Will religion become extinct?

POSTED BY: Niki2
UPDATED: Sunday, February 9, 2025 18:58
VIEWED: 8016
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PHOENIXROSE

Friday, March 25, 2011 4:50 AM

It's actually the joints of our knees and hips that I've heard being referred to as a poor design, from an engineering standpoint. They tend to hold up very poorly to decades of walking upright. I am not an engineer, but I have heard them make some excellent points about such things.
However, if you want a list, especially concerning the brain/endocrine system, I could give you a brief one.
1) Failsafes built in to our thyroid to keep our bodies from burning out through what is basically a forcible shutdown. Problem is when they fail to stop working, someone becomes not only chronically exhausted, but depressed.
2) The processing of sugar. When we have too much in our system, the body produces more insulin to deal with it. This in itself would be fine if high levels of insulin did not create a desire for sweet things, thus becoming a self-perpetuating cycle that can lead to diabetes. On a similar note, low serotonin can also cause a desire for sweet things, which can wreak havoc of its own.
3) Women have open mucus membranes less than an inch away from waste disposal. Think about that for a minute. For that matter, men have a urinary tract that goes directly through the prostate gland, and the same piping handles their seed. Don't know about you, but if I were a designer, I might try to rearrange a few things, there.
4) One of the greatest human assets, that of pattern recognition, can be our greatest downfall when we attribute things to patterns that don't exist. This ties very closely with the dopamine system, one of our most vital neurotransmitters. Not only learning but motor control! This should be a very carefully regulated thing. Nope, gets out of whack all the time, not only causing thousands of people to link something like human sacrifice with plants growing, but also diseases that were once attributed to demonic possession.
5) Seizures. Too much 'electricity' runs through your brain, you lose all motor control and can seriously damage yourself, even unto death. Not a problem that everyone has, but if the electrician is competent, you're not going to get too much faulty wiring. But too much electricity works out better than too little (death), so it has remained in existence. That's natural selection at work.

All that being said, there are a lot of pretty amazing things about living organisms. Stunning, really. I just don't think they're unexplainable, and the explanations fill me with all the more joy and awe for being something other than, "It's magic."

I do not need the written code of a spiritual belief to act like a decent human being.

BYTEMITE

Friday, March 25, 2011 4:55 AM

To be fair to guys, Cowper's cleans out the urea and neutralizes the pH generally before the gametes are released. But women's anatomy is messed up. Menstruation? Proximity of features that should not be proximal? How is it early women didn't end up completely filthy and diseased? The mind boggles to know.

THEHAPPYTRADER

Friday, March 25, 2011 4:57 AM

Quote:
All that being said, there are a lot of pretty amazing things about living organisms. Stunning, really. I just don't think they're unexplainable, and the explanations fill me with all the more joy and awe for being something other than, "It's magic."

Totally! That's why science is so shiny, there's always more to learn and discover. I'm thinking we're actually agreeing here after all.

PHOENIXROSE

Friday, March 25, 2011 5:02 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Bytemite:
To be fair to guys, Cowper's cleans out the urea and neutralizes the pH generally before the gametes are released.

True, true. That end of the stick is certainly better than what women were handed, but it's still semi-sloppy plumbing from an engineering perspective. Might save a tiny amount of space, but it still seems like it would be easier to just have a couple different pipes.
However, on a related subject, a male human's testicles are his greatest weak spot. Most animals can either fully withdraw them, or have them protected by their haunches. Not men, though. Another possible flaw in the design. I'm inclined to think it exists more because the benefits of walking upright were just too huge for the disadvantages to matter much than because it was deliberate.

I do not need the written code of a spiritual belief to act like a decent human being.

MAGONSDAUGHTER

Friday, March 25, 2011 5:13 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by TheHappyTrader:
Quote:
The fact that you find it difficult to hear people express their views on religion

Oh really? I wasn't aware. Are Australians psychic too?

I was responding to your post here on RWD. Do you consider that psychic, or have you just gone on the defensive major big time?

BYTEMITE

Friday, March 25, 2011 5:14 AM

You got me there.

In regards to belief in a God, it occurs to me there could be benefits, such as something for the megalomaniacal mad scientist to aspire to. Personally, though, I don't want to invest myself that way. Then I'd have to read a bunch of philosophy and theology, and I'm a lot more flexible when I'm just pulling my ideas outta nowhere than if they were the product of a lot study. Also I have concerns about the comfort angle: as a cynic, I want the world to look as harsh and sharp as possible, just so's I don't underestimate the capacity for cruelty.

PHOENIXROSE

Friday, March 25, 2011 5:24 AM

Interesting. I have noticed that a great number of cynics are atheists, one of my favorite ones being a self-described 'recovered Catholic' who funnels his cynicism through that lens, but also uses rationality to keep him sane. Granted, I've never been theistic in my life, so nothing really had to drive me to it, but I have been known to be pretty cynical. I think my studies have made me less cynical, though. Having a reason I can really sink my teeth into makes things seem not so bad. Makes me even more cynical about some things, to be sure, but I feel better about others, like maybe not everything is hopeless.

I do not need the written code of a spiritual belief to act like a decent human being.

BYTEMITE

Friday, March 25, 2011 5:33 AM

A love of the outdoors used to be all I needed to sustain some manner of self-invented spirituality and sense of well-being about the world and the human place in it. The belief is still mostly there, but it's no longer a source of positivity.

I have never been any religion, my rejection of it does not come from any experience with any of them. So neither does my cynicism.

DREAMTROVE

Friday, March 25, 2011 2:24 PM

People work as jobs have "faith" in what their employer is doing.

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

NIKI2

Friday, March 25, 2011 11:29 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Mockromancer:
Stupid posts do not exist.That, minds too small to comprehend the genius contained within do exist, is true. It is a shame they are not as elusive as bigfoot. Minds this closed should never be seen or heard, at least not in this dimension. peace out.

Ahh, maybe it was Kane who needed the sickpuppy, to make himself look more viable. Doesn't work. Whoever you are, I don't buy you as legit. You came in two days ago and have only posted in RWED, ergo I do not consider you a Browncoat, and the substance of your posts makes me think you are a troll.

Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off

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