midterm

Real Name:Jodie Wims
user name: jodie_1219
email:jodie_1219@yahoo.com

11. Richard Dawkins considers religion to be a virus of the mind because it is something "implanted" in us by our parents or family around us. This is usually done at a young age when our minds are easily subjected to absorb whatever is fed into it. I wouldnt say I disagree completely. Most of us do grow up believing whatever religion we happen to be is the right one. There is no choice or alternate view until your'e old enough to make that discovery on your own. For most people it's hard to give up something we've held on to so long, so in that sense, it is like a virus because it's just in us and many times it's hard to make it go away. At the same time, I think it's nice to have something to believe in. In many cases, it can make you a better person. So I wouldn't go as far as to call it a "virus" because that would make it sound like it was a bad thing.

12. One example of a Cargo Cult Science could be superstitous beliefs. For example, my grandmother strongly believes that if her purse ends up on the floor, then she will have money problems. So under no circumstances is her purse ever to be on the floor. One of the only times she ever yelled at me was when i put her purse on the floor just temporarily so I could move something. Of course she's had money problems here and there just like anyone else but they cant be linked to her purse being on the floor. It isn't something that happens instantly so how can it be proven? And when she is in good financial standing, I dont hear her owing it to her purse NOT being on the floor. Also to refer back to the "virus" analogy, I now have a fear of putting my purse on the floor as well, even though I know how ridiculous the claim is!

13. Richard Feynman talks about going beyond the surface and really trying to find things out. To find out the reasons why things happen and how makes everything much more interesting and beautiful as well. One really appreciates what is happening in nature when they fully understand what is going on and how complex nature can be. For example, the growth of a baby during pregnancy. So many changes are occuring at every moment to transform a tiny cell into full human life. When you understand the process and steps that happens before a baby is born, it makes the experience so much more worth the wait.

14. The movie Karma gives a quick look at life and consequences. Bad things done in life come back eventually in some way or another and good things come to those who do no harm. Whether or not this is true cannot be proven but many people believe in it regardless. It's seems to be easily falsifiable because there are numerous occasions when bad things happen to good people. There are probably even more incidents where incredibly good things happen to people full of evil. Karma is a nice thing to believe in because it can make you become a better person but it doesnt seem to be totally accurate.

15. John Maynard Smith was not afraid to turn away from his faith and in that sense he was able to take a more scientific approach to the evolutinary theory and come up with his own theories. He believed that only after one turns away from religion is he free to ask questions and figure out different answers without holding back because religous fears.

16. Freeman Dyson believes that you cant understand life and the universe without having some sort of faith. He thinks that science and religion can be compatable and one does not have to choose one or the other. God is beyond our understanding but with faith and facts we can begin to learn

17. Faqir learned that faith and belief comes from within yourself. No outside force can truly make you believe. It is something that develops in your own mind and in that sense you are your own helper.

18. Eleven talks about our thoughts about others and what happens when we think our way is the only right way. When it comes to something we dont understand fully, we tend to react in an undesirable way. For those who dont know much about muslim culture, and who also have hostility towards muslims because of certain events, understanding and patience can be difficult. The members of the group eleven must have had it in their heads that they were doing a good deed by ridding the world of muslims. This irrational way of thinking is the same reason why terrorists decided it would be a good idea to crash some planes into the twin towers. Those who lash out against innocent muslims are no better than the terrorists who started all the hostility in the first place.

19. People can sometimes get caught up in the medium when really, the message should be their only concern. Sometimes there is confusion when taking in a message from someone. The message can be so powerful that the person relaying the information can be seen as great and powerful as the message. This is usually not true. People who try to live their life like someone who "talk a good talk" will be sadly dissapointed in most cases. Many of these people who speak positive things still do alot of negative in life as well. If we look at these people as role models and think that everything they do in life reflects living life by their message, then the point of the message is lost. People are merely following other people instead of taking in the words and living thier own life.

20. Bertrand Russell had plenty reasons for not being a christian. The most imortant one probably is that he didnt believe that jesus was one wisest and virtuous men. He was among others according to Russell, who probably deserved more regocnition. There were also things about hell and bad things happening to good people that Russell didnt feel added up to the type of world God would create. I agree with some of his points. There are plenty of things inthe bible that i question as well and it makes me wonder if all of it is true. But I wouldnt go as far to say that I'm not a Christian. I believe in God but i think man has played his part in some of things we have come to believe, such as things written in the bible. Therefore, i would say i am a christian but not a firm believer of everything that the church puts out there.

21. This six step guide is to help decipher whether or not a claim is realor not. FiLCHeRS stands for Falsifiability, Logic, Comprehensiveness,Honesty, Replicabilty and Sufficiency. Falsifiabilty is interestingbecause in order to prove something is true, there must be a way todisprove it as well. For example, i cant make a scientific claim abouta dream i had because there is no way to prove that i did or didn'thave that dream. Logic talks about evidence being sound. Drawingconclusions from incomplete information can result in unsound or invalid answers. That leads to comprehensiveness which says that allevidence must be presented, which ties into honesty. One must presental information and accept the conclusion honestly. Replicability has to do with any previous claims or experiments having to dowith the current claim. Tests should be repeated to obtain the same conclusions before being able to move on.

22. Kurtz believes that skepticism should be applied to religion in a historical sense. That is , for religous claims that are made, there should be record of investigation for validity purposes. I agree. I think science can play an important role in religion for certain aspects. Such as dating artifacts that date back to when jesus was alive. There is scientific evidence that jesus existed. That does alot for our faith. Whether or not people want to acknowledge him as the son of God is up to them. Science can only go so far in the religous aspect but nevertheless it can play an important role

23. Simply knowing letters or knowing how to read does not mean that you can truly understand what a book is about. Most of us can read out loud but there are also some that do not actully comprehend what the words are coming together to form. So knowing all three parts of the book ( text, pretext, and context) is imperative for full comprehension.

24. A transformative UFO encounter is one that happens during consciousness and can seem more real than actual life. However, Scientists compare it to hallucinations. The author does seem to think that there may be some chance that UFo's actually exist but according to current evidence it doesnt seem likely.

25. When using online sources, it is hard to differentiate real from fabrication. One must really know how to critically decide what the actual facts are. Also, when looking for information online, there is a big difference from looking in a library. Libraries have everything categorized and somewhat easy to find. The internet has information scattered all over the place which can make it difficult to decide which way to go in search of the right anwers.

26. Steven Weinberg's view on religion is non existent. He feels that science has the answers to everything. since there is no scientific evidence of there being a god, then according to Weinberg, there must not be one. He seems to be a fact based person and strongly believes in evolution rather than intelligent design.

28. In contrast to Weinberg, I felt the best speaker came on after he did. I couldnt really catch his name but he is the speaker from session 2. He talked about earlier contributors to science such a gallileo and newton. He stresses that there can be science and religion and one doesnt have to choose between the two. He talks about galileo who actually was a religious man but he recieved bad looks from the church because of what he was trying to prove. The point that is trying to be made in this lecture was that religion was different from science and didnt have to be compared. One can read and believe in the bible which states how the universe was created but it doesnt explain how the universe works. Science is a different field that religion and doesnt have to be integrated.

29. In Ken miller's discussion, he talks about how the evolution theory has a bad reputation simply because people believe that it goes against religious views. Miller argues that the idea of evolution must be critically considered as should all aspects of science. After all, many of the things we learn in science are simply theories and should not be thought of any differently than the evolution one. I do agree with his views on intelligent design which would be that intelligent design has no real data proving its accuracy. The big controversy between science and religion doesnt have to be such a complicated one. People can have religous beliefs but it doesnt change scientific fact. Science is great for understanding how things work and not necessarily how they were created in the first place.