This article is about how the wonders of artificiality and of nature’s absurdity show that the conventional view of miracles is tedious for being tied to the confusions of theism.
I really enjoyed that article. I've also reflected on how banal the Biblical miracle stories are from a modern perspective. Once you've seen David Copperfield teleport himself from New York to Hawaii or David Blain walk through walls, what's so impressive about turning water into wine or a rod into a snake? If there is a God, I'd have to think that he would have better credentials on him than a series of parlor tricks.
It's the natural miracles (an oxymoron?) rather than the supernatural ones which deserve our awe. You mentioned exotic phenomena like black holes & quantum mechanics as examples. Lovecraft would delight in dark miracles like these & I think his fiction was in part a protest against the paltry human imagination that creates all too human monsters when the real monster is right in front of us if we'd only recognize it. One of my favorite stories of his is The Colour Out of Space. It's about a radioactive meteorite falling on some guy's farm; which seems like a rather mundane occurrence until Lovecraft explores its dire consequences.
And yet, I think there are some miracles that anyone can experience if they dare. Some people have said that birth is an example of an every day miracle that is available for everyone to witness for themselves. But personally I've never understood why they'd think that. I saw a live human birth once & it looked more horrific than miraculous. What is so mysterious about life coming from life, flesh from flesh? For me, death is the real miracle. The idea of something fading into nothing is even more disturbing than something emerging from nothing. It defies the most elementary logic & yet it happens millions of times every day. Sometimes I wonder if this, rather than any need for consolation, is the basis of the common belief in an afterlife. After all, if death really is nothingness, then there is literally nothing to fear in it.
Thanks for your declarations and arguments by assertion. Meanwhile the greater miracles of science I described--of artificiality and of nature's monstrosity--are manifest.
Resource-based economy, you can look up the Venus Project, also Howard Scott's technocracy.
But after all this time, I'm not sure if such a system could end up being a technocratic dictatorship.
In my opinion, after analyzing all kinds of systems, there is no possible solution because there are always groups with different opinions and with the desire to achieve power.
I really enjoyed that article. I've also reflected on how banal the Biblical miracle stories are from a modern perspective. Once you've seen David Copperfield teleport himself from New York to Hawaii or David Blain walk through walls, what's so impressive about turning water into wine or a rod into a snake? If there is a God, I'd have to think that he would have better credentials on him than a series of parlor tricks.
ReplyDeleteIt's the natural miracles (an oxymoron?) rather than the supernatural ones which deserve our awe. You mentioned exotic phenomena like black holes & quantum mechanics as examples. Lovecraft would delight in dark miracles like these & I think his fiction was in part a protest against the paltry human imagination that creates all too human monsters when the real monster is right in front of us if we'd only recognize it. One of my favorite stories of his is The Colour Out of Space. It's about a radioactive meteorite falling on some guy's farm; which seems like a rather mundane occurrence until Lovecraft explores its dire consequences.
And yet, I think there are some miracles that anyone can experience if they dare. Some people have said that birth is an example of an every day miracle that is available for everyone to witness for themselves. But personally I've never understood why they'd think that. I saw a live human birth once & it looked more horrific than miraculous. What is so mysterious about life coming from life, flesh from flesh? For me, death is the real miracle. The idea of something fading into nothing is even more disturbing than something emerging from nothing. It defies the most elementary logic & yet it happens millions of times every day. Sometimes I wonder if this, rather than any need for consolation, is the basis of the common belief in an afterlife. After all, if death really is nothingness, then there is literally nothing to fear in it.
Can you think of any other every day miracles?
In an RBE, science and technology do not destroy nature, are used to protect and establish it.
ReplyDeleteYou must decide whether you support theological primitivism or scientific progress, you cannot play two sides.
Thanks for your declarations and arguments by assertion. Meanwhile the greater miracles of science I described--of artificiality and of nature's monstrosity--are manifest.
DeleteWhat is an RBE?
Resource-based economy, you can look up the Venus Project, also Howard Scott's technocracy.
DeleteBut after all this time, I'm not sure if such a system could end up being a technocratic dictatorship.
In my opinion, after analyzing all kinds of systems, there is no possible solution because there are always groups with different opinions and with the desire to achieve power.