Letters to the Editor
Serai1
Published Letters: 503 Editor's Choice: 32
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Interesting stuff
[Read the article: We are meant to be here]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The assertions about time remind me of Joseph Campbell's distinction about time and eternity: time is what we have inside the universe of perception and experience, but eternity is what there is outside of the universe, where there is no time. Hence, eternity is not eons and eons of time, but the state of simply being without time.
These are fun arguments, but to quote Slartibartfast, "I think the chances of us finding out what's really going on are so remote that the only real answer is to say 'Hang the sense of it' and just keep yourself occupied."
Oh and I'd just LOVE to cane the next guy who tries to use Occam's Razor as a way to give a scientific explanation the upper hand against the religious. Occam was a minister as well as a natural philosopher, and he developed his theory to prove the existence of God, not the other way around. Hearing a scientist try to use it to boost his own viewpoint is rather like hearing a fundamentalist trying to twist science to support his views. It's dishonest, because for all the yammer about science being "simpler", it isn't at all. Scientific theories are far more complicated than the idea that things happen because God did it, and that's all. That explanation is so simple a child could get it. Good luck trying to get a five-year-old to understand quantum physics. (I think the confusion is in the fact that scientists seem to conflate the term "simple" with "elegant" or "logical". That's a semantic fallacy that never fails to make me chuckle.)
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@Anonymous
[Read the article: Japanese history lessons]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...it's just that it's against other races, not other Asians.
The traditional Japanese attitude towards the Ainu tribespeople, who are also Asian, rather belies your statement, there.
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Late coming back, but as they say
[Read the article: We are meant to be here]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...better late than never.
For those of you trying to get my goat about what I said regarding Occam's Razor, you are seriously wrong.
First off: I never said my statements came from a religious viewpoint. I happen to be very much against religious bashing of science. But I'm also against SLOPPY ARGUMENTS. My point was made not about the validity of science, but the validity of taking someone else's words and twisting them for one's own purposes. No matter WHO you are, or what you're defending, that is basically dishonest. If the fundies can't do it, the scientists can't do it either.
Second: The idea of science being "simpler" is indeed a fallacy. That it is better, more logical, more elegant (while I certainly agree with that) is not the point. It is not simpler.
The religious argument goes, "God made the world". You can't get simpler than that. It may be ignorant or superstitious or what-have-you (not that I make those kinds of snap judgments, unlike many), but it is very definitely simpler. Scientific knowledge requires years of study and a willingness to apply oneself to the pursuit of knowledge that is not easily gotten. By definition it is more complex.
THAT is the argument I was making. Not that science is somehow wrong, but that it is more complicated. Is anybody here going to claim that it isn't? Really? Than why do so many people who are lazy, cowed or happy in their ignorance reject it? If it were simpler, any asinine idiot could grasp the concepts of science.
And last, to the idea that my argument is "trivial" or "insignificant": Excuse me, but I do not consider the spectacle of scientists misusing an argument, ignoring its creator's intended purpose, and twisting words and concepts to score points over the opposition to be "trivial". When you pull that kind of crap, you're just as bad as your opposite. It puts the scientists who do it on the same level as the fundies who rewrite Darwin and claim the upper hand just because they can spin words around for the ignorant.
Sorry, but no thanks. Just as much as religion, science must prove itself by its own merits, not by semantic trickery. I happen to believe that it can do just that. Apparently, there are some here who think it can't, and that it needs such shenanigans. Shame on you.
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Out NOW
[Read the article: My new roommate arrived ... with mom attached!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The fact that the girl brought her mother without telling anyone is quite simply against the terms of the agreement as you have related them here. That alone is reason to ask them to leave. Then there's the not wanting to go - big no-no. If the resident asks a person to leave her house, and that person stays on regardless, that person is TRESPASSING. Illegal. OUT.
And then there's the "sickness". I don't know of any sickness that is serious enough to require a minder yet light enough to allow someone to work and socialize WITHOUT that minder. That sounds extremely suspicious to me.
It's YOUR living space. You are the only authorized resident there at the moment. This girl is a johnny-come-lately who traipsed into YOUR house thinking she can do as she pleases. Absolutely not! You have every right to REQUIRE them to leave.
Politeness is a person's worst enemy in situations like this, because people who take advantage (whether con artists, which seems likely, or not) can smell politeness a mile away, and will use it against you. If you keep being nice, they'll just dig in and never leave. No way.
They violated the terms of the agreement the minute they walked in, sorry. Do yourself and your roommates a favor. Tell these two they have to leave this weekend. BOTH OF THEM. Be firm, be stubborn, be whatever you have to be. But get them out of your house and out of your life. It's your right, so take it.