Perhaps I should have stressed the behavioural aspect of my question.
I found Possibilty’s reply quite instructive in pointing out how small factor in the ‘nurture’ aspect of individual early stages of life could make a contribution to the individual's distinctiveness individual. Ants colonies are a classic example of how ‘upbringing’ literary shapes the type of ant.

I found the genetic definition of what is an individual rather restrictive. Asexual reproduction does not imply identical offsprings. Research by the UCAL showed that a bacterium which suffered some environmental damage will pass it to one daughter in order to enhance the survival fitness of the other.

I wonder if the same applied to natural organization e.g snowflakes, crystals...
Does their creation result in an increase in entropy? I suppose they do for the reason you have mentioned.

Since proponents of 'Intelligent Design' never suggested some physical mechanism of how it works, there is no 'usual' way of looking at it. So my concept of it is as good as any.

In the sense that both share inevitability and pre-destination

Chaos is caused and in this sense it deterministic but its getting 'life' of its own and sensitivity to initial conditions makes one wonder.

[sreply="kudos;299978"] No serious scientist ever claims that everything can be analyzed and described. It just that science found better answers to some fundamental questions than religion did.
Actually, by describing God as omniscient religion id more negative about Fre Will than science.

Mel Brooks (who is Jewish) was asked that question about the Holocaust. He replied on the affirmative.
Yes, there are funny joked about the Holocaust that focuses on the absurdity of anti-Semitism,
There was also an Italian film comedy: 'Life is Good'. However, trivializing the subject would be nihilistic
Much depends on the mindset of the joker.

Two more elements of most religion are:
Monopoly on truth, and by implication, contempt or hostility towards other religion and alternative world views.

Definitely not on the purely ethical ground. But, it might be one of the rare instances where the end justified the means, say the survival of humankind depends on it. Fredric Pohl tackled the subject in his novel 'Man Plus'.

Isn't most of the everyday logic essentially an inductive one. The Goldbach conjecture is an inductive one but while waiting for a deductive proof, it can be assumed to be correct for all practical purposes. Inductive logic often ends with a deductive proof like in the case of Fermat last theorem.

one of your comments addressed the issues I raised;

1, will sub-Saharan Africa be able to cope with more than doubling its population within 35 years and
2, What would be the effect on its environment and greenhouse emissions.

Immigration is definitely not a solution to a problem of this scale even if it was not fiercely resisted by the hosting countries, It is worth noting that infant mortality nowadays even on the poorest African countries is less than 10%, so fertility of 5-6 children is not justified on grounds of being looked after in old age.


I wish I could be as optimistic as you are.

Incidentally, China would not be where it is now were it not for the one-child policy/

Also, please bear in mind that automation reduces the need for manual labour. A Mac restaurant today employs less than half the number of one in the 80s. A car factory of say 4000 workers produces more cars than one which employed 20,000 in the 70s. Robotics makes major inroads been into the caring services,

Very recently the sultan of Brunei managed to focus the world's attention on the barbarity of large part of the Islamic world. His law about stoning to death gays and adulterers raised anger and boycotts in the West. But the sultan is not unique in this respect. Iran, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia are not far off.
The treatment of LGBT and the status of women are the current litmus pap test for civil society.

Heavenly host (Hebrew: צבאות‎ sabaoth or tzva'ot, "armies") refers to the army (Luke 2:13) of angels mentioned both in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles, as well as other Jewish and Christian texts.

The Bible gives several descriptions of angels in military terms, such as their encampment (Genesis 32:1-2), command structure (Psalms 91:11-12; Matt.13:41; Rev.7:2), and combat (Jdg.5:20; Job 19:12; Rev.12:7). The heavenly host participated in the War in Heaven.

Another aspect of God. God the General!

What you described is the enlightened vision of God. But, it is not the established view of the monotheistic religions (not to mention their folkloristic versions) Think of the plethora of angles, the Host, demons, saints, and miracles. That makes God look like a commander in chief, taking an active part in the fortunes of individuals and humankind as a whole, actually; micromanaging our planet. If God exists in that capacity he has to be found somewhere in the physical realm.

What you described is the enlightened vision of God. But, it is not the established view of the monotheistic religions (not to mention their folkloristic versions) Think of the plethora of angles, the Host, demons, saints, and miracles. That makes God look like a commander in chief, taking an active part in the fortunes of individuals and humankind as a whole, actually; micromanaging our planet. If God exists in that capacity he has to be found somewhere in the physical realm.

Well, does he just 'pay attention' to details or does he create them? I suppose that by 'details'
you mean the whole tapestry of religious tenets and ritual as well as individua's life. Has he got a preference for particular 'details
And incidentally, the sheer size of the universe makes inevitable the existence of thousands, if not millions of civilizations. I think that would extend the span of attention beyond the breaking point of even the most omniscient god/

Well. aristoteles and Plato survived to tell them the story Would have done so under the Pharaohs
or Ashurbanipal? Absolute Tyranny was the rule in Middle Eastern Kingdoms, it was an exception in Athens.

OK, but why was there a god/goddess of philosophy in the Egyptian, Sumerian, or Indian pantheon.
I think the reason might be that free thinking was not possible under the rulers and clergy of those cultures.

Compared to the Reptilian Consplirasive narrative, the world of Harry Potter appears as
a model of coherence and rationality!

To a very large extent, perfection is a projection of power and wealth. One buys what he considers to be the best and is fussy about trivial details because he got the power and money to do so. People who cannot tell van Gogh from Velazquez pay millions for top paintings.

Regarding the dented can; Would you buy it if it is reduced by 50%, 75 %? Probably not, nor would I, despite it probably being a bargain. Similarly, some people won't lower scale brands, despite knowing they are as good as the higher scale ones. Perfection in this sense is an aspect of snobbery.
You don't have to worry about Trump reading 'Crome and Punishment' even if it were abridged to a half page.

OK, maybe a crack being a strucual fault was not a good example. So let's have a chip of few square mm. Such a chip won't shorten the life of the vase by even one second. What's more, it would not prevent one from enjoying the patterns n colours of 99% of the vase. Never let the effect on its value would huge. I that is irrational but paradoxically hs rational roots. While roaming the savannah
our ancestor had to watch for the slightest anomaly in their surroundings to make sure that a sabretooth is not lurking in it. That instinct for watching a break in the pattern (like other irrational responses) is still with us.
2 minutes ago Edit

OK, maybe a crack being a strucual fault was not a good example. So let's have a chip of few square mm. Such a chip won't shorten the life of the vase by even one second. What's more, it would not prevent one from enjoying the patterns n colours of 99% of the vase. Never let the effect on its value would huge. I that is irrational but paradoxically hs rational roots. While roaming the savannah
our ancestor had to watch for the slightest anomaly in their surroundings to make sure that a sabretooth is not lurking in it. That instinct for watching a break in the pattern (like other irrational responses)

To a large extent, purity is in the eye of the beholder.
To a large extent, purity is in the eye of the beholder and obsession with what one considers as 'pure'
is at the root of intolerance. Present day jihadists and the inquisition are examples of people trying to impose the 'purity' of their respective religions on others. As for symmetry, much of the thrust of modern art is a revolt against boring symmetry. Isn't a cracked mirror more interesting than a blank one?
It leaves more room for imagination!

According to hard determinism, the universe as it is, down to its most minute and trivial events (like my decision to drink tea rather than coffee) is the result - and the ONLY possible result - of an inevitable chain of a causational event originating at the Big Bang. To my thinking, that implies that somehow the shape of our universe with all its incredible complexity was inherent in the structure of the infinitesimal small sized primaeval atom. That, in turn, implies some sort of DNA- like plan. That, in turn, makes hard determinism uncomfortably resembles ‘creationism’. If the shape of our universe was indeed inherent in the primaeval atom, the determinists need to provide a physics theory of supporting that assumption. I tend to think that the causal chain of the primaeval atom did break down at a certain level of complexity and was replaced by a not strictly causal evolutionary process that doesn't rule out Free Will.