"You people have no imagination!"

Something that has been bothering me lately (especially with school) is how people are so practical in this day and age. People don't believe something unless they can see/measure it. I'm not really into superheroes, but it's a good example: Superman has been practically discarded because he's too good and "magical" (can't think of a better word and people love Batman because he's gritty and realistic. Why are people like this? The other day at school this kid was saying that Jesus is over-rated (mind you he was doing it in a respectful way so I wasn't mad at him, just his influences) and he said walking on water is impossible. That was it, the only argument he had. The entire point of miracles is that they seem unbelievable and show God's glory. So, yeah, I'm just ranting right now, but it really irritates me how people just can't see beyond the world anymore.
_________________

Where sky and water meet,
Where the waves grow sweet,
Doubt not, Reepicheep,
To find all you seek,
There is the utter east.

No. I doubt an atheist would even listen to me about this. Laughing

_________________

Where sky and water meet,
Where the waves grow sweet,
Doubt not, Reepicheep,
To find all you seek,
There is the utter east.

Master Joined: 22 Mar 2008 Posts: 599

I read your post, so I think that's listening of sorts, so at least one of us is doing that. Wink

Oh, and I'm not so sure that you are right. Just think of all the TV shows with big or small fantastical aspects, angels, witches etc. Same largerly with movies. Even supposedly scientific ones need to add the occasional "science can't explain anything" plot turns.

Fantasy literature is and has been for some beating science fiction in sales. Harry Potters and Twilight and sequels. Dark urban fantasy seems to be very popular when I look at new releases on the Locus webpage - angels, witches, vampires and the sort. All tend to be set into normal world, just adding one or two fantastical elements.

And when you look at polls, you find that in fact scientifically thinking rational people are often in minority when it comes to things. Huge numbers of people believe in UFOs, re-birth etc and close their eyes from the reality of evolution and cosmology. Instead they want the world to have those fantastical elements, they want to believe just like Fox Mulder wanted... Wink

So, when I look at the same world as you, I see it saturated with ignorance and escape from reality. I think that lots of people make irrational decision not to confront the world like it is, but deliberately choose escaping into fantasy, tens of millions of people in NA alone waiting for a quick end of the world just about any minute now, others through divine action and others through other kind of apocalypse, perhaps through the hit of an asteroid or ancient Mayan prophecy coming true in 2012, and others wait for flying saucers in either fear or excitement.

So, in my opinion, the world is going to the wrong direction too - but the direction just being exactly opposite to the direction you lamented.
Smile

Master Joined: 22 Mar 2008 Posts: 599

Evolution has been proven multiple times over. It's not just genetic and fossil evidence, the lifespan of many species is so small and the time between generations so small because of this that even evolutionary change is clearly observable in relatively short timescales in human terms (under 100 years).

Mendel did some of the work already, but there is the famous case of butterfly species in England changing their colour because of industrial pollution in the timespan of decades, but just introducing existing species to new environments (for fishing, to be game etc) has led to rapid development of new subspecies in just a human lifespan. Study of finches in Galapagos has shown that for example a little variation in beak length can have a huge difference, what was one year making survival hard and possibilities of offspring unlikely for some bird can in different circumstances - more rains, warmer temperature, whatever - next year be an advantage and lead them having lots of offspring and giving a change for this competitive advantage to spread in a population.

What comes to vampires, in our time Buffy the vampire slayer and her kin are just the equivalent of medieval stories of saints fighting demons.

If you wish to continue the evolution discussion, please do so here: http://www.eucantina.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=710&start=75&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=

Thanks!

Well, we've had evolution conversations there before, so I figured it would be better to keep them there than to spread them out.