X-Message-Number: 31766 Date: Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:06:33 -0400 Subject: Tremendous, world class debate re: science vs. religion at th... From: Rudi Hoffman <> --0016360e3d1859947c046d443303 Hello, dear cryoneters: Sam Harris is one of the most brilliant and clear thinking humans...perhaps ever. He has, over the past week or so, been engaged in a debate of great relevance to the reades of cryonet. This is on the subject of the relationship of science and religion. And is highly "on topic" for this forum, conceptually. Many of us who do a lot of reading, research, and thinking about these topics like to think of ourselves as "intellectually rigorous, articulate, crisp in our thoughts and expressions"...basically, we like to think of ourselves as pretty smart folks. Yea, you know who you are, dear readers...most of us think we are intellects of the highest order, head and shoulders above the shoddy thinking and fuzzy brains of some of our fellows. Admit it...I will...that's why we read and post on cryonet and other venues. But not till you read Sam Harris, in this battle of the intellectual heavyweights, in a spirited debate with an editor of NATURE magazine named Mr. Ball, do we realize how HIGH the bar actually is for genuine intellectual discourse. If I can ever be HALF as smart, compelling, or clear in my thinking and writing as Sam Harris I will be thrilled. :) You may not want to read the whole "shooting match" (because it does get long). But the first two day's dialogue will blow you away with how refreshing it is to read the writings of an individual who pulls no punches with accomodationists. Make up your own mind, but I found this incredibly stimulating. http://www.reasonproject.org/archive/item/what_should_science_dosam_harris_v_philip_ball/ If the above link does not work, or the format is weird, google for "The Reason Project." Warm Regards to All Sentient Beings and readers of this forum, Rudi PS... In my opinion, Sam Harris CLEARLY prevailed in this dialogue...but others of great education and wisdom may disagree. I thought he, in the vernacular, "Kicked Mr. Ball's ass." Your well thought out opinions are welcome in this forum or perhaps a direct e-dialogue with me at This topic REALLY matters...and each of us would do well to be as clear thinking and compelling in discourse as our rigorous self-education can make us. -- Rudi Richard Hoffman CFP CLU ChFC World's Leading Cryonics Insuror rudihoffman.com Former Board Member Financial Planning Association fpafla.com Board Member Salvation Army salvationarmy.org Member Alcor Life Extension Foundation alcor.org, Member Cryonics Institute cryonics.org Certified Financial Planner(TM) CFP Board of Standards Member World Transhumanist Association http://transhumanism.org/ --0016360e3d1859947c046d443303 Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1 [ AUTOMATICALLY SKIPPING HTML ENCODING! ] Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=31766