trashy Posted August 18, 2005 Share Posted August 18, 2005 I went to public school, I did the basics, I have 70+ credit hours of college. But in the last few months I have come to the sobering conclusion that I know absolutely DIDDLY-SQUAT about evolution and astronomy. I mean, why learn all that stuff when you know that the evil scientists are making all that evolution and big-bang stuff up any way? Besides, by the time the sun cools off or an asteroid crashes into us we'll all be long-gone to "that mansion in the sky" any way. So now I'm learning about our location in the milky way, and our galaxy's position in the local group, and looking at hundreds of mind-boggling Hubble photos. I even bought a little Astronomy primer by Isaac Asimov. I've got a lot of catching up to do..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilith Posted August 18, 2005 Share Posted August 18, 2005 Me too Trashy.....me too...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pandora Posted August 18, 2005 Share Posted August 18, 2005 Astronomy is mind blowing. It takes a lot to truly understand it, but not as much as evolution. Depends on if you are a concrete kind of guy or conceptual kind of guy. Good luck with your studies, I recommend Carl Sagan's books on basic astronomy. He does a good job making complex things a little easier to understand. At least I thought so, cuz I sure didn't understand the stuff as well when I took it in college. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ouroboros Posted August 18, 2005 Share Posted August 18, 2005 trashy, Yup! Happening to me too. And Philosophy has become my main subject now. Reading thoughts about meaning of life, God, free will, knowledge, politics and much more. I didn't know that pretty much everything about religion was debated and debunked until now... It's like a new life, and I regret that I didn't start earlier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trashy Posted August 18, 2005 Author Share Posted August 18, 2005 trashy, Yup! Happening to me too. And Philosophy has become my main subject now. Reading thoughts about meaning of life, God, free will, knowledge, politics and much more. I didn't know that pretty much everything about religion was debated and debunked until now... It's like a new life, and I regret that I didn't start earlier. I had philosophy in college, and lots of apologetics, so I didn't feel too cheated in that area. Just the sciences. Oh, and sexual experimentation without guilt - I'm catching up on that too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ouroboros Posted August 18, 2005 Share Posted August 18, 2005 Good for you. Wish I could do the catching up part too, but I'm a family guy now... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pandora Posted August 18, 2005 Share Posted August 18, 2005 Good for you. Wish I could do the catching up part too, but I'm a family guy now... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> No kids, but yeah.. ditto that. If my husband weren't so devoted to me and I didn't make vows, I would experiment too. I will die regretting I didn't get to screw all the men that showed interest (which still isn't that many). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pandora Posted August 18, 2005 Share Posted August 18, 2005 trashy, Yup! Happening to me too. And Philosophy has become my main subject now. Reading thoughts about meaning of life, God, free will, knowledge, politics and much more. I didn't know that pretty much everything about religion was debated and debunked until now... It's like a new life, and I regret that I didn't start earlier. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I have a bumper sticker on my car that says "Having abandoned my search for truth, I am now looking for a good fantasy." I bought it after pondering many of the things you mention. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Neil Posted August 21, 2005 Share Posted August 21, 2005 But in the last few months I have come to the sobering conclusion that I know absolutely DIDDLY-SQUAT about evolution and astronomy. I mean, why learn all that stuff when you know that the evil scientists are making all that evolution and big-bang stuff up any way?I honestly suspect that pretty much all of our creationist visitors have this same mentality that you just described, in which they "know" that it's all a lie, so they don't bother learning about it. Evolution is fairly simple once you get the hang of it. There's only a few minor things you have to keep in mind while studying it. Since I enjoy the topic emmensely, I'll do my part in sharing some of these pointers. 1. Evolution only refers to change in biology; not change from molecules into biology. The study of life origins belongs to a different field of science called biochemistry. For some reason, creationists just don't get the concept that you can't have a single theory to describe two completely different naturalistic processes. 2. Evolution is not goal oriented. In other words, birds didn't evolve wings to fly. They evolved wings because of a particular grab-and-pull mechanism found in raptorial dinosaurs which happened to be nearly identical to the mechanism found in the modern wing, and therefore that hunting mechanism became adaptable to flight. It's a matter of structure changing a little; function changing a lot. 3. Related to point #2, functionality changes in biology. What was the grabbing claw in one species is the wing in the next. The appendix, which is clearly part of the digestive system, has no function and instead acts as a very neglegable part of the immune system. Creationists are often fond of pointing out that the hind limbs of the whale are an essential component for giving birth, but they fail to mention that these structures, for no logical reason, still retrain the bones of digits; i.e. toes. It's very common in biology for structures to change function. Happens all the time. 4. "Dogs producing non-dogs" is a strawman fallacy often parroted by idiot liars like Kent Hovind. There isn't a biologist on the face of the Earth who will tell you that an animal can give birth to offspring that is incompatible to itself. Rather, a species only describes a particular group of interfertile organisms that has been isolated long enough so that they are no longer interbreedable with other similar groups. 5. "A rabbit is a rabbit is a rabbit." Another one of Kent Hovind's cheap stunts. Kent likes to tell the story of the Minnesota rabbits that can interbreed with rabbits from Alaska and Florida, but in his little tale, the Alaska and Forida rabbits are no longer interfertile. In a way Kent shoots himself in the foot, because if the Minnesota rabbits ever went extinct, then what we'd be left with would be a completely provable, real-time example of macro-evolution, because then the Alaska and Florida rabbits would be two distinct species. Of course, Hovind, never to be outdone, resorts to perhaps the most unscientific test of all... I'm serious, he really says this... He appeals to the sensability of a child, saying that even an adolesecant can tell you that both species are "clearly a rabbit". The irony here, is that most children who've not been indoctrinated with Christianity could also tell you that a human is "clearly a primate". Children are also rather good at spotting unmistable relationships between animals that Hovind would have us believe are not related, such as saying that a bird is "clearly a dinosaur". ... I hope my non-stop babbling has helped you understand evolution and some of the really bad arguments made by Christians. Of course, this is only the tip of the iceberg. There's no way I could simply make a single post to describe all of the nuances of evolution. My recommendation would be to go to Talk.Origins and start reading. Or if you have Science Channel, start watching every Monday night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedFox Posted August 23, 2005 Share Posted August 23, 2005 I find astronomy full of wonder. It goes from the scale of the entire universe to small scales during the Big Bang. I also find comparisons of different worlds fasciating. It makes me cry with wonder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
necrosmith Posted August 23, 2005 Share Posted August 23, 2005 No kids, but yeah.. ditto that. If my husband weren't so devoted to me and I didn't make vows, I would experiment too. I will die regretting I didn't get to screw all the men that showed interest (which still isn't that many). <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Quoted for truth. (Except in my case, Women) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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