He's a hard man. (Reputedly that is. I have no firsthand knowledge. And thankfully I'm not a daiquiri drinker.Originally Posted by Clusterfrack
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He's a hard man. (Reputedly that is. I have no firsthand knowledge. And thankfully I'm not a daiquiri drinker.
There's nothing civil about this war.
I'll give you the odds on that. Though, I once outdrank four Germans and two Australians in a bar in Munich to avoid paying the bill.
But next time you're in Chi - after class is over ('cause I'm gonna have a hell of a hangover). We can have some drinks and discuss life, Life, and stabbing people. Or just talk about knives, fashion, cigars, and women...
Don't pay me, pay Craig and fly up here for a class. I'll house you (as long as you don't mind a fat cat sleeping on you).
As goes for Neph, you too.
And you too.He's a hard man. (Reputedly that is. I have no firsthand knowledge. And thankfully I'm not a daiquiri drinker.
I'd rather sit around and drink and listen to old cop stories and ER stories than talk about science anyways.
I'll give you the odds on that. Though, I once outdrank four Germans and two Australians in a bar in Munich to avoid paying the bill.
But next time you're in Chi - after class is over ('cause I'm gonna have a hell of a hangover). We can have some drinks and discuss life, Life, and stabbing people. Or just talk about knives, fashion, cigars, and women...
Don't pay me, pay Craig and fly up here for a class. I'll house you (as long as you don't mind a fat cat sleeping on you).
As goes for Neph, you too.
And you too.
I'd rather sit around and drink and listen to old cop stories and ER stories than talk about science anyways.
I'll be up there in January doing an EWO at Paul's gym in Elgin so I'll definitely make time for a drinking date!
Aw, you guys are so cute!
Well, you have an invite should you ever find yourself in my neck of the woods. I've been known to buy a round or two.
There's nothing civil about this war.
You see this @Nephrology - January - Edged Weapons Overview. And you'll get a chance to get beaten up by the excellent Paul Sharp, too.
Out of curiosity, how many here grew up with a religious practice that relies on having an emotional experience or warm/good/spiritual feeling about certain tenets or stories in order to prove the truth claims of your religion?
I find that to be a flawed epistemology based on the fact that almost all followers of any major world religion experience very similar emotional/physiological reactions in totally different belief systems.
In my case, the entire truth of my religion was based on a "witness of the holy ghost" providing the "fruits of the spirit" after reading scripture, praying, pondering, etc.
This witness was typically interpreted as a warm tingling sensation flowing through the body.
Now in my skeptical state I recognize that as a young person I was subjected to imagery, music, stories and cultural milieu that conditioned my brain in its formative development to experience that reward center elevated emotion.
A study was done scanning the brain while presenting the test takers with religious imagery from their faith tradition and it was discovered that the areas of the brain activated were the same ones that activate for addiction to drugs or gambling. Fascinating.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/...ers-areas-sex/
I get that same warm, tingling sensation after contributing to P-F, although it's been particularly fulfilling lately after contributing to the Catholicism/Pedophelia and Atheist threads.
I guess we all get our dopamine fixes our own way: Responding to hot calls, Matches, Live Fire, Dry Fire, ECQC, Worship, Raids, Fires, Productive debate on controversial subjects, BJJ, whaddeva.
Are you now, or have you ever been a member of the Doodie Project?
I was raised an atheist. I'll tell my whole conversion story over a beer to those who are interested, but it did not really happen until late in life (43). I went through first an intellectual conversion (I was convinced), and then a mystical conversion (I had a mystical experience). Mystical experiences aren't promised in Catholicism (read Mother Theresa on dryness of prayer, it is quite something) but they're common enough. My mystical experience was breathtaking but not particularly supernatural. What I mean when I say 'a mystical conversion' is that I went, in one millisecond, from being convinced to being certain. Conviction is intellectual, and malleable. Certainty is a matter of faith.
To be suddenly certain is emotionally equivalent to waking up from a dream about swimming to find oneself floating ten feet above the ground.
I get little echoes of that at the moment of transubstantiation during the mass, sometimes. It's a nice little reminder but it's not the reason I go to mass.
The experiments you refer to would seem to just be excitation of dopamine receptors. I would expect that with anything pleasurable.
Last edited by JAD; 08-22-2018 at 01:42 PM. Reason: too many damn parentheses
The discussion moved from atheism to Evolution because it is often a centrally disputed topic in discussions between those who believe that life was created and those who do not, where the bigger picture is the question of the existence of God. I asked for Rob’s opinion after learning that he was an Evolutionary Biologist. He has done a nice job of laying out his philosophy on Science – along with its limitations – and his opinion would add value to the discussion. Given his credentials, he would be considered a subject-matter expert on the topic and I personally enjoy reading the opinions of those who have something useful to add – even if my own beliefs don’t necessarily align. That’s kinda what critical thinking is all about.
There are plenty of educated and rational people – many who would not be labeled Christians or even theists for that matter – who question the Theory of Evolution so I’d hardly call the debate settled.
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