The Post Your Thoughts of the Moment Thread 2

[SuperFireKirby]

VICTORY!

[Jompa]

The movie is almost too good - like, you'll get depressed after watching it, because you know you'll never watch anything as incredible, ever..
Mashi's talking about later developement and stuff - it is actually kinda important, for the whole feeling in the movie - so yeah - don't skip it - but there's no point watching all of them, so I suggest you watch the first one, then one more and then the eight one. You won't miss out on anything at all..

[KefkaticFanatic]

Only 4 hours left but you can get some pretty freakin sweet vidya related apparel from here
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fangamer/fangamer-retrowear

[BlackDragonSlayer]

VICTORY!

In other news, scientists have proven that water is... in fact... wet.

But really, does every little minor tiny detail of our lives and the planet we live on need to be proven by researchers and scientists?? Some things I understand, but still...

[KefkaticFanatic]

That's the point of science!  To understand the details and reasons for why everything happens in a logical and evidence based manner ^^

[spitllama]

Not that this will really affect the legalizing issue...

[Roz~]

I don't think I needed science to know that, but I guess it needed to be proven. Almost every single pothead I know keep saying that no, it doesn't affect them in one way or another. Now they can finally shut up.

[Cobraroll]

That's the point of science!  To understand the details and reasons for why everything happens in a logical and evidence based manner ^^

Yep. Down to "The electrical receptors at the tip of the antennae of [Some sort of fruit fly]" - Actual master's degree project a housemate of mine has been offered to write.

[KefkaticFanatic]

Of course now they'll just go back to their "well cigarettes suck and they're legal!!!!" argument, but quite honestly I don't see why we shouldn't push to ban those.  The only reason they've been around with so little regulation and warning for so long is the $$$ influence the major companies have in the committees and gov branches...

Though technically a big reason marijuana was pushed to be illegal was because they wanted to put a stop to hemp-based cloth production...

[BlackDragonSlayer]

That's the point of science!  To understand the details and reasons for why everything happens in a logical and evidence based manner ^^

But science is replacing common sense; people today tend to rely on science to prove something that they could just tell by observing the thing (essentially being herded around by scientists). Now, I'm not talking about things like medicine, crazy inventions, observations of planets, etc. (things that us "common folks" can't just pull out our magic hats ), I'm talking about things like a healthy diet, the effects of certain substances that are known to be detrimental to one's health, etc.

It should be common knowledge that a balanced diet is necessary, that touching something really hot will get you burned, that cruise control is not autopilot ()... And that brings me to another related subject: sue-happy people...

[KefkaticFanatic]

A related quote by the Dalai Lama:

My confidence in venturing into science lies in my basic belief that as in science so in Buddhism, understanding the nature of reality is pursued by means of critical investigation: if scientific analysis were conclusively to demonstrate certain claims in Buddhism to be false, then we must accept the findings of science and abandon those claims.

http://io9.com/5942616/dalai-lama-tells-his-facebook-friends-that-religion-is-no-longer-adequate

TIL he is more awesome than I originally thought

[the_last_sheikah]

Huh, I didn't know the Dalai Lama used facebook.

[BlackDragonSlayer]

A related quote by the Dalai Lama:
http://io9.com/5942616/dalai-lama-tells-his-facebook-friends-that-religion-is-no-longer-adequate

TIL he is more awesome than I originally thought

"...one that echos the sentiment put forth by outspoken atheist Sam Harris who argues that science can answer moral questions."
THAT'S the problem with our world; science cannot determine morality any more than a two-sided coin should determine your next actions (yes, I'm looking at Two-Face ). People are placing too much faith in science, something developed by fallible, imperfect humans (no matter how we try to accept that we're literally "perfect"); no matter how advanced sciene gets, it will never be perfect.

Scientists (this is a generalization, though, quite unfortunately, not as broad as I'd like it) often see humans merely as carbon copies following a set formula with minor variations; they don't see humans as individuals, but as a robot programmed by nature, doing nothing else but "living" and carrying out "tasks." Something almost... that they could predict and manipulate, that they could control and grasp in the palm of their hands. (though they don't seem to remember that they themselves are humans)

In that path, I forsee no bright future- maybe for a short time- but it will all have to end, eventually. When someone uses science as their only code of conduct, they have no one to be responsible to but themselves; THEY will decide their own rules... and someone's rules might just destroy humanity and the earth.

Please, forgive me for my long, semi-endless rant; my brain is fried after pouring out my knowledge, my opinions, and beliefs into typed format.

[Ruto]

Hehehe, since most of mainland China can't use Facebook, I can't think of a better way for him to communicate with everyone in the world.

[Concerto No.20 in D minor]

"...one that echos the sentiment put forth by outspoken atheist Sam Harris who argues that science can answer moral questions."
THAT'S the problem with our world; science cannot determine morality any more than a two-sided coin should determine your next actions (yes, I'm looking at Two-Face ). People are placing too much faith in science, something developed by fallible, imperfect humans (no matter how we try to accept that we're literally "perfect"); no matter how advanced sciene gets, it will never be perfect.

Scientists (this is a generalization, though, quite unfortunately, not as broad as I'd like it) often see humans merely as carbon copies following a set formula with minor variations; they don't see humans as individuals, but as a robot programmed by nature, doing nothing else but "living" and carrying out "tasks." Something almost... that they could predict and manipulate, that they could control and grasp in the palm of their hands. (though they don't seem to remember that they themselves are humans)

In that path, I forsee no bright future- maybe for a short time- but it will all have to end, eventually. When someone uses science as their only code of conduct, they have no one to be responsible to but themselves; THEY will decide their own rules... and someone's rules might just destroy humanity and the earth.

Please, forgive me for my long, semi-endless rant; my brain is fried after pouring out my knowledge, my opinions, and beliefs into typed format.

I'm not quite sure what point you're trying to make.