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Politics : Evolution -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Giordano Bruno who wrote (20779)	2/5/2012 1:23:37 PM
From: Solon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 69300

So believe in the one you find EVIDENCE for. And believe in the "possibility" of those you don't. Maher's comments made it clear that his atheism did not preclude an openness to any new evidence in contradiction of his beliefs. Seems fair to me... The other way is to take something that is "possible" (because after all--what isn't??) and decide how many arm holes you need to dress it in a nice suit of clothes and how big should the socks be or are they required?? For instance, it would be arrogant to state for a fact that unicorns don't exist; and also arrogant to state for a fact that they don't want to be worshipped and that they possibly might put me through a meat grinder 14 million years after my body has decomposed if I choose not to believe in them and worship them! And it would be arrogant to state for a fact that they do not live in a green teacup in a junkyard in Missouri. But I have no reason to believe that unicorns do exist. I also don't believe people can fly. If I see you step out of a plane with no parachute and start doing wonderfully acrobatic maneuvers I will revise my opinion. In the meantime a rational life requires some firm choices to be made about is and is not real even while at all times being willing to change ones mind. I might be immune to rat poison (now what made me think of him?) after I stand on my head and mumble "skimble skate Scato skinoble" but I prefer to believe in evidence based things. My freedom to believe that reality exists in no way interferes with anyone who wishes to believe that reality is supernatural as imagined in his or her mind. Maher does not tell you what you must believe. Everybody has the right to believe in unicorns...

To: Giordano Bruno who wrote (20779)	2/5/2012 2:32:32 PM
From: average joe	Respond to of 69300

Fears for Antarctic 'alien' lake scientist From: Daily Mail February 04, 20129:25AM 5 comments Snow bridge: Dr Tony Fleming's grandfather overwintered in Antartica for seven months A TEAM of Russian scientists has mysteriously lost contact with colleagues in the U.S. as they drill into a lake buried beneath the Antarctic ice for 20 million years. The scientists had been battling conditions of minus 66C at Lake Vostok, as they raced to drill into a lake buried two miles beneath the ice before the weather closed in. The scientists hope the lake's untouched water will reveal more about life on our planet 20 million years ago. The lake, in the most inhospitable region of the planet, is kept liquid by geothermal heat under the ice and its conditions are often described as 'alien' because they are thought to be akin to the subterranean lakes on Jupiter's moon Europa. Their radio silence has conjured chilling echoes of classic horror film The Thing, where scientists dig up a buried spacecraft in the Antarctic ice, only to unleash an extraterrestrial horror within. Valery Lukin, chief of the Russian Antactic Expedition, said last month: 'We do not know what is waiting for us down there.' The water inside the lake will have had no contact with man-made pollutants or Earthly life forms for millions of years. Last year the scientists working in freezing temperatures at Lake Vostok came within ten to 50 metres of the surface of the 'relic lake'. But with the summer almost over, the team will have to leave the remote site within days - before it gets too cold for a plane to land. Robin E. Bell, a researcher at Columbia University who has visited the region, told MailOnline that the team is focused on getting their job done while they still can, and it's premature to fear the worst. She said: 'I wouldn’t read too much into it. When you’re doing something very challenging, the last thing you want to do is chat to people'. Ms Bell added that the Lake Vostok expedition is very important to the Russians and that Mr Lukin's team are 'the best people to drill in the world'. During drilling temperatures have sunk to minus 66C, and the lowest temperature ever recorded on earth was found at Vostok Station. On July 21, 1983, temperatures hit minus 89.2C.

To: Giordano Bruno who wrote (20779)	2/5/2012 4:07:07 PM
From: Cautious_Optimist	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 69300

Because atheists are open to evidence and uncertainty, NOT 100.0% rules of the universe. Most religions are enterprises that, like today's capitalist businesses, need to grow sales to survive and they would rather game the system to survive and replicate, rather than to reinvent themselves dynamically, based on changing understanding of reality. I've been in plenty of companies that were closed systems of belief and they failed eventually when faced with competition that was dynamic, open, agile and adopted better ideas. Most religions follow the closed model, though many in the Reform Jewish temples and progressive christians might dispute that.