Is Darwin now preached at atheist churches (tax-funded universities)?

_{Denyse O'Leary

June 12, 2013

Intelligent Design}

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Seriously, at Arts and Letters Daily,

Darwin referred to humor as “a tickling of the mind.” But seriously: What actually happens in our brain when we laugh?…

Oh my. Thus begins an intro to a piece from The American Scholar, assuming shamelessly that everyone takes Darwin for some kind of a prophet.

Like we should care what he ruminated inthe middle of the night?

Arts and Letters Daily must not be getting their mail. Even atheists are turning against Darwin. They will have to come up with something better, for an easy no-God religion.

Comments

It's odd that this should crop up today, as I was thinking just last night, that the school or college courses on Intelligent Design should make reference to the bizarre animus, engendered by what was, after all, the conviction of the great paradigm-changers of the last century, such as Einstein, Planck, Bohr and Godel. Then, introducing some of our own humour, as light-hearted as it is factual. I mean informing them of the fabled Promissory Note; and now, thanks to one of our posters here, the Letter of Concession (not yet, 'fabled', presumably, but we may be able to change that) qua the multiverse. ... and, maybe, even, certain navigational coordinates, for 'physically', locating the mind... More seriously, students should be warned to be alert for misrepresentations of the term, 'counter-intuitive' in physics, in relation to paradoxes, when the term applicable, quite unequivocally, should be 'counter-rational/logical, repugnant to reason. This is avoided by the materialists, since belief in the existence of any mystery defying the explanatory power of scientism's omniscient embrace, is held by them to be a sacrilege against the said Promissory Note.Axel_{June 12, 2013
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From the OP: Whenever we’re doing something we love, this subcortical network is activated and “lights up” in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scan, which measures brain activity by noting changes in blood flow. A similar response occurs when we look at a funny cartoon. We know this based on some highly original research by Dean Mobbs, now at Columbia University. So, apparently, fMRI will tell us whether we have a sense of humor or not. Oh, and did you know that laughter contributes to your overall health? Interestingly, this tidbit from 2005 indicates: “Scientists have calculated that only half a minute of joyful laughter is worth 45 minutes of static rest,” reports the Polish weekly Przyjació?ka. “A spontaneous burst of laughter is comparable to three minutes of aerobic exercise, whereas ten warm smiles equal ten minutes of intensive rowing.” Which confirms this research from 2004: Neurologists at Stanford University have discovered another reason why laughter makes us feel good,” reports the UC Berkeley Wellness Letter. “They monitored the brain activity of people reading funny cartoons and found that humor and laughter triggered the brain’s ‘reward centers,’” the same areas affected by stimulant drugs. “Laughter reduces tension, clears the mind, and lifts the spirits,” says the Wellness Letter. Laughter also increases our hormone production and heart rate, and it contributes to better circulation and muscle tone. “Indeed, a good laugh is a kind of workout,” notes the Wellness Letter. “It’s not exactly a major calorie burner, however—you can laugh yourself silly, but not thin.”Barb_{June 12, 2013
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