Religious Musings: Maybe God Isn't So Ridiculous?

Yesterday I was in my backyard playing fetch with Lucy. We have one of those little UFO shaped grills and it was laying on its side with a few insects buzzing around it. I realized that the insects wouldn't treat it any differently if it was a hollow tree stump. The insects had no idea it was man made and no idea how or why the grill was there. All they knew is that it was a source of shelter and nutrition.

What if there was evidence of higher intelligence around me and I simply could not recognize it? If helium and nitrogen were natural elements but hydrogen and oxygen were artificially created by a higher intelligence how would I know? What sorts of clues could I look for to see what parts of my world might have been shaped by a higher intelligence?

By drawing an analogy to the round, metallic grill I speculated that evidence of complex engineering would be tend to suggest involvement by a higher power. After all, engineering is simply a combination of intelligence and environmental manipulation. Since our entire universe is organized by the law of physics into complex shapes and reactions (including our own biology), I found it interesting that maybe the notion that our universe was created by a higher power wasn't so crazy.

Of course, this isn't to say that the complexity of our universe is proof of a higher intelligence. If that conclusion was a necessary implication, then the intelligence that engineered our universe would have to have been engineered by another intelligence, and so forth into perpetuity. Assuming our universe was engineered by a higher intelligence, this doesn't necessarily prove the existence of a Judeo-Christian God. It would suggest with equal likelihood, for example, that we are part of a Matrix-style Simulation.

Also my speculation that evidence of higher intelligence could/would come in the form of evidence of complex engineering could be incomplete or wrong.

All flaws considered, I thought it was an interesting thought worth sharing nonetheless.

Philosophical Conflict: Petri Dish Meat and Cloning/GMO

In case you missed it, a bit of a scandal erupted on the other side of the Atlantic this week:

Beef from a second bull bred from a clone has illegally entered the human food chain and has been eaten in the last few months, safety officials have disclosed.

Tampering with genetics ignites the fears and passions of many.  But is this opposition justified?

Hugh Pennington, emeritus professor of microbiology at the University of Aberdeen, said meat and milk from cloned cows posed no health risks. "It is perfectly safe," he said. "They are just the same as their parents from the genetic point of view so there's no problem there."

Alright, I concede that one line from one story is hardly enough to conclude that cloned meat is safe. But considering the genetic variation already in our diet -- from non-genetic minerals and vitamins to plants, fungi, and a wide assort of animals -- I do wonder wonder what all the fuss about genetically modified food is about. What's a handful of mutations from cloning or genetic modification really going to hurt? All naturally born life forms come into this world with a few genetic mutations and an entirely unique genome. We're not going to ban the consumption of any individual plant or animal due to the unknown side effects of consuming its unverified genome, right? So why doesn't that principle apply to cloned or modified organisms?

But understandably at least, many people are skeptical, afraid, and hostile. Whatever. So how does this conflict with animal ethics?

Lines Drawn in Battle Between Free Will and Determinism

NPR has a philosophically fascinating special series called "Inside the Criminal Brain."  The whole series is worth a look, but I want to focus on a specific case:

"When the police arrived at Bradley Waldroup's trailer home in the mountains of Tennessee, they found a war zone. There was blood on the walls, blood on the carpet, blood on the truck outside, even blood on the Bible that Waldroup had been reading before all hell broke loose.

"Assistant District Attorney Drew Robinson says that on Oct. 16, 2006, Waldroup was waiting for his estranged wife to arrive with their four kids for the weekend. He had been drinking, and when his wife said she was leaving with her friend, Leslie Bradshaw, they began to fight. Soon, Waldroup had shot Bradshaw eight times and sliced her head open with a sharp object. When Waldroup was finished with her, he chased after his wife, Penny, with a machete, chopping off her finger and cutting her over and over."

So what makes this gruesome murder a front line in the battle between free will and determinism?  Join me below the fold...

Why I'm Not a Fan of Daily Kos: Abortion Strawmen

This diary is a perfect example of the one-sided thinking at Daily Kos.

Key quotes after the fold...