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I'm just carrying on a conversation. Dreaded Anomaly Send a noteboard - 05/12/2010 07:26:39 AM
I am not a religious person although I am spiritual. I have no problem with science and evolution makes sense to me. It is the attitude of some scientists that bothers me. The attitude of some religious people bothers me too. In both groups it is the ones that don't just think that they re right and that everyone else is wrong but but also feel the need to be vocal about their lack of respect for the view points of others.


Respecting someone's right to hold a view, and respecting the view itself are two different things. Views are worthy or unworthy of respect based on their merit, not just their existence.

You spoke of believing in things because of evidence. I have mounds of personal evidence that God exists. On the other hand I have to take other people's word for it that men walked on the moon. The two are not mutually exclusive. I am just pointing out that much of what we are told by science are things that the vast majority of us have to take on faith as we don't have the time or means to prove it ourselves. It isn't so different from people believing in various religious concepts. Just something to think about before you bash the other side. I don't even see where there has to be two sides. It isn't hard to embrace both.


The difference between the two types of evidence is falsifiability. You could, in theory, check if men walked on the moon. No one can can check your personal evidence for God's existence. (I discuss this in reply to Nate's post above.) It isn't hard to embrace both sides because humans can live with a certain amount of cognitive dissonance, but that doesn't make it a good thing.

This is far from what I was originally saying that I didn't think it was such a stretch that their may be other manifestations of life out there besides the ones we are familiar with.


I agree that it's not a stretch. We can't possibly imagine all the forms life could take. That's not really why this discovery is noteworthy; it's because now we have proof of a new (or at least altered) form.
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More Important Than Soccer: Completely new type of DNA discovered - 02/12/2010 04:48:51 PM 1572 Views
that is TOTALLY inappropriate - 02/12/2010 04:58:47 PM 789 Views
Of course there is... - 02/12/2010 05:02:30 PM 778 Views
I saw, I'm just not in the proper habit yet - 02/12/2010 05:35:33 PM 894 Views
Crazy awesome. - 02/12/2010 05:07:49 PM 874 Views
Re: Crazy awesome. - 02/12/2010 10:32:56 PM 687 Views
It's confusing, that's for sure. - 03/12/2010 02:01:11 AM 694 Views
lol, or maybe not - 09/12/2010 07:49:19 PM 1069 Views
So the movie Evolution was real! - 02/12/2010 05:24:16 PM 785 Views
Nice reference, but not quite. - 02/12/2010 10:32:04 PM 735 Views
Thanks for clearing that up - 02/12/2010 11:23:36 PM 848 Views
Wow. *NM* - 02/12/2010 05:32:08 PM 447 Views
I love how it was found in a massively polluted lake - 02/12/2010 05:35:22 PM 725 Views
The answer to your question is: Pretty damn cool. *NM* - 02/12/2010 05:33:54 PM 427 Views
Goddamnit I am SO PISSED that I have a meeting at 2!!! - 02/12/2010 05:50:21 PM 705 Views
I won't pretend I know enough about biology to understand the impact of this - 02/12/2010 06:26:24 PM 854 Views
It's like finding a type of rock that eats laughter - 02/12/2010 06:51:15 PM 692 Views
I think I had an ex once that was made of arsenic. *NM* - 02/12/2010 07:10:57 PM 412 Views
Maris? *NM* - 02/12/2010 07:33:14 PM 446 Views
Well you are made of poison, so that makes sense. *NM* - 02/12/2010 07:39:09 PM 405 Views
Curse you, poetic justice! Curse you! - 04/12/2010 03:38:37 AM 872 Views
So, is it an alien? - 02/12/2010 07:19:49 PM 844 Views
I don't see why it couldn't be natural - 02/12/2010 07:22:49 PM 751 Views
They haven't mentioned anything saying it's not from Earth, I think - 02/12/2010 08:03:44 PM 844 Views
It was funded by NASA, I think - 02/12/2010 08:15:15 PM 884 Views
lols. *NM* - 02/12/2010 08:17:40 PM 413 Views
The bacteria in question is part of a known lineage - 02/12/2010 08:07:34 PM 1066 Views
see my note below - 02/12/2010 08:13:35 PM 841 Views
Maybe - 02/12/2010 08:23:16 PM 778 Views
it could be there are some in the lake naturally - 02/12/2010 09:00:42 PM 716 Views
Huh! I must have missed that part. *NM* - 02/12/2010 09:05:15 PM 401 Views
No it isn't! - 02/12/2010 07:39:34 PM 838 Views
I really didn't understand that, either. - 04/12/2010 10:44:51 AM 865 Views
So, apparently, this bacteria doesn't use arsneic for its DNA in its natural state? - 02/12/2010 08:06:02 PM 736 Views
While awesome, it's a bit of a problem. - 02/12/2010 09:04:22 PM 750 Views
Re: While awesome, it's a bit of a problem. - 02/12/2010 10:34:34 PM 686 Views
It's interesting, but not completely shocking - 02/12/2010 08:08:46 PM 918 Views
I don't understand why this is such a big deal. It always seemed common sense to me that there are - 02/12/2010 10:40:22 PM 877 Views
It's much more than an educated guess. - 02/12/2010 11:59:18 PM 932 Views
You can't "know" from this distance. - 03/12/2010 03:13:05 AM 688 Views
Why not? - 03/12/2010 04:42:15 AM 907 Views
obviously you have not learned to look at the back label on the car *NM* - 04/12/2010 07:04:42 PM 392 Views
Yes, we can. - 04/12/2010 06:04:48 PM 1071 Views
The problem probably is with me. - 04/12/2010 08:00:56 PM 740 Views
No, they aren't. - 04/12/2010 10:01:25 PM 758 Views
Depends on how you view evidence, no? - 05/12/2010 04:50:11 AM 989 Views
There are correct and incorrect ways to view evidence. - 05/12/2010 05:42:41 AM 690 Views
Are you baiting me to bait you? - 05/12/2010 06:41:49 AM 919 Views
I'm just carrying on a conversation. - 05/12/2010 07:26:39 AM 914 Views
Re: I'm just carrying on a conversation. - 05/12/2010 07:08:04 PM 698 Views
Re: I'm just carrying on a conversation. - 05/12/2010 07:56:43 PM 895 Views
Re: I'm just carrying on a conversation. - 06/12/2010 03:15:37 AM 838 Views
Re: I'm just carrying on a conversation. - 06/12/2010 09:18:51 PM 792 Views
Okay. - 06/12/2010 11:22:44 PM 929 Views
I watched that and was very intrigued - 03/12/2010 01:31:29 AM 615 Views
It's neat, but I object to the circus act - 03/12/2010 02:52:46 AM 861 Views
yah, and it's kind of shooting themselves in the foot anyways - 03/12/2010 09:10:21 AM 739 Views
xkcd - 03/12/2010 10:35:24 AM 896 Views

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