# Physicists are from Mars, biologists are from...? (Atheism thread) **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 23, 2001, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/physicists-are-from-mars-biologists-are-from-atheism-thread/66295 "2001-05-23T14:14:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2001, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/physicists-are-from-mars-biologists-are-from-atheism-thread/66295/41 "2001-05-25T14:46:47Z")
okay, for **hardcore** , i was seeing the rolled-eye smilie as a sarcastic jab to puntuate was he said, and i was just taking it to a sarcastic extreme. Hey, **Lib** , i think you need to set up a website, so whenever someone asks you the same questions again and again, you can just direct them there, instead of repeatedly saying the same thing, getting annoyed, then everyone end up thinking you’re a jerk (i know i did at first before i realized why you got snippy sometimes). Then you can tell who hasn’t taken the time to read you site and deem them unworthy of acknowledgment. for **jab** , the random part of evolution is the mutations, coupled with what is happening in the environment at the time. white hair may be a wonderful advantage in the polar region or the desert, but if you live in a heavily forested area, you tend to stick out more and have a better chance of being eaten. most mutations are bad for whatever gets them, that is part of evolution also, the part you don’t see walking around the forest. ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2001, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/physicists-are-from-mars-biologists-are-from-atheism-thread/66295/42 "2001-05-25T20:55:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by hardcore \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by jab1 \* > > \*\*Did you notice it was recommended by **Dr.Matrix**? > > \*\* > > **jab1** , I guess I missed it, because I didn’t even notice that he had posted to this thread; nevertheless, I really like the site as a suggested read for a creationist, due to its simplicity.\*\* No, no. Just below [“Poor Fossil Record”](http://www.rice.edu/armadillo/Sciacademy/riggins/things.htm#poor), you’ll see a little box that says “Recognized By Dr. Matrix. World-Wide Web Science Excellence.” I assume it’s the same person as _our_ **Dr. Matrix**. (Unfortunately, that box is a broken link.) ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2001, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/physicists-are-from-mars-biologists-are-from-atheism-thread/66295/43 "2001-05-25T21:34:58Z")
Not a bad idea, Tars. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2001, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/physicists-are-from-mars-biologists-are-from-atheism-thread/66295/44 "2001-05-25T23:06:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Libertarian \* > **Where did you get the idea that I had that idea? Because I said the ending was surprising?** Well, yeah. So why was the ending so surprising? > [@](#): > > \*\*Ben > > Please stop hijacking Great Debates to advertise your Pit rant. You already linked to it in your own thread. That’s called cross-posting around here. \*\* Who died and made you moderator? ---
**Author:** ![Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/df788c/32.png) [@Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ben)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2001, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/physicists-are-from-mars-biologists-are-from-atheism-thread/66295/45 "2001-05-25T23:38:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jab1 \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*\*Ben > > > > Please stop hijacking Great Debates to advertise your Pit rant. You already linked to it in your own thread. That’s called cross-posting around here. \*\* > > Who died and made you moderator? \*\* Thank you, jab1. In any event, it’s blatantly obvious that I am not, in fact, hijacking threads, nor am I cross-posting. I provided one link in the original thread where the trouble started, and a second link in this thread where Lib continued his false accusations, because, as I explain in my Pit “rant,” I felt that Lib was trying to smear me in this thread using the fact that folks here wouldn’t be aware of what had transpired in the original thread. By “advertising” my Pit thread here, I’m only trying to set the record straight for all the spectators- precisely why anyone links to any Pit thread from GD. Moreover, I’m involved in plenty of threads right now, and Libertarian is even in some of them, but I’ve only provided the link in ones relevant to my troubles with Lib. -Ben ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2001, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/physicists-are-from-mars-biologists-are-from-atheism-thread/66295/46 "2001-05-25T23:41:50Z")
> [@](#): > > So why was the ending so surprising? It will be surprising from the point of view of the person to whom you present it. One secret to empathy is to think outside your own box. > [@](#): > > Who died and made you moderator? [shrug…] Who died and made you Jack Webb? ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2001, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/physicists-are-from-mars-biologists-are-from-atheism-thread/66295/47 "2001-05-26T18:30:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Libertarian \* > **It will be surprising from the point of view of the person to whom you present it.** I asked why YOU specifically found the ending surprising, not why some hypothetical person would find it surprising. > [@](#): > > **One secret to empathy is to think outside your own box.** And here I thought my mind (box) was a “closed reference frame.” > [@](#): > > \*\*Who died and made you Jack Webb? \*\* I’m not Jack Webb, I’m just a concerned citizen. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2001, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/physicists-are-from-mars-biologists-are-from-atheism-thread/66295/48 "2001-05-26T18:59:59Z")
Libertarian wrote: > [@](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > Who died and made you moderator? > > Who died and made you Jack Webb? Oh yeah? Well … well … well, um, who died and made you the “who died and made you” guy, huh? Hm? Huh? (Hah! I guess I showed 'im _that_ time, I guess I guess.) ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2001, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/physicists-are-from-mars-biologists-are-from-atheism-thread/66295/49 "2001-05-26T19:27:49Z")
**Lib** is head of the Redundant Department of Redundancy Department. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2001, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/physicists-are-from-mars-biologists-are-from-atheism-thread/66295/50 "2001-05-26T21:00:45Z")
Oh, Tracer, is that all you wanted? Why didn’t you say so? Here… [handing knife to Tracer… holding vest open…] Jab Okay, let’s go back and look at where this started. I was debating with Hardcore. We came to an agreement (i.e., he changed my mind). I showed him a snippet from a website that tolerates both faith in God and science, saying, “Here’s another excerpt from that site I mentioned above that deals with that ICR thing about the human eye. It’s worded so perfectly that it’s ending is almost, well, surprising!” The human eye thing is quite a famous argument … okay, still with me? … **BY CREATIONISTS**. The snippet I showed Hardcore is intended for presentation to anti-evolutionists. Whether it surprises you or me or Hardcore is irrelevant. It will surprise the anti-evolutionists (for whom it is intended) because they will not expect the resolution at the end. It is almost baiting, and is ingenious in its conception. Watch this… You: “…so you see, the human eye could not possibly have evolved by random chance, not even after billions of years.” Creationist: “Aha! So you **admit** that!” You: [wicked grin…] “Why, yes, of course. A _non_random process is required — natural selection.” 😃 Get it? ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2001, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/physicists-are-from-mars-biologists-are-from-atheism-thread/66295/51 "2001-05-27T22:11:51Z")
At this point it might be a hijack, but I haven’t seen this particular address to the OP: My parents are biologists, marine & environmental, to be specific. My (step)Dad was raised as a Mormon, and even did the bicycle thing as a teen, but after his time at Cornell, said he was an agnostic when pressed. It was mostly a moot issue though: I can’t remember any talk of God or prophets when I was a kid, but a lot of conversations on how amazing this or that critter was. For field biologists, the world is an incredibly beautiful, yet savage, place. To observe the daily death match necessary for survival by the majority of the world’s population doesn’t predispose one to thoughts of a benevolent, or even decent, God. Perhaps that would guide observrant minds to an atheist position. My Dad was a sweet person though, and enjoyed people, so he wasn’t the sort to take a hard tack. Here’s a fine pertinent quote: “The most beautiful emotion we can experience is the mystical. It is the power of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. To know that which is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive forms- this knowledge, this feeling, is at the center of true religiousness. In this sense, and in this sense only, I belong to the rank of devoutly religious men.” -That’de be Albert Einstein Maybe those drawn to explaining physics are of a more poetic, abstract bent, while those drawn to biology are of a more journalistic nature. Those tendencies, and subsequent observations, while grounded in scientific discipline, would carry over onto speculations of a spiritual nature. (Being human and all.) ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2001, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/physicists-are-from-mars-biologists-are-from-atheism-thread/66295/52 "2001-05-27T22:19:53Z")
What splendid analysis! Thank you, ElElle. ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2001, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/physicists-are-from-mars-biologists-are-from-atheism-thread/66295/53 "2001-05-27T23:52:00Z")
Gracias, Libertarian, and for not spidering my on the fly. Y’all weave some intricate webs here. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/physicists-are-from-mars-biologists-are-from-atheism-thread/66295.md?page=2)