[NT] The world is flat....?

[Qre:us]

Belief in god. Belief in astrology. Belief in the paranormal.

 

[Sniffles]

I'm not sure where the myth came from, but rest assured that columbus was NOT afraid of sailing off the 'edge of the world' =3

It was invented in the 19th century for literary purposes.

Belief in god. Belief in astrology. Belief in the paranormal.

Hate to break it to you, but this isn't the 18th century anymore.

 

[Valuable_Money]

Belief in god. Belief in astrology. Belief in the paranormal.

I hate to break it to you but belief in god isnt dying any time soon.

 

[Sniffles]

I hate to break it to you but belief in god isnt dying any time soon.

Yeah really. I can't count how many times I've mentioned the rise of academic study into Post-secularism over the past 20-30 years; which basically means serious attention given to belief in God has been increasing.

 

[Sniffles]

Continuing on that line of thought, here's a basic outline of what I'm talking about:

Post-secular Thought

The dismissal and disavowal of God or the notion of the transcendent is a hallmark of modern philosophy. Philosophical discussions of theology were determined by secular assumptions, which resulted in the rejection of God. However, the legacy of this project is now apparent: the creation of a secular world that is not as liberated, knowledgeable and free as it had hoped. Indeed, some scholars see this as the logical consequence of a programme of thought that saw theology debased at the hands of Enlightenment science. But the destruction of theology is no longer certain, according to post-secular thinkers, and the task of this new project is to uncover the underlying theological programmes at work in ‘secular’ modern philosophy.

General Term: Post-secular Thought

A good example of what's described in the bolded is Michael Allen Gillespie's recent study The Theological Origins of Modernity.

It's almost comical that many of the arguments commonly used against religion are themselves based upon presuppositions that have theological origins. In this particular case, as Gillespie and other have shown, the legacy of late Medieval Nominalism cannot be denied here.

 

[Qre:us]

Hate to break it to you, but this isn't the 18th century anymore.

I hate to break it to you but belief in god isnt dying any time soon.

So predicted such response. But, why do you guys 'hate' to break it to me?

 

[The_Liquid_Laser]

Hi

If you go back a few 00 years or so the entire world beleive the world was flat....

What basic assumptions do you think we live our lives by today that will not be right in a few hundered years (to the point we all look a little foolish).....?

BTW the ancient Greeks knew the world was round and even had a good estimation of the Earth's circumference around 200-300 BC. Perhaps a better example would be the belief that the Sun revolved around the Earth?

Eratosthenes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I think they believed that the world was ovular, but not round.

To answer your question, perhaps 90% of what nutritionists tell us.

This is so true! (The contradictions in nutrition is a pet peeve of mine.)


To answer the original question I think a lot of beliefs involving natural sciences and technology will eventually be corrected but these ideas are largely irrelevant. Regardless of how advanced technology gets humans will still face the same types of social problems. For example few societies have ever achieved lasting peace, and the few that have are a worse alternative to warfare. We can invent bigger and more efficient weapons, but nations will never be able to totally resolve their problems without violent conflict. Poverty and social injustice never really go away, they simply take other forms. External problems can be solved with technology, but the problems that occur internally within people can only be solved one person at a time through their own choice.

Even the people who figure out the social answers eventually die and are forgotten. That is why these problems will always keep occurring, and yet they impede "civilization" much more than any technological challenges we might face.

 

[Aerithria]

The world was not believed to be flat, it's a bad myth.

It's been easy to prove the world's round for thousands of years, it's not even hard to tell with the concept of the horizon.

I'm not sure where the myth came from, but rest assured that columbus was NOT afraid of sailing off the 'edge of the world' =3

I remember reading somewhere that there was an atheist who wanted to make the Catholics look bad, so he wrote a book about it hoping that people would believe badly of them.

Though I can't remember where I read it, so it's possible I might be remembering it incorrectly.

 

[Quinlan]

I know I bang on about this a bit but I think that a lot of our beliefs about body size, will be shown to be wishful idealogies rather than scientific facts.

 

[Valuable_Money]

So predicted such response. But, why do you guys 'hate' to break it to me?

Because the only reason you would belive that religion was going to go away any time in future is if you were a certain type of atheist. Not the kind of atheist who is respectable of others beliefs but just doesnt believe in a god, not even the kind of atheist who thinks hes smarter than everyone else. The kind of atheist who basicly has turned atheism into a religion itself, where religion is this evil thing(one could argue it takes the place of the devil) that is to blame for all the wars and wicked things that happen in the world. And of course once we eliminate religion and replace it with SCIENCE! the world will immediatly become a technological utopia void of any kind of hatred or ill will between men. A world where we all live for a gazillioin years (thanks to SCIENCE!) ect. ect ect.

Or mabye Im completely wrong and your a devout muslim.

 

[Valuable_Money]

I know I bang on about this a bit but I think that a lot of our beliefs about body size, will be shown to be wishful idealogies rather than scientific facts.

Someones a little bit fat husky Im guessing.

 

[avolkiteshvara]

I thought this would be about Thomas Friedman.

 

[Quinlan]

Someones a little bit fat husky Im guessing.

Not particularly, no.

 

[Z Buck McFate]

What basic assumptions do you think we live our lives by today that will not be right in a few hundered years (to the point we all look a little foolish).....?

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. And the American Psychiatric Association, too.

Also:

The kind of atheist who basicly has turned atheism into a religion itself, where religion is this evil thing(one could argue it takes the place of the devil) that is to blame for all the wars and wicked things that happen in the world. And of course once we eliminate religion and replace it with SCIENCE! the world will immediatly become a technological utopia void of any kind of hatred or ill will between men. A world where we all live for a gazillioin years (thanks to SCIENCE!) ect. ect ect.

Maybe, just maybe… our Descartian worship of the scientific method?

 

[jellyfish]

Because the only reason you would belive that religion was going to go away any time in future is if you were a certain type of atheist. Not the kind of atheist who is respectable of others beliefs but just doesnt believe in a god, not even the kind of atheist who thinks hes smarter than everyone else. The kind of atheist who basicly has turned atheism into a religion itself, where religion is this evil thing(one could argue it takes the place of the devil) that is to blame for all the wars and wicked things that happen in the world. And of course once we eliminate religion and replace it with SCIENCE! the world will immediatly become a technological utopia void of any kind of hatred or ill will between men. A world where we all live for a gazillioin years (thanks to SCIENCE!) ect. ect ect.

Or mabye Im completely wrong and your a devout muslim.

Wut. Last time I checked, Muslims believed in god...

 

[Valuable_Money]

Wut. Last time I checked, Muslims believed in god...

I know that...

 

[Katsuni]

Originally Posted by Quinlan View Post
I know I bang on about this a bit but I think that a lot of our beliefs about body size, will be shown to be wishful idealogies rather than scientific facts.

Someones a little bit fat husky Im guessing.

Not neccesarily... I hate the whole "zomg hourglass figure!" mentality... huge breasts and a butt that wobbles ; WHY!?

Oh well, whot can yeu do.

At least some of the more silly styles like "break yeur feet so they're smaller" or "tie a flat board to yeur skull to flatten it" are out of style...

Piercings, tattoos, and circumcisions (they really have zero health benefits, it's a myth to perpetuate it, even if it's not really harmful either, and most people agree they look better... I disagree but apparantly I'm in minority >.> Wait I didn't say that! Durr whot's it look like )

In any case, physical appearance changes like those are just stupid. But go figure.

 

[Haphazard]

The idea that being 'rational' is in any way a natural state of human beings

 

[entropie]

I'ld say today we believe the world is fat, therefore no big leap

 

[tinkerbell]

BTW the ancient Greeks knew the world was round and even had a good estimation of the Earth's circumference around 200-300 BC. Perhaps a better example would be the belief that the Sun revolved around the Earth?

Didn't the ancient Greeks all drown?

OK but you get my point, there is a fair old amount of stuff that we do today that will seem quanit or stupid, eve very preciously held assumptions.

Right now we can measure thought, we have no idea what thought looks like as a construct.... (sorry thoughts are my big thing this week)