SCIENCE VERSUS RELIGION SCIENCE VERSUS RELIGION!
5 March 2009 in Agile PracticeI’m listening to an interview with Richard Dawkins
He’s very intelligent. Although I am not an Atheist, I do agree that we should all be able to discuss openly our understanding of the world that we live in. Two people with different world views could easily share their ideas with each other in a beneficial way, however, we have been taught not to discuss politics with friends, family, or coworkers - its not polite somehow.
I say we should bring back public debate.
And something the Scrum Daddy in me noticed: When the interviewer would get emotional, Dawkins would dig deeper - asking for more details so that he could respond with better authority.
It’s a very formalized environment - that’s necessary so that people don’t hit each other, i think. The truth is that whatever you think or believe or worship, it is part of you, and to change the idea would be very awkward, to say the least. Which is why there isn’t generally a landslide of people suddenly switching from one world view to another. With our beliefs comes a sense of belonging and purpose that aren’t easily left behind.
For example: I learned online the proper way to adjust a mirror. It’s very reasonable - the idea is that your mirror represents a field of view. The way most people adjust their mirrors they actually cut off a large part of that view and so they have ‘blind spots’. I have tried to explain this to a few people and they generally think that it is ‘personal choice’ - its like, don’t fuck with my ideas about how I set my mirrors.
Or maybe they’re just thinking its really annoying having some know-it-all telling them what they should think.
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I think the idea that we should not discuss politics, religion and world views with co-workers and casual acquaintances is generally unhealthy. However, I have found that these discussions are more likely to lead to a realization of who you don’t like and who dislikes you, rather than a better mutual understanding of world views.
I also think it’s interesting to bring up the Global Warming debate in this context. Personally I find a lot of similarities between global warming alarmists and religious “nutjobs” that are so unpopular today. I think a large part of doing a cost-benefit analysis of global warming legislation comes down to one’s personal political persuasion and economic world view.
In other words, people view this debate through their world view and fill in any gaps with faith. For as scientific as this argument may seem, it’s not all about facts.
Nothing to add but to point you to this recent post: http://www.figarospeech.com/teach-a-kid-to-argue/
I thought this was apropos to your posting:
“And let’s face it: Our culture has lost the ability to usefully disagree. Most Americans seem to avoid argument. But this has produced passive aggression and groupthink in the office, red and blue states, and families unable to discuss things as simple as what to watch on television. Rhetoric doesn’t turn kids into back-sassers; it makes them think about other points of view.”