- Posts tagged Rationalism
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Why did God make rainbows?
Mysteries can be solved. Just ask questions that begin with "How" instead of "Why".
John Hobby is a reader of the blog and a Facebook pal, and the other night he told me a little story about rainbows. I'd like to share it with you today.
"As a young man I was taught that rainbows were God's promise never to flood the Earth again, and it stifled my curiosity about it. I was like "Oh okay, that's nice of God to remind us during rain storms, nothing else to know there."""But I do remember thinking that it was a contradiction, because I had seen rain storms cause flooding; especially in the desert where I grew up."
So after hearing that tale I did some poking around, and wouldn't you know it, the rainbow/flood myth goes all the way back to the bible. The reason that rainbows were the topic of our discussion was because John had already shared a recording of an MIT lecture earlier that evening; a lecture about the real physics of rainbows. While the video was an exciting lesson on the geometry within a common phenomenon, somehow John's personal story of divine promises gone unfulfilled, captured my imagination the most.
An Open Letter to Skeptics on Google+. Go Back to Facebook!
This morning I started penning a short little post on Google+ that quickly spiralled out of control. It became long enough that I thought I'd share it here as well, especially because the blog's been a little light on content leading up to tomorrow's grand debut of my super-secret science advocacy project! Tune in tomorrow to see what that is!
The reason I wrote the following is because Google+ is unique in the social media landscape. I've never met so many skeptics, atheists, and secularists so quickly! For whatever reason the social dynamics of that service are such that large droves of like-minded people can get in touch with one another very quickly.
Reason is No Reason
Many of my blog posts so far, while mostly rambling and nonsensical, have focused on issues pertaining to science and reason. While I doubt that a single one of them has been read end-to-end, and that most have been disregarded entirely, I've at least attempted to chronicle my thoughts on these ideas, for better or worse.
Why do so, beyond an overt attempt to bore some and ostracize others, you might ask? I've picked up hints that some people, made up at least partly by those who disagree with the conclusions I've drawn, would consider me at best long-in-the-tooth, and at worst a pompous ass. Since both of these assertions are largely accurate, I won't attempt to dispel them.
Wikipedia, My Eternal Love
How much you fulfill me, how perfect a match are we? It seems I don't know the man I was before we became one. I look back at my history and wonder how I ever functioned without you in my life.
Oh how you stimulate. Where else could one find, in the span of 15 minutes, comprehensive summaries of ideas as varied as neotny, quantum entanglement, and coprophagia?
What other companion could I arouse from it's slumber, troubled by a throbbing question about the origins of the Shangri-La myth, and who would then drop everything to quickly satisfy me?
Oh yes, there are naysayers that claim that relying on you for fulfillment isn't good for me, that since you're a user-edited resource, you're prone to bias and can be inaccurate. However, as is often the case, these people are just repeating an idea they heard somewhere without doing any critical thinking on the matter.
I'm sure most of them are unaware of the study published in 'Nature', one of the world's foremost peer-reviewed science journals, that found you and Encyclopedia Britannica to have the same prevalence of errors, seeming to make you as good a casual resource for information as any on earth.
And I doubt that they've heard the endorsements I have. Many a pre-eminent expert in a variety of fields, when reviewing articles on their area of expertise, express shock at how comprehensive and accurate you really are.
I'm certain you're not incorruptible, and as any good skeptic must, I keep my mind open and critically examine any information you tell me.
Nobody's perfect, and I assume the same must be true for you. But love is blind to such things.
Marry Science, Bang Art, and Murder Business
I just couldn't help myself. Here's the first real podcast, in that is has a theme and isn't just some rambling nonsense claiming not to be a podcast. It's short, but it's here.
Just give me 5 minutes of your time, and I'll waste it.
