h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Please don't bother telling me to post elsewhere. This entry just doesn't work. What about all those who have believed with zero or negative consequences? Where is your evidence about them? What about those who had no 'belief' but had positive consequences? There must be more than Di.

Let's just suppose that all folks have 'belief', because that is what would be the case if it had evolved. Why do you single out certain individuals as examples? You should be comparing them with another species that DOESN'T have belief.

In evolutionary terms, it is more than possible to argue that the coleoptera (beetles) are the most successful. Is that because of their beliefs?

Far from being completed, this is barely adequate as a first draft!

Do tell me if I'm wrong, and how. Also feel free to ask any questions you like. I'm not here to be negative, but I have to say what I find. You wouldn't really want me to do otherwise would you?

Why not post in the thread in the Writer's Workshop where whatever debate there is will be wider?

B

I have posted your comments and my reply here:

F57153?thread=217913?thread=&post=2525816#p2525816

I believe that 'Frankl' is the usual spelling although 'Frankel' also seems to be acceptable. 'Frankle' appears to be a bit of a no no.

Thank you. That is the sort of thing that both I and the sub would have missed.

Toxxin, at one point you indicated you might write an entry for the project itself. The project has no agenda, it certainly is not limited to evolution and belief. Neither is it promoting one set of views over another. The objective is to look at religious and spiritual belief from all angles. There are a variety of approaches and tones of voice, and that is appropriate in a community work.

You clearly either have opinions on the subject, or else the ability to argue from a viewpoint regardless of your opinion. My approach has been to let people write what they want, so long as it adheres to the edited guidelines for h2g2 as a whole. I am not interested in lots of pieces that I could have written - I am far more interested in what other people could write. (In fact, if we are lucky, Ste will re-write the evolution of belief piece anyway - it will be interesting to compare the two).

So - please - you have a lot to say, don't let it be lost in the threads. Write an entry on some aspect of the subject yourself.

B

Thank you Ben for your kind reply. I have unsubscribed from your comment thread, although politeness demanded that I responded to Spiff's reply to me on it. I thought that I could at least pick up typos etc without getting myself into trouble.

Unfortunately, my only positive thoughts on this project are that it still doesn't make sense (to this humble person, anyway) so I can hardly contibute, not even a separate chapter in the same book as it were, without singing from a totally different hymnsheet.

I could write a sceptics account of either the whole thing or some aspect of it perhaps, but I'm up before the crown court in a couple of week for an alleged offence that could attract a custodial sentence. Needless to say, I'm not guilty, but I'm pretty sceptical about British justice too. Looking at it objectively, the chances are either that I will get off, or just get a slap on the wrist.

Since I am suing the police on legal aid and expecting five figure compo, I should end up with a decent profit. Nevertheless, this is rather a preoccupied time for me!

Info on typos very gratefully accepted.

What a nightmare situation to be in. I think you must be understating the case to say you are preoccupied. And an horrendous time of year to be going through an experience like that.

This whole thing will be going into suspended animation till after Chrsitmas (or atavistic winter solstice festival of choice) because I am going to be out of the loop completely for a month or six weeks, and then we hit into the aforementioned atavistic etc etc.

When I get back I will go through the entire backlog - there was some very useful stuff there, and I wanted to wait for it to all pan out and rewrite the whole thing, rather than making a series of minor tweaks. That way madness lies. So it will be New and Improved (well, maybe improved) in the new year.

If you need a mental break from your personal issues then a sceptics account of any aspect of religious or spiritual belief (including a counter-argument to my owne pieces) would be very welcome. As I have already said, the project has no evangelical agenda.

Good luck with the law. As I have said, I cannot imagine a more unpleasant thing to have to be dealing with.

Best wishes

B

Thanks again Ben. I can tell you from experience that there are worse things than law trouble. Anyway, this has only come to a head after 16 months! Justice delayed eh! As you can probably imagine, I've had a lot of fun devising counter arguments to the prosecution case. Perhaps I have become unduly acerbic in the process.

I also spotted 'Biritish Colonialism' near the beginning of the entry.

I can't resist commenting on this, sorry:

>We have already seen how inspired belief has served the individuals and groups which make up the human species very well indeed.

What we don't know is how well the same individuals and groups would have gone on *without* belief. Maybe they would have done better! Your piece may be persuasive to some, but it isn't strictly reasoned if this objection is not somehow met.

Bertrand Russell was a profoundly sceptical character and something of a roué to boot. Yet he wrote (with Whitehead) 'Principia Mathematica', went on to co-found CND I believe and lived to a considerable age. I imagine that his motives were pragmatic rather than inspired.

Another typo Ben! Didn't we have this word before? It isn't 'bizzare' but 'bizarre'.

There's a free spell checker available for the downloading at Tucows etc called 'iespell'. Just search on that in the Tucows' search box and there you are. As I say, it's free for personal use and I have tested it with success. You have to be using IE though, but I expect you are. It works here and in most input boxes on the net.