Why would an intelligent designer use mass extinctions?

Sorry, but that's dumb.

Humans have been killing humans since the dawn of our genus. Genocides are described in the Bible. The holocaust could have happened with flint tools - it would just take longer.
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Look up the surviving Amelekites... ain't none. Wiped out with spears and swords. Shoot, even their pigs and chickens were holocausted! :)
God said to do it. The Israelites didn't even flinch... Whack, whack, stab, dismember... what a glorious celebration of "the glory of the Lord, tramping out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored"...
 
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Look up the surviving Amelekites... ain't none. Wiped out with spears and swords. Shoot, even their pigs and chickens were holocausted! :)
God said to do it. The Israelites didn't even flinch... Whack, whack, stab, dismember... what a glorious celebration of "the glory of the Lord, tramping out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored"...

They didn't even get to keep the virgins? Huh.

I'm trying to decide if God was really upset with them, or was going easy on them....
 
Doing that annoying "reading for content", it's easy to see the machinations of a grumpy old man forcing a very bad decision on an easily swayed person with the power to accomplish that gross evil, for no other reason than the "prophet" was crazy.
That diagnosis fits way too many of the activities in the OT.
 
That's the first time I've been accused of reading posts too closely, the usual thing is to be told I just skimmed them.

:)

You misunderstood my criticism: I criticized you of skimming my posts in order to find excuses to dismiss them. You read far too much into the parts you focus on, but ignore anything that doesn't help you construct an excuse for dismissing an argument.

But that's neither here nor there. I'm not going to persue this side-bar; I merely wanted to clarify the accusations against you, since you insisted on making them explicite.

Odd, I don't see your name in my post and it wasn't directed to you, I guess it's true that the guilty flee when no man pursueth.
 
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Look up the surviving Amelekites... ain't none. Wiped out with spears and swords. Shoot, even their pigs and chickens were holocausted! :)
God said to do it. The Israelites didn't even flinch... Whack, whack, stab, dismember... what a glorious celebration of "the glory of the Lord, tramping out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored"...

And that was well long before Christianity took up the cry.
Even now their decedents are can be that way inclined! Do some peoples just never learn?
 
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"And the rocket's red glare.." is far older than Goddard.
And the Congreve rocket was hardly the newest version.

Black powder.

so pretty in the form of noisy celebration, so destructive in the hands of evil.

Hardly the inventors fault! :)
 
How does it lead one to assume that? I'm not aware of any known mental illness for which the differential diagnosis includes killing dinosaurs or trilobites. As for trying different methods, why can't a method include possible or occasional mass extinctions, the way the method of a binary counter includes periodic zeroing of most of the 1's?

Respectfully,
Myriad
Why would an intelligent designer use mass extinctions?
I have not taken the position that it is 'evil' and the question 'why not?' is equally valid.

Of what use are the extinct? Far as I can gauge, there seems to be plenty of use.
Can it be said with sureness that the extinction of prior creatures helps the creatures now living today?
In what way did the cause of their extinction promote the rise of the next bundle of forms of evolution to emerge?
 
You'd think death would teach them, if nothing else. But are violence-prone decedents really a problem, outside of vampire and zombie fiction?

Cooperation is a perfectly acceptable evolutionary strategy. There's open debate regarding whether competition or cooperation is used more (a pointless one, far as I'm concerned; each individual species, in fact each individual population, can find its own answer to that problem).

By some measures humans are becoming less and less violent. Violence is bad for business, and since trade makes the world go 'round it's declining rather remarkably.
 
You'd think death would teach them, if nothing else. But are violence-prone decedents really a problem, outside of vampire and zombie fiction?

Yes they are. We build institutions in which to house them. Unfortunately we also throw others who are not so inclined but have still transgressed in some minor manner - into their midst.

Violence is not 'fiction' as I am sure you can appreciate Myriad.

In relation to ID, sometimes I think our whole situation resembles the 'island where criminals are sent to sort it out among themselves' as I have heard said as a possible solution re the problem of crime and criminals.

It is possible. Individually we can either do our time and learn by it or not.
The physical universe doesn't care one way or t'other...far as we can tell.

My only problem with that theory is that I can't remember what the hey i did which put me on this rock in the first place. :)

Maybe nothing at all. Maybe I just thought I might be able to help in some way.

But having said that there is a strong tendency (in 'me') toward resisting evil when it is expressed into the situation.

I had to learn of course. 'Evil' is out to hurt me, but when I stub my little toe I don't consider that 'evil'. When a woman screams out obscenities whilst giving birth, I don't consider those things 'evil'.

Anyway, what I do know is that you can't fight evil with evil and sometimes that can get confusing.
Most of the time it just shows that this rock might well be a place to keep 'evil' while it sorts itself out.
 
Navigator said:
Yes they are. We build institutions in which to house them.
Except for those pesky martial arts fans. And those pesky boxing fans. And the wrestling fans. And football/rugby players. Then there are the police who keep those violent individuals in those institutions (prison guards don't carry around flowers and perfume; they carry battons and guns). Oh, and the military--can't get more violent than an institution that can wipe entire cities off the map and which specifically trains its members to kill.

There are a lot of socially acceptable forms of violence. Violence isn't bad--misdirected violence is.

In relation to ID, sometimes I think our whole situation resembles the 'island where criminals are sent to sort it out among themselves' as I have heard said as a possible solution re the problem of crime and criminals.
This makes some pretty clear statements about the Designer. Care to actually define him/her/it? Then we could actually start a real discussion.
 
Refresh my memory.

What if anything do you know about the discipline of science? Please spare us any more long-winded bloviations.

Just tell us what you know about science, and how you can convince the casual observer that you know what you're talking about.

I am sorry.

I accidentally misinformed.

I meant to say good use of science and evil use of science. I said good science and bad science.

Bad science is this because it is claimed to be scientific but is really more entertainment and comedy (which is not bad entertainment and comedy) and cherry picking/stage setting, which is somewhat necessary for not bad entertainment and comedy but not so great as far as science goes.
 
That I am within an extremely confined space in relation to existence and have no particular way of verifying that some mad invention occurred, and that this must be the case if indeed one is to contemplate ID.
That my own small part in the whole thing isn't without its amazing **** too which I can say "well it is mad but not in a bad way."
That I can ponder upon what might entice some aspect of ID to participate within such a universe and what purpose might be propelling that consciousness.
That I can find answers which don't have to portray some monster mad scientist type god ideas as the only case one can place on the table.

I don't see how and am not convinced that this really answered my question.

Well I can understand your concern there. Certainly there is suffering and how can one bear to think some ID created this suffering trap just so there would be suffering?
Otherwise suffering would be all there was and since that is not the case...

So then there being something else besides suffering justifies the existence of suffering? If a creature lives it's short life during which it basically experiences only suffering, does it become "okay" simply because other creatures might have a different experience? Is this the sort of bold statements you wish to make, because that is what can be implied/concluded from your statements.

Notice also that you have set up a false dichotomy here. You essentially posit that either an ID "created this suffering trap just so there would be suffering," or the existence of other things besides suffering means that suffering wasn't the only sole goal, which from what I can tell according to you somehow makes the existence of suffering a-priori justifiable/ethical since you seem to have posited this as the response to my previous query. I don't accept this false dichotomy, and thus my previous post still stands.

I don't like seeing beings suffer. But am I going to turn away when my loved ones depart?
Moreover, if I am that concerned (as you obviously are) would it be right of me to bring children into this world?
How should I feel about those who do bring children into this world?
If I really sincerely think that no intelligent designer would put consciousness into the universe because of the suffering part, then what do I think of those who do use their own abilities to seed and birth human beings into this world which includes suffering?

These are really side topics that I don't see the relevance of.

I personally just stick with what is in relation to life as I know it. Sure all that other stuff can be contemplated but is not here nor there in relation to how a life usually runs its course, in its linear fashion.

Basically the exact same statement can be said of the ideas of an afterlife that you have posited, which just brings me back to my point of what reason we have to think such things are true.

If you think there should be evidence of both god and afterlife you need to construct your ideas on those accordingly.

Otherwise evidence remains out of reach, whereas the possibility remains.

I can come up with many views of an what an afterlife or god is, yet no matter my definition many will always disagree with it. Given that the burden of proof is on those asserting or positing the existence of such things, I would say that it is their job to "construct ideas on those accordingly," most certainly not mine. The simple fact is that there is basically an infinite amount of things that could be posited to exist or be true, yet my requirement of evidence to believe something doesn't mean I have to flesh out all infinity of them just so I can continue to want evidence in order to believe things. This is an absurd proposition. If you claim something exists, then it is your job to "construct" said ideas, not mine. Because no matter what you construct, I still won't believe it without some sort of evidence.
 
Science was involved. Sorry, but that is the truth of the matter.


How was science involved? Apart from the unethical medical experiments (which is more a case of criminal scientists taking advantage of the holocaust, not a case of science assisting the holocaust), how was science involved?

The technology they used may have been based on knowledge produced by science, but this is not the same thing as science being involved.

It's like claiming that a store which sells common household products like kitchen knives, rope, duct-tape, garbage bags and bleach was somehow involved in the horrific acts of torture and murder performed by a serial killer who used products purchased from that store to commit his crimes.

Possibly you have a very different definition of "involved" than the rest of us.

Bad science is this because it is claimed to be scientific but is really more entertainment and comedy (which is not bad entertainment and comedy) and cherry picking/stage setting, which is somewhat necessary for not bad entertainment and comedy but not so great as far as science goes.


Pen and Teller don't even pretend that they're doing science. Their purpose on that show is to entertain and inform (and express their personal opinions), not to perform scientific research.

If you want an entertaining TV series that performs actual scientific experiments, try watching MythBusters.
 
Why would an intelligent designer use mass extinctions?
I have not taken the position that it is 'evil' and the question 'why not?' is equally valid.

Of what use are the extinct? Far as I can gauge, there seems to be plenty of use.
Can it be said with sureness that the extinction of prior creatures helps the creatures now living today?
In what way did the cause of their extinction promote the rise of the next bundle of forms of evolution to emerge?


This is a very interesting and important set of questions. Central among them is why, from a biological or ecological point of view, is there death? Because of its importance, I would encourage you to look into that question on your own. There are several prospective answers with varying degrees of scientific support that apply at different levels.

It is definitely possible for the cause of extinction to promote the rise of new forms. One clear example is the oxygen catastrophe that killed most of the algae in the sea (poisoned by oxygen that it generated as a waste product). The dead algae created most of the world's oil deposits, but more important, the toxic corrosive oxygen allowed animals to evolve.

Extinction itself (not the cause, but the actual event) also benefits new forms, by freeing resources. That's why it's often said that humans would probably never have evolved from mammals had the K-T extinction not occurred, because dinosaurs would have remained the dominant land species.

That's just a small part of the answer, though.

Respectfully,
Myriad
 
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I don't see how and am not convinced that this really answered my question.

How can I help you?



So then there being something else besides suffering justifies the existence of suffering?

There is no need for justification. The need seems to be for understanding.
I understand suffering (as bad as it can be) is reason enough for compassion and wanting to do something to alleviate the suffering.
You have missed the point I made altogether that i do not separate ID from its creation. I consider that "we are it having the experience we created for ourselves to have" is a possibility which also answers your question regarding suffering while explaining why there is also joy and happiness etc.



If a creature lives it's short life during which it basically experiences only suffering, does it become "okay" simply because other creatures might have a different experience? Is this the sort of bold statements you wish to make, because that is what can be implied/concluded from your statements.

What creature. Expand on this please. Give a story of such one which we can work on together.
Is it the poor penguin who accidentally let go of its egg and couldn't retrieve it in time and the cold killed it?
Is it the deer the wolves cornered and devoured?
Is it the fish in the net being hauled aboard?
Is it the poor being ignored by the rich?

Tell me...



Notice also that you have set up a false dichotomy here. You essentially posit that either an ID "created this suffering trap just so there would be suffering," or the existence of other things besides suffering means that suffering wasn't the only sole goal, which from what I can tell according to you somehow makes the existence of suffering a-priori justifiable/ethical since you seem to have posited this as the response to my previous query. I don't accept this false dichotomy, and thus my previous post still stands.

Okay.



These are really side topics that I don't see the relevance of.

Therein is part of the problem. We are all many potential creators of life. We know there is suffering in the world and yet we purposefully bring others into it.
How is that 'evil madness' when ID does it but not when we do?

Basically the exact same statement can be said of the ideas of an afterlife that you have posited, which just brings me back to my point of what reason we have to think such things are true.

No reason either way to think they are true or false. We are dealing with ideas. ID ideas.


I can come up with many views of an what an afterlife or god is, yet no matter my definition many will always disagree with it. Given that the burden of proof is on those asserting or positing the existence of such things, I would say that it is their job to "construct ideas on those accordingly," most certainly not mine. The simple fact is that there is basically an infinite amount of things that could be posited to exist or be true, yet my requirement of evidence to believe something doesn't mean I have to flesh out all infinity of them just so I can continue to want evidence in order to believe things. This is an absurd proposition. If you claim something exists, then it is your job to "construct" said ideas, not mine. Because no matter what you construct, I still won't believe it without some sort of evidence.

In relation to such ideas, burden of proof is only required when claims are made.
Ideas themselves are not claims.
Belief has nothing to do with it.
Evidence offered which still requires some form of belief is simply incomplete.

Incomplete evidence (sometimes referred to as 'compelling') is nothing solid to base belief upon. Once complete, what need is belief in relation to such evidence.

Belief is neither here nor there.
 
Yes they are. We build institutions in which to house them.


Those would be morgues, graveyards, and mausoleums.

Unfortunately we also throw others who are not so inclined but have still transgressed in some minor manner - into their midst.


Good gracious! That's horrible. I'm pretty sure it's not actually true though.

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Okay, enough. I thought you used the word "decedents" on purpose to make some abstract point, but now I'm convinced it was just a usage error so I won't harp on it any farther. "Decedents" means dead people. So you probably meant something else when you said "Even their decedents can be that way inclined. Will some people never learn?" (I hope you can appreciate the unintentional humor though, including why vampires and zombies came to mind.)

Respectfully,
Myriad
 
Those would be morgues, graveyards, and mausoleums.




Good gracious! That's horrible. I'm pretty sure it's not actually true though.

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Okay, enough. I thought you used the word "decedents" on purpose to make some abstract point, but now I'm convinced it was just a usage error so I won't harp on it any farther. "Decedents" means dead people. So you probably meant something else when you said "Even their decedents can be that way inclined. Will some people never learn?" (I hope you can appreciate the unintentional humor though, including why vampires and zombies came to mind.)

Respectfully,
Myriad

Yeas certainly! It is not evil humor. :)

I meant 'descendants'.
 
Except for those pesky martial arts fans. And those pesky boxing fans. And the wrestling fans. And football/rugby players. Then there are the police who keep those violent individuals in those institutions (prison guards don't carry around flowers and perfume; they carry battons and guns). Oh, and the military--can't get more violent than an institution that can wipe entire cities off the map and which specifically trains its members to kill.

There are a lot of socially acceptable forms of violence. Violence isn't bad--misdirected violence is.

That's where the grey area can get rather foggy.
Still, with all the guards and cops around keeping the bullies in line by being bigger bullies, it does add weight to the idea that possibility this planet is some kind of holding cell for the still learning to behave appropriately consciousnesses. Maybe not even directly the focus of ID but delegated to be overseen by those who have already learned (or didn't need to even).
Reminds me of that story of fallen angels...

This makes some pretty clear statements about the Designer. Care to actually define him/her/it? Then we could actually start a real discussion.

Not in this thread.

But I am able to offer some ideas on that.
 

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