From: Matthew Gream (matthew.gream@pobox.com)
Date: Sat Dec 25 1999 - 09:35:12 MST
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Gary Tripp wrote:
>and their faith are something of an enigma to me. In my book, religion in
>many cases has become a most prolific source of evil while, at the same
>time, men of science have systematically built an ordered cosmos from the
>conceptual fabric of mathematics. Prior to hearing of the Bahai faith
I would use the term 'adherence to a framework of belief and meaning' rather
than the term 'religion'. Scientists and so called rational people are just
as equally about to carry out forms of evil, or become very irrational, if
_their_ form of 'ordered cosmos' is threatened. I would not say that this
applies as a generalisation, but there are many examples to support the
assertion.
>freedom of enquiry(?) I remember looking at the Bahai literature and
>reading "the scientist is the true index of humanity". Thus, to play
>the devils advocate, I say you can't make generalizations when it comes
>to human beings.
I would agree that science can be seen as a culmination, or pure form, of
religion. It is interesting to relate religious ideas with transhumanism.
For instance, the idea that through genetic and cognitive enhancements, the
human will be perfected; and then, through a collective information medium,
the self can escape its earthly existence and live forever in an etherial
medium: the electronic pool of unlimited possibilities, and creative
desires, where each self can fully construct and create its own idea of
heaven, and live within that heaven for all eternity.
Lively debate and disagreements please!
matthew
matthew.gream@pobox.com
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