thelerner Posted April 8, 2011 zzz waking up. The point about improbable events is you have to take into account how often they have a chance of occurring. If the odds of rolling OO in roulette is 1 in 38 that means its rolled tens of thousands of times a day, cause there are lots of roulette tables. In a large universe odds that are one chance in 2.3 times ten billion vigintillion may happen quite often because while its low odds, the dice are rolled 100 billion times in 100 billion places or maybe 3 1/2 trillion every trillionth second, who knows. When dealing with enormous numbers quantification becomes murky ie, if its 2.2 instead of 2.3 ten billion vigintillion then it would happen all the time, you couldn't walk out the door without some new creature popping up . Ultimately its hard to say what started life, but my money is that scientists will figure it out (along with proofs and applicable models) before theologians. Thats not to downplay religion. I was taught and believe- (good) science tells us what things are, (good) religion tells us how to use them. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
unmike Posted April 8, 2011 zzz waking up. The point about improbable events is you have to take into account how often they have a chance of occurring. If the odds of rolling OO in roulette is 1 in 38 that means its rolled tens of thousands of times a day, cause there are lots of roulette tables. In a large universe odds that are one chance in 2.3 times ten billion vigintillion may happen quite often because while its low odds, the dice are rolled 100 billion times in 100 billion places or maybe 3 1/2 trillion every trillionth second, who knows. When dealing with enormous numbers quantification becomes murky ie, if its 2.2 instead of 2.3 ten billion vigintillion then it would happen all the time, you couldn't walk out the door without some new creature popping up . Ultimately its hard to say what started life, but my money is that scientists will figure it out (along with proofs and applicable models) before theologians. Thats not to downplay religion. I was taught and believe- (good) science tells us what things are, (good) religion tells us how to use them. All that is sound, reasonable, and completely true, but totally irrelevant. What really matters is the fact that the present is a convergence of waveforms from the past and the future. The present moment, at a quantum level, we are literally calling what is necessary to us, and evolution functions through this resonant principle. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marblehead Posted April 8, 2011 Well, apparently the odds for life to evolve on this plant were pretty darn good. It has been around for what? 3.5 billion years? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zerostao Posted April 9, 2011 All that is sound, reasonable, and completely true, but totally irrelevant. What really matters is the fact that the present is a convergence of waveforms from the past and the future. The present moment, at a quantum level, we are literally calling what is necessary to us, and evolution functions through this resonant principle. do the future waveforms influence the past waveforms? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marblehead Posted April 9, 2011 do the future waveforms influence the past waveforms? Hehehe. I ignored that statement when I read it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Creation Posted May 18, 2011 (edited) Funny you should mention that Buddhist creation story vortex. The views I expressed about the role of consciousness in evolution and spirits wanting to incarnate in bodies to a large extent came from my reading of that exact story (not from the Book of Mormon, if you are reading this Blasto ). I personally did not read "aliens" into that story, even though it mentions beings from another world, because the the modern western concept of other planets and aliens (that you see in, say, sci-fi and conspiracy theories) is so very different from the view of other worlds and their inhabitants in the ancient Indian culture of the Buddha. As what thelerner quoted pointed out, in Buddhism there is a concept of a world of pure spirit where immaterial beings inhabit. The story seems to say that when another material planet died, it's inhabitants had sufficient merit to reincarnate as such a pure spirit world, but still needed to work out karma in a material realm. I read the story to say that this is was what provided the initial causal impetus for the evolution of life on this planet. So there you have a teleological explanation (which I think is necessary once consciousness comes into the picture) that has nothing to do with a supreme creator deity. Brilliant! But note that it was not like aliens rode their spaceships to earth. There was no transfer of bodies from one planet to another, just spirits, and this spiritual transfer is what catalyzed the evolution of life on this planet, so that said spirits could incarnate in bodies in accordance with their karma. What a neat story. Edited May 18, 2011 by Creation 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
