New Age woo, pantheism, "connected"

[Brian37]

Be it an atheist version, or part of some sects of Asian/Oriental or Indian religions.

There are people with gods or godless who have a really stupid idea that "all this" is connected. Some think of it as cognitive or even if not cognitive, somehow living.

No sorry guys, neither new age si fi thinking or mixing it with old mythology makes the universe all "connected". It is true that all this started in one tiny dense space. But that was then. None of us have any connection now, to an electron or quark or atom on the furthest galaxies away from us. There has been since the big bang, tons of speed and separation.

It is still a watered down way of dreaming of being infinite. This universe is not a living thing, living things in it are an outcome, not a requirement or starting point or cause. The universe is uncaring like a our atmosphere on this planet, you can have sunny days, but you can also have hurricanes and tornados. The universe is vastly hostile and violent, we only perceive it as calm because we don't think about it's long term history.

So even without thinking of it as a god, it is still stupid to get stuck on even a si fi pretty. Yes there are pretty things in the universe. And it is even freaky to think of all the matter starting in the same spot. But no, I really wish people would stop letting their emotions allow them to think an object, a giant weather pattern, somehow is capable of giving one shit about humans.

"All this" is a giant weather pattern and we are merely a finite blip riding in it. It is ok to have a deep appreciation for what we observe. But please do not turn it into a mythology, religion or even a Star Trek episode. Science and nature are awesome without old woo or new woo.

I think it is awesome to think about the fact that I do not contain one single atom from when I was a sperm and egg or even a baby. I think it is awesome to think about neutrinos and black holes and red giants. I do not feel in any case the need to turn it into a god or a si fi movie.

[JuliaL]

I find it pretty stunning that a photon from Andromeda was in transit for 2500000 years before it fetched up on my retina to tweak a photopigment resulting in the sensation of seeing a galaxy.
But from the perspective of the photon, there was no passage of time....WTF!

[robvalue]

To me it's about how harmful the beliefs are. Ideally, people would only hold rational beliefs because each bit of bad thinking makes the next bit easier to accept.

But if someone must indulge in some sort of woo, is there much risk to this? Just wibbling on about how we're all one with the universe and stuff?

[Brian37]

I think science is freaky enough without turning it into a comic book by mixing it with old mythology or turning it into a episode of Star Trek.

Even Sam Harris pisses me off with his Buddhism fetish. It still amounts to mixing old shit with new lagit knowledge. If you get off on something fine, but it really is nothing more than an attempt to induce the pleasure chemicals in your brain.

Even the late Stenger had a problem with Sam's crap. It is still a stupid attempt to think we are something grand when we are merely a finite blip in a giant weather pattern. It is neat to think about the shear luck/the chaos part of reality based on the order/physics, that our planet and life managed to get to this point. One meteor here or one lack of impact there and we would not have been when you think about the vast majority of dead planets in the universe. That is awesome by itself without trying to sex it up with any type of bullshit.

[robvalue]

I haven't heard Sam saying that kind of stuff, do you have any links? I've heard him talk about the benefits of meditation, and that by disregarding all religion we may miss useful parts it contains such as this.

Yeah I think Buddhism is utter balls, but happens to have a couple of useful features.

And you're right, woo-ing it up is probably going to be somewhat of a barrier to actual scientific understanding.

[Brian37]

I find it pretty stunning that a photon from Andromeda was in transit for 2500000 years before it fetched up on my retina to tweak a photopigment resulting in the sensation of seeing a galaxy.
But from the perspective of the photon, there was no passage of time....WTF!

Oh yea, that is some freaky shit to think about, I also love thinking about the fact that color is in light itself and not in the object. That freaks me out. What we see as color is based on what the molecules absorb and what we perceive as color is what bounces off, but color itself is not in the object.

[JuliaL]

Reality is not only stranger than I recognize, it is stranger than I can recognize.
(inaccurate quotation of J. B. S. Haldane )

At some limit I will not be able to understand. I am resigned and not upset by that thought and I have absolutely no need to postulate a god to push the grey veil back a little farther. Particularly when doing so is not at all effective, it just paints a pretty picture on the veil. Others want to paint that picture for their own reasons, generally their own benefit, not mine. I won't let them.

[Neo-Scholastic]

I'm not seeing any lines of demarcation between things. How can you be so sure that everything is discrete? How do you identify one sensible body from another? Don't bother answering...as an atheist your answers won't make any sense.

[watchamadoodle]

The solar system is calling to you via atomic ionization. Can you hear it?

There's more at this website...
http://sebpearce.com/bullshit/

[robvalue]

Wow Chad, I see you've given up all semblance of manners now and are just lashing out at atheists at random.