[MD] Dawkins quotes RMP on religion.

[Ham Priday]

Platt --


> I hate to disappoint you, Ham, but your view of my (and Pirsig's)
> view is wrong. The laws of physics and the laws of the jungle are
> inimical to human life, that is, not good at all.
> Society evolved for the specific purpose of protecting humans
> from the evils of the lower levels, whether it be protection from
> the elements or tigers.

That's simply untrue, Platt, as Robert Lanza (a biotechnologist) makes clear 
in an essay from which I quoted in my book.  Since you apparently missed it, 
he says:

"Modern science cannot explain why the LAWS OF PHYSICS ARE  EXACTLY BALANCED
for animal life to exist.  For example, if the big bang had been 
one-part-in-a-billion more powerful, it would have rushed out too fast for 
the galaxies to form and for life to begin.  If the strong nuclear force 
were decreased by two percent, atomic nuclei wouldn't hold together. 
Hydrogen would be the only atom in the universe.  If the gravitational force 
were decreased, stars (including the sun) would not ignite.  These are just 
three of more than 200 physical parameters within the solar system and 
universe so exact that they cannot be random.  Indeed, the lack of a 
scientific explanation has allowed these facts to be hijacked as a defense 
of intelligent design."  [Emphasis mine]

As for the "law of the jungle", don't forget that the jungle was once man's 
habitat, and that having the power to subdue your enemy is still necessary 
for survival in modern civilization.

> The universe is moral in the sense that it is evolving towards
> betterness, that is, toward self-consciousness and ability to
> understand itself. Yes, we are now the principle players because
> the moral force has made us the culmination of betterness so far.

Surely you don't mean to imply that everything in existence will one day be 
conscious!  Organic life could not subsist in the absence of bio-chemical 
processes, the H2O/CO2 cycle, and an inorganic terrestrial environment, none 
of which can in any conceivable way have conscious understanding.  From what 
Pirsig quotation have you extracted such a fanciful paradise?

> We have a way to go for sure, but the very fact we are conversing
> in this manner over a global network that didn't exist ten years ago
> shows the direction the universe, through us, is moving.

The universe has nothing to do with it.  Science and technology are 
inventions of man, Platt, not nature or the universe.  Human research and 
engineering (man's intellect and creativity) have made these things 
possible.  It is Value, not the universe, that drives mankind to organize 
for security and adapt moral codes for an orderly society.  It is human 
beings who have discovered the physical principles of nature and applied 
them to the enhancement of civilization.  We are not moving the universe, we 
are moving ourselves, individually and collectively -- hopefully toward a 
more authentic and harmonious society.

Your surprise me sometimes.  What has happened to your verve for individual 
ingenuity?

 Regards,
Ham