Deepak Chopra wrote an article pointing out some flaws with 'professional skepticism' on the
Huffington Post website recently. As Chopra points out at the beginning of the article, he has been accused of expounding "woo woo" before. Sometimes I think he might be expounding woo woo, but there are other times that I think he makes some excellent points. This article is one of those times that I think he makes excellent points. The article is in response to a recent appearance Chopra made on
Larry King Live with famous skeptic Michael Shermer. Here is a brief excerpt from the article:
Skeptics feel that they have won the high ground in matters concerning consciousness, mind, the origins of life, evolutionary theory, and brain science. This is far from the case. What they cling to is 19th Century materialism, packaged with a screeching hysteria about God and religion that is so passé it has become quaint. To suggest that Darwinian theory is incomplete and full of unproven hypotheses causes Shermer, who takes Darwin as purely as a fundamentalist takes scripture, to see God everywhere in the enemy camp.
Read the whole article
here.
H/T
Wonderful article! Yes, I've seen Shermer's sour puss on many shows as the "opposing" side to anything "unproven." The problem is that he is the complete complement to a religious zealot. Neither will be taken from their stands. They have made their positions clear and everything that counters it must be disputed like a religious person might balk at evolution or an athiest balk at the idea of near-death experiences. I've been working on a post about this subject the last several months but it made my brain hurt. I was trying to explain why life? Why are there living things in the universe? What purpose do they serve? What purposes does our sentient abilities have? Why not be like snails? Why realize we are alive, that we have a conscience, morals, society, and a sense of higher purpose? Why in the world would evolution provide such features? It makes no sense. Yes, science is inherently intelligent in design and evolution. I'm not sure I go for the idea of some grumpy judgmental old man in a robe concept, but I absolutely believe that from the shape of our ears that perfectly pick up sound so we can hear something coming and run, to our taste buds made to detect bad tastes that might be poisons to us, to our amazing reproductive capabilities, there is no reason for it to evolve and survive unless there is a greater purpose. Having said my woo-woo piece, someone seriously needs to put Shermer and people like Rush Limbaugh in their places. They are the worst ends of the spectrum and do nothing to promote knowledge or...evolution.
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