Share your worldview?

[polymath257]

Great responses - very helpful and well argued! I appreciate it.

All in all, quite interesting and a lot of similarities. I need to do some deeper thinking on a lot of what was said, but a couple questions do jump out -

1) How do you deal with the idea of ceasing to exist after death - or doesn't it bother you?
2) How do you explain what could be considered evidence of intelligent design (such as DNA) - or the statistical improbability we could have happened by random occurrence.

Another is - Can you explain why you became an atheist? But that could easily be a topic for another thread.

1. Well, I prefer to live at least a bit longer.

But the fact is that we all die. It is better to learn to deal with that unpleasant fact than it is to be in denial. Again, the candle analogy is one I like: I try to burn bright and with warmth while I am shining. THAT is what makes live worthwhile, not living forever--which would inevitably get to be boring. Have you ever actually contemplated the duration of a billion years?

2. Most claims along this line use the statistics incorrectly. I say this without hesitancy as a mathematician. Almost inevitably, they assume independence of probabilities where we *know* that isn't the case.

DNA isn't evidence of ID. But it *is* evidence that chemicals that are not alive can lead to life.

Why did I become an atheist? Well, I was raised in a religious household, but the religious ideas never made sense to me.