum computer, which could lead to the fastest potentially scalable quantum computing scheme of which the scientists are aware.""
Science

Scientists Offer 'Overwhelming' Evidence Terran Life Began in Space 556

An anonymous reader writes "Using data from recent comet-probing space missions, British scientists are reporting today that the odds of life starting on Earth rather than inside a comet are one trillion trillion (10 to the power of 24) to one against. That is, we're not originally from around here. Radiation in comets could keep water in liquid form for millions of years, they say, which along with the clay and organic molecules found on-board would provide an ideal incubator. 'Professor Wickramasinghe said: "The findings of the comet missions, which surprised many, strengthen the argument for panspermia. We now have a mechanism for how it could have happened. All the necessary elements - clay, organic molecules and water - are there. The longer time scale and the greater mass of comets make it overwhelmingly more likely that life began in space than on earth."'" jamie points out that the author of this paper has many 'fringe' theories. Your mileage may vary.
Role Playing (Games)

Second Life Shuts Down Gambling 263

Tech.Luver sends us to The Inquirer, which notes the banning of all gambling in Second Life. Here is the Linden Labs blog post about the change in policy, which is, to say the least, not popular. From the article: "[T]he large chunk of users that enjoyed using in-world casinos and betting Linden Dollars on events both inside and outside the game world will now have nothing left to do. Perhaps more to the point for Linden, the move will cut off the revenues earned from those owning Casino-style islands in the game, the owners of which are some of the top contributors to the Linden coffers through currency fees and land rental."

Feed Record Exec: Experts Cannot Criticize Our Strategies (techdirt.com)

If you want to see just how confused recording industry execs are these days, go read this exchange between Andrew Dubber and Paul Birch (via Boing Boing). Dubber is a lecturer at the University of Central England who writes a great blog about the music industry focused on new strategies for the industry. Birch is the head of Revolver Records. The email conversation goes back and forth as Birch insists that Dubber's link to a Download Squad post was somehow inappropriate. The link is about someone fighting back against yet another bad lawsuit by the RIAA. Why is it inappropriate? That's hard to parse from Birch's rambling emails, but it appears to have something to do with giving support to people who hate the RIAA. In the end, after Dubber explains that criticism of actual events seems valid, and Birch responds that if Dubber doesn't take down his post, he's going to report Dubber to his university. Reading through the exchange, you begin to realize why the recording industry is in so much trouble. They really believe that anyone criticizing them must be some crazy punk kid trying to steal from them -- and can't believe that anyone who actually knows what they're talking about could criticize their policies, even as the situation gets worse and worse. And, if an expert actually does criticize their policies, it means they're supporting piracy and putting RIAA execs at risk -- and that can't be allowed.
Politics

Is Scientific Consensus a Threat to Democracy? 836

chance_encounter writes "President of the Czech Republic Vaclav Klaus has published an article in the Financial Times in which he seems to equate the current global warming debate with totalitarian thought control: 'The dictates of political correctness are strict and only one permitted truth, not for the first time in human history, is imposed on us. Everything else is denounced ... The scientists should help us and take into consideration the political effects of their scientific opinions. They have an obligation to declare their political and value assumptions and how much they have affected their selection and interpretation of scientific evidence.' At the end of the article he proposes several suggestions to improve the global climate debate, including this point: 'Let us resist the politicization of science and oppose the term "scientific consensus," which is always achieved only by a loud minority, never by a silent majority.'"
Communications

T-Mobile UK Blocking Mobile VoIP Start-Up 114

wjamesau writes "The war between telecoms and VOIP heats up: according to Om Malik, T-Mobile UK is refusing to interconnect with mobile VoIP provider Truphone, a UK start-up with a mobile VoIP client that enables calls cheaper than mobile. 'T-Mobile told Truphone, that as a result of a policy decision, they don't connect to VoIP-based low cost calling services. T-Mobile UK's decision to block Truphone might have come as a response to the new and radically better Truphone 3.0 client that allows you to send Free SMS messages and allows VoIP calls over 3G. According to M:Metrics, nearly 86% of UK mobile users are heavy SMS users, and that means it is a cash cow that carriers like T-Mobile can't afford to be slaughtered by IP-based SMS services.' Can mobile companies successfully crush VOIP competitors like this?"
Science

Scientists Attempt to Replace Crude Oil With Sugars 179

amigoro writes with a link to the Press Esc blog, discussing a possible replacement for crude oil in plastics, fuels, and other industrial uses. The post outlines findings to be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Science. Essentially, researchers at the Institute for Interfacial Catalysis are attempting to process the sugars in plant matter into an oil-like compound, a daunting challenge. "Glucose, in plant starch and cellulose, is nature's most abundant sugar. 'But getting a commercially viable yield of HMF from glucose has been very challenging,' Zhang said. 'In addition to low yield until now, we always generate many different byproducts,' including levulinic acid, making product purification expensive and uncompetitive with petroleum-based chemicals. Zhang, lead author and former post doc Haibo Zhao, and colleagues John Holladay and Heather Brown, all from PNNL, were able to coax HMF yields upward of 70 percent from glucose and nearly 90 percent from fructose while leaving only traces of acid impurities."
Mozilla

A First Look At Firefox 3 Alpha 5 217

abhinav_pc writes "PC World is reporting that Mozilla today made an early testing release available from its Firefox 3 browser. This alpha version (code-named Gran Paradiso) for the first time adds the anticipated Places feature for bookmarks. Firefox 3 alpha 5 also features a new password manager. A new crash reporting system called Breakpad is also now available in some Mac OS X and Windows builds but is not yet supported on Linux. 'Places will also be less likely to lose data in the event of program or Windows crashes. In fact, according to Connor, "We haven't figured out how to make Places lose data." For backwards compatibility and manual backups, Firefox 3 will save bookmarks in the traditional bookmarks.htm file when it closes. For other bookmark upgrades, Mozilla is planning to enable bookmark tagging, and is considering building its own synchronization client into the browser capable of backing up and sharing bookmarks. '"
Displays

Submission + - Gateway customer has to sue to get his PC fixed (sacbee.com)

prostoalex writes: "Sacramento Bee tells the story of an El Dorado resident who had to go to the small claims court to get his Gateway PC fixed: "Right out of the box, he says, the computer displayed scattered graphics and wouldn't work properly. He says he called a Gateway salesman five times and sent him an e-mail to get an authorization number to send the computer back, but his phone calls and message were never returned. Then, over the course of months, Sheehan said he called Gateway technical support dozens of times. Technicians kept telling him the problems could be fixed, but they never were, he says." What's more alerting in the story is that Gateway insists that by clicking 'Accept' on customer service EULA, Mr. Sheehan has waived his rights to sue the computer manufacturer in United States courts, agreeing to resolve the conflicts via private arbitrage."

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