Evil?

Woah, sorry for the pictureless post, but apparently you might not want to listen to, or hang out with me anymore:


How evil are you?

Find out if we can still hang out here

Golden Rule

The Golden Rule is perhaps the simplest, easy to follow, and most beneficial rule we have. However, for whatever reason, most people do not follow it (selfish jerks!). This is especially true when driving in rush hour, as I've had the chance to observe over the last 7 months or so. Although I'm leaving the rush and traffic behind, I think everyone would benefit from reading through a list that Dumb Little Man has compiled, with some good ideas as to how the Golden Rule applies to driving.

The Golden Rule and Driving

Have a look, tell your friends, if everyone were to follow these rules commuting would be a joy, not the worst thing ever.

2006-11-29 09:40 EDIT: Keith adds a great addendum to tailgating: "If the guy behind you is tailgating you, and there's no one in the front, see "honour the left lane""

Understanding

I love Trent University's slogan, right there on their homepage.

The world belongs to those who understand it.

If only that were true.

Personally, right now, I think the world belongs to a bunch of bloody idiots who have no clue about anything to do with understanding. George Bush, the Pope, Stephen Harper, Tony Blair... These are the people in charge of the world. We need to change this, somehow, we need to start educating people on what the issues are, and get some leaders in power who understand them as well.

Here in Canada we have more tax cuts potentially coming up. That's great right? No one likes taxes, but think of what they do. Health Care, Education, Pension plans... these are 3 of the most key issues as I see them, funded by our taxes. Education is arguably the most important of those, and what are we doing, cutting spending on them all.

People are naturally Short Term Greedy, we need a government in place that understands that, and doesn't try to gain popularity by pandering towards our poor tendancies. Until we can educate everyone on how to plan ahead for life, including how to educate children, how to stay healthy (so you don't have to use much healthcare) and how to save for retirement, we need a responsible government to provide those services for us. Not cut them back while trying to buy votes with tax cuts.

Great Article

I found a link to a great article by Natalie Angier at RichardDawkins.net. Read it, digest it. She speaks a lot of truth.

This picture was taken on my flight back from Saskatoon where I was visiting my girlfriend. The trip was a lot of fun, winter sure comes early there though. :) Check out my set of pictures if you're interested in seeing more.

Speeding Through Life

Regular readers (ha!) will have noticed a change in focus of this blog (and not just in the fact that there are posts again). The reason is that I'm attempting to improve my writing skills, and have chosen to talk about things that mean a lot to me in the process. So there are going to be more posts about evolution, biology, and the very interesting book I'm reading The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. Today I critique the conclusion of a review found on The San Francisco Chronicle by Dinesh D'Souza.

The article is mostly about Dawkins questioning of why religion exists from an evolutionary standpoint. In the book, he talks about how nature is a very precise tool and gets rid of anything that is not helping a species to survive and procreate. So what is the reason for all known human groups to have religion as part of their culture? What benefit would it provide us to help our existence?

The reviewer talks about two tribes, one religious, one secular, and how the religious one would persevere because they had a purpose to live, while the secular one would apparently be caught up in trying to figure out their purpose, instead of trying to live. I find the view of the secular tribe to be silly, as well as the conclusion that is drawn in the review.

My favorite quote from the article is in its conclusion:

"It seems perplexing why nature would breed a group of people who see no purpose to life or the universe, indeed whose only moral drive seems to be sneering at their fellow human beings who do have a sense of purpose."

Show me one atheist who sees no purpose to life. The reviewer falls into the view that the majority of theists seem to hold on atheists, that because they don't have a magical being in the sky telling them what to do, they must lack morals, a purpose, and are unwilling to contribute to society. I find this to be an insane notion, and quite the argument against religion. Every time I hear someone use the "If we didn't have god telling us our morals we'd be out raping and killing" argument I have to laugh at what that says about the person arguing. Maybe these are the people we need to keep under religion, it seems to be the only thing keeping them in check.

And as for atheists having no purpose, I would argue that since we believe that this is the only life we have, we are not headed to a better life after we die, that we have to enjoy our life now, not wait for that second chance. I think that fills us with a much greater purpose than most theists give credit for.

Maybe evolutionarily speaking religion is with us because it gave us a purpose, a set of morals. However in this age, when we know so much about the natural world, does it still serve that purpose? Do we need a made up reason to be, to tell us how to act? Or can we just enjoy this one life we have, contribute to a better world, and not waste energy, time, or money on falsehoods?