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Things stupid people believe - Ostronomos - Jan 12, 2017

They believe that arguments and findings that brain is mind somehow disproves the existence of God and the after-life. It does not. It more substantiates it than anything.


RE: Things stupid people believe - Zinjanthropos - Jan 13, 2017

(Jan 12, 2017 05:57 PM)Ostronomos Wrote: They believe that arguments and findings that brain is mind somehow disproves the existence of God and the after-life. It does not. It more substantiates it than anything.

We stupid people want to know if you believe what you type. We'd probably be a whole lot smarter if we could understand your English, or perhaps if you could.

Because I'm stupid I will try and translate: Stupid people believe the arguments and findings that support the idea of the brain being the mind. The same stupid people believe this proves the existence of God and the afterlife are false. Smart people say it doesn't do that at all. In fact they contend such a belief makes the case for God and the afterlife much stronger.  

So you're not disputing the arguments nor the findings of the stupid. In fact you say it substantiates the existence of God and afterlife. Using the word substantiate in this context means that the case for God's existence and the afterlife was a lot weaker before these arguments and findings came along. You admit that the evidence introduced has actually helped the God/afterlife adherents (smart people) who for some strange reason needed the stupid people's help to discover this evidence, instead of accomplishing it on their own.


RE: Things stupid people believe - Ostronomos - Jan 13, 2017

It isn't true that I believe that smart people discover from stupid people about specifically this matter. In general, everyone has something to teach someone. But not in this case. I must admit I find your intelligence somewhat intimidating.


RE: Things stupid people believe - Ben the Donkey - Jan 14, 2017

Stupid people believe a lot of stupid things. 
When it comes to philosophy, "stupid" is an entirely subjective term. I would agree with your opening premise, in this case, but I find it terribly limited in scope. 

The argument that God can't be disproved has been long established, and so has the argument that you can't disprove the purple flying spaghetti monster either (I'm really starting to hate that example, if only because you can repeat it a gazillion times and the theists still don't understand the exasperation). People devote entire typed pages of reiterated arguments over this subject. Some of it is intelligent, the majority is just rehashed horsepucky. 
The only pertinent point to this is that, once again, we're down to atheists being annoyed at stupid theists arguing you can't disprove God, and theists being annoyed that stupid atheists still try to.

Did you wish to specifically discuss stupid atheists, or something else?

It's a goddamned ideological impasse, and there is no one on the internet who is going to wake up some day and suddenly start to believe in God because some theist is adamant that you can't disprove his existence, or become an atheist because you can't prove it. 

Jesus fucking Christ. 
Or, to put it another way - so fucking what?


RE: Things stupid people believe - Zinjanthropos - Jan 14, 2017

(Jan 14, 2017 02:59 PM)Ben the Donkey Wrote: Stupid people believe a lot of stupid things. 
When it comes to philosophy, "stupid" is an entirely subjective term. I would agree with your opening premise, in this case, but I find it terribly limited in scope. 

The argument that God can't be disproved has been long established, and so has the argument that you can't disprove the purple flying spaghetti monster either (I'm really starting to hate that example, if only because you can repeat it a gazillion times and the theists still don't understand the exasperation). People devote entire typed pages of reiterated arguments over this subject. Some of it is intelligent, the majority is just rehashed horsepucky. 
The only pertinent point to this is that, once again, we're down to atheists being annoyed at stupid theists arguing you can't disprove God, and theists being annoyed that stupid atheists still try to.

Did you wish to specifically discuss stupid atheists, or something else?

It's a goddamned ideological impasse, and there is no one on the internet who is going to wake up some day and suddenly start to believe in God because some theist is adamant that you can't disprove his existence, or become an atheist because you can't prove it. 

Jesus fucking Christ. 
Or, to put it another way - so fucking what?

Big Grin That's one way of saying it. Nicely done. I think the underlying theme here is that the smarter person believes in God. The stupid person, even one who has taken would could amount to a great portion of their lives doing research, are stupid if they don't believe in God, if only by default. 

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the stupid/substantiate equation. If stupid people's beliefs strengthen a smarter person's belief then how does that work? I mean if I add stupid to smart then I don't think it makes the smart people any smarter than they are now.


RE: Things stupid people believe - Ben the Donkey - Jan 14, 2017

(Jan 14, 2017 04:23 PM)Zinjanthropos Wrote: If stupid people's beliefs strengthen a smarter person's belief then how does that work?
Unfortunately, it works extremely well.
Ideas gain traction through support. The quality of that support matters not; only the weight of it.


RE: Things stupid people believe - Zinjanthropos - Jan 14, 2017

(Jan 14, 2017 04:37 PM)Ben the Donkey Wrote:
(Jan 14, 2017 04:23 PM)Zinjanthropos Wrote: If stupid people's beliefs strengthen a smarter person's belief then how does that work?
Unfortunately, it works extremely well.
Ideas gain traction through support. The quality of that support matters not; only the weight of it.

I understand that part, I was being somewhat facetious plus I'm dealing with beliefs, not ideas or experimental data. Of course an idea could be a belief also. I'm more concerned about truly smart people being labeled stupid by believers who claim they know more. 

Quote:They believe that arguments and findings that brain is mind somehow disproves the existence of God and the after-life

The implication here is that people who have conducted the research are believing the wrong thing. This is actually the OP's belief, it's the only conclusion I could reach. There's nothing to support this claim. I'm assuming 'they' are the researchers/scientists.


RE: Things stupid people believe - Ben the Donkey - Jan 14, 2017

I'd imagine it wouldn't be a widespread assertion (with regard to the OP) , but it only takes a couple of internet articles to make it appear so.

You have to be careful, too, not to equate one's profession with intelligence... or more accurately, with awareness (for want of a better term).
We have a tendency to think of scientists, doctors, lawyers and the like to be intelligent people. To a certain extent, this might be more or less true, on average.
The application of intelligence in humanity, however, ranges from the likes of  Leonardo Da Vinci to the idiot savant pianist, or mathematician. 
Think Rainman, as in the movie. 

Intelligence is a unit of measure in an undefined way. It measures the capability of understanding, nothing more.


RE: Things stupid people believe - Zinjanthropos - Jan 14, 2017

(Jan 14, 2017 05:24 PM)Ben the Donkey Wrote: I'd imagine it wouldn't be a widespread assertion (with regard to the OP) , but it only takes a couple of internet articles to make it appear so.

You have to be careful, too, not to equate one's profession with intelligence... or more accurately, with awareness (for want of a better term).
We have a tendency to think of scientists, doctors, lawyers and the like to be intelligent people. To a certain extent, this might be more or less true, on average.
The application of intelligence in humanity, however, ranges from the likes of  Leonardo Da Vinci to the idiot savant pianist, or mathematician. 
Think Rainman, as in the movie. 

Intelligence is a unit of measure in an undefined way. It measures the capability of understanding, nothing more.

Amazing that humans can approach a subject from so many different angles, interpretations, understandings etc.  Almost makes discussion forms moot, since not much is going to change any time soon. Smile The more we don't know about each other, the better the banter. Not knowing who you're dealing with means one has to be very careful when posting. Personally I like to be as brief as possible. Just means I won't be engaging in any filibusters just to make a point and I hope no one else does either.   

The thought for a truly devote theist, a knowledgeable authority on theology and all it entails, that the application of their intelligence could be that of an idiot savant is intriguing. The same could be said for an atheist.  

I've always thought of intelligence as a capacity to learn. Still a measurement however.