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Ayn Rand And Her Legacy Of Idiotic Objectivists
Toogood Reports ^ | December 30, 2001 | Charles A. Morse

Posted on 12/29/2001 12:09:43 AM PST by Starmaker

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To: texson66
I would not expect a web site whose name is Answers in Genesis to have unbiased information about evolution. It would be foolish for the editors of such a site to publish anything that does fit their agenda.
161 posted on 12/29/2001 12:17:32 AM PST by pcl
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To: pcl
One could say that of any web site which advocates creation or evolution
162 posted on 12/29/2001 12:17:34 AM PST by texson66
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To: College Repub
2 after the writers of the constitution.

Get serious. The Constitution remains un-read by the vast majority of Congresscretins--or at least, totally disregarded by them. You can explain Congressional actions by the light of the Constitution???? Come, now.

163 posted on 12/29/2001 12:17:35 AM PST by ninenot
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To: antienvironmentalist
a slow process of chemicals and environmental conditions

You may speak for your own ancestors. I will claim Adam & Eve. Based on the 4th graph of your response, perhaps the chemicals you descended from were rather inert.

164 posted on 12/29/2001 12:17:35 AM PST by ninenot
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To: College Repub
I believe I also read somewhere that Ayn Rand was the one author that everyone in the House and Senate have read something by. Perhaps everyone is an exageration, but I'd bet she comes in #2 after the writers of the constitution. Ha Ha. Do you honestly believe the founding fathers are actually widely read by those in the House and the Senate?
165 posted on 12/29/2001 12:17:35 AM PST by nickcarraway
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To: College Repub
I believe I also read somewhere that Ayn Rand was the one author that everyone in the House and Senate have read something by. Perhaps everyone is an exageration, but I'd bet she comes in #2 after the writers of the constitution. Ha Ha. Do you honestly believe the founding fathers are actually widely read by those in the House and the Senate?
166 posted on 12/29/2001 12:17:35 AM PST by nickcarraway
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To: texson66
One could say that of any web site which advocates creation or evolution

Yes, that is true. Any web site that advocates any agenda is useful only to those who agree with the agenda.

I do think the scientists working in a pure scientific domain such as biology or information science are generally biased towards the truth as revealed by the scientific method.

167 posted on 12/29/2001 12:17:36 AM PST by pcl
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To: Physicist
, we do observe evolution going on all around us

Careful, or some smartass like me will ask you if you think evolution means progress...because if you do, you are in DEEP trouble.

168 posted on 12/29/2001 12:17:36 AM PST by ninenot
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To: scottiewottie
Grasses and trees, third day. Sun and moon lighting the earth, fourth day.

You trying to tell us that trees can't make one day without sunshine??? You must be a city slicker.

169 posted on 12/29/2001 12:18:03 AM PST by ninenot
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To: Askel5
staunch atheist materialism is the Achilles heel by which she's just a gateway drug to an allegedly just but essentially selfish and purely material world.

And as YOU well know, we are then back to Communism. Strange how that works, ain'a??

170 posted on 12/29/2001 12:18:12 AM PST by ninenot
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To: pcl
What? You never heard of the UFF? All scientists, especially biologists, occasionally have to use the UFF to get their data to agree with accepted theory! UFF = Universal Fudge Factor.

I find it strange that when the probability of random creation is discussed with some thoughtful math analysis, the argument from the evolutionist is then based on an "ad homnem" attack. Just an observation...

171 posted on 12/29/2001 12:18:15 AM PST by texson66
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To: texson66
You said: the argument from the evolutionist is then based on an "ad homnem" attack

But just before that, you said: All scientists, especially biologists, occasionally have to use the UFF to get their data to agree with accepted theory!

And then I laughed out loud.

172 posted on 12/29/2001 12:18:16 AM PST by pcl
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To: ninenot
Careful, or some smartass like me will ask you if you think evolution means progress...

If you did, I would answer that question with a question: "do you think complexity is progress?"

173 posted on 12/29/2001 12:18:21 AM PST by Physicist
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To: catpuppy
Care to list just one example?

The Granny Smith apple.

174 posted on 12/29/2001 12:18:22 AM PST by Physicist
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Comment #175 Removed by Moderator

To: pcl
Information Theory is a field of science create by Claude Shannon to help study the transfer of information via digital media.

Information theory has a couple main branches, the Shannon branch (coding theory) and the Kolmogorov branch (algorithmic complexity) being the most important in my opinion. Coding theory is extraordinarily practical as an area of mathematics, but algorithmic complexity is the so fundamental to the very nature of things such as intelligence and the limits of knowledge that it boggles the mind. There are numerous stunning realizations to be had in the Kolmogorov realm of things, many of which have only been formalized in the last decade or so. The elegance of it all is breathtaking. In my humble opinion, there are more fantastic insights into our universe in Kolmogorov complexity (broadly speaking) than there is in any other branch of mathematics.

Nothing can blow the mind like a stiff dose of Godel and Kolmogorov to the uninitiated; it beats drugs and has far more utility, though perhaps not the way most people want to spend a Friday evening.

176 posted on 12/29/2001 12:18:29 AM PST by tortoise
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To: antienvironmentalist
How can I be sure? Glad you asked, my friend.

Yes, I was serious about the Nation of Islam thing. I most certainly was. I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my Saviour at the age of 23. My late teens and very early 20's were my "Malcolm X" stage. It can be rightly said that I didn't care for white people very much then. I used to be ashamed to say that, but I'm not ashamed to admit this anymore. Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson has written similar things about his life.

What can I say? I was young and full of it.

Now, I've never been one who used drugs. Marijuana made me both sleepy and hungry, so I didn't see what all the fuss was about or how you could have fun using it. I witnessed junkies in East Cleveland who shot up at the bus stop. I saw the effects of freebase, heroin, and crack. My father always said that if you want to know what drugs will do to you, just watch someone who uses them. I drank then, but was never an alcoholic.

I tell you all this to demonstrate that I was under no narcotic or prescribed medication when this happened. I was not hallucinating. I didn't say that I "saw" Him. He spoke to me, and told me who He was which lined up squarely with what His Word says. I didn't know much about the Bible, so how was I to know? But this is what He did.

It was because of Him that I realized my dislike for white people was pure evil. He showed me that this was not His way.

And I've never looked at white people with evil in my eyes again. Why? Because He did what no one else could do: change my heart.

You say that He won't reveal Himself to you because He doesn't exist. My friend, His creation speaks to his existence. But I cannot force you to "see" Him. This is up to you.

I hope that you will one day come to a full revelation of Christ. Until then, stay safe my friend. We may disagree, but I don't hold anything against you.

177 posted on 12/29/2001 12:18:30 AM PST by rdb3
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To: SamAdams76
I think she's a great thinker and I have adopted much of her philosophy. Perhaps the greatest contribution she has made to my life was to free me from worrying about what others thought about me. Now I can be totally honest with people with how I think without feeling any guilt.

For me it was the ability to actually come to moral judgements in the first place.

But she had some flaws in her character and philosophy as well. After all, she is human too. Thus I find those in her inner circle ("The Collective") such as Peikoff to be sort of creepy because they are so slavishly devoted to her and her philosophy that they seem to have no minds of their own.

LOL! You too? Thank God <ahem> for The Objectivist Center. (Hey - does that constitute the Objectivist Reformation???)

178 posted on 12/29/2001 12:18:35 AM PST by jennyp
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To: texson66
I find it strange that when the probability of random creation is discussed with some thoughtful math analysis,...

It may be thoughtful math but it isn't thoughtful analysis. Evolutionary "creation" isn't a random process, it is a self-organizing one.

179 posted on 12/29/2001 12:18:50 AM PST by mlo
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To: tortoise
I like your profile. I am an old geezer that has been there and done that. You sound like bright young man who is going places and who is well armed for the journey.

Lose as if you like it; win as if you were used to it. --Tommy Hitchcock

180 posted on 12/29/2001 12:19:14 AM PST by pcl
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