(June 19, 2015 at 10:49 am)Alex K Wrote:

(June 19, 2015 at 10:07 am)Jörmungandr Wrote: Sounds like you had a near death experience (NDE).  It's possible to have them without being close to death.

Fascinating. I'd love to know what is going on in the brain in these instances.

I quoted from one of Dave McRaney's books in one of these topics some time ago, but it seems as if the brain is constantly trying to make sense of the world around us. It does this quite well most of the time, helping us to filter through all of the information available to us every second so that we can function. Under certain circumstances the brain can become a bit scrambled, but it continues to try to build a working narrative in order to keep us functioning. The example McRaney used was the experiences of Air Force pilots who were being subjected to high G-forces, which produced many "NDEs" in those pilots that passed out. But we can see its effect in people who have suffered a concussion; some of them become quite disoriented and may behave as if they are in a completely different context, giving information and explanations that sound bizarre but appear to make perfect sense to them.

To be disoriented is to not be functional, and in the wild that can be fatal. So the brain keeps trying to get us on track, even when it doesn't have the wherewithal to do so. It's as if it makes up a scenario using whatever bits of conscious feedback it can grab, and forces us to accept it so that the world makes sense to us... even if what it's showing us is completely insane.

(June 19, 2015 at 12:43 pm)Stimbo Wrote: Yeah, people from all over the world are using a vast interconnected network of computers to discuss how our judgement is clouded with the looking glass of science.

For some, faith in science is a subliminal belief in God for science is the study of how He did it.

(June 23, 2015 at 1:43 am)snowtracks Wrote:

(June 19, 2015 at 12:43 pm)Stimbo Wrote: Yeah, people from all over the world are using a vast interconnected network of computers to discuss how our judgement is clouded with the looking glass of science.

For some, faith in science is a subliminal belief in God for science is the study of how He did it.

No it isn't. Stop talking shit would you?

Faith in science = expectation born out of consistent, repeatable physical laws as evidenced by the technological advances they bring.

Faith in "God" = unavoidably hypocritical scrabbling to defend ancient mythology from an increasingly unforgiving reality, born out of a desperate need for some people to really, really wish magic was real.

Anybody trying to equate the two is performing the sleight of hand of raising superstition to the level of falsifiable peer-reviewed investigation and lowering such investigation to the level of superstition. It all depends on which side of their head they're talking through at any one time.

However, let's entertain the notion that "science is the study of how He did it". This whole thread has been trying to posit that "God" made the Universe. Ok, how did "He" do it?

(June 22, 2015 at 4:03 pm)Tonus Wrote:

(June 19, 2015 at 10:49 am)Alex K Wrote: Fascinating. I'd love to know what is going on in the brain in these instances.

I quoted from one of Dave McRaney's books in one of these topics some time ago, but it seems as if the brain is constantly trying to make sense of the world around us.  It does this quite well most of the time, helping us to filter through all of the information available to us every second so that we can function.  Under certain circumstances the brain can become a bit scrambled, but it continues to try to build a working narrative in order to keep us functioning.  The example McRaney used was the experiences of Air Force pilots who were being subjected to high G-forces, which produced many "NDEs" in those pilots that passed out.  But we can see its effect in people who have suffered a concussion; some of them become quite disoriented and may behave as if they are in a completely different context, giving information and explanations that sound bizarre but appear to make perfect sense to them.

To be disoriented is to not be functional, and in the wild that can be fatal.  So the brain keeps trying to get us on track, even when it doesn't have the wherewithal to do so.  It's as if it makes up a scenario using whatever bits of conscious feedback it can grab, and forces us to accept it so that the world makes sense to us... even if what it's showing us is completely insane.

That reminds me of very fascinating things about split brain patients I've read in the Churchland's "Neurophilosophy"

Don't go there Stim, they'll just tell us, if our universe can come about from nothing (ala Krauss), then why can't God create it the same way!
God basically farts "singularities"!

Yeah, they can't go more than ten words without pressing the escape switch marked "magic".

Faith in science is faith in a process of research that has been proven to work time and again. Because it is not faith in a person or idea, there is no concern that the failure of any person or idea should lessen that faith. Faith in god is faith in an idea (on an abstract level) or a specific person. The process involves targeted "research" that must lead to the conclusion, because failure would damage or even destroy the basis for that faith. It's like having faith in cooking versus faith in a supernatural chef who creates the most amazing meals from horse feathers and thin air. One of those exists no matter how bad your meals turn out. The other does not, and insisting that the roast in your oven magically appeared there and has "the faint aroma of horse feathers" won't change that fact.

If I got a nickel every time a theist conflates two different meanings of 'faith', I'd be on a fucking yacht and still pissed off.