Scientific dogma concerning origins of life proven wrong by…. Science.

More often than not when discussing/debating religious, ‘spiritual’, or otherwise fluffy people I get accused of having ‘faith’ in science the same way a fundamentalist has faith in Jesus. This most often comes up in the evolution/abiogenesis debate. See, creationists like to build this strawman ‘scientist’ who only believes in what she can see right in front of her, and then accuse said scientist of following a dogma when they profess acceptance of evolution. Apparently since we can’t watch evolution happen in real-time in front of our eyes it requires ‘faith’. Naturally, when you try explaining the evidence of the fossil record and genetic mapping and the myriad of reasons we accept evolution, they simply plug their ears and sing like an obstinant child.

So, for all of those who think that science is a ‘religion’ of its own, I present this story. It looks like the ‘holy writ’ of science has been proven wrong! It turns out that the origins of life on Earth most likely did not develope from a primordial soup as previously believed, but was spurred on through the chemical energy of the Earth itself through hydrothermal vents in the ocean.  A bit of scientific lore, having been accepted for over 80 years, was recently proven wrong. So, I guess we should take a moment to acknowledge that the creationists were right in exposing the erroneous views that we all…. Wait… What’s that you say?? This flawed knowledge wasn’t exposed by religion at all? It was scientists that overturned 8 decades of cannon??? Interesting…

See folks, that is the big flaw in the ‘science as religion’ argument. Science is not a set of beliefs, but merely a tool to uncover the nature of the world around us. The knowledge we gain through application of science is not perfect, but it is continually correcting and improving on itself. There is no scientific axiom – from the theory of evolution to Newton’s Laws – which will not be instantly questioned or even rejected in the light of compelling and rigorous evidence. When it a scientific notion is discovered to be wrong, then that notion gets changed to fit reality. Can the same be said for religion? How can it be considered a virtue that knowledge doesn’t change over the centuries?

Don’t hate me.

I know I haven’t been posting all that consistently. I know this. Sorry. See, there’s this school thing that takes up some of my time and with exam week I just haven’t had the time. I guess I suck at this blogging thing.

In fact, I’ve been doing some thinking specifically about the blog. I’d like to streamline my writing on here. While the current format of spewing whatever nonsense is going through my head onto the interwebs works ok, I am developing an agenda. The blog will be more focused and theme-ish. One of these days.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Anything you’d like to see on the blog here? I want to have like some recurring themes or weekly segments that I can do. Feel free to leave suggestions in the comments.

Creedocide!

This is funny. I recommend watching this video. DO IT!!

I’m part of something…

Iconoclasts Anonymous has been added to The Atheist Blogroll. You can see the blogroll in my sidebar. The Atheist blogroll is a community building service provided free of charge to Atheist bloggers from around the world. If you would like to join, visit Mojoey at Deep Thoughts for more information.

That said, there are some really great blogs on that blogroll! I encourage everyone to check it out and anyone else who’s blogging rhetoric tends toward the irreverent to sign right up.

Why are psychics surprised to get arrested for fraud?

There are times that I almost catch myself thinking of psychics as harmless delusional crackpots that provide entertainment for people with the money to throw away. These times generally don’t last long, however, since it’s always a matter of a very short period of time before I see something like this.

Janet Adams, 42, was arrested Thursday night and is being held in lieu of $500,000 bail at San Mateo County Jail.

Her alleged victim visited her Psychic and Crystal Vision shop in the Laurelwood Shopping Center in San Mateo “on a lark” in January for a tarot reading, said Steve Wagstaffe, San Mateo County’s chief deputy district attorney.

Adams persuaded her to make return trips, Wagstaffe said. On her third visit, Adams began to shake and cry, telling the woman that her husband would die of a heart attack if she didn’t immediately pay $13,000 for “special prayers,” the prosecutor said.

The woman promptly went to the bank and got the money, authorities said.

Over time, this disgusting skidmark on the underpants of society conned that little old lady out of $80,330! It happened a few months ago in San Francisco as well. Only that time the so-called psychic conned over a hunfred grand out of some woman after convincing her she was ‘cursed’. This type of thing is happening all over the world! These are just two examples of incidents withing a few miles of my house.

People ask what’s the harm? Well, this is the harm. Innocent people who simply don’t know any better or have never been taught critical thinking skills get abused while those of us who know better just sit back and nod knowingly at those poor schmucks and their ‘harmless fun’. The more people who are aware of the dangers of listening to/trusting scammers that call themselves psychics or mediums, the fewer potential vistims these asshats have. Those of us who know how to properly approach these topics need to stop being polite when a friend tells about their ‘psychic experience’. People tend to dislike skeptics and for good reason. A skeptic forces someone to face the idea that their deeply held beliefs might not stand on rational foundations. That is bitter medicine, but necessary to eliminate those who act as a virus on our society. Scammers and con artists have a much harder time selling their bullshit when people are more likely to question their premise.

The twilight of life…

I was sitting in the waiting room at the local VA Clinic today waiting for my appointment when I glanced up at the television and what else was on but Fox News. Not having much better to do I actually watched the pundits pundizing about Gov Blagoyehakhfch from IL and how his corruption casts doubts on Obama’s administration and other such nonsense. Then there was a commercial break. It is nice to know that Fox knows it’s demographic. During the break I watched a commercial for life insurance, one for medication to prevent heart attacks, and one for the AARP. Then I realized why I (along with most people I know) have never been able to relate to the reporting on that channel. It’s marketed toward senior citizens who are crotchety and bitter toward the younger generation.

Next time you listen to a Fox pundit, try to imagine that same person screaming at some damn kids to stay off his lawn or threatening to keep the baseball that went over their fence. It’s a remarkable similarity! So I suppose Bill O’Reilly isn’t really angry and delusional all the time. He just wants us all to stay off his lawn and quit making noise while he’s trying to watch Matlock.

*This pointless rant was brought to you by Fox News, ltd.

RIP

On dec 11, Betty Page died. I think that Betty Page did a lot of good for our society, albeit unintentionally. There is something to be said for someone who basically said ‘fuck-all’ to the social norms of the time, and I think that she helped the cause of the empowerment of women quite a bit. Now, these points are arguable, so feel free to disagree, but I always liked the persona and image portrayed by Miss Page. Even though she did turn into a religious loony and schizophrenic before she died, we’ll ignore that part…

In case you weren’t certain…

Mike Huckabee is still a douchebag. And Jon Stewart still rocks.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=213349&title=mike-huckabee-pt.-2

Sorry I couldn’t embed it.

What the hell?

These blogs don’t update themselves? I’ve been lied to!

I suppose I’ll write something of substance here pretty soon. I have final exams next week so right now my life is huge, pulsating ball of stress and inadequacy. Then I get to top it all off with a week of pure judgement. Oh well, in the meantime enjoy this fun little video!

A funny bit on gay marriage…

I read this article today and thought it was great. I now understand why the conserv-o-nazis want Prop 8 to pass so badly. They are convinced that this is a realistic possibility. Enjoy.

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/30475