[devil's advocate] So far all legalizations of gay marriage and civil unions have been imposed by courts, not the legislature, over the objection of what polls show is a clear majority of Americans that opposes gay marriage. Marriage is not only a contract between two people, it's a contract between...

The debates over abortion, stem-cell research, animal rights, artificial intelligence, extraterrestrial intelligence, and many others, are essentially different forms of this question. Want to try and figure out a good answer? Some definitions that have been suggested before: 1. A life-form with hum...

This is a place for: *Learning and Discussing about the nature of beliefs that people may hold as dear and True *Learning and Discussing WHY individuals hold those beliefs as such *Discussing those beliefs and clearing up misconceptions for greater mutual understanding This is not a place for: * Ba...

Two cents: I'm of the opinion that rights are not natural or God-given. We have to create them one at a time. (Is universal primary education a right? Was it a right 200 years ago?) A new right is generally a good thing, unless there's some really obvious, practical reason that the new right is not ...

Just wondering what the general consensus is.

(Matty as The Tod)

I'm for it! *Hi Five*

The only explanations come from, well, "particle physics"-y definitions, instead of intuitive "real world" ones. I do remember trying to figure it out from my physics book at the time, but it was kinda like looking at the tables of quark characteristics. It seemed like a lot of ...

Jota probably has something better, zero, but from what I read on Wikipedia: The carrier particles of the weak force are the W and Z bosons (so W, Z Boson : weak force :: photon : electromagnetism). The W and Z are really heavy, unlike photons, so they break down really fast; even at the speed of li...

Thanks for your help, I have little tolerance for things that I consider boring and plain old physics sound pretty boring. I would really just like to learn some vocab. words in physics, like "entanglement" and learn a bit about the different particles, such as "bosons". Well, i...

"One nation under God" is less offensive than "One white nation" because people aren't as offended by it. Most people don't consider "under God" hate speech in the same way that a statement of white superiority would be, so it isn't. In assessing how bigoted a statement...

[Obviousman] All Christians with any education know that no one has any idea what time of year Jesus was born. The end of December was picked to coincide with pagan holidays to make conversion easier for pagans. The date doesn't matter -- Christians* have just agreed to celebrate something very impo...

I understand your point. I just say that, for a believer, it's meaningless. For a believer, there are truths that trascend the reason. I anticipated replies like that, which is why I structured my statement the way I did. Notice I didn't come right out and say "Believing something without proo...

Here's a good explanation of what it is.

So what do you guys think? Will a singularity happen? If so when, and why? If not, why not? What are possible consequences?

I don't believe that believing can be done mainly with our reason. You believe with your heart. And for that, evidence is meaningless. Being tenable or not for a certain belief is an irrelevant point. My point was that it doesn't make sense to believe with your heart, because there is no way to dec...

h_k: I must disagree with your assertion, Jota, that Indetectable = Non-existant. For all of human existance, there have been quasars in the far reaches of the galaxies. However, untill recently, we had not the foggiest idea that they existed, nor any way to detect them or their manifestations, sinc...

Re: The turtles. Can everyone agree that an undetectable turtle is, to all intents and purposes, the same thing as one that doesn't exist? Assuming new evidence doesn't come along. But if it's not availible now, we can't factor it into our consideration of whether a turtle exists or not. Now, the st...

That being said, I am not particularly pleased when they attempt to intrude on what I do in my private life. If I am involved with a girl who decides to have an abortion, I want her to be able to do so without some right wing anti-abortionist getting in the way. I believe that the only people who s...

Just a word about the whole "you can't prove a negative" thing: I think someone used the example of an undetectable turtle; prove one is not on your head. Simple. I define an undetectable turtle as a turtle which can never have any effect on anything. As it happens, a nonexistent turtle ha...

matty, were you matt2q or something similar on olde pweb? Yeah, I was mattq42. I wanted to change my handle, but I'm not very creative. :D I don't think that you have to be sure about something to beleive it. For example, I know that many relgions emphasize faith, which is to say that even though i...

eriador, Let me be more clear. You've been arguing that it is impossible to objectively know anything. That seems pretty compatible with agnosticism, but on religion, you say that to "not come to a decision" is intellectually cowardly. You see the apparent contradiction? How do you resolve...

From eriador, earlier: Somehow, agnosticism doesn't makes sense to me as a long-term theological idea. Yes, it's fine for somebody who is mulling it all over to be confused, but eventually one has to make a decision. To me, people who identify as agnostics and haven't gotten around to making up thei...

I don't beleive that it is impossible to know. I think that it's impossible to be sure, but it has to be one way or the other, and everybody has to at least lean one way. Not acknowledging your own feelings seems intellectually cowardly. Tell me if that made no sense... I guess I disagree because t...

Yeah, that sounds good.

But what about someone who has come to the conclusion that it is impossible to know whether God exists, and that therefore, it is useless to worry about it? Assuming intentions were good, is that intellectually cowardly?

eriador, Somehow, agnosticism doesn't makes sense to me as a long-term theological idea. Yes, it's fine for somebody who is mulling it all over to be confused, but eventually one has to make a decision. So you accept that it's perhaps a good idea to think about which metaphysical paradigm (to be as ...

Nope, sorry. Quantum entanglement does allow instantaneous action/reaction at a distance, of a kind, but not one that carries useful information. Say two electrons are entangled so that if one is at state A the other must be at state B. I measure the state of E1, and find it is at A. My partner who ...