Midterm

4. Alejandra Gallegos
5. ale4119
6. ale4119@yahoo.com
7. Critical Thinking
8. www.alejandragallegos.blogspot.com
9. Honestly, no. I’ve found it too hard to find the time unfortunately.
10.
Baba Faqir Chand I found this writing about Baba Faqir Chand very interesting. Its about the same subject as the film that was assigned as well. Faqir discovered after many many years of meditation that people don't really see visions or spirits appear for them. We always hear about people claiming that they saw God or some kind of spirit that came to help them in their time of need but according to Faqir Chand this is not real. He said that what these people are really seeing is made up in their mind and they believe it to be real. It makes sense because it is just like what the author of the Himalayan Connection said.They are just hallucinations that people think are real events. If someone is in real trouble or they need desperate help it makes sense that they would imagine some spirit or powerful force coming to them to help. Just like when Faqir Chand said that people would tell him that they were in danger and he came and gave them advice that saved their life, it wasn't really him there. In fact he didn't even remember that happening, but these people imagined him there and it was really them helping themselves.

The Paradox of Da Free John
Even though at first I thought it was so absurd to think that even though someone writes or preaches about a subject, and seems to know deeply about it, that doesn't necessarily mean that they follow what they are teaching or that they are as moral or good as the subject that they know so much about. But just like Da Free John wrote so well and even won awards for the writing he did over religion. Even though he wrote so well about religion it turned out that he was really some cult leader. So he was probably crazy and had all kinds of followers who were just as crazy as he was.But just because he was a bit crazy he still had good thoughts about religion. That was the whole point of the essay. Just like you cant judge a book by its cover, you cant judge the good content of a book because of the crazy person who wrote it. If its good writing then its good writing.

Why I am not a Christian by Bertrand Russell
The reasons that Bertrand Russell gave for not being a Christian are pretty much the same reasons that all of the scientist who have spoken in the lectures have given. They are also basically the same reasons that are given by anyone who has written something so far on why religion is not 100% reliable. Those reasons are that science has been able to prove over and over that religion is wrong in a lot of the statements that have been given. Also another reason that he gave is that there has been no evidence so far that religion is right since it is not base on any kind of fact. All that religion is based on is faith alone. There has never been any kind of strong evidence that there really is a God and an after life. Its is all taken for scriptures and from what people claim to have seen and experienced.Another reason that Russell gives is that he believes that Christ was not "the best and wisest of men..." He thinks this because of all of the Christian principals that are taught in the bible that mostly no one will or ever follow. Even though I deeply respect everyones views I don't think this one is very good. Even though it is true that mostly no one follows these principals the point is that everyone should. And the fact that no one really does should show what kind of people we are and how much change there has to be in the way that we act and treat one another.

The Secret of Faqir
In this film it is really a short version of what Faqir Chand had learned during his years of meditation and self exploration. The basic idea is that when people say that they have had some kind of vision or were visited by some God and their problems were solved it is not really a true vision that they are seeing. Faqir said that "...your helper is your own self..." by this he meant that people are not seeing real vision of someone telling them how to solve their problems, it is their own self imagining a vision and solving their own problem.In the film they say that there is no other person or power higher than us who can solve all of our problems and when it is in times of trouble they come to help. Faqir said that people would come to him and say that they were visited by his spirit and that he helped them solve whatever problem they were having. But in reality Faqir didn't even know what they were talking about because to him that event never happened.

Freeman Dyson and the Mathematical Universe
In this interview with Freeman Dyson I found it very interesting how he says that he is agnostic, which is basically a Christian without the belief in theology. He said that his experience as a Christian is that it's a community of people in a church who all help in taking care of each other. So to him its not really about peoples beliefs but more about observance and the way that people treat one another. Even though I disagree with him, I do think that the way people treat each other is a big part of religion. But as a Catholic, I wouldn't call myself a Catholic if I didn't believe and follow the teachings of the church. Even though I don't believe everything, I do believe the basic fundamentals. So to me being an agnostic is really just about being a good person and treating one another with respect and care. Religion does have something to do with that because it is on of its teachings. We are taught to be kind to one another but just because you believe this and live this way doesn't necessarily mean that your part of a religion. That's simply being a good person.Another point that Dyson makes is that he believes that the earth is a self regulating system and that life has prospered on earth because of the unique design. He goes on to say that if there were anything even a bit different about the way that the earth has been formed then the life that we know would not have been able to flourish but it is possible that another form of life may have flourished instead. To me this makes complete sense because since the beginning of our species on the planet, we have formed to live on this earth in the way that it is now and was back then. If there were to have been anything different about it then the way that we have had to survive would have been different and in turn the way that our species would have had to evolve would have to be different as well.

Ken Miller on Intelligent Design
It is so incredible to me that in such an advanced world there are still those people who are so narrow minded that they cant accept the idea of evolution. I understand that these people are most likely completely dedicated into their religion but just because of that they cant close out all other theory's that have concrete facts to show their ideas. When Ken Miller brought up the incident with the biology books that had the warning sticker put on them I couldn't believe that these people would go that far. That made is seem as if the theory of evolution is something dangerous and made up. Its as if believing in evolution makes you a bad person.Although I believe that religion is important in peoples lives I don't believe that just to be a good person you have to follow your religion without any questions. People should still keep their minds open to new ideas. I do believe in God but I don't believe that there was an Adam and Eve and an apple and all that stuff. It seems much more believable that we slowly evolved from another species than that our whole population started from two people who were put on Earth by God. I don't think that this makes me a bad Catholic, because I still have my morals, it just makes me open minded.

John Maynard Smith and Evolution
The process of evolution is something that pretty much everyone knows about and even though they might not know the exact process in great detail it is something that we've all heard about. It was so interesting to me when John Maynard Smith started to talk about how we have evolved into an intelligent species in not a long period of time relevant to the complete time of evolution. Even though we all know that we have evolved so much I have never thought about if it was possible for our species to evolve once again into an even more intelligent species.I also thought it was interesting when they started to talk about if our species were to ever evolve into a super human type of species. Like part computer part human. Even though it seems like a far fetched idea, is it really that impossible? Especially if you compare what our species started as to what we have become now over several million years. I believe that the more we learned over those millions of years we were able to slowly evolve into the species we are today. So if we just keep learning and keep discovering over the next couple million years whats not to say that we would become the people John Maynard Smith was saying that we might become. After all, even comparing the time from now until when I could remember technology has changed immensely. So the difference from now to a couple million years should be expected to be astonishing.

Beyond Belief, Session 3
I found this lecture very interesting because it is a subject that I have questioned myself about before and still have uncertainties about. Religion and Science will always clash, that is just the way it is. Because even when we think about it within ourselves it is hard to come out with a certain conclusion. It has been taught to me about how the world really began and also about how we evolved and also how many other animal evolved. This way of the world coming together is easy to believe because it sounds believable and there's facts and concrete evidence. Then there's the way that I was taught in church and in communion classes about God creating the earth. Even though this does seem far fetched I cant help but feel like this is what I should believe because I am Catholic and it just feels right to believe it. Besides if you believe in God and the afterlife why wouldn't you believe that the world being created this way is possible.Just like it is hard for me to decide what plot to follow its just as hard for people of religion and those of science to come to an agreement of the creation of our world and space and whatever is beyond that. Its as if you have to follow one or the other because if you lean over to one side just a little your either being a against science or against religion. Its one or the other, there's no in between.

Cold Reading
It is so funny how people let themselves get suckered by these phonies who claim to be psychics readers and will be able to tell you all about your life. How can someone you have never met know anything about you life? I think that the only reason these people believe it is because they have no answers for their problems in life and depend on someone who claims to have psychic powers figure it our for them. They are so desperate for answers that they believe what they are being told. Despite how vague an answer it may be. The thing is that most people go in asking about basically the same things. "Is my boyfriend/ husband cheating on me?" "Will I ever find the right person?" And so on. So they are already prepared for what answers they should be giving.People also love to hear about it because its something that they have no control over. You cant change your past just like you cant change your past. But everyone want to know what will happen to them. They cant just live life and patiently wait to find out.

Karma
The short film, Karma, is supporting the idea that whatever you do to someone or in life will end up coming back to you just as bad or as good. So weather you want good things or bad things to happen to you all depend on how you live your life. Like the guy in the film who steals a bag from someone only to get hit by a car seconds later. And also the guy who slapped his girlfriend ends up getting shot by her because of it. I just didn't understand why nothing happened to the man who beat up that other guy.Even though bad things do happen to good people that is just the way things are. If it was meant to happen then it will. But regardless everyone should still live their life thinking that whatever bad or good they do will eventually end up coming back to them. The world would be a way better place. :)

Critical Thinking in an Online World
The Internet has made almost everything much more simple for everyone. But by making everything so easy to access or find has it hindered our ability to find information on our own? If it has, then it has also affected our ability to think critically about the ideas that are being given to us. Before such ease access to the Internet was available we would have to do it the old fashioned way and go to the library for answers to our questions. We would have to go from book to book and piece the ideas together with our own thinking. Now getting up to go to the library isn't even needed because you can also access that resource via the Internet. And if you don't find your answer there all you have to do is type your question or subject on a search engine and in less then a second you have hundreds of answers right in front of you.With such easy access to almost everything, I do believe the Internet has made us a more lazy people. Why get up and go somewhere if it can be done online; from research to grocery shop. All types of news and information can be found from all over the world right at our computers but instead of using the Internet to heighten our knowledge, mostly everyone uses it to take the easy way out of their tasks.

Cargo Cult Science - Richard Feynman
In the commencement address that Richard Feynman gave he addressed the fake or misleading ideas that some people make and the way that they are able to be proven wrong in a scientific world. It is true that no matter how unreal or unbelievable someones claim may be there will always be a group of people who will believe it. And despite the fact that there is no real evidence backing the unreal claims these people want it to be true so they keep on believing it. With the help of science many outrages claims of people being able to do things that are beyond any humans ability are able to be brought out into the open as the bogus claims that they are.In science for a person to make a claim and have people believe it they must have strong evidence to back up their new findings. That is why science is so concrete. Even though the first time someone discovers something new it might not be completely right but at least there is evidence that there were experiments done so that people know that it wasn't something that was just made up by someone for everyone else to believe.

Clear Thinking-Bertrand Russell
Although Bertrand Russell's interview video was very short is was still very meaningful and exact. He said that is is very important for everyone to think clearly. It is important to take in facts and ideas and not allow your feelings or beliefs toward these facts or ideas be tainted by what you already believe is true. He says that when people think inexactly they are allowing their bias and prejudice to corrupt what is true and be turned into a wrong idea because of what they already believe. For example people are brought up with certain prejudices all of their lives either because of their surroundings or because they are simply absorbing what the people around them might think. So if they start taking in ideas about a new culture of people they person probably already has their own ideas about these people because of prejudices they already have been exposed to. And although it may be wrong, it is hard to change what someone already believes to be true. Also because they already believe that what they think is true they might be doing wrong and not even know it.

The Pleasure of Finding Things Out-Richard Feynman
In this interview of Richard Feyman he speaks all about the huge difference between simply knowing something by its name and really knowing it by how it functions. He gives the example of when he was young and someone asked him what the name of a certain bird was but he didn't know the name. They teased him about his father teaching him so much but he didn't know the name of the bird. His father told his the name in many different languages but explained to him that even though you can call the bird by it name in many different languages from different parts of the world you still don't truly know about the bird itself.Feyman also spoke of how he does not research and discover now things for the recognition or for the glory. He simply does it for the pleasure of knowing and learning more. People learning from the work he has done is pleasing enough for him. He also admits that even though he knows a lot he still does not know everything. But he can live with doubt, uncertainty and not knowing because it is more interesting to live not knowing then to have answers that might not be true.

11. Richard Dawkins considers religion a virus of the mind because he believes that faith its virus that attacks the minds of people just like a virus spreads from computer to computer. He stated that “…minds are friendly environments to parasitic, self replicating ideas or information, and that minds are typically massively infected…” Religion, to him, is spread from person to person and each one is infecting the others mind. He refers to these people as “faith sufferers” because their faith is strong and unshakable even though there are no real facts that proves their religion as being based on real events and real Gods and Saints. So basically to him these people are being infected by these false ideas of religion. First it is from the organized churches and once its has been passed on to the people they themselves are spreading it to one another just like a contagious disease.
In most ways, I disagree with Dawkins. I think that he goes way to far in how he makes religion really sound like a horrible disease that is viciously spreading from person to person and must be stopped. He speaks of it as if every single religion is wrong and something should be dome because they are all simply polluting the minds of us all. I really don’t think that it is that bad. Sure, there are some “religions” that make their followers do unspeakable acts or even commit suicide in they name of their Gods but not all religions should be put on the same level. He is right, there are no fundamental facts to prove that there is a God, or that there is an afterlife once we pass away. But the basic teachings of most religions are that we should all be good people and treat each other with kindness and respect. I think that religion puts the morals in people and keeps them in line. If it wasn’t for the fear of their God who knows what the world would be like.

12. One example of a “cargo cult” belief is the way that people follow these frauds that claim to have mystical psychic powers and are able to tell you about your past, present and your future. It is absurd that people actually pay to hear someone make things up and they believe that it is an authentic psychic reading. How can something like this be believed in when there is no scientifically fact to prove that it is real. There has yet to be a study that proves that there are real psychic readers that can truly tell the future. So if it can’t, or hasn’t yet been proven , that most likely means that its because it is simply not true.

13. In his interview Richard Feynman says that a person does science by simply figuring things out on their own. Like if you have a question or a claim you have to test it out and do experiments to prove that claim. You have to take into consideration even the answers that you found that would prove it wrong. So its not really about being right or wrong its about finding out everything you can about your subject. This view of science can help enrich someone’s appreciation for beauty because you start to look at everything differently. You wont just sit at the beach and look at the waves and just notice how relaxing and beautiful the view is, science would make you want to find out why the waves come and why the tide goes up and down. So that way you can really admire something when you know how and why it is.

14. In a way the movie, Karma, is really straight forward. Its basically what everyone should know. Whatever you do will come back to you, either just as bad, or just as good. So if you’re a mean to people and you do bad things to them you should expect for bad to also happen to you. Like in the movie, the guy who stole the other guys bag was hit by a car just moments later as he tried to run off. That part of the film was self explanatory. The part that I didn’t completely understand was why they had that other guy who could see the persons actions as he bumped into them while they were walking. What I got from it is that no matter what you do, someone knows about it. I would think that if someone always knows what you did, whether good or bad, then they would have to be someone of a higher power. Probably like God or something. Now, I don’t know if that’s exactly right, but its what I got from the film.

15. The idea of Darwinian evolution is that there are certain inheritable traits in a population and also that there are a lot more numbers in a population that are produced every generation that can survive and then reproduce. So the way that these groups are selected to either flourish or be extinct is that they would have certain characteristics that would help them survive and therefore reproduce and spread their population. It is basically survival of the fittest where only the strong and those who adapt can survive. John Maynard Smith changed the idea of survival of the fittest because he made the claim that game theory also has a lot to do with evolution and survival. Game theory is basically the idea that one persons, animals, and even genes decision and therefore their action (in the case of the animals and genes it wouldn’t be a decision but their action) has an affect on the other people, animals and genes. So it would change their standing in the population whether it be strength or size. He also said that natural selection is a process of design. An example that he gave was a birds wing. If the wing were to change in a bird from one generation to the next, that would have on effect on the way that bird lived and then an effect on if the bird was able to survive with this new design or not.

16. In the interview with Freeman Dyson he states that earth is a self regulating system. Everything in the universe is made the way it is for a reason and that is why life is able to prosper and has been able to for so many centuries. He states that if there were anything even a bit different in the world than it is now then that would cause for life not to flourish and prosper. If some life were able to prosper than it would be a different type of life. Another idea he gives is that replication came after life organizing. Once a system of life was sustained then that was when replication came in sort of like a virus, he says, and began to spread the new life. He also said that he believes that it is very possible for humankind to have a higher purpose in the universe because of the way that over the course of history people have been able to overcome so much. Even when it seemed as if there was no bright future in sight things were turned for the better. So because of this Dyson believes that humankind has a higher purpose.

17. I believe that Faqir Chand discovered that there is no way to ever be able to tell what really happens after someone dies. What he found out after years of meditating and seeing his visions is that what people claim to see when they have been at the point between life and death are merely hallucinations. When a person has been brought up their whole lives to believe that some certain event happens after they have died then, naturally, that is what that person is going to expect to see. So when a person is at the critical point between life and death they already expect to see a light and their past family or whatever they have been brought up to believe they will see depending on the religion that they have followed. The mind then makes up these visions like a dream or a hallucination because that is what is expected and that is what the person wants to see since that is what they have always believed. But the truth that Faqir Chand discovered is that no one will ever be able to know what happens after someone has really died. None of the religious founders know despite their claims to know. They are under the same dilemma as everyone else, that is what they were taught so that is what they believe and expect. All “visions” that people have are all made up because that is what their mind is showing them and not because they are really able to see the afterlife.

18. For this, I tried to watch the movie again to refresh my memory but it kept saying that a plug in did not initialize properly so my computer wouldn’t play it, but this is what I remember from it. To me the movie Eleven was very powerful, despite it being so short. It is something important for everyone to watch especially right now during these time of so much hate and fear of what we don’t know. The movie is spreading the idea of how wrong it is to hate a group of people as a whole because of one person or a much smaller group from them did. In the movie it shows one young man who is a reporter and he goes to do a story at a local Muslim temple. There was a murder that had happened there by a group that called themselves Eleven. The leaders father had died in the September 11th attacks and he wanted revenge on all Muslims because of that. So by waiting outside of a temple he was sure that who ever came out would be Muslim. Well, the person that came out happened to be the reporter and he was killed, despite the fact that he was not Muslim. The victim that had been killed before outside of the library was not Muslim either. He was just confused for one because he had a turban on his head. It is so sad and ridiculous that although this was just a movie events like this are actually taking place. Two innocent people were killed because they were thought to be Muslim. Even if they were Muslim, a whole group of people can not be tainted and accused for the actions of certain people who want to do others harm. For example, you cant stop terrorism by wiping out all the Muslims, because its not the Muslims who are the terrorist. it’s the terrorist who are the terrorist and they can be of any race.

19. It is important to be able to distinguish the message from the medium because as David C. Lane wrote, because one communicates the ultimate truths… does not mean… by extension that he is an embodiment of that highest realizations.” He used Da Free John’s writings as this proof. Da Free John was a religious teacher who wrote several pieces on the core of religion and according to Lane, Da Free Johns work was “…unparalleled amongst new religious thinkers for its radical insight.” However, many people will not take the writing of Da Free Johns seriously because of his crazy ways and the fact that he is a cult leader. But the point of distinguishing the message from the messenger is that even though Da Free John is probably some crazy cult leader who should not be followed, his writings still have insight and meaning. It would be the same as if someone wrote amazing pieces on truth and honesty but they were actually someone who stole and lied continuously. Basically, you have to know that just because someone writes about or has extensive knowledge about a topic it doesn’t necessarily mean that they are that same kind of person.

20. According to Bertrand Russell, he is not Christian because; first of all, he does not believe in God. The reason he gives is that to be Christian you have to believe in God and you have to believe in him even though there is no proof of his existence. Another reason that he gives is that he doesn’t believe that Christ was the best and wisest of all men. One of the reasons that he gives for no believing this is that the maxims that Christ gave for the people to follow were not followed very fully. For example, “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that which thou hast, and give to the poor.” No one will really do that. No one wants to give up all that they have worked so hard in life for and give what’s theirs to someone else. Even though there are a very few number of people who are willing to do this and have done it, the majority of people will not.

21. Dear Friend, I found some easy rules to follow that will surly help you better your critical thinking. They were made by Professor James Lett and I’m sure you’ll find them useful. The first rule is Falsifiability, that means that there should always be evidence to prove the claim either wrong or right. Its simple if the claim is true then the evidence will not disprove it but if its wrong it will. The second rule is logic, meaning that any evidence that is offered to support the claim must be valid evidence and all premises must be true. The third rule is comprehensiveness, that means that all of the evidence available in support of this claim must be considered. Rule number four is honesty, evidence that is used for the claim must be carefully and openly evaluated without deception. The fifth rule is replicability, if the evidence for the claim comes from an experiment then the same experiment must be done various times to make sure that the results are accurate in support of the claim. You would want to verify that the experiment being used is valid support for the claim. The last rule is sufficiency meaning that there must be adequate evidence to establish the truth of a claim. So the bigger the claim, the bigger and stronger the evidence must be and testimony or authority is not enough proof for a paranormal claim. One last thing Professor Lett says is that even if the claim does pass all six test that still doesn’t necessarily prove that it is true because there can always be new evidence that can prove it wrong. So take that into consideration. But I am very sure that these six rules will help better your critical thinking skills because they have definitely helped mine.

22. Kurtz believes that skepticism should be applied to religion because religion is a big part of many peoples lives. He states that it is also a huge part of human behavior and not to apply skepticism to religion would be irresponsible of those skeptical inquirers. I do think that skepticism should be applied to religion for the same reason that Kurtz gave. Religion is an enormous part of most peoples lives. It can be used to explain the way that they live, they way they act toward one another and much more. By examining religion more closely and discovering more about it, whether it be disproving or supporting it, would help obtain a better understanding of people and why they are the way they are.

23. Pretext, text, and context are important for analyzing a book or an argument because in order for someone to really understand a book they must understand each part of it. They must first understand the pretext, which would be the way the book was written. That could be the language and being able to read it. Because that is pretty much what the book is made of so one must understand that part. Understanding the text means that you must be able to know what it is that you are reading. You can always just read something without really paying attention or thinking about what your reading but if your going to analyze a book you must put all of their concentration in their readings. The last part that must be understood is the context of the book. If your reading a book that is intensely about astrology how will you understand what you are reading if you don’t already have prior knowledge about the subject. If I was going to read a book about something like human anatomy then I would first have to be able to understand the type of language that is being used in the text. If they are using words or phrases that only someone with prior knowledge of anatomy would know then I would have to understand those words or phrases. I would also have to delicately read the book word for word and truly understand what each sentence in the book meant and finally I would have to, prior to reading, have some knowledge of human anatomy.

24. A transformative UFO encounter is one where a person might be unconscious for some reason or have some kind of alteration in their brain and in this state they are having hallucinations. When this person is back to their normal state they understand these hallucinations as UFO encounters. In a transformative experience a person would have a hallucination and believe that it was a very real event. The author does not believe that UFO’s are just extraterrestrials but they can also be physiological, sociological, and also religious phenomena.

25. A person who is using the internet as a source for information would think more critically because of all of the different and vast information that is accessible when searching online. Anything can be posted online so not only does one have to rummage through tons of information for the same question but it is also necessary to be able to pick out what is fundamental evidence and what is not.

26. In his speech Steven Weinberg states that religion and science will go on for a long time having negative effects on each other. Science will always go against religion because in a sense it will always try to prove it wrong. While at the same time religion will always go against science because they are based on different principals. I do agree with Weinberg because it is true that science and religion are based on completely different principals. Science on one had is based on complete fact since each claim that is made must have fundamental facts and proof to back it up and for it to be considered to be true. While the basis of religion is merely faith. Ideas are believed in religion because we have faith in God that it is true and also because that is what we are taught to believe. So to be true to your faith one will follow the teachings of the church without question or without necessary proof.

27. According to Sam Harris, he is an atheist for the same reason that a lot of other people are atheist as well. That reason is that there is no evidence to prove that religion and all its claims are true. I think that if you don’t believe in religion because there is no evidence to back it then it is a sensible reason for not believing in it. But that is not what religion is about. Its about faith and the point is that even though there is no proof for it. So even though it is a good reason for not believing in religion, its pretty much besides the point.

28. Out of the first five films of Beyond Belief my favorite speaker was Laurence, I didn’t understand his last name. But he came after Steven Weinberg in the second film. He was the speaker that I liked listening to the most because of the way that he spoke really. It was hard to keep listening to some of the speakers because after a while it got really boring and I couldn’t make myself keep paying attention. Even though all the speakers spoke about basically the same thing (the fight between religion and science) his speech made me really think about what he was saying. Although I do believe in religion so their speeches didn’t really change my views. I’m not an extremist and I don’t believe that everything that is said in religion is true but the facts and examples that Laurence used were very persuasive. He gave facts about the difference between religion and science like that religion says that the earth is 6,000 years old but thanks to science we know that that number is way off. Religion also states that in the old testament the sun stood still in the sky and another absurd claim that is made is that homosexuality is an abomination. There are many claims made by religion that science can easily prove it wrong and these were some of the examples that Laurence made that backed up his claims.

29. Ken Miller was arguing against Michael Behe’s notion of intelligent design because of many reasons, one probably being that its wrong. But miller also brought up about how the text books that kids were using in school were now containing warning labels because of the contents of the book. The reason for the labels was that the book had information about the theory of evolution and kids were being warned about this as if it were something that they should be afraid of learning. I don’t think that the idea if intelligent design is right at all. My reason is that there is no real evidence to prove that this notion is even somewhat real. It was especially wrong for them to put the stickers on the kids books because I believe that school is a place for kids to go learn facts about life and about the world they live in. The notion of intelligent design is not a fact so that should not be something that should even be taught or suggested in school at all.

30. It was a bit hard to follow everything that was being talked about in every session but in a sense I was able to follow most of it. But the one that I wasn’t able to follow was the speech that Stewart Heymieroff gave. I don’t think that what he was talking about made too much sense, at least not to me. So whether he had sufficient substance, I really don’t know. But I do know that it was the speaker that I enjoyed watching the least and also understood the very least.

31. According to Huxley a scientific education is one that even though everything is not know right away, with time and by examining what has happened in past incidents more is know from that. Like the example that he gave about the plague. Even though they didn’t know how to stop it or cure it at the first outbreak, from that they were able to have the information needed for if it happened again.

32. After reading the section about Ken Wilber it was easy to see why it was so critical of him. The main reason is that Wilber EXAGGERATES over Da Free John. In part of the excerpt where Wilber is speaking about Da he says that “…[he] is a genuine Adept, Free at the Heart, Confessed in Radiance, Transcendent to it all.” Through out his whole explanation on his feelings about the Da Wilber makes is seem as if he is someone who is more than human, someone who has some kind of mystical gift and everyone should grovel at his feet. It was kind of ridiculous to me, even a bit embarrassing at points. Like Mr. Lane said, Wilber didn’t really know the Da he just read his books and confused the message with the medium. Because his books are good he didn’t see what the person who wrote those books was truly like and therefore went off the wrong example.