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Hacker irked by reincarnation

tech.blog.aknin.name

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Re: Hacker irked by reincarnation

#31

Post by mping »

emilchacko wrote: post #13

I personally feel that there is no need of any sort of 'scientific' investigations into reincarnation,because these things where already researched by buddists and hindus and several other religions.Just reading their literature can give enough insight on reincarnation.For those interested: Astavarka Gita : - https://docs.google.com/open?id=1IJWnCEJupB1VHxyheLwnvsnMzxq... Raja Yoga :- https://docs.google.com/open?id=…

Although I see your point, I'm not sure that most of the hackers here would agree with you. It's almost like there was a different universe where this universe's physics laws would not apply. People cannot grasp physics in this new universe if they try to use the same methods from their known universe.

Science, currently, has no way to "prove" reincarnation because its current paradigm cannot support a way for reincarnation to work. Lukcily, we don't need science to prove EVERYTHING to know that something's true or false ;)

Re: Hacker irked by reincarnation

#32

Post by kmm »

simonh wrote: post #16
dhechols wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> To speak candidly, I always found it irritating when Atheists and Secular "thinkers" would attack me for being religious and a scientist at the same time, as if my religion must somehow stunf my intellectual capability. I would think so. How can you say, "I'm a scientist, I'll construct experiments and observe results to understand reality," and then go believe that there's a dude in the universe that's omnipotent…

I was thinking "Do people really attack you for being religious in that way? Surely not." And yet here we have someone doing just that. How sad. Human beings believe things without a shred of credible evidence all the time. In fact, taking things on faith is a valuable, even vital intellectual short-cut that allows us to get on with doing stuff without having to work out every detail of our lives from first principle…

He wasn't attacking him. What's sad is that you need to feel persecuted.

The point is exactly as you say, just because you have faith you don't get any privileges. I and many others cannot understand how one can bring the empiricism inherent to science in accordance with the irrationality of faith. (And I don't use irrational as an insult here, I just mean that faith isn't based on a rational basis). It's not attacking for finding that incredulous.

I think of myself as a scientist and a rational person, yet I believe in some form of an immortal soul, or at least that the mind is not physical. I absolutely don't feel like I should be free from scepticism and even if I did I wouldn't feel attacked if someone questioned my "faith".

EDIT: A single downvote and no reply. That means I'm right, right?

Re: Hacker irked by reincarnation

#33

Post by yaniv_aknin »

olavk wrote: post #22

The blogger claims that the research was ignored without any consideration, but comments points out that the research have been considered, but rejected as pseudoscience.

And I replied to the comment: I’m not happy with the ‘bunch of scientists claiming crazy stuff’ bit. I’m especially unhappy about these scientists still teaching classes, or worse, leading sections of hospitals.

If they are correct, let’s research this more. If they are not, let’s have a proper refute and be done with it. If their research and methodology are ‘so flawed as not to be worthy of a proper refute’, why does anyone publish their papers and why aren’t they promptly thrown out of their respective academic organizations?

meh. I guess I should get back to Pythoneering.

Re: Hacker irked by reincarnation

#34

Post by philwelch »

anamax wrote: post #8
cup wrote: post #3

To speak candidly, I always found it irritating when Atheists and Secular "thinkers" would attack me for being religious and a scientist at the same time, as if my religion must somehow stunf my intellectual capability. Furthermore, more often than not, the loudest champions for science are the ones furthest away from the scientific field. I've never seen such hyperbole or purist/fundamentalist views about science ex…

> To speak candidly, I always found it irritating when Atheists and Secular "thinkers" would attack me for being religious and a scientist at the same time, as if my religion must somehow stunf my intellectual capability. FWIW, Knuth (yes, that one) is fairly religious. Anyone want to claim that he's stunted? Be sure to include supporting evidence.

FWIW, computer science is like mathematics--it's largely an exercise in logic and doesn't require any deep commitment to an empirical worldview.

Re: Hacker irked by reincarnation

#35

Post by anamax »

philwelch wrote: post #34
anamax wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> To speak candidly, I always found it irritating when Atheists and Secular "thinkers" would attack me for being religious and a scientist at the same time, as if my religion must somehow stunf my intellectual capability. FWIW, Knuth (yes, that one) is fairly religious. Anyone want to claim that he's stunted? Be sure to include supporting evidence.

FWIW, computer science is like mathematics--it's largely an exercise in logic and doesn't require any deep commitment to an empirical worldview.

I'll bite - how often does a belief in intelligent design instead of evolution matter?

For example, does it matter at all to a particle physicist? How about a chemist? How about materials science?

Newton thought that he'd be remembered as an alchemist....

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