Posted on 11/02/2012 8:00:23 PM PDT by Olog-hai
As Hurricane Sandy batters the East Coast, some might be looking for a purpose or greater meaning behind Mother Nature’s wrath. But perhaps no platitude irks scientists more than “Everything happens for a reason.” …
A team of psychology researchers at Boston University (BU) asked chemists, geologists and physicists from major universities such as Harvard, MIT and Yale University to evaluate explanations for different natural phenomena. The statements included purpose-based (or teleological) explanations such as “Trees produce oxygen so that animals can breathe,” or “The Earth has an ozone layer in order to protect it from UV light.” …
The team says their results hint at an underlying belief in meaning behind natural phenomena that persists from early development. In light of Hurricane Sandy, the study seems to build on previous research suggesting that the desire to turn to God for an explanation for disaster is a widespread human urge. A poll last year found that 44 percent of Americans think that natural disasters are or could be a sign from God. …
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
The more we know about the intricacies of life, the harder it is to deny that life was created.
What's wrong with "Mother Nature's wrath" ? That seems to cover the field pretty well, and even these editors invoked it, presumably with plenty of time for consideration.
Ah come on, you know that this was just happenstance - One out of a trillion! I’d say that we developed from worms except that it seems a bit absurd. Ah, doesn’t matter, it was just the accidental Big Bang that started all of this anyway. Still wondering just how the matter and Big Bang came about but hey, not to question that.
You’d think that when some scientists start to question reality that most would listen - not so here. That is because they still tend to think in reality terms. It has to be just a coincidence. So much for math and probabilities...heh.
This is a really strange world and it’s creation is and will always be a mystery - until it isn’t!
One of these days, reality will catch up but not today...
Possibly too religious for the atheistic types, given that the phrase “Mother Nature” comes from mother goddess beliefs.
Developing from worms may be religious too. Many Far Eastern religions hold that the races of humans in those regions were descendants of a dragon (sound familiar?), and belief that the supreme being in the form of a snake is pretty widespread.
That it appears in the shadow of the "Gaia" hypothesis is instructive.
Heck, should have known that some religion had worms as its start...heh.
While that was humorous, I can understand that GOD had ideas that are far beyond mine and could have prescribed that man would evolve from worms (I think he would have started with better). I have no idea except that I can NOT expect that evolution happened without a purpose. I absolutely believe in Micro evolution but not Macro evolution...just not feasible.
So yes, you can have your worms if you wish but I will have other thoughts... Does that make you worm - heh, no malice intended...
Cf. The Cheese and the Worms by Carlo Ginzburg, The story of an Italian miller, known as Menocchio, who was burned at the stake for the irrepressible expression of his cosmogenic opinions:
“I have said that, in my opinion, all was chaos … and out of that bulk a mass formed – just as cheese is made out of milk – and worms appeared in it, and these were the angels, and among that number of angels, there was also God, he too having been created out of that mass at the same time ….”
A fascinating, and may I say an instructive tale. ( I bought it, I have it, and I read it! )
“Developing from worms may be religious too. Many Far Eastern religions hold that the races of humans in those regions were descendants of a dragon (sound familiar?), and belief that the supreme being in the form of a snake is pretty widespread.”
Those are references to Satan, who took the form of a snake in the Garden of Eden.
Not everyone identified with Adam, you know. Some took Satan as lord.
This article equivocates different meanings of the term "purpose".
A "purpose" may refer to something created with a conscious design. For instance a part of the machine was made for a purpose.
A "purpose" may refer to something that serves a function in working system that was not consciously designed, but the speaker is noting that it has a function. For example the ozone layer has a purpose in a workings of the ecosystem of Earth.
The logic of the article is beyond the redemption of constructive criticism I am afraid, but it does serve as a rich buffet of fallacious thought.
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