seattleniceguy

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Posts by seattleniceguy

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  53

  Even if you don't believe in God, do you believe that spirits exist?

  by sonnyboy in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  how do so many people have similar experiences in "haunted" places if spirits didn't exist?

  how do ouija boards work?

  i recently purchased one and...i now know why so many people fear them.

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  seattleniceguy

  if there are ghosts and all they can do is turn on a friggin ceiling fan and spell words one letter at a time, i say, f*ck em. bring it on, punks.

  LOL @ doogie! But I hear that spirits are killer at spelling bees. SNG
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  26

  Penn & Teller, what do you guys think of them?

  by Big Dog in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  i got turned on to penn & teller recently and have gone back and watched almost every episode of "bullshit!

  " and i have to say i am pretty impressed.

  anybody else here watch them, if so what do you think?

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  seattleniceguy

  Oops I meant Penn is a blowhard

  LOL...yeah, I don't imagine Teller is accused of being a blowhard too often! :-)

  I think the show is very good overall and I certainly do appreciate the goal, but sometimes it seems like they are dismissive of legitimate arguments that run contrary to their points. Obviously, the primary goal is to make a funny show, not necessarily to inform, but at times I feel like they are too heavy-handed.

  Overall I think it's a great show, though. Did you see the one on magnet therapy? I think I actually fractured a rib laughing. "Y'see, the electrons are flying around, and they, the electrons have a charge, and they attract from the positive to the negative, and that's what a magnet is." The guy made Bush sound like a genius. :-)

  SNG
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  57

  Do You EVER---Even A Little Bit----Miss Being A Witness???

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ever??

  ?

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  seattleniceguy

  I don't believe there are many things in life one can be absolutely certain about, but on this particular topic, I can say totally emphatically, it is a completely valueless religion. Waking up from a bad dream is a good analogy. What a relief to be out!

  I have fond memories of some of my friends, though, and I look forward to seeing them again when they eventually get out too.

  SNG
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  53

  Sep 15th WT: Christians spend weekends enjoying recreation and not service

  by truthseeker in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  in a recent post, sir82 wrote that a trainee missionary attending the school of gilead emailed the following..

  "it was brought out that christendom and the world smacks of .

  baalism today.

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  seattleniceguy

  Sometimes their parties and weddings become Baal-like.

  LOL! What does that even mean? Do they have any concept of how silly this sounds? Let's try it on for size.

  • "Wow, did you hear about Bob's party last weekend? It was really Baal-like."
  • "I don't know if we should hang out with Jimmy anymore - he's acting so Baalish."
  • "Sometimes it seems like all people care about these days is Baal."
  • "Sister Smith's wedding sure was nice, but it seemed a bit Baal-esque, I have to admit."

  Nothing like a meaningless buzzword to rally the troops! :-)

  SNG
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  4

  The Hedonistic Imperative

  by Cygnus in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  if you aren't afraid of a lot (and i mean a lot) of 10-dollar words, and you're not afraid of the absolute insanity behind this idea, read the articles found here:.

  http://www.hedweb.com/hedab.htm.

  i would not be surprised if in 20-40 years the watchtower wouldn't latch on to similar ideas.

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  seattleniceguy

  I read the intro, and my first reactions were:

  • The concept of improving our "wetware" through intentional engineering is certainly fascinating, and it will probably happen at some point.
  • The author seemed at some points to be straining to sound intellectual. There seemed to be an overuse of your "10-dollar words."

  Unfortunately, I don't have the time right now to read the whole thing. I'll let you know if I get a chance to read it later.

  SNG
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  29

  To all the other atheists/agnostics out there

  by robhic in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  after you got from behind the barrier that was keeping you from thinking logically and had removed the blinders that prevented you from processing information using common sense rather than the 2000+ year old superstitions of some nomadic goat-herders, did you start to find that religious-centric or god-related statements made you shake your head in incredulity?.

  case in point: just yesterday as i watched the 5:00 news, a story came on about a young man who had moved from here to california.

  while in california he died but the family was so poor they could not afford to have the body shipped back to new orleans.

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  seattleniceguy

  LOL @ robhic. Yeah, it's really crazy. That kind of thinking basically treats God like a gigantic lucky charm, like a huge rabbit's foot or something. People become convinced that it's helping them, even when it doesn't. They see the supposed aid, but don't see all the places where nothing happened. In time, they forget the how silly it is that they're actually carrying around a dead animal's leg for protection.

  SNG (of the "no charms, no amulets, no imaginary friends, just me and the universe" class)
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  20

  Randomness is not necessary for evolution

  by seattleniceguy in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  continuing this theme of evolution and randomness that has been going on this week, i wanted to address a common pitful for the would-be evolutionary student.

  often, a person will remark, "i see how the theory works, but i just can't believe it all came about by chance.

  " if you're such a person, you'll be happy to know that evolution does not require chance at all.

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  seattleniceguy

  Are you making a plea for Theistic evolution?

  No, for two reasons: 1) I do not believe there is any evidence for such a claim, and 2) It is not necessary.

  Let me backtrack a bit and describe in better detail why I began this thread in the first place. Creationists often complain about the supposed randomness in evolution. The fact of the matter is that randomness does not play a major role in evolution. Biological change from parent to offspring is a critical requirement for evolution. But that change could be completely deterministic, and evolution would still function just fine.

  By deterministic, I mean something whose outcome is set, given a particular input. For example, a calculator functions in a deterministic manner. It is impossible to get random results. If you punch in 8 times 9, then by golly, the answer is going to be 72, regardless of the time of day or the mood of the operator.

  In contrast, consider the mechanism for genetic change from generation to generation. As it happens, offspring have a mixture of genes from their parents, and some elements of the mixture seem to have a "random" aspect to them, inasfar as it is not currently possible for us to predict exactly what genetic combination will result from any given sperm-egg combination. So it might well be that reproduction is not a deterministic process. However, let's imagine that there was no randomness at all - a sperm and egg contributed genetic material in a 100% mechanistic, deterministic fashion, so that it was possible to exactly predict what the genes of the offspring would be. Even in this case, evolution would continue to function without a hitch.

  The reason for this is that evolution actually doesn't have anything to do with randomness. Yes, it functions in a universe where small random events seem to occur. But evolution itself is not perturbed by randomness. In a deterministic system is works just as well, provided that the system is capable of creating sufficient genetic diversity.

  So my main point in this thread was to illustrate that evolution really has nothing to do with randomness.

  Hope that makes sense,
  SNG
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  14

  SEATTLE PEOPLE! Where's the best place to watch the Blue Angels?

  by seattleniceguy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hello fellow seattlites?.

  my girlfriend and i want to go watch the blue angels today, but i don't want to get into the seafair festival.

  i just want to watch from some park somewhere for an hour or two.

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  seattleniceguy

  Fisherman's Wharf? I'm not sure exactly where you mean, but if you're talking about the park that looks out over the viaduct, on Western Ave, just north of Pike Place Market....I don't know what the name of that park is! :-) I do know the one you mean, though!

  SNG
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  20

  Randomness is not necessary for evolution

  by seattleniceguy in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  continuing this theme of evolution and randomness that has been going on this week, i wanted to address a common pitful for the would-be evolutionary student.

  often, a person will remark, "i see how the theory works, but i just can't believe it all came about by chance.

  " if you're such a person, you'll be happy to know that evolution does not require chance at all.

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  seattleniceguy

  Randomness is all there is in a Godless universe. Nothing happens for a reason, it just happens.

  Deputy Dog, the whole point of this thread is that randomness is not necessary for evolution to occur. I personally do not believe truly causeless things happen in our universe, and I am convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that evolution does occur.

  However, it seems that you equate evolution with a "Godless universe"? Evolution has nothing to do with the universe being Godless or Godful. Evolution is purely about biological change over time. Why make the assumption that God evolution = random = Godless? Forgive me if I have misunderstood you.

  SNG
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  14

  SEATTLE PEOPLE! Where's the best place to watch the Blue Angels?

  by seattleniceguy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hello fellow seattlites?.

  my girlfriend and i want to go watch the blue angels today, but i don't want to get into the seafair festival.

  i just want to watch from some park somewhere for an hour or two.

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  seattleniceguy

  Just got back! It was a pretty cool experience. We got to Madison Park at around 10:20 and had our pick of the place. It started to fill up around 11:30 or so, and the show started at 12:00. However, there is a reason that so few people showed up. A large condo to the south of the park partially blocked the view. Still it was a good time. Those guys really do fly low, don't they!

  Afterward we went up to Captiol Hill to have lunch at Olympia Pizza (best salads in Seattle!). I was a little nervous to go there, to be honest, because it is a popular Witness hangout. And sure enough, about 15 minutes before we left, the former PO of my cong and his wife came in with a couple kids in tow. The PO seemed to deliberately avoid I contact with me, but as his wife walked by (she hadn't yet noticed me), I did a little two-finger wave and said, "Hey" quietly. I only meant to say hello, but when she saw me, she recognized me as someone she knew and started to say "Hello!" before realizing who I was and catching herself with an "Oh!" My girlfriend thought her reaction was quite amusing.

  Anyway, I was glad to have played it cool through another such experience, and it was a good afternoon.

  Reporting live from Seattle,

  SNG