ROTTEN BASTARD!
That's me at times I'm afraid folks. As an atheist, and a Humanist, I have a relationship with religious people that varies in proportion to their tendency to be fundamentalist, or not.
In discussion with one person who has a very personal relationship with his vision of God, denies being religious in any organised sense and says that Christianity is just a man made story, he was referencing everything to God.
Then he mentioned, "2001: A Space Odyssey" as containing an illustration of a point he wanted to make. Being a science fiction fan and with a tendency towards an interest in philosophy my memory prickled on this subject. Arthur C. Clarke, the author of the story, is an atheist and a supporter of Humanism, hmmm, let's look further ...
The musical introduction for the film is the introduction from Richard Strauss' "Also Sprach Zarathustra", one of those pieces of music that should be listened to with enough volume to make your belly wobble on the kettle drum beats!
This piece of music was inspired by Friederich Nietzche's book of the same title. This was a famous, perhaps infamous, book that declared that God is dead. Thus one might interpret the "theme" of the film as being that God is dead, but the alien entity that enabled the apes to become men is still very much alive! Or, perhaps, God and the alien are one and the same.
My discussion mate took this news rather philosophically I have to admit, but he did not really want to accept it and asked for reiterations more than once.
Refs:
Strauss:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Also_sprach_Zarathustra_(Richard_Strauss)
Nietzche:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Also_sprach_Zarathustra
2001:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001:_A_Space_Odyssey
Friday, 29 February 2008
Tuesday, 26 February 2008
MORALS, WHO NEEDS 'EM?
Well, we do, all of us. They may even be built into our genes. And monkeys and apes need then to a degree as well!
Morals were once the preserve of philosophy and psychology in terms of investigation and analysis. But morals are very close cousins to empathy. If you are aware of the feelings and needs of others, have a degree of "sympathetic" feeling for them, the chances are you have a reasonably moral personality as well.
This is basic morals I am talking about here, survival stuff, "You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours." Respecting other people and their property, respecting the laws that attempt to formulate those morals.. This is not about same sex relationships and other than "normal" sexual practices - though those would be anti-survival if all indulged only in them.
Eleven years ago scientists discovered "mirror neurons", cells that "fire" when we mimic the actions of others, like waving your arms in the air when your team scores (or covering your face with your hands when they fluff that critical goal) as a group action. Researchers, using functional MRI scanners that plot neurons that fire under specific stimuli, have now observed this phenomena. During research into epilepsy they asked the patients in the scanner to watch a video and copy what the person on it was doing. As they did so the neurons became active.
Monkeys and chimpanzees that were tested also had this mirror neuron, but this was the first time that it had been observed to be active in man.
This could have an evolutionary survival basis. Early primates that reacted together, united, when facing a common threat had a better chance of surviving than those which did not. The possession of such traits would have been passed on to future generations, and mankind's original gene pool was probably not that large.
Further reading:
New Scientist article (abbreviated): http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/mg19626294.600-source-of-human-empathy-found-in-brain.html
Wikipedia (mirror neurons and empathy-morals linking):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empathy
Essay (lots of citations):
http://www.geocities.com/paulntobin/evolpsych.html
Well, we do, all of us. They may even be built into our genes. And monkeys and apes need then to a degree as well!
Morals were once the preserve of philosophy and psychology in terms of investigation and analysis. But morals are very close cousins to empathy. If you are aware of the feelings and needs of others, have a degree of "sympathetic" feeling for them, the chances are you have a reasonably moral personality as well.
This is basic morals I am talking about here, survival stuff, "You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours." Respecting other people and their property, respecting the laws that attempt to formulate those morals.. This is not about same sex relationships and other than "normal" sexual practices - though those would be anti-survival if all indulged only in them.
Eleven years ago scientists discovered "mirror neurons", cells that "fire" when we mimic the actions of others, like waving your arms in the air when your team scores (or covering your face with your hands when they fluff that critical goal) as a group action. Researchers, using functional MRI scanners that plot neurons that fire under specific stimuli, have now observed this phenomena. During research into epilepsy they asked the patients in the scanner to watch a video and copy what the person on it was doing. As they did so the neurons became active.
Monkeys and chimpanzees that were tested also had this mirror neuron, but this was the first time that it had been observed to be active in man.
This could have an evolutionary survival basis. Early primates that reacted together, united, when facing a common threat had a better chance of surviving than those which did not. The possession of such traits would have been passed on to future generations, and mankind's original gene pool was probably not that large.
Further reading:
New Scientist article (abbreviated): http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/mg19626294.600-source-of-human-empathy-found-in-brain.html
Wikipedia (mirror neurons and empathy-morals linking):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empathy
Essay (lots of citations):
http://www.geocities.com/paulntobin/evolpsych.html
Monday, 25 February 2008
The history of god(s) (maybe)
Once upon a time mankind began to think, to seek reasons for all the things around him - and the world ceased to be A Better Place.
Mankind could see no reason for the natural phenomena so he decided that there just had to be an invisible world, above and controlling all nature - the supernatural, the GODS.
Now he could spend his time hiding from the wrath of the Thunder God, trying to keep the Fire God tame and trying to avoid the Big Red Spots On The Belly That You Die From God, who seemed to be in the very air around them.
Then, over many tens of thousands of years, man formed ever larger alliances and eventually nations. One of these nations came to have almost as many gods as it had people, plus one for each aspect of the world and the creatures that populated it. Another people were more economically minded and decided on only one god.
The nation of many gods had sufficient that each could chose one to reflect his individual nature and they were a diverse and colourful people. The second, an introspective people, chose one god to reflect all human nature; loving yet violent, strict yet lax, wise yet perverse, generous yet jealous, observant yet blind, strong yet weak.
Thus did each cerebralate their gods in their own image.
Thus it was, is and will be, for man will always worship what he wants.
Mankind could see no reason for the natural phenomena so he decided that there just had to be an invisible world, above and controlling all nature - the supernatural, the GODS.
Now he could spend his time hiding from the wrath of the Thunder God, trying to keep the Fire God tame and trying to avoid the Big Red Spots On The Belly That You Die From God, who seemed to be in the very air around them.
Then, over many tens of thousands of years, man formed ever larger alliances and eventually nations. One of these nations came to have almost as many gods as it had people, plus one for each aspect of the world and the creatures that populated it. Another people were more economically minded and decided on only one god.
The nation of many gods had sufficient that each could chose one to reflect his individual nature and they were a diverse and colourful people. The second, an introspective people, chose one god to reflect all human nature; loving yet violent, strict yet lax, wise yet perverse, generous yet jealous, observant yet blind, strong yet weak.
Thus did each cerebralate their gods in their own image.
Thus it was, is and will be, for man will always worship what he wants.
Why did we ever...
Ever thought how things started? Like smoking for example, why would any idiot want to suck in the smoke from burning leaves? Well, the first time anyway.
Think of a group of nomadic aborigines wandering over the land. They need to light fires everyday, for cooking, warmth - just to sit around and tell tales or sing maybe. So, collect some dry vegetable stuff, leaves and twigs.
Strike the flint, rub the twigs, or whatever, to get a spark. Now, take a deep breath and blow on the spark, a nice glow starts, with some smoke. Take another deep breath, some of the smoke goes in as well. Repeat until feeling dizzy - if it was the right kind of vegetable you might just get a little hysterical as well.
Well, it was, of course, the ladies that usually did such tasks, but the men, especially the shaman, noticed what happened to the firelighters. After trying it themselves it was probably declared a holy plant, only for the use of the shamans and chiefs.
Of course, in those lands, though they had trading and bargaining, they had no real entrepreneurial motivation. When the "civilized" explorers discovered these plants, and their addictive nature, it all became very commercial. And we have been ripped off by the manufacturers and governments ever since.
If only for that reason give up, my reason to do so was a near fatal heart attack - don't be a mug all of your life - it may be shorter than you think!
Think of a group of nomadic aborigines wandering over the land. They need to light fires everyday, for cooking, warmth - just to sit around and tell tales or sing maybe. So, collect some dry vegetable stuff, leaves and twigs.
Strike the flint, rub the twigs, or whatever, to get a spark. Now, take a deep breath and blow on the spark, a nice glow starts, with some smoke. Take another deep breath, some of the smoke goes in as well. Repeat until feeling dizzy - if it was the right kind of vegetable you might just get a little hysterical as well.
Well, it was, of course, the ladies that usually did such tasks, but the men, especially the shaman, noticed what happened to the firelighters. After trying it themselves it was probably declared a holy plant, only for the use of the shamans and chiefs.
Of course, in those lands, though they had trading and bargaining, they had no real entrepreneurial motivation. When the "civilized" explorers discovered these plants, and their addictive nature, it all became very commercial. And we have been ripped off by the manufacturers and governments ever since.
If only for that reason give up, my reason to do so was a near fatal heart attack - don't be a mug all of your life - it may be shorter than you think!
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