Amazing that we can start to accumulate junk after only living in a place for a year. I thought we de-trashed when we moved out of University Housing, but I guess not. This Saturday I spent some time cleaning out some boxes of stuff that have remained packed until now, and low and behold I found some CDs I have been looking for. One is a compilation of a few bands and has some rare and unreleased (on albums) songs by bands like The Bad Brains, Green Day, and NOFX. Speaking of NOFX they are coming to Salt Lake in May. I haven't seen them in a long time, but their blatant irreverence still manages to point out the obvious. Here's a taste for those curious.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Go Away, Sunny Day
I'm a scientist. I've been trained to be one. So what exactly does that mean?
I would say that means I use hypothesis driven research to answer questions. In other words, when faced with a problem I start asking questions. Once I have some background information, I form some kind of idea, and then go about poking holes in it until it crumbles to the ground, or it pokes back.
If asked the right way, any idea can be broken down into IS or IS NOT. For example, take the statement "Pure water is made of Hydrogen and Oxygen." As most of us know, that statement IS true. Or another example "Obama will be the next president." At this point, the statement must remain a hypothesis until we can further test it, but there will come a day that the statement will be either one of the IS, or one of the IS NOTs.
So what about God and religion. I can make the statement "God exists." As with the above examples, this statement must too join the ranks of IS or IS NOT. What I find interesting is that people both inside and outside of religion seem so afraid of testing this hypothesis. Is it bad to question God's existence? I would argue that it IS NOT bad to question, because by questioning we can find the answer. What are people afraid of? Are the religious more afraid of finding out the answer might be IS NOT, or are the non-religious more afraid of finding out the answer is IS? And why do we hate each other for asking (or not)...
The fact is, the statement "God exists" has a literal answer. Accepting it or not in no way impacts the answer. But does the answer itself make an impact? - that is the real question.
I would say that means I use hypothesis driven research to answer questions. In other words, when faced with a problem I start asking questions. Once I have some background information, I form some kind of idea, and then go about poking holes in it until it crumbles to the ground, or it pokes back.
If asked the right way, any idea can be broken down into IS or IS NOT. For example, take the statement "Pure water is made of Hydrogen and Oxygen." As most of us know, that statement IS true. Or another example "Obama will be the next president." At this point, the statement must remain a hypothesis until we can further test it, but there will come a day that the statement will be either one of the IS, or one of the IS NOTs.
So what about God and religion. I can make the statement "God exists." As with the above examples, this statement must too join the ranks of IS or IS NOT. What I find interesting is that people both inside and outside of religion seem so afraid of testing this hypothesis. Is it bad to question God's existence? I would argue that it IS NOT bad to question, because by questioning we can find the answer. What are people afraid of? Are the religious more afraid of finding out the answer might be IS NOT, or are the non-religious more afraid of finding out the answer is IS? And why do we hate each other for asking (or not)...
The fact is, the statement "God exists" has a literal answer. Accepting it or not in no way impacts the answer. But does the answer itself make an impact? - that is the real question.
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