Hard-Wired For God

[Atheist-Lite]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 103828.htm

Humans 'Predisposed' to Believe in Gods and the Afterlife

ScienceDaily (July 14, 2011) — A three-year international research project, directed by two academics at the University of Oxford, finds that humans have natural tendencies to believe in gods and an afterlife.

The £1.9 million project involved 57 researchers who conducted over 40 separate studies in 20 countries representing a diverse range of cultures. The studies (both analytical and empirical) conclude that humans are predisposed to believe in gods and an afterlife, and that both theology and atheism are reasoned responses to what is a basic impulse of the human mind.

(continued)

[Geoff]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 103828.htm

Humans 'Predisposed' to Believe in Gods and the Afterlife

ScienceDaily (July 14, 2011) — A three-year international research project, directed by two academics at the University of Oxford, finds that humans have natural tendencies to believe in gods and an afterlife.

The £1.9 million project involved 57 researchers who conducted over 40 separate studies in 20 countries representing a diverse range of cultures. The studies (both analytical and empirical) conclude that humans are predisposed to believe in gods and an afterlife, and that both theology and atheism are reasoned responses to what is a basic impulse of the human mind.

(continued)

Doesn't seem to be much new in there, other than the size of the study helping to strengthen the existing theory. It's no different to what RD puts forward in TGD.

[Atheist-Lite]

Garbage In Garbage Out

I'd like to know more about who funded this study and what their motives are or really are?

[JimC]

Just gimme a fine little wire, a delicate electrode with just the right of current...

Straight to the pleasure center of my brain...

Better than sex!

Possibly even better than gin!

Certainly better than gods...

[Rum]

As George Bernard Shaw put it: 'The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one'.

[Atheist-Lite]

As George Bernard Shaw put it: 'The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one'.

Try fermenting your own religion....some really do take off?

[Cormac]

As George Bernard Shaw put it: 'The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one'.

Try fermenting your own religion....some really do take off?

Last night, I went to sleep, only to be awoken when a bright light burst into my bedroom - as my eyes adjusted, I could see it was the angel Sabriel, beckoning me to follow him.

I followed him to a grotto, where he presented me with two platinum tablets, inscribed with the "True Technologies of God" (tm).

Next, he invited me into his spaceship, and after the initiation ceremony* he plugged me into his universal quantum machine. He downloaded all the revelations of the divine directly into my brain by using the magnetic quantum foam.

I have been instructed by the One True God (Intergalactic Shogun Xarple697) to found the first and only true religion on earth. God is sorely pained that despite his repeated efforts, earthlings have still failed to grasp his fundamental message.

This renaissance for humanity will be called Scientheosophy.

To start this glorious mission, I will need some seed capital. I'll be holding a pub quiz this Friday, after work in the Slug and Lettuce outside Mornington Crescent station, followed by some galactic gargleplexing - the communal merging and core ceremony of Scientheosophy, in which we wear our celestial uniforms, and doff our tokens of modern economic pollution (i.e. money).

Let me know if you'll be coming along. All are welcome, especially the lonely, vulnerable, and well-heeled.





* It will be revealed to holy initiates of the 19th circle, that this initiation involves a gentle anal probing. Larger implements will be used for each subsequent level of advancement. It may also involve a goat - I'm awaiting further revelations.

[JimC]

Makes about as much sense as all the others, and has the benefit of being promoted by a fellow Ratzian!

[Cormac]

Makes about as much sense as all the others, and has the benefit of being promoted by a fellow Ratzian!

Gargleplexing = sex!

Are you in?

[JimC]

Makes about as much sense as all the others, and has the benefit of being promoted by a fellow Ratzian!

Gargleplexing = sex!

Are you in?

...as the actress said to the bishop...

[Cormac]

Makes about as much sense as all the others, and has the benefit of being promoted by a fellow Ratzian!

Gargleplexing = sex!

Are you in?

...as the actress said to the bishop...

That is a no then?

(The brothers will be around to deal with you shortly. You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave*).


*... we can learn some things from the Catholic Church...

[mistermack]

I like how they spend all that money finding out things we already know.

But really, it's a combination of teaching and research, to give students something to work on, and possibly advance the techniques for study of human nature.

I suppose there are lots of things we know about human nature, without knowing how or why.
I wonder what aliens would think of us, if they didn't have this instinct?
Imagine if some got in touch, and Obama or Palin started banging on about God. First impressions count. They could make us the laughing stock of the Galaxy.

[Cormac]

I like how they spend all that money finding out things we already know.

But really, it's a combination of teaching and research, to give students something to work on, and possibly advance the techniques for study of human nature.

I suppose there are lots of things we know about human nature, without knowing how or why.
I wonder what aliens would think of us, if they didn't have this instinct?
Imagine if some got in touch, and Obama or Palin started banging on about God. First impressions count. They could make us the laughing stock of the Galaxy.

Aliens wouldn't be interested in that topic. They're too interested in pursuing anal research...