Long ass midterm

The Trials of Science and Religion
As the morning sun rose like a crimson phoenix behind the thick evergreens to the east, a young apprentice sat cross-legged on a cold stone floor in concentrated meditation awaiting the start of what would be his last day in the academy, one way or another.
A few minutes later the thick oak door to his room gently swung open and a hooded man dressed in a gray robe entered and with a stroke of his hand silently gestured for the apprentice to rise. The apprentice stood and followed the man out of the room, looking over his shoulder one last time at the few belongings he had come to call his own over the past 15 years. He would never see them again. It was custom to burn all candidate’s possessions once they started the trials and the trials had just begun.
As the apprentice followed the man through the barely visible corridors that connected the temple in a network of smooth stone passageways, he went over in his mind the lessons he knew he would soon be called upon to use. Over the years as the apprentice grew from a boy to a young man he heard whisperings throughout the temple that those who did not pass the trials were never seen again.
He resisted the pull of fear.
One of the first lessons instilled in him was confidence, even when facing the unknown, just as Faqir Chand had done when he left his mortal anchor to return to the sea of consciousness.
The apprentice continued to follow the hooded man as the shadow of night slowly retreated down the walls of the cold hallways in the presence of the sun, which had almost entirely filled the windows overlooking the lush forests surrounding the temple with a soft morning light. Soon the other apprentices would be walking the halls, moving from class to class learning about the different philosophers, astronomers, physicists, theologians, poets, artists, writers and other noble scholars who expanded the boundaries of man’s imagination. Today though, the apprentice would not be joining them, for he had reached his destination and he would not turn back now.
The hooded man stopped in front of a thick wooden door on his left and turned to face the apprentice. “Tell me the first three,” the hooded man said, expressionless.
“My name is Nick Stanton,” the apprentice said with no hesitation. “My user name is nicsulb and my website is www.thoughtspastandromeda.blogspot.com.”
“I see. And how many classes have you missed?”
“None, sir.”
“Ever been late?”
“Yes sir, I’ve been late three times for a total of about 10 minutes.”
“Hmm,” the hooded man said, squinting one eye and turning his face slightly downward, weighing the truth of what Nick had just told him. “List your posts.”
Nick pulled out a small silver disk from his pocket and held it face up in his open hand. A small hologram shot up from the silver disk showing a list of posts Nick had compiled and at the bottom of the hologram in bright blue letters read www.thoughtspastandromeda.blogspot.com.
“Very well,” said the hooded man. “Have you watched all the required films and lectures so far?”
“Yes sir,” Nick said.
“And did you do the required reading?”
“Some of it.”
“So you partially read them, huh?”
“Partially.”
“How much?”
“I read bits and pieces of a majority of the readings. A chapter or two in Siddhartha, the texts involving Einstein and Bohr, most of ‘Is my iPhone Conscience?’, some of ‘Darwin’s DNA’ as well as several other readings revolving around the topic of science and religion.”
An elongated silence filled the hallway after Nick finished speaking. The hooded man then gave a quick nod and opened the plain looking cedar door set in the stone wall to his side. “Good luck,” the hooded man said as a genuine smile stretched across his thin angular face.
“Thanks,” Nick replied, as a mask of confusion covered his face. “This is the entrance to the trials?”
The hooded man let out a small chuckle. “Sometimes the greatest adventures are right in front of you. All you have to do is open your eyes and find the will move forward.”
The hooded man raised his arm toward the open door and Nick walked into the room. The door made a solid thud as it closed behind him and Nick could hear the sound of metal turning in the door’s key hole as it locked him in a space filled with nothing but darkness and his imagination.
“How would an atheist critique a theist’s argument of the existence of God?” boomed a deep voice out of the nothingness.
Nick breathed deep, settled his nerves and began speaking. “The burden of proof lies on the one who makes the claim and in response to the question of how the universe was created a theist would proclaim that God is the reason behind existence. An atheist might respond by asking for proof of the existence of God and a theist would have to proclaim that his or her belief in the existence of God required no proof, only the faith that God exists. After laughing for a moment, the atheist might quote David Lane and Peter McWilliams by saying, ‘that the only god worth praising is Truth itself. And if we cannot stand aside and let that deity have its way, well, guess what? We deserve the fictions we worship and the horrors they generate.’
Atheists seem to be more scientifically minded when it comes to answers involving existence, which is why 90 percent of the scientific community classify themselves as atheist or agnostic, and without something more tangible than faith, atheists most likely will never hold the same beliefs as theists.”
“Now tell me how a theist would argue against the atheistic notion that a belief in God is delusional?”
“Nothing can truly ever be proved because no one can say for certain that reality even exists. Everything experienced in life could just be an imagined series of events constructed by our consciousness that we will one day wake up from in a whole new body in a completely different dimension and if that’s true then there must be some type of creator who instilled in our brains the ability to create a world of imagination. Also, science cannot explain with proof what existed before the big bang, which for many is the beginning of the Universe, so the theory of how life came to be is still an unsolved mystery open to many different ideas and beliefs.”
“And how does Littlewoods’s theory of large numbers help explain miracles or supposed divine coincidences?”
“According to the theory of large numbers, for every one million events that occur one ‘miracle’ or exceptional event will happen and based on the calculations of Littlewood it is theorized that an average human will experience one miracle every 35 days. People might not always see the exceptional events as they occur or acknowledge what they see as a miracle, but some people will classify their once a month exceptional event as a divine coincidence and attribute their experience to their God or gods.”
“Go on through.”

Small flames burst to life 30 feet away from Nick at the top of what looked like candlesticks and rapidly started to jump towards him in two columns. More and more flames began to approach him as he watched the tiny fires outline the walls of a narrow stone corridor now visible in front of him. He walked through the corridor and down a spiral staircase lined with thick opaque white candles overflowing with wax, looking as if they stretched long skeletal fingers towards the ground. This place looks familiar, Nick thought as he descended the hard steps. The staircase emptied into a small cold cavern that had in its center a circular platform not more than 10 feet in diameter and was surrounded by a wide moat of nothingness and air. A narrow bridge 20 feet long made of rope and wooden planks crossed over the gap around the platform and from the opposite side of the stone platform another staircase rose into the ceiling of the dimly-lit cavern.
Nick’s gaze was immediately drawn to the pale blue glowing orb in the middle of the platform. After a brief internal debate about whether or not he should cross the bridge Nick quickly passed over the wooden planks and placed his hand upon the orb. The glow of the orb seemed to become brighter and he could feel a warmness radiating from the center of the smooth artifact.
“Tell me the ans…” the voice in the distance boomed again.
Nick pulled his hand off the orb and took a step back. “What did you say?” Nick said into the air.
No response.
“I said what’d you say?” he yelled loudly.
Still no response.
After a moment of silence he approached the orb once again and slowly placed his hand on it. The orb immediately responded by glowing brighter. “I said tell me the answer?” the voice in the distance echoed.
Nick almost pulled his hand off the orb again, but somehow he managed to maintain his contact and without knowing why he closed his eyes. Are you in my head?
“Well, kinda yes and kinda no,” the voice replied, resonating in Nick’s head as clear as if someone had spoken directly into his ear. “Your contact with the orb allows me to link our thoughts and speak directly to you with no interruption.”
I see. That’s pretty kickass. So what was the question now?
“Tell me about a couple of pseudo sciences and a few reasons people turn to them and what are some of the key problems with them? See if you can work Ockham’s razor somewhere into the equation too.”
“Well, some of the pseudo sciences like astrology and acupuncture present themselves as being consistent with the norms of scientific research, but they demonstrably fail to meet those norms. They can’t continually reproduce the same effects even though they can sometimes produce accurate and very interesting results. Astrology has to do with horoscopes and celestial divination. It is thought among astrologers that celestial placements can help interpret the past and present events as well as possibly predict the future.
Acupuncture is originally a Chinese practice that incorporates needles as therapeutic treatment for pain and other physical ailments. Many claim that the technique of sticking needles into certain points of the body can help relieve pain, but while many scientists agree that acupuncture can sometimes help with things like nausea, there is still a significant amount of disbelief by medical organizations like the American Medical Association about whether or not acupuncture can be tested while using scientific controls effectively during trials. Without effective scientific controls the scientific and medical world can’t comprehensively say that acupuncture is indeed a science.
According to Ockham’s razor, which states that given two competing theories the simpler one is the answer, some people turn to pseudo sciences because they were either raised to believe that the pseudo sciences are real and measureable or people just want a cheap solution to their problems and 20 bucks to an astrologer beats 500 bucks to a hospital.
“It’s fine for people to practice what they believe in, but when something like astrology starts to convince people that it’s accurate and constantly true when it can’t be proven is dishonest to the public. When certain practices label themselves as scientific when they aren’t it can confuse people to what science really is.”
“Now explain to me why Darwinian evolution makes atheism both respectable and tenable. Also, why was Charles Darwin agnostic about God and Christianity?”
“Darwinian evolution helps atheists because according to Darwin there was no need for a grand designer of the universe and no God was necessary. That theory coupled with the respect science has for Darwin and his work, even if there is debate over some of his theories, gives weight to the idea of atheism. Although, the way Darwin viewed the universe as not needing a God might have also been influenced by his daughter’s death when she was 11 years old.”
“Take it a bit further and tell me why Richard Dawkins believes that religion is a virus of the mind?”
“An idea acts in society the same way natural selection does in the biological world, but instead of surviving by being the best, an idea must survive by multiplying via imprinting itself onto the minds of others who can then transfer the idea to even more people. This is the way Dawkins stated religion works and why it’s a mind virus. In something like meme theory, where ideas can’t all be retained and must be passed on through things like speech or writing in order to survive, it’s not always the best ideas that pass on, but rather the ideas that are the most popular and able to manipulate others.
Say an idea is created by a man in order to gain power over another man by getting him to believe in a certain set of codes to live by. All the first man would have to do would be to get enough people to believe his theories about something like God and how people ought to live their lives, then if he can get his believers to imprint that thought onto the minds of others through repetition, like what one might hear in church every week, he can put on a big white hat, call himself something like the pope and boom, he’s got a religion, also known as a virus of the mind.”
“Finally, how would a religious believer respond to Richard Dawkins’ notion that religion is more akin to a mind parasite than an accurate description or approach to reality?”
“Someone like Freeman Dyson might ask Dawkins to prove that loves exists. If it’s something felt by billions of people then it must exist and there must be some way to prove its existence. The only problem is that there is no way to prove that love exists. There is no rating system to let someone know how much you love them and it could be a different feeling for every individual. That’s the same way a religious believer might respond to Dawkins, by telling him that there is no way to know absolutely about the correct approach toward reality and therefore different religious beliefs could still somehow be true.”
As soon as Nick finished speaking the orb lost its glow and the sound of rock scraping against rock could be heard in the cavern. Streams of light began to penetrate through the darkness originating at the top of the staircase leading up from the edge of the circular platform into a now searing white opening of light. Nick moved to the base of the staircase and with his arm raised above his eyes he cautiously ascended into the blinding light.
A moment later, after his eyes adjusted, Nick lowered his arm and took in his surroundings. In the distance two colossal mountains towered high into the sky until they disappeared into a gray outcropping of clouds. There was an expansive field full of many different colored flowers separating Nick from the distant spires and curving its way past him was a dark blue river 200 feet wide that flowed swiftly from horizon to horizon. Lighting the entire scene was the burning crimson sun that was now positioned in the middle of the twin-mountains, partially obscured by the cloud covering.
Nick took a few steps forward toward the broad rock wall that stood 50 paces in front of him. I know this place too. I swear I’ve been here before. As he approached the wall, the sound of scraping rock once again touched his ears and Nick turned to face the noise. The stairs that led him out of the previous room were now part of a solid stone boulder, concealing any trace of the secret passage. Turning back around Nick was now faced with a sentence chiseled into the rock wall that was not there a moment before.
Who won the Einstein-Bohr debate about quantum theory and its implications?
Nick thought and weighted the values of each argument and then spoke to the wall, “Even though I respect Bohr and agree with some of his theories about the universe and the way it interacts within itself I would have to side with Einstein. It’s a bit unfair for me to choose sides in the debate because I already know that Bohr’s own beliefs eventually started to coincide with Einstein’s quantum theory and its implications. ‘Einstein’s box’ presents a good example of showing how photons travel and interact with one another and it helps to substantiate his theory of relativity which bases itself on the idea that space and time are curved by matter and energy which create gravitational force. The theory of gravitational force has been evaluated for decades since Einstein first created the concept and there have been many studies to further his thoughts on the topic and provide convincing examples of why Einstein’s theory is tenable. ”
When he finished, nothing happened and he began to wonder if he had done something wrong.
Did I answer the question incorrectly? I might have, but then again it might not have been an error in the answer, but rather in the way I spoke.
Nick read over the inscription again and this time focused on the two arrows below the letters pointing in opposite directions. “What do those mean?” Nick said. He walked along the wall to the right and looked for any clue that might help him progress through his trials.
As he reached the end of the wall he felt a small vertical crack running up the face of the rock. This was the only crack he felt in the rough granite and with his eyes positioned close to the rock he scanned over the stone and quickly found a singular word carved out.
Interesting. He walked in quick step to the other side of the granite wall.
“Thought so,” he said as he moved back to the middle of the rock face after finding another singular word chiseled into the wall. He looked at the two rectangular outlines cut into the stone with the name “Bohr” carved in one and “Einstein” in the other. “Now what the hell do I do?”
Nick thought for a minute and walked to the door with Einstein carved in it. “It’s worth a shot,” he said as he stepped up to the stone outline and knocked on it three times. He waited for a minute and then stepped 10 paces back from the stone after nothing happened. “Fine, you want an answer, here.”
Nick bent both of his arms in front of his body and began to move them in circular patterns with his palms facing each other. He closed his eyes and began breathing in and out in slow powerful breaths. He breathed deeper and deeper and as he did he opened up his mind to the power contained within it and a flame suddenly erupted in the middle of his hands. He concentrated harder and the flame began to grow larger as he opened up his arms. Then in one quick fluid motion, Nick brought his hands together and extended them towards the rock face. A powerful ball of fire blasted out from his hands and hit the side of the wall, shattering the hard granite and melting clean through the thick rock. He brought his arms back down to his sides and let out one last deep exhalation of power before moving through the opening and into the next stage of his trials.
“Great, another cave,” Nick said as he stepped through the still steaming doorway. The light from a nearby torch flame illuminated the wall across from where he entered and he could see purple and green lichen clinging all over the moist stone across the dank chamber. He grabbed the torch from the wall and began to explore his surroundings.
The small domed cavern Nick blasted into was about 15 feet tall in its center and on one side had a small stream of what looked like water running down a smooth groove in the floor until it disappeared beneath the wall. On the same side of the cavern that Nick had entered stood a dark tunnel in the rear of the room that extended beyond his vision and summoning up his courage yet again, he pressed forward into the blackness.
Upon entering the next chamber, a small pinprick of light could be seen at the far end of the tunnel and holding his torch in front of him like a talisman Nick made his way toward what he hoped was the exit. From his torchlight he could make out the solid shapes of stalagmites punching up from the ground like spear heads and tilting his head up, he saw the points of more stone spears. Stalactites covered the ceiling of the menacing tunnel and extended down until they almost touched his head. “Great,” Nick said with a tone of sarcasm. “Now I have to climb through the mouth of a monster too.”
Moving closer to the light Nick thought, this place is pretty amazing though. How was it they said the world was created again?
Looking at opposite ends of the spectrum, a creationist would believe that God, who is the omniscient and omnipotent designer of the universe, put together the world like it is described in Genesis. Even if the creationist took the Bible more figuratively than literally, there would still be a belief that there is grand designer who is responsible for the moon and the stars, all by breathing life into the universe through his will.
Another idea is that the world came into existence through a process described by Stephen Wolfram called probability theory. In this theory, the universe we inhabit is the result of infinite possibilities and time. Wolfram states that computational power is becoming exponentially greater and with that power may come the answer to the way our universe was designed. With the discovery of the Higgs boson particle that scientists are searching for at the Large Hadron Collider, there would be evidence of the “God particle” and that evidence would give more credence to the notion that randomness is the reason behind existence. Particles bouncing off one another began to create matter and over time that matter, after colliding with other matter, generated all the events that have taken place in the universe. Once the earth came into existence and was stocked with the algae of life, evolution took over and the rest is history.
Life of all kinds slowly emerged from the bacteria in the water covering the planet and for billions of years the plates of the earth shifted and life continued to evolve to the place we’re at now. It makes sense to me though, that the most persuasive argument would come from someone with a combination of the two theories. That reminds me of another argument though.
Stephen Jay Gould and Richards Dawkins argued in opposition of each other about whether or not science and religion could get along. I forget who wins that discussion?
Pretty sure someone like Stephen Jay Gould who argues that a union between science and religion is possible would say that science and religion exist in two different realms of thought and can’t be compared equally. Religion deals with morals whereas science deals with tangible evidence. Dawkins would disagree and say that even if science and religion do indeed exist in two different realms, religion never stays on its side.
I can appreciate Dawkins’ theories about evolution and the competition between genes lineages by using organisms as vehicles, but I’d have to go with Gould on this one. Even though religion is a habitual line stepper, it still functions in a different aspect of society than science and shouldn’t be compared to science. I see religion more as a cultural guide and science as a guide to the universe.
Time seemed to disappear as Nick navigated through the rock maze of the dank cavern, but he eventually began to feel a cool refreshing breeze wash over him that was coming from the increasingly wide opening in front of him. Stepping into the sunlight at the end of the tunnel Nick dropped his torch as he became rapt in the sights and sounds that rushed his senses.
A mist hung in the atmosphere, layering the multitudes of diverse plant life that covered the towering rock walls extending hundreds of feet into the air with light dew. Shades of color ranging from bright red to deep green meshed into a network of vibrant foliage that climbed up the huge rock walls surrounding him to the cliffs lining the sunlit valley. Pools of dark blue liquid spread across the base of the valley connected by small veins of water flowing downstream between the pools. In the distance a river of water barreled over the top of the cliff edge 20 stories up and cascaded down in a free fall of ever flowing power until it crashed into the hard stone below. The enormous waterfall bellowed an unending boom that filled Nick’s ears and as he stood in owe of his surroundings he felt a connection to the valley. How is it everything seems so freakin’ familiar?
He found a set of stairs next to the opening of the cave leading to the floor of the valley and slowly he made his way down the wet rock steps. He traversed his way past the dark blue pools and came to the base of the waterfall where a familiar man in orange shoes stood on a rock near the waterfall with a slight smile on his face.
“Glad you made it,” the orange-shoed man said.
“Thanks professor Surfer, me too,” Nick said. “Where are we?”
“I should ask you that question, but first tell me why your teacher repeatedly argues that it is naïve, and most often wrong, to ‘confuse neurology with ontology?’”
“Neurology, also known as the ‘brain state,’ controls what humans believe and how we envision the universe. Ontology, or the ‘real state’ is how things run in reality and a problem occurs when humans confuse the limits of their cranial capacity with the boundaries of the universe. Evolution has kinda become a double-edged sword in the way that through evolution, humans gained the capacity to form beliefs, but as an unintended secondary effect, like what Gould proposes about evolution, each human considers what they believe to be true and real. The human mind is an amazing creation and it contains the power to control the body, enabling it to construct reality through biochemistry.”
“That was a very Gould answer.”
Nick smiled and a small laugh escaped his throat.
“That’s my A material,” said Surfer. “Now, quantum theorists have discovered that the only accurate way to describe the subatomic world is by probabilities, particularly as outlined by Werner Heisenberg and his principle of uncertainty relations. How can a physical understanding of the world based on chance, randomness, chaos, whatever you wanna call it, be reconciled with a theological view that the universe was designed and displays purpose? Or, is such conciliation impossible?”
“I think is definitely possible to reconcile the two. An understanding of the physical universe relies on probability and with probability there will be some kind of order to the outcome of events. There can be somewhat of an order witnessed in probability, but the interesting thing with atoms is that there is no predictability. Every move an atom makes is not consistent with the same patterns of other atoms and because chance can’t be predicted there can be an argument that there was a design to the universe.
Some would say that a great cosmic architect set in motion the universe and gave even the atoms a design to move by. It makes sense when you compare atoms of the universe to drops of water in the ocean. When a drop looks at the ocean does it understand the ocean? No, it just moves through the ocean in its own way while simultaneously helping to create the ocean, just like an atom does in the universe.”
“Have a seat,” said Surfer as he sat down and motioned to the rock next to him. After Nick sat down Surfer continued with his line of questions. “In what ways does Faqir Chand help to explain why certain people have religious experiences and others do not. How does Faqir Chand’s view of religion underline or buttress a purely sociological view of religion as meaning function?”
“Faqir Chand explains that certain people have religious experiences because they believe they can, let me explain.
Faqir Chand was approached many times by many different people claiming that he was the reason they made it through a near-death experience, or that he had appeared to them in a vision and told them what to do in a moment of need, or that he had done a variety of other things, even though he had not done any of them. Through transference people saw Faqir Chand doing these things not because he was physically there, but because they believed in him so strongly that they imagined him there.
Think about it, people who have near-death experiences often claim to see some object that helps bring them back to life and the object can range from a bicycle to a pastrami sandwich. The power of the mind is so great that a person can create something that looks and seems real to them during an incredible experience. Speaking in tongues is another example of why some people have religious experiences.
Even a skeptic like David Lane has become so overwhelmed during a religious moment that he spontaneously began to speak in tongues. This inability to control one’s speech can be compared to the feeling someone has when they are sexually climaxing. When a guy is getting off he can be heard saying all kinds of nonsensical things and the part of the body that controls a man’s ability to climax can also turn on in a scenario like a near-death experience or a religious experience. It’s just the individual’s ability to open their mind to be able to have that kind of experience, even if they can’t always control that ability.
As for the opinion that religion can function as a meaning sociological function, ya I can see that. If one were to remove religion from the discussion of how the universe was created and how people came into exist then the concepts that make up the cornerstones of religion can be used as a meaning function in society. If people followed some of the rules layed out in religion like don’t lie, don’t kill, or treat people with love then I think from a sociological viewpoint, there is a meaningful function to religion. The only problem is, as Dawkins says, religion never stays on its side.”
“What is Nietzsche’s notion of the eternal return and how could such an idea potentially transform one’s day to day life? In what ways is it completely contrary to religious notions of an afterlife?”
“The concept of eternal return is the idea that life kind of acts as a circle. The events in one’s life continue to repeat themselves in the same way they played out in the person’s previous life. If at one point during a person’s life they make a horrible decision or live in poor health then that person will repeat every bad decision made or suffer from every ailment experienced and that idea can change a person’s day to day life. It can be transformative because no one wants to live a life full of misery and depression over and over again when all one has to do is change how they live in order to spend eternity in a wonderful state of living.
The concept of eternal return is contrary to religion because it performs the opposite function as religion. In religion, one lives their life by preparing for the afterlife rather than living their life as well as possible in the moment. Eternal recurrence does away with the idea of an afterlife, which is central to what religions preach and makes the theory even more contrary to religion.
I can see how eternal return is beneficial though. If happiness is increasing the present moments where you can fully be there, then Nietzsche’s theory is helping to increase global happiness.”
“Good, but let’s keep moving. Why is Edward O. Wilson arguing for a consilience between the humanities and the sciences?”
“It’s because Wilson believes that humans are pushed too much toward the humanities and not enough towards the sciences. He argued that “all the sciences should be connected,” meaning biology needs chemistry like chemistry needs physics and physics needs math. This should be the same when it comes to mixing the humanities and the sciences. According to Wilson, if people were expected to know as much about science as they do about grammar, humankind would be much better off.”
“How would Freeman Dyson and Owen Gingerich respond to skeptics in the Beyond Belief Conference?”
“They might respond by saying that skeptics should not have such a knee jerk reaction to the idea of intelligent design, because as Gingerich writes, ‘Science will not collapse if some practitioners are convinced that occasionally there has been creative input in the long chain of being.’
These brilliant men might reiterate that both religion and science can be beneficial, but in different ways. Science seeks to explain how the universe was created and religion strives to find the answer behind who created the universe.”
“If biological life can be understood reductively, as Watson and Crick have suggested, what necessity is there to posit a belief in a supreme creator?”
“Well, reductionism is essentially what science does. There is expensive reductionism which takes something like a wave and reduces it to H2O, then to an atom, then to quantum matter and then there is cheap reductionism, which quickly reduces something to a stereotype.
A supreme creator is necessary in the theory of reductionism because within the limits of human knowledge there is a missing link from the smallest measurement of matter to the next step down. The smallest theoretical measurement in science is a quark, but where did a quark come from?
There is no definite answer to make any type of an argument about the origin of a quark, but there is room, according to Watson and Crick, to insert the possibility of a supreme creator into the debate about the expensive reductionism of the universe.”
“How can the movie, A Matter of Life and Death, be explained in light of evolutionary theory and conscience as a virtual simulator?”
“First off, that was a great movie. And in light of evolutionary theory, A Matter of Life and Death can be explained by understanding the process of evolutionary theory and conscience as a virtual simulator.
Throughout the history of the world animals have evolved in different way to survive and progress their lineage. Some animals evolved in their predatory skills while others evolved in their ability to camouflage themselves. Whatever the case is, when it came to humans, we evolved in our ability to use consciousness as a virtual simulator, meaning that we have the ability to foresee how things can happen. This ability is also known as association and disassociation. Obviously we can’t see what will occur, but we can conceive what will probably occur in a certain scenario by playing out what our actions will be and what will come as a result of such actions. Language is an example of simulation, it creates images without substance.
Humans were not made with the same physical strengths or instincts found in the animal kingdom and therefore we had to make up for our lack of strength and speed by using our minds, which has allowed humankind to surpass the animals as the dominant species of the earth and it’s all thanks to evolutionary theory.”
“Keep going. In the article ‘Is my iPhone conscience?’ how can it help justify a belief in higher forms of consciousness beyond the rational mind?”
“The article, I think, explains that in order to truly understand a higher form of consciousness one must be present in that state of mind, but how can one know for certain that a higher state of being even exists?
As David Lane points out, he experienced a different state of being and from his own experiences found ‘that when one is in a higher state of awareness it makes the waking state look like a dismal and shadowy dream.’ So for someone who has experienced what could have been a higher state of consciousness it makes perfect sense that forms of consciousness beyond the rational mind do exist, but getting skeptics to believe in something without any proof is a difficult task.
The movie ‘Inception’ showcases the idea that there are higher levels of consciousness unknown to the dreamer while they are in the lower levels and it is only possible to understand what the truth is once a higher level of consciousness is obtained.
While one might not be able to provide proof that a higher level of consciousness exists, the iPhone article shows that it’s not impossible for there to exist another level of being.”
“How does the article ‘The Voyage Within’ give credence to the argument that inner visions are sophisticated hallucinations?”
“I think this article does more to provide proof of how evolutionary theory paved the way for consciousness to act as a virtual simulator than it does anything else. To me it seems like ‘inner visions’ are the result of consciousness playing its part in the human mind. The images might be more vivid and astonishing when a person smokes a bunch of pot before lying in a dark room for a while, but take away the drugs and the mind can still reproduce an assortment of colorful images or scenarios. There is just a variation of what people want to call their vision, or hallucination, or consciousness, but to me it’s just all different parts of the same elephant in the dark.”
“Almost there. Is consciousness physical?”
“Hmm, that’s a tough one. When I think about whether or not consciousness is physical I think about trying to pinpoint consciousness in the body. Often times I feel that my consciousness is located in my brain, but what’s to keep it from staying there and how do I know for certain that my consciousness is even real and that it’s not an idea created and passed along through repetition like in Meme theory?
I don’t know if I can answer that question one way or the other. I feel like consciousness and physicality are as diverse as science and religion and can’t be compared equally to each other because they exist in different regions of reality. I think consciousness can lead to actions in the physical universe, but I don’t think it’s physical. However, just like with any theory, when it comes down to it anything is possible.”
“Now for the last question. What is the favorite thing you learned so far and what is your favorite reading?
“That’s the last question?” Nick said incredulously. “I’ve come all this way and the final question is about what I like?”
“Depending on how you answer, it may be the most important question yet.”
“Then, my favorite thing I’ve learned so far has been the need to critically and objectively, evaluate all things before believing them.”
“Explain”
“Alright, thinking critically about any topic or issue should be the first step in coming up with an opinion or explanation and learning to apply that rule to everything in my life is essential. From dealing with the opinions of others to examining my own thoughts and beliefs, the need to apply educated thought is something that I haven’t always done, but is something I think I’ve learned to do a bit more and for that lesson and many others, this course has been exceedingly valuable.
As for my favorite reading, that would have to be ‘Tom Blake-The Original Neural surfer.’ I really liked the story of how he lived his life and how he thought about the universe, it’s inspiring”
After Nick finished speaking, Surfer brought his hand to his face and cupped his chin, slowly rubbing the sides of his jaw while silently contemplating Nick’s answers. Then suddenly the man dropped his hand from his face and looked at Nick with a big smile. “Sounds good,” the man said. “I like it. You’ve passed.”
“Really?”
“Ya, and now you’ve earned a reward.” Surfer pulled out a brown paper sack from behind his back and extended it towards Nick.
“What’s in it?” Nick said as he grabbed the paper sack.
“A miracle.”
Nick stuck his hand in the sack and pulled out a curved glass bottle filled with a dark brown liquid. “Is this what I think it is?”
“Oh ya, a perfect Coke. There’s more too.”
Nick reached back into the sack and pulled out the one thing that goes best with a Coke. “Falafel” Nick said in excitement.
Without waiting for the man to say anything else, Nick bit into his treasure, opened his reward and washed down his success with the cold sweet taste of perfection.
“Damn that was worth it,” Nick Said. “So was that your voice talking to me back in the caves and through that orb?”
“Just call me the man behind the curtain.”
“I guess so,” Nick turned to face Surfer. “So where do I go now?”
“That’s up to you, but first have Coke.”
Surfer tossed another bottle of perfection through the air. Nick extended his arm vertically and caught the bottle straight in line with the sun, which was now directly overhead. The rays of bright sunlight struck his eyes, but for some reason he couldn’t look away.
From behind the bottle an intense white light began to warp around the glass and fill his vision. His surroundings faded into a whiteness that embraced him and made him fell like he was floating. He stayed focused on the Coke bottle while everything else continued to become brighter and brighter. He floated closer and closer to the sun, feeling as if at any moment he would be overtaken by the light. Then, he woke up.

Post 3

Good point about what constitutes evidence, but what do you evaluate when the
proof is being concealed? It makes sense that if scores of intelligent,
reputable and experienced people are making claims about life exhisting outside
earth, there would be some evidence of contact. It might sound a little like a
conspiracy theory, but the lack of any tangible evidence must mean that there
has either been no contact with extraterrestrial life and all the sources of
testimony are wrong or that the evidence is being covered up for some reason and
society is being kept in the dark.
It wouldn't be the first time politicians or those in power have lied to the
public.
If you believe in extraterrestrial life, or at least entertain the thought of
it as a possibility, then you might consider faster than light(FTL) travel or
traversable wormholes as a means of how alien life might be able to find us.
The universe is indeed too large for the odds to be good for alien life
finding us if subluminal travel is used, but if an alien race came into
existence thousands or millions of years before us, then they might have the
technology to travel at FTL speeds.
There is no concrete evidence to back up my thoughts, only the theories of
others, but then again, what major scientific discovery didn't start out as a
theory?

Post 2

I think the power of thought can play a big part in what our minds project in
front of our eyes, but mathamatically it makes sense that there are other forms
of life existing in the universe. I'm not saying that there is concrete proof of
the existence of extra terestrials and I'm pretty skeptical about aliens
abducting people or interacting with aircraft, but the evidence of alien contact
is beginning to accumulate and some legitimate names are coming out and telling
stories of what they have seen. It's only possible to deny or hide the evidence
for so long.
Hell, they might not even be real, but what if they are?

Link for Science and Religion Aliens

This isn't on topic for the course, but the post about aliens and physics got me
thinking about this. The Disclosure Project is focused on uncovering the truth
about aliens and there are many former government officials and soldiers who are
speaking up about what they have seen.
Link- http://www.disclosureproject.org/