tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23323026.post3355293624010547246..comments2023-10-09T07:16:37.801-07:00Comments on Duplicitous Primates: Dawkins and WeinbergAaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03435148918107602176noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23323026.post-36154452644218538852008-07-21T07:23:00.000-07:002008-07-21T07:23:00.000-07:00Oh you're just bitter.Lol! Just kidding. But that ...Oh you're just bitter.<BR/><BR/>Lol! Just kidding. But that would be the instant reaction if you were to say this to anyone in public. They would suggest you were bitter or depressed. Only philosophers and artists can get away publicly with telling the truth.<BR/><BR/>I totally agree. The distraction is mandatory for happiness. Our brains are not designed for better ultimate truth detection. Top cognitive scientists believe that depression is caused when the self-deception mechanisms of the brain break down. Melancholy people have more accurate perceptions of what others think about them according to studies. We can't handle the truth, so why do we seek it?<BR/><BR/>Religion and science are on the same coin. Religion seeks to invent a spiritual realm without good evidence, and science seeks either to create one from scratch or hopes to discover something someday which validates some spiritual inclination or provides a mystical sense of awe.<BR/><BR/>Normal people live in a fantasy world. And those who are melancholy are encouraged to try it too.Aaronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03435148918107602176noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23323026.post-13738836221006932392008-07-20T22:08:00.000-07:002008-07-20T22:08:00.000-07:00This gave me a lot to think about. Listening to W...This gave me a lot to think about. Listening to Weinberg was like listening to my father when I was growing up--he too was a physicist. I think a lot of what motivates people in the face of the inevitable tragedies of our respective existences is a yearning for what we hope will be a satisfying distraction, whether we realize it or not. There is no question that comedy has been used in literature and in our day-to-day lives as a powerful distractor from the miseries we all face. Religion provides the ultimate distraction because for those who buy into it, it promises to deny the ultimate tragedy altogether. Many scientists (and especially theorhetical physicists like my father was) also are motivated by a desire for distraction I think. Some of them spend their lives attempting to "understand" and explain the origins of the universe. I think that while there is absolutely a lot to be gained from such knowledge in general, I think that a strong motivating force behind the pursuit for the acquistion of this knowledge is that it gives the scientist a sort of sense of power or control over it in a way. But in the end, this too serves as a distraction. The truth is we're all doomed. No matter how it all started, it's all going to end at some finite time for each and every one of us. And the less we think about/ acknowledge it on a personal level, the happier we seem to be.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com