Thanks for those comments, Anon 8. I'm not sure that Anon 7 understands the meaning of the word critical. It doesn't mean being closed-minded, quite the opposite: it means being open to ideas but questioning them. "We must keep an open mind, but not so open that our brains fall out," a wise man once said.
I think you're wrong about me, Anon 7, and wrong about my perspective. I am constantly critical of my own worldview. I have examined it and continue to do so on a daily basis. That's what it is to have a scientific attitude, as Anon 8 points out: science is always open to questioning and further investigation, and when new evidence presents itself, it should be examined and included in the model. I am constantly searching for evidence that there's more to the world than I've observed or understood. When I find some, I'll incorporate that into my worldview. That's being critical.
I'm definitely not young; I've been tripping for longer than most posters in this forum have been alive. I might be arrogant, but that doesn't make me wrong. I don't think I'm arrogant, though. I try to be accepting of others' perspectives and I don't claim to know everything. But I do know some things. I know that if there are otherworldly beings out there, there'd be some evidence of them other than the feelings Anon 8 referred to. Without that evidence, we have only our experiences when tripping. When under the influence of mind-altering chemicals. If that's not evidence that should be taken with a grain of salt, ie. questioned, I don't know what is.
I posted here because, as I said before, I don't want to appear to be personally attacking individual posters. I could have posted this in the Philosophy forum, I suppose. Call me a coward if you like; I'll admit that at some level, I didn't want to be seen as a guy who trashes other people's worldview. I debated whether I should post this at all, but it's been on my mind, so I went about it in what I saw as a non-confrontational way, as much to get it off my chest as anything else. I get why you'd criticize that approach, and it's fair. But my anonymity, like my supposed arrogance, doesn't mean I'm wrong. I'm not complaining about people disagreeing with me. People are free to do that, and I'm definitely wrong about things in my life and need disagreeing with from time to time. What I'm complaining about is not the disagreement, but the lack of critical thought that leads to the disagreement. It's that people see spirits when they hallucinate, so spirits must be real. No consideration of Occam's razor, that there could be another, simpler explanation, one that also happens to be supported by science and observation.
This is anti-science and shows a basic misunderstanding about how science works, by the way: "[m]ost scientific beliefs have been refuted and died, all the while during their existence did they help find ire for the disbelievers." It's simply not true. Scientific ideas have been replaced, but it's very rare. In most cases, science is added to or modified when new evidence presents itself, not thrown out. But in all cases, our understanding has improved through this process, and that simply cannot be seen as a negative feature of science. It's the self-correcting mechanism that makes science so powerful and good. It's how we get closer to the "truth" about the world around us, as Anon 8 points out.
As an aside, I think you're right to a certain extent, Anon 6, what we're seeing is a cross-section of humanity, but I think the drug-using part of humanity in particular has a reputation for being a bit spacey or uncritical, and that's what I'm sad about. Like you say though, there's not much I can do but accept that. I'm simply expressing my sadness about that state of affairs.
Edited by Anonymous (11/19/18 09:12 AM)
|
Threaded
Previous
Index
Next
Unfolding Nature: Being in the Implicate Order 
All-In-One Bags That Don't Suck 
Spores for European Microscopy 
Pan Cyan Liquid Culture For Sale 
Injection Grain Bag
Edit 
Reply 
