November 6th, 2008
What exactly would “relative logic” sound like? And how does my being relative toward ethics and knowledge have a thing to do with logic, which is as formal and structured a tool for understanding as is mathematics. Are atheists going to be accused of using “relative mathematics” now? Are those of us who understand that morals/ethics are realtive concepts going to be barred from doing calculations?
Probability is logical and mathematical. A relative outlook on life appreciates probability. In relativism, probable actions and their outcomes are weighted, from highly possible (near certainty) to highly unlikely (near impossibility). High probability: death and that none of us as individuals will ever know everything there is to know (which is why relativists see probabilities, not certainties). Highly unlikely: gods, unicorns, leprechauns, my living to be 500 years old.
Free Thought | 
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October 5th, 2008
Two hundred thousand years may seem like a long time to us with our puny 80 year life spans. But on the evolutionary scale it’s not long at all. We are more similar to our early cousins than we are different. There have been modest increases in life span thanks to modern medicine, but physically and mentally we could easily pass for the early humans we’ve evolved from.
Brilliant humans, those who have advanced our species through their discoveries and inventions are unique enough we know about them individually. The vast majority of humanity is still concerned with the same issues our ancestors were; where to find shelter, clothing, food. We still guard our property jealously as I suspect early man did; my cave, my club, my kill. What advancements we have made are due to the insights of a few unique humans and the spread of their insight throughout society. It’s only as a group we’ve advanced at all. Individually we’re not all that advanced.
Humans would still be living in isolated, small groups of hunter/gatherers like our earliest ancestors were it not for socialization. Society, humanity en masse, is responsible for turning barbarians into “civilized” people. Without the social pressure of morals, law and yes, even religion, we would be indistinguishable from the humans who lived thousands of years ago. Morals (ethics), laws and religions were invented by social humans to keep our natures in check, to make it easier for us to live together in increasingly congested cities and towns. Even we atheists have been socialized with concepts borrowed from religions and ethics developed by preceding generations. Humans are pack animals, and every pack has to determine the limits of behavior it will accept and what behaviors will result in expulsion from the pack.
So while I still maintain that as a group humans have advanced in knowledge from our forbearers, individually we are not all that much different than we were hundreds and thousands of years ago. Without socialization we would still be barbarians.
Society, evolution | No Comments »
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