Angels & Demons Controversy.

[Violet]

As for the more serrious discussion in this thread: The power of life is to be able to choose, even if one is wrong. So you would like to rid the world of choice, and make us all logical and unfeeling computers?

Hardly. The power of life is to have the power to enforce one's decision.

A decision is a choice. Just as non-decision is also a choice. In all reality, the only thing that makes life differant from rocks... is its ability to choose. The only thing that makes life differant from a computore, or other logical machine, is its capability to make the wrong choice.

The pleasure of life is to be able to choose. The privilege of life is to have the power to enforce one's decision. The power of life, I think, is the ability to question, to challenge and to overthrow previous trains of thought. And as Marxism does put it, the process of a thesis and an anti-thesis clashing to form a synthesis; constant renewal, I think its this conflict that's the beauty in life!

That is sentience: the ability to choose logically. In this way... computers and other thinking machines are sentient, as are many animals.

[color]Yeah ... I am so looking forward to the final 3 films![/color]

1-3 were pretty good, and four was alright... but what they did with five was... i have no word in my mental dictionary to describe: A pointless action movie based roughly on a genius book, badly acted, with many inacuracies. I hope that a differant person directs the next one.... the last one was horrible...

[color]For me the pleasure of life is life. Not being able to choose. I don't even know if we really CAN make 'choices'...I don't think I believe we do any more than the fact we think we do.

But it doesn't matter to me because what matters to me is that we enjoy the ride either way. I love life, with or without 'choices'. We choose things, but I don't know how that's something to celebrate. We make good choices, we also make bad choices. That's obvious - I don't think we have any choice in the matter ultimately WHICH choices we make so in THAT sense at least I don't believe in choices.

Life itself is what matters to me ultimately. Nothing more because everything else truly real is included in that. Be it family, friends, curiosity, the truth, overall well-being or whatever.

Probably the most important things for me in no particular order are ultimately curiosity the truth and empathy and compassion. Because those things pretty much cover everything for me (including family and friends of course - I have compassion and empathy for them, love, etc, I am honest with them as in truth, etc, and I am curious in the sense I am interested by them/in them, etc).[/color]

Life must have choice... or else it is no more than a thoughtless machine. In fact... it often loses motor function entirley when choice is removed from life... becoming little more than a rock... if more at all.

Without emotion... we could not be more than a thinking machine. We would no longer be alive.


@lilphil1989: I enjoyed it immensly as well And hey, the last one would have been massive if he hadn't split it up.

[lrh9]

You go ahead and favor everyone being allowed to make whatever choices they wish. I doubt you'll be smiling when some religious extremist chooses to kill you and you don't have the POWER to do anything about it.

I myself choose to live, and the way I want to at that. One day I will have the POWER to enforce that decision. That is why I will live.

[chris75]

I also have read one other novel of his (forget what it was called) and that one was about NASA and the NSA.

the one about the NSA was digital fortress and the one about NASA was Deception Point.

Anyone watched the film, I was thinking about seeing it this weekend and wondered if it was any good?

[Giff]

I also have read one other novel of his (forget what it was called) and that one was about NASA and the NSA.

the one about the NSA was digital fortress and the one about NASA was Deception Point.

Anyone watched the film, I was thinking about seeing it this weekend and wondered if it was any good?

If you mean Angel and Demons so is, what I've heared at least, the movie better then the book.

[Azazylix]

I also have read one other novel of his (forget what it was called) and that one was about NASA and the NSA.

the one about the NSA was digital fortress and the one about NASA was Deception Point.

Anyone watched the film, I was thinking about seeing it this weekend and wondered if it was any good?

If you mean Angel and Demons so is, what I've heared at least, the movie better then the book.

I think the movie's a lot more action packed. Tom Hanks really knows how to bring the story to life. In fact, I've just come home from watching it a second time! Whee! ^^

[Azazylix]

Okay, I know this is starting to get old but I really want this question answered. Just which parts of the history from Angels & Demons is historically accurate?

Them talking about the persecution of academics like Galileo, etc etc, but did they really order a brutal massacre of what is called the Illuminati? Was the Illuminati real?

I've tried looking it up (maybe not hard enough) but I get many different answers so.

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

Did the church massacre group known as the Illuminati? Not as far as I know.The only historical group of that name of which I'm aware was formed in the C18th CE in Bavaria.

BUT the church brutally suppressed any and all opposition for centuries,beginning with gnostics.


Perhaps the most notorious massacre which fits was that of the Cathars (aka Albigensians) in 1209 CE. Their most visible adherents were the "Poor-Fellows Soldiers Of Christ and the temple of Solomon" aka "The Knights Templar" .Their history,beliefs and fate makes fascinating reading. The Inquisition was in part begun to root out and destroy the Cathars.The last known Cathar was burned in 1302.

The Inquistion continued rooting out and burning heretics for centuries.The church
systematically murdered tens of thousands of people for the heinous crime of heresy.It wold still do so today if it could,imo. (judging by the incumbent senile geriatric in the Vatican)


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathars

[leo-rcc]

The disbandment of the Knights Templar had a very simple reason, money. The Knights Templar had it, others wanted it.

The French King at the time, I believe it was Philip the fourth or fifth, was heavily in debt with the KT because he borrowed funds for his war against England.

There was some accusation a KT member made once to the Roman Catholic Church, I don't recall what about, that accusation was ordered by Pope Clement to be investigated by King Philip. Philip used that opportunity to oust the whole movement so he didn't have to pay of his debt. The King of France had the whole KT sorder brought up on charges of heresy, and contacted other kings in Europe to also arrest the KT members and confiscate their wealth for themselves (which was a very persuading argument for any ruler at that time to comply). Under pressure by Philip, the Pope finally officially dissolved the order.

Some Knights Templar escaped to Switzerland and Scotland, Some joined another order, and some branches just changed their names to "Knights Of Christ".

[Giff]

Did the church massacre group known as the Illuminati? Not as far as I know.The only historical group of that name of which I'm aware was formed in the C18th CE in Bavaria.

Both the book and film is ficition. He just take diffrent concipiray theories and mix them together.

[chatpilot]

As far as the book Davinci code and its companion book Angels and demons go in my view there is no controversy.These two books are works of fiction with very little facts mixed in,it sort of reminds me of another book just like it: The Bible.