"Natural History Is The Antidote For Piety": Facebook Exchange With Conservative Christian

Alan Archibald

July 11 at 3:49 PM · 

Methane abounds on Mars.

Very often, the presence of methane indicates the presence of life.

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What If Life Did Not Originate on Earth?

Gary Ruvkun, a molecular biologist and professor of genetics at Harvard, wants to search for DNA on Mars.

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  KK: who really cares where it originated? what matters is what we do with life here and now on this planet and what the intent of the Creator of LIFE meant for those who have been created in His Image? we humans.. the rest is pretty much not only history…See More

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    Alan Archibald Intellectually curious people care about many things that you consider pointless. 
    
    If you had lived in the 17th century when von Leeuwenhoek discovered the previously invisible world of microbes, it is likely you would have been similarly dismissive. I suspect it is only "the utilitarian in you" that is now profoundly grateful (if only implicitly) that the Dutchman's momentous scientific advance laid the foundation of microbiology, public sanitation and drug development to combat microbial infection.
    
    It is said of Trump that he is an essentially incurious person.
    
    A good friend for over 50 years socializes with a medical caregiver who has treated Trump (and his family) for decades.
    
    This doctor says: "Trump doesn't know anything. And he doesn't want to know anything." 
    
    Clearly this is an overstatement - but an overstatement that reveals Tedious Trump's essentially boring small-mindedness...
    
    ***
    
    I have long admired the groundbreaking work of scientist Gregory Bateson who observed that "Natural History is the antidote for piety."
    
    Here is some antidote for you. It will do you good. And if it doesn't do you good, you may be beyond the reach of benefit.
    
    Animation: The Fascinating Science Of How Trees Communicate
    https://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/.../animation...
    
    Imagine this. 
    
    The Mysterium Magnum is magnified by curiosity, by science and by factual knowledge whereas stonewall-denial of facts-and-science may do God a disservice by confining him to your limited -- and limiting -- concepts.
    
    The next time you use an antibiotic, I encourage you to be thankful that Leeuwenhoek was curious, not because he knew that his discovery would lead to a favorable utilitarian outcome but just because he was curious.
    
    You might also be uninterested in this:
    "The Danger Of Carbon Dioxide As A Greenhouse Gas Was First Described In 1896"
    http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/.../the-danger-of...

    

    PAXONBOTHHOUSES.BLOGSPOT.COM

    Animation: The Fascinating Science Of How Trees…

    Animation: The Fascinating Science Of How Trees Communicate

    
    

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