Things you always wanted to know the answer to [Vol. 4]

[bigpriest]

Frank7 said:

I’d agree with that, book, luck, and look certainly don’t sound the same in Cockneyland, book and look, yes, but never luck.

Frank7, glad to see you're back - you started all this linguistic tomfoolery with your army story - no one is any clearer how any of the words are pronounced.

[Clockwork Cupcake]

Frank7 said:

Naturally, they were in business to make a profit, and quite right too, but their supercilious, condescending, and superior attitude, made me think that they just saw me as a mug to be shaken down for as much as they could take me for.

I think that's a universal attitude of most shopkeepers, particularly if you are considered an "outsider" (by whatever definition of it that they have). I think you're on dangerous ground suggesting that this is confined to Jews.

[Flibble]

Initforthemoney said:

What are the giant white dots and squares painted in the middle of the lanes on dual carriageways and some motorways for?

They're vascar distance marks when checking a target vehicle's speed.

[StevieBee]

Cantaloupe said:

Bit of an easy one really.

Why has religion lasted so long into the modern age ?

Thousands of years ago civilisations would worship, pray, supplicate and sacrifice their children to Sun, Moon, sundry astrological events because if they didn't crops would fail, droughts, earthquakes and pestilence would befall the land.

After a few more centuries they saw through that old swaddling wrap but were still keen NOT to embrace the novel idea that humans were alone on this planet and were the masters of their own destiny and that all seeing Gods were a busted flush, but no we started worshipping humans as divine beings, Pharaohs, Kings, Emperors, Popes .and we soon discovered after a few centuries that they were mere weak mortals who pissed, shat, fornicated, farted and died of syphilis like the rest of us .

So why, in this age of mass communication do half the world still believe in sky fairies ?

It’s far from an easy one – as the few posters to reply so far have demonstrated. But I’ll give it a go.

I’d say there are several reasons.

Looking at the UK (and by default, the many nations that we have helped to shape over the years), region has been instrumental in shaping who we are. Our system of governance and law is rooted in religion. The Queen sits between God and the Church; one above the Archbishop of Canterbury. So in many ways, religion is completely ingrained into our DNA to a level that would be almost impossible to legislate for its removal.

In other, less advantaged countries, religion is all people have. They lack the comforts we enjoy so the only comfort they have is their belief in a better life to come. When you have nothing, I would imagine this to be a hugely motivating force.

And whilst it is all too easy to point to all the wrongs that religion has been responsible for, it’s easier still to overlook the good that it does and the comfort it provides to millions around the world. Regardless of one’s opinion on the accuracy of the prophecies and promises contained within religion, one shouldn’t deny the benefits to those who do ‘believe’ the right to enjoy the comfort of so doing.

Religion is simply the belief in something unproven. It’s a man-made construct designed to channel what for some is an overriding, all empowering sense of faith that cannot be explained rationally. Two modern examples of a modern religion is Climate Change and Brexit.

With Brexit, you have people who believe that leaving the EU is the right thing to do, even in the face of evidence to the contrary. They choose to ‘believe’ that the evidence is wrong and their faith is placed upon leaving.

Climate Change is something supported by the majority of the scientific community but there are many that choose to ignore this and hold faith in that all’s good.

The only difference with these two examples is that I guess we’ll all find out who’s right in this life, not the next, if indeed that’s your faith as to what is to come.

(I don’t want to get into a Brexit / Climate Change debate – just using them examples of a religious construct in the form of timely secanrios).

[Jaroon]

captain_cynic said:

Flibble said:

Jaroon said:

You believe in atoms though you've never seen them, you believe in gravity though I guarantee you don't actual know how it works.

It is possible to "see" atoms though, with the right sort of microscope.
Likewise I can see that gravity works - I don't have to "believe" it, I can observe it.

This,

The difference between faith and proof is observability and disprovability. We know that gravity exists because we can test it time and time again and get the same answer. We can prove it.

Faith on the other hand requires that any evidence to the contrary is ignored.

However above all else, if proof demonstrates that our understanding of gravity is wrong, we will change and adapt to fit the new evidence. You don't do that with "beleif".

Just playing devils advocate really and any cheap shot at my spelling does not serve you well as it's your precious science that diagnosed me as dyslexic . Anyway your point on religion requiring faith and science not is just wibble mate why not accept it honestly?

The "evidence" is our world is fairly solid and populated but you take on faith that it is 99.999% nothingness, you accept this (as do I) but we are accepting it on faith mate because neither of us can prove it, we can choose to believe people who tell us they can prove it. Gravity works because Hindus pray to Vishnu, maybe if they stoppped we'd all float away, maybe, they've never stopped. Pascal's Wager, I'm happy to let them keep their faith just in case. What really does peeve is the basically ignorant (you and me) having the self-righteous, miss placed condescension to tell others they are wrong without knowing what is right and being ironically as guilty as those they say are blinkered and indoctrinated,

Edited by Jaroon on Monday 12th August 17:07

[StevieBee]

Jaroon said:

What really does peeve is the basically ignorant (you and me) having the self-righteous, miss placed condescension to tell others they are wrong without knowing what is right and being ironically as guilty as those they say are blinkered and indoctrinated,

Very good point.

The phrase 'Magical Sky Fairy' is one that really grates with me and not because it's a childish, shallow thing to utter. For anyone prone to use it, try visiting a hospice and use it in the company of someone praying for their terminally ill wife, husband, mother, father, child.....and see how you get on.

[djc206]

Jaroon said:

Just playing devils advocate really and any cheap shot at my spelling does not serve you well as it's your precious science that diagnosed me as dyslexic . Anyway your point on religion requiring faith and science not is just wibble mate why not accept it honestly?

The "evidence" is our world is fairly solid and populated but you take on faith that it is 99.999% nothingness, you accept this (as do I) but we are accepting it on faith mate because neither of us can prove it, we can choose to believe people who tell us they can prove it. Gravity works because Hindus pray to Vishnu, maybe if they stoppped we'd all float away, maybe, they've never stopped. Pascal's Wager, I'm happy to let them keep their faith just in case. What really does peeve is the basically ignorant (you and me) having the self-righteous, miss placed condescension to tell others they are wrong without knowing what is right and being ironically as guilty as those they say are blinkered and indoctrinated,

Edited by Jaroon on Monday 12th August 16:59

Edited by Jaroon on Monday 12th August 17:01

That you can’t prove something doesn’t mean that it’s not proven though. It has been proven by others and that’s enough. I don’t have to take any of it on faith, unlike religion. Science is also kind enough to publish its findings, there are hundreds of scientific journals which comprehensively detail the experiments they have carried out to help enlighten us as a race.

The mental gymnastics that religious folks are prepared to perform to try and rationalise/justify their beliefs amuse me highly.

[StevieBee]

Initforthemoney said:

What are the giant white dots and squares painted in the middle of the lanes on dual carriageways and some motorways for?

Aren't they mile markers to assist police when following speeding motorists or something like that?

[NoVetec]

Jaroon said:

Just playing devils advocate really and any cheap shot at my spelling does not serve you well as it's your precious science that diagnosed me as dyslexic . Anyway your point on religion requiring faith and science not is just wibble mate why not accept it honestly?

The "evidence" is our world is fairly solid and populated but you take on faith that it is 99.999% nothingness, you accept this (as do I) but we are accepting it on faith mate because neither of us can prove it, we can choose to believe people who tell us they can prove it. Gravity works because Hindus pray to Vishnu, maybe if they stoppped we'd all float away, maybe, they've never stopped. Pascal's Wager, I'm happy to let them keep their faith just in case. What really does peeve is the basically ignorant (you and me) having the self-righteous, miss placed condescension to tell others they are wrong without knowing what is right and being ironically as guilty as those they say are blinkered and indoctrinated,

Edited by Jaroon on Monday 12th August 17:07

I don't think CC was mocking spelling mistakes, just made a genuine typo.

Everyone's certainly ignorant in a way, the smartest person with the best memory who learnt many a thing in their lifetime would still die with far more to learn in the world than they had learnt.

I couldn't disagree with you more on Pascal's Wager though.

[anonymous-user]

StevieBee said:

Aren't they mile markers to assist police when following speeding motorists or something like that?

Usually:

Square is VASCAR
Round is a measured mile
Two smaller round dots side by side are section markers for maintenance reference (usually on the centreline of a bridge, end of a slip, start of a layby etc)

[Initforthemoney]

OpulentBob said:

StevieBee said:

Aren't they mile markers to assist police when following speeding motorists or something like that?

Usually:

Square is VASCAR
Round is a measured mile
Two smaller round dots side by side are section markers for maintenance reference (usually on the centreline of a bridge, end of a slip, start of a layby etc)

Cheers.

[Bill]

NoVetec said:

I couldn't disagree with you more on Pascal's Wager though.

https://youtu.be/91DSNL1BEeY

[Clockwork Cupcake]

I think the biggest difference between science and religion is that with science if new facts come to light which disagree with the theory, then the theory is refined. Whereas with religion, the attempt is made to explain away the facts.

(I used "theory" in the scientific sense rather than the colloquial sense. The confusion between the two gives rise to retorts like "It's only a theory" which shows a lack of understanding of what a scientific theory is)

[Jaroon]

djc206 said:

That you can’t prove something doesn’t mean that it’s not proven though. It has been proven by others and that’s enough.

I rest my case

[djc206]

Jaroon said:

djc206 said:

That you can’t prove something doesn’t mean that it’s not proven though. It has been proven by others and that’s enough.

I rest my case

How so?

[V8mate]

StevieBee said:

(I don’t want to get into a Brexit / Climate Change debate – ...

... but retain the right to be disparaging and condescending?

You're better than that, Steve.

[Ayahuasca]

How long will human civilisation carry on developing?

I watched one of those space documentaries about interstellar travel in the far distant future and it assumed that humans had built ion-drive spaceships etc

Can anyone see technological development on earth lasting long enough for that? I mean, we seem to be running out of clean air and oceans now, sea levels rising, rainforests being destroyed. How many more generations do we have left?

[Dr Jekyll]

Ayahuasca said:

How long will human civilisation carry on developing?

I watched one of those space documentaries about interstellar travel in the far distant future and it assumed that humans had built ion-drive spaceships etc

Can anyone see technological development on earth lasting long enough for that? I mean, we seem to be running out of clean air and oceans now, sea levels rising, rainforests being destroyed. How many more generations do we have left?

Air is getting cleaner, sea levels are not rising any faster than before, forest cover is increasing in developed countries, life expectancy is increasing. We aren't going extinct any time soon.

[Clockwork Cupcake]

Dr Jekyll said:

Air is getting cleaner, sea levels are not rising any faster than before, forest cover is increasing in developed countries, life expectancy is increasing. We aren't going extinct any time soon.

Assuming we don't nuke ourselves back to the stone age, that is.

[StevieBee]

Ayahuasca said:

How long will human civilisation carry on developing?

I watched one of those space documentaries about interstellar travel in the far distant future and it assumed that humans had built ion-drive spaceships etc

Can anyone see technological development on earth lasting long enough for that? I mean, we seem to be running out of clean air and oceans now, sea levels rising, rainforests being destroyed. How many more generations do we have left?

We're certainly putting the world under the sort of pressure it's not experienced previously wether its hoovering up natural resources faster than they can replenish or contributing to a shift in climate, etc. But......our awareness of these things is greater to as is our ability to remedy the wrongs. All that remains is the debate as to the means of remedy.

I've read that there is a widely held belief that the first person to live to 150 has already been born so it stands to reason that if this holds true, then the collective brain power accumulating knowledge will be come ever greater and thus the route to interstellar travel become a little closer....this of course assumes that they do not spend their last 50 years on earth peeing in the seat they sit it at a home somewhere.