Date: Wed, 12 Nov 1997 08:35:34 -0700 (MST) From: Nate Williams <nate@mt.sri.com> To: Annelise Anderson <andrsn@andrsn.stanford.edu> Cc: Nate Williams <nate@mt.sri.com>, freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Newest Pentium bug (fatal) Message-ID: <199711121535.IAA03735@rocky.mt.sri.com> In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.3.96.971111232432.1502A-100000@andrsn.stanford.edu> References: <199711120638.XAA02274@rocky.mt.sri.com> <Pine.BSF.3.96.971111232432.1502A-100000@andrsn.stanford.edu>
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> > Neither is throwing out the results of something just because you don't > > want to believe in them. It's called having a closed mind. > > I would like to agree with the judgment here that I have a closed mind > on this issue--or something very close to it, like 99.99%. Fair enough, you've agreed. > I think most adults arrive at some stable world view that constitutes a > set of hypotheses about how the world works. And my view of how the > world works is such that I am inclined to doubt, with close to 100% > certainty, that the health of one group of people improved more than > another group because some other people prayed for them. That's why I call it a close-mind. However, these are the same sorts of views that can lead to predjudice towards people who believe different than you (which you may already have, but I don't know enough about you to say). If something occurs that doesn't fit your world view, ignoring it is the *worst* thing to do. The best thing to do is to take that information and modify your world view so that it fits. Now, you may not choose to believe in God due to it, but you *must* deal with the possibility that the data is valid, and if so what solution can you come up with that explains the phenomenon given your world view. (Others have claimed that it's due to telepathy or something, but that's not obviously my point of view.) In any case, valid information that is inconsistant with your world view needs adjusting. That's part of being an adult. ;) > Now, if they knew others were praying for them--or if those caring for > them knew it--that's different. They didn't know they were being prayed for. It was a double-blind study (neither the prayer nor the prayee were aware of one another, except that the prayer obviously knew of the existance of the prayee, but had no direct knowledge about them except a 'name' and the symptoms.) > It would be very, very difficult to convince me otherwise. It would be > sufficiently difficult that I would find it hard to justify spending time > evaluating such studies to determine their validity. Close mindedness because it doesn't fit your world view. If you want to be treated as an adult, then you must be willing to accept the fact that you have not lived enough life to have 'all the answers', and that what you know to be true is based on limited understanding and experiences. As the old saying goes 'the more you know, the less you know.' > In this sense my mind is closed (or very close to it) on hypotheses of > this type, because they are inconsistent with my view of how the world > works, that is, my view of reality. Then your view of reality needs to be modified. You can't ignore information just because it doesn't fit, that way leads to ignorance, predjudice (sp?), and all sorts of other nasty things. > You see, I have trouble with prayer as a causative phenomenon. I have > trouble with the idea of a higher being or beings who can be manipulated > by people praying. I have trouble with a god who would let one group of > people languish in pain and illness because other people were not praying > for them. I have trouble with auras, with influences or forces > transmitted by people willing something, whether it be the health of > others (or an evil spell case upon them) or the roll of dice. Just because you have trouble with it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Your personal feelings have nothing to do with the existance of lack thereof of God or gods. If he/she/it truly exists, your beliefs don't somehow make it go away. Nate
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