Ozyman wrote:

FYI: Jigler - the idea that bad is just the absence of good is quite old (4th century): 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privatio_boni

I know, i didn't mean to sound as if this was an original idea. However, i don't think something has to be new to be right! :)

I’m confused when I read the Wikipedia article.  If the relationship between evil and good is asymmetrical, then why do they have to be opposites? The more I think about it, the more it just doesn’t make sense. I’m sure my thinking isn’t new here, but my sense is that the light metaphor is a poor one.  Well-known thought experiments involving ethical dilemmas come to mind. So if there are scenarios where the distinction between right and wrong becomes blurred, then certainly distinguishing between good and evil should have similar issues?

M57 wrote:

I’m confused when I read the Wikipedia article.  If the relationship between evil and good is asymmetrical, then why do they have to be opposites? The more I think about it, the more it just doesn’t make sense. I’m sure my thinking isn’t new here, but my sense is that the light metaphor is a poor one.  Well-known thought experiments involving ethical dilemmas come to mind. So if there are scenarios where the distinction between right and wrong becomes blurred, then certainly distinguishing between good and evil should have similar issues?

Apparently there are "50 shades of Gray" in between...

Jigler wrote:

itsnotatumor wrote:

Evolutionary Psych, Neuro, and Bio have some damn good explanations for just about every human and sociological behavior.  It's pretty awesome stuff.  My favorite is the stuff around human attraction. Shit will blow your mind (and if turned into applicable strategies helps other things getting blown more often).  =)

I major in Psychology at my University, so i've studied this stuff fairly extensively. I by no means claim to be an expert, but i at least have read some of the major theories. The way i see it, is that if you approach humanity and purpose with the presupposition that there is no God, then you will come up with satisfactory solutions that do not involve him. I don't think all of evolutionary psych is wrong, but with the option of God left out, you have to figure something else out and this is what i think ev.psych has done often.  

Nah, only American Evangelical's (with their head's in their ass) say you have to choose. 

It's been 150+ years since Darwin, and only 100 since powered flight. Which do you think has had more progress, despite religious fanaticism?  We've mapped half the animal genomes in the world and can track neural and sub cellular activity, and trace the pathways of human thought and reaction.  The sum total knowledge of the human brain has doubled a few times in the last twenty years.

All modern bio sciences unequivocally support evo, but that doesn't exclude God.  Evo works with or without him.

The Pope brought Catholics on board in F'ing 1950.

Since the publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species in 1859, the attitude of the Catholic Church on the theory of evolution has slowly been refined. For about 100 years, there was no authoritative pronouncement on the subject. In the 1950 encyclical Humani generis, Pope Pius XII confirmed that there is no intrinsic conflict between Christianity and the theory of evolution, provided that Christians believe that the individual soul is a direct creation by God and not the product of purely material forces.^[1] Today, the Church's unofficial position is an example of theistic evolution, also known as evolutionary creation,^[2] stating that faith and scientific findings regarding human evolution are not in conflict, though humans are regarded as a special creation, and that the existence of God is required to explain both monogenism and the spiritual component of human origins. Moreover, the Church teaches that the process of evolution is a planned and purpose-driven natural process, actively guided by God.^{[3][4][5] (}  Wikipedia

Even Pope Benedict who is conservative as hell and was known as "God's Rottweiler" as a cardinal.  Says Evolution v Creationism is a bullshit debate.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19956961/ns/world_news-europe/t/pope-creation-vs-evolution-clash-absurdity/#.UI3zxhh5E1g

My soul is God's, but my brain and body is science and no one can prove otherwise.  Try it I dare ya!

I want a hippopotamus For Christmas.

http://youtu.be/e7xjjlUbpJ4

Mom says a hippo would eat me up but then... teacher says a hippo is a vegetarian.

On a more serious note, reading through the well-thought out and argued posts that proceeded this one made me realize that what I would like most of all is to have the knowledge to definitely confirm or refute each of your theories on life, the universe and everything.     But, then again, I sense that would defeat the purpose of this existence, or, alternatively, in tribute and deference to the source of my username:

There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened. 

-- Douglas Adams, from the "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy"

Lol,

A killer vegetarian...

"The hippo is responsible for more human fatalities in Africa than any other large animal. Male hippos actively defend their territories which run along the banks of rivers and lakes. Females have also been known to get extremely aggressive if they sense anyone coming in between their babies, who stay in the water while she feeds on the shore. Hippos can run at speeds of over 20 miles an hour and they have enormous jaws which host up to 20 inch canines."

http://goafrica.about.com/od/africasafariguide/tp/dangerousanimals.htm

In other news,

"To mark territory, hippos spin their tails while defecating to distribute their excrement over a greater area.^[57] Likely for the same reason, hippos are retromingent – that is, they urinate backwards.^[58]

Wikipedia

thanks tumor! this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aA7iAMTAWHM just made my day :-)