Didn't sperm shot into my mom's vagina create me? Not a god?

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Odin
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12 Apr 2008, 8:19 pm

I find it funny how creationists claim that life must be designed by some divine engineer when living things are so jury-rigged it's funny. Evolution has no goal, it is merely the result of how changes in environments and ecosystems affect the genetics of populations, this is why organisms are so jury-rigged.

A good example of this evolutionary jury-rigging is the vertebrate eye. the retina's nerves and blood vessels are actually in front of the rod and cone cells that detect light (if you stare at a clear blue sky you may be able to see very faint fuzzy white dots zig-zagging around, these are your white blood cells in the blood vessels of the retina), this very odd arrangement stems from how the vertebrate brain and spinal cord originated, since the eyes are actually specialized outgrowths of the brain.

The worm-like ancestor of vertebrates probably had several simple nerve cords running along the back that developed in the embryo from ectoderm (embryonic skin) cells that migrated inward. At the front end of each cord there may have been a ganglion, a cluster of nerves that "analyze" data for the senses in a rudimentary way. Some of these ganglia would of had photo-receptor cells, precursors of the rods and cones in our eyes.

Our wormy ancestors then split into two lineages. One lineage stayed on the sea bottom, eventually becoming the echinoderms (starfish, sea urchins, etc). The other branch became swimming filter-feeders, and this put selectionary pressure for better senses and muscle coordination, which in turn required a better nervous system. The several nerve cords that developed from embryonic skin cells migrating inward became a single nerve cord that developed from embryonic skin that pinched off into a hollow tube. Instead of several ganglia there was a single brain segmented into 3 parts, the forebrain for smell, the midbrain for light information, and the hindbrain for vibrations (including sound waves), balance, and coordination.

The photo-receptor cells ended up on the inside of the brain. As long as out ancestors were tiny and transparent (like some tiny fish are today) this didn't matter, but as these proto-fish became larger extensions of the brain developed to keep the photo-receptor cells at the surface. These extensions of the brain became the eyes. Our rods and cones are still covered by a thin layer of brain, the nerves and blood vessels of the retina.


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Griff
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12 Apr 2008, 10:00 pm

Nononono, before the Creationists will believe that it's possible for a vertebrate to exist without some kind of divine intervention, you have to explain to them the basics of organic chemistry. Hey, if you want, I can give you a lecture on that. I need to get up to speed for my final exam in a few weeks, anyway. It's cumulative, so it's gonna be a bugger 10x.

Have you noticed how one-sided this whole discussion tends to be? I mean, have you seriously thought about that?



Apuleyo
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13 Apr 2008, 12:20 am

I don't believe in religion.
I just revere the genius of the universe, be it self conscious or not, because everything is perfect in a beautiful way.
Everything has it's meaning and purpose. No randomness.
The universe doesn't play dice.


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Greyhound
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13 Apr 2008, 3:27 am

Just because Science exists does not mean God cannot have created science.


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skafather84
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13 Apr 2008, 3:42 am

Greyhound wrote:
Just because Science exists does not mean God cannot have created science.



:roll:



Sand
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13 Apr 2008, 4:28 am

Stephen Hawking has noted that not only does the universe play dice, it plays where you cannot see the results.



Greyhound
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13 Apr 2008, 4:43 am

skafather84 wrote:
Greyhound wrote:
Just because Science exists does not mean God cannot have created science.



:roll:

I didn't say He has created science, I said you cannot disprove God just because science exists.


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Griff
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13 Apr 2008, 10:19 am

Greyhound wrote:
Just because Science exists does not mean God cannot have created science.
Oh, you allude to intelligent aether, primordial fire, or, if it pleases you, logos. For one thing, the Stoics were arrogant cocks, so full of assertions you would have thought they could feed upon coal and cough up diamonds. More importantly, you're still not going to get a god by attributing the behavior of particles and energy to one. The subject requires investigation, or we have nothing.



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13 Apr 2008, 2:33 pm

Greyhound wrote:
Just because Science exists does not mean God cannot have created science.


I believe that Science created God.


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slowmutant
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13 Apr 2008, 2:39 pm

Quote:
I believe that Science created God.


Man created science, and God created Man. Science is Man's bridge between himself and God.



slowmutant
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13 Apr 2008, 2:44 pm

Odin wrote:
I find it funny how creationists claim that life must be designed by some divine engineer when living things are so jury-rigged it's funny. Evolution has no goal, it is merely the result of how changes in environments and ecosystems affect the genetics of populations, this is why organisms are so jury-rigged.

A good example of this evolutionary jury-rigging is the vertebrate eye. the retina's nerves and blood vessels are actually in front of the rod and cone cells that detect light (if you stare at a clear blue sky you may be able to see very faint fuzzy white dots zig-zagging around, these are your white blood cells in the blood vessels of the retina), this very odd arrangement stems from how the vertebrate brain and spinal cord originated, since the eyes are actually specialized outgrowths of the brain.

The worm-like ancestor of vertebrates probably had several simple nerve cords running along the back that developed in the embryo from ectoderm (embryonic skin) cells that migrated inward. At the front end of each cord there may have been a ganglion, a cluster of nerves that "analyze" data for the senses in a rudimentary way. Some of these ganglia would of had photo-receptor cells, precursors of the rods and cones in our eyes.

Our wormy ancestors then split into two lineages. One lineage stayed on the sea bottom, eventually becoming the echinoderms (starfish, sea urchins, etc). The other branch became swimming filter-feeders, and this put selectionary pressure for better senses and muscle coordination, which in turn required a better nervous system. The several nerve cords that developed from embryonic skin cells migrating inward became a single nerve cord that developed from embryonic skin that pinched off into a hollow tube. Instead of several ganglia there was a single brain segmented into 3 parts, the forebrain for smell, the midbrain for light information, and the hindbrain for vibrations (including sound waves), balance, and coordination.

The photo-receptor cells ended up on the inside of the brain. As long as out ancestors were tiny and transparent (like some tiny fish are today) this didn't matter, but as these proto-fish became larger extensions of the brain developed to keep the photo-receptor cells at the surface. These extensions of the brain became the eyes. Our rods and cones are still covered by a thin layer of brain, the nerves and blood vessels of the retina.


God is Alpha and Omega of jury-riggers. Masterful understanding of a thing by humans doesn't preclude divine origin.



Odin
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13 Apr 2008, 3:01 pm

slowmutant wrote:
God is Alpha and Omega of jury-riggers. Masterful understanding of a thing by humans doesn't preclude divine origin.


You're not making any sense.


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slowmutant
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13 Apr 2008, 3:04 pm

Odin wrote:
slowmutant wrote:
God is Alpha and Omega of jury-riggers. Masterful understanding of a thing by humans doesn't preclude divine origin.


You're not making any sense.


Just because you can't conceive of Him does not mean than He doesn't exist. God reveals Himself through science, but is not limited to science. God is beyond human understanding, but He leaves clues that we are able to pick up on.



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13 Apr 2008, 4:26 pm

No, SM, science is just the application of theoretical knowledge to learn more about the world around us. It's organized skepticism. Philosophical skepticism holds that nothing can be truly known, leaving even the extent of our own ignorance as a mystery. As such, the pursuit of truth, which is to be regarded as an asymptote, must never be called to a close. If we ever do so, then we commit the folly of dogmatism. To call out, "THIS IS TRUTH!" is to say that we have desisted in the pursuit of truth. The only way to avoid turning our backs on the pursuit of truth is to maintain a healthy agnosticism as to whether truth is even there to be found. As such, our commitment to seeking it out remains strong, and we grow stronger every day in our glorious pursuit of enlightenment.



slowmutant
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13 Apr 2008, 6:00 pm

Griff wrote:
No, SM, science is just the application of theoretical knowledge to learn more about the world around us. It's organized skepticism. Philosophical skepticism holds that nothing can be truly known, leaving even the extent of our own ignorance as a mystery. As such, the pursuit of truth, which is to be regarded as an asymptote, must never be called to a close. If we ever do so, then we commit the folly of dogmatism. To call out, "THIS IS TRUTH!" is to say that we have desisted in the pursuit of truth. The only way to avoid turning our backs on the pursuit of truth is to maintain a healthy agnosticism as to whether truth is even there to be found. As such, our commitment to seeking it out remains strong, and we grow stronger every day in our glorious pursuit of enlightenment.


The pursuit of science and the pursuit of God are not mutually exclusive goals. People of faith do not reject science, and scientists are often believers. Darwin believed in God, as did Einstein. Ya know, I should have said this earlier.



skafather84
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13 Apr 2008, 6:12 pm

Greyhound wrote:
skafather84 wrote:
Greyhound wrote:
Just because Science exists does not mean God cannot have created science.



:roll:

I didn't say He has created science, I said you cannot disprove God just because science exists.



that's because "god" gets redefined every time to be something that is more away from science. if this recent study i read turns out to be true, then we'll know what happened before the big bang and so then the theists will then insist that the previous entity was created by "god" too and the cycle of superstition and myth will continue.