hermes

It's amazing to me to think that 150 years ago that the scientific establishment was dominated by people who thought that their discoveries would simply confirm the Bible and God's Divine Plan. It's quite baffling to me that someone would prefer a theory based on pure speculation to one based on the observable facts. I see the arguments that rage on the net (and on this site) on creationism vs. evolutionism, or on the validity of the beliefs driving the conflict in Iraq and I find it hard to believe that people are prepared to keep beating the same drum. Not that I want to start another 'round of the same argument here. But for f***ks sake people this is the 21st Century, not the 12th Century, get with the program!!! *rolls eyes*

Not that I that I have any particular objections to a spiritual outlook. I can perfectly empathise with a need to believe in *something*. It feels also like instinct - in fact we may well be genetically inclined in this way. After all, look what people have achieved (in good ways, and bad) with faith to drive them. In fact I live in an almost perpetual state existential dilemma, wondering about meaning all the time even though the facts would indicate there really is no meaning (at least in an objective sense). There's a lot of things about the world (and the universe) which are unexplained, and a lot of things that don't make a lot of sense. There might even be intangible things worth believing in, but I think it takes patience and reason to discern them. Perhaps more importantly, IMHO it takes a lot of courage to keep an open mind over any ignorant assumptions.

I'm also amazed about how lucky we are. I've been reading about dinosaurs lately and I am reminded that (religious arguments aside) if it were not for a quirk of fate, we wouldn't be here today. In fact there'd probably be some highly intelligent saurian in my place. Or perhaps there'd be nothing at all. Although I'd like to think that there could be other intelligent life out there in the universe, the truth is that due to the simple probability of not making it this far down the evolutionary chain due to random catastrophe we could easily be the only ones after all. And even we might not make it in the long run.

What's the point of it all? No idea. What's the point of this entry? No idea either. Given an arbitrary choice between optismism and pessimism though and I'll choose the former every time. Nobody got anywhere by moaning or moping about stuff (as I constantly have to keep reminding my younger brother). Guess it's just a rather introspective interlude between my 'been here', 'done that' type entries... *shrugs*