The question is, Does anything like that happen to us? The answer is,
Well, yes. Not with actual brain worms but with ideas. An idea takes
over our brain and gets that person to devote his life to the
furtherance of that idea, even at the cost of their own genetics.
People forgo having kids, risk their lives, devote their whole lives
to the furtherance of an idea, rather than doing what every other
species on the planet does - make more children and grandchildren.

It seems to have escaped the professor's notice that it is not the
religious portion of the population that is demonstrably having
trouble doing what every other species on the planet does, but rather,
the fungus among us, the godless.

from a grand historical perspective, modern secularism will be seen as
a fluke indeed.

From the article:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: November 27, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern

Seventy-four years ago, the great inventor Nikola Tesla accused
scientists of practicing metaphysics rather than science, of engaging
in ontological speculation rather than empirical experimentation.
Apparently science is rather hard work, since despite Tesla's very
public accusations in his letter to the New York Times, many so-called
scientists today continue to demonstrate a tendency to assiduously
avoid doing anything that can be legitimately described as science.

But not even Tesla could accuse Daniel Dennett of shirking his
scientific responsibilities, for he is simply a professor of
philosophy despite the scientific trappings that surround his books
and his reputation. Still, it is interesting to note that of the three
New Atheists lauded as champions of Science, only one is an actual
scientist, the other two hailing from a modern discipline now better
known for copious bong usage than anything intellectual.

Now, Dennett is no Harris, which is to say that he is not prone to
making factual errors in nearly every paragraph he writes, but like
Harris, he is an inept logician. Consider the following statements
Dennett made in a 2003 interview with Salon:

Tell us the story from your new book about the ant and the blade of
grass.

Suppose you go out in the meadow and you see this ant climbing up a
blade of grass and if it falls it climbs again. It's devoting a
tremendous amount of energy and persistence to climbing up this blade
of grass. What's in it for the ant? Nothing. It's not looking for a
mate or showing off or looking for food. Its brain has been invaded by
a tiny parasitic worm, a lancet fluke, which has to get into the belly
of a sheep or a cow in order to continue its life cycle. It has
commandeered the brain of this ant and it's driving it up the blade of
grass like an all-terrain vehicle. That's how this tiny lancet fluke
does its evolutionary work.

Is religion, then, like a lancet fluke?

The question is, Does anything like that happen to us? The answer is,
Well, yes. Not with actual brain worms but with ideas. An idea takes
over our brain and gets that person to devote his life to the
furtherance of that idea, even at the cost of their own genetics.
People forgo having kids, risk their lives, devote their whole lives
to the furtherance of an idea, rather than doing what every other
species on the planet does - make more children and grandchildren.

It seems to have escaped the professor's notice that it is not the
religious portion of the population that is demonstrably having
trouble doing what every other species on the planet does, but rather,
the fungus among us, the godless. If there is a metaphorical lancet
fluke to be blamed for anti-evolutionary human behavior, then it is
atheist secularism which most accurately fits the profile now that the
Shakers and Skoptsi are no more. Indeed, the demographic performance
of secular Western societies over the last fifty years suggest that
from a grand historical perspective, modern secularism will be seen as
a fluke indeed.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Read it at http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53109












J. Spaceman

From the article:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: November 27, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern

Seventy-four years ago, the great inventor Nikola Tesla accused
scientists of practicing metaphysics rather than science, of engaging
in ontological speculation rather than empirical experimentation.
Apparently science is rather hard work, since despite Tesla's very
public accusations in his letter to the New York Times, many so-called
scientists today continue to demonstrate a tendency to assiduously
avoid doing anything that can be legitimately described as science.

But not even Tesla could accuse Daniel Dennett of shirking his
scientific responsibilities, for he is simply a professor of
philosophy despite the scientific trappings that surround his books
and his reputation. Still, it is interesting to note that of the three
New Atheists lauded as champions of Science, only one is an actual
scientist, the other two hailing from a modern discipline now better
known for copious bong usage than anything intellectual.

Now, Dennett is no Harris, which is to say that he is not prone to
making factual errors in nearly every paragraph he writes, but like
Harris, he is an inept logician. Consider the following statements
Dennett made in a 2003 interview with Salon:

Tell us the story from your new book about the ant and the blade of
grass.

Suppose you go out in the meadow and you see this ant climbing up a
blade of grass and if it falls it climbs again. It's devoting a
tremendous amount of energy and persistence to climbing up this blade
of grass. What's in it for the ant? Nothing. It's not looking for a
mate or showing off or looking for food. Its brain has been invaded by
a tiny parasitic worm, a lancet fluke, which has to get into the belly
of a sheep or a cow in order to continue its life cycle. It has
commandeered the brain of this ant and it's driving it up the blade of
grass like an all-terrain vehicle. That's how this tiny lancet fluke
does its evolutionary work.

Is religion, then, like a lancet fluke?

The question is, Does anything like that happen to us? The answer is,
Well, yes. Not with actual brain worms but with ideas. An idea takes
over our brain and gets that person to devote his life to the
furtherance of that idea, even at the cost of their own genetics.
People forgo having kids, risk their lives, devote their whole lives
to the furtherance of an idea, rather than doing what every other
species on the planet does - make more children and grandchildren.

It seems to have escaped the professor's notice that it is not the
religious portion of the population that is demonstrably having
trouble doing what every other species on the planet does, but rather,
the fungus among us, the godless. If there is a metaphorical lancet
fluke to be blamed for anti-evolutionary human behavior, then it is
atheist secularism which most accurately fits the profile now that the
Shakers and Skoptsi are no more. Indeed, the demographic performance
of secular Western societies over the last fifty years suggest that
from a grand historical perspective, modern secularism will be seen as
a fluke indeed.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Read it at http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53109












J. Spaceman

..it is interesting to note that of the three
New Atheists lauded as champions of Science, only one is an actual
scientist...

From the article:

... Indeed, the demographic performance
of secular Western societies over the last fifty years suggest that
from a grand historical perspective, modern secularism will be seen as
a fluke indeed.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Read it at http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53109

From the article:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: November 27, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern

Seventy-four years ago, the great inventor Nikola Tesla accused
scientists of practicing metaphysics rather than science, of engaging
in ontological speculation rather than empirical experimentation.
Apparently science is rather hard work, since despite Tesla's very
public accusations in his letter to the New York Times, many so-called
scientists today continue to demonstrate a tendency to assiduously
avoid doing anything that can be legitimately described as science.

But not even Tesla could accuse Daniel Dennett of shirking his
scientific responsibilities, for he is simply a professor of
philosophy despite the scientific trappings that surround his books
and his reputation. Still, it is interesting to note that of the three
New Atheists lauded as champions of Science, only one is an actual
scientist, the other two hailing from a modern discipline now better
known for copious bong usage than anything intellectual.

Now, Dennett is no Harris, which is to say that he is not prone to
making factual errors in nearly every paragraph he writes, but like
Harris, he is an inept logician. Consider the following statements
Dennett made in a 2003 interview with Salon:

Tell us the story from your new book about the ant and the blade of
grass.

Suppose you go out in the meadow and you see this ant climbing up a
blade of grass and if it falls it climbs again. It's devoting a
tremendous amount of energy and persistence to climbing up this blade
of grass. What's in it for the ant? Nothing. It's not looking for a
mate or showing off or looking for food. Its brain has been invaded by
a tiny parasitic worm, a lancet fluke, which has to get into the belly
of a sheep or a cow in order to continue its life cycle. It has
commandeered the brain of this ant and it's driving it up the blade of
grass like an all-terrain vehicle. That's how this tiny lancet fluke
does its evolutionary work.

Is religion, then, like a lancet fluke?

The question is, Does anything like that happen to us? The answer is,
Well, yes. Not with actual brain worms but with ideas. An idea takes
over our brain and gets that person to devote his life to the
furtherance of that idea, even at the cost of their own genetics.
People forgo having kids, risk their lives, devote their whole lives
to the furtherance of an idea, rather than doing what every other
species on the planet does - make more children and grandchildren.

It seems to have escaped the professor's notice that it is not the
religious portion of the population that is demonstrably having
trouble doing what every other species on the planet does, but rather,
the fungus among us, the godless. If there is a metaphorical lancet
fluke to be blamed for anti-evolutionary human behavior, then it is
atheist secularism which most accurately fits the profile now that the
Shakers and Skoptsi are no more. Indeed, the demographic performance
of secular Western societies over the last fifty years suggest that
from a grand historical perspective, modern secularism will be seen as
a fluke indeed.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Read it at http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53109

J. Spaceman

From the article:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: November 27, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern

Seventy-four years ago, the great inventor Nikola Tesla accused
scientists of practicing metaphysics rather than science, of engaging
in ontological speculation rather than empirical experimentation.
Apparently science is rather hard work, since despite Tesla's very
public accusations in his letter to the New York Times, many so-called
scientists today continue to demonstrate a tendency to assiduously
avoid doing anything that can be legitimately described as science.