Do You Believe?

[Alex]

I'm a bit confused by this:

As an example, think of an asteroid that's millions of lightyears away, discovered to be heading generally towards earth. That asteroid is well out of a range where its physical properties have a direct effect on human behavior, yet it would surely alter human behavior. But that's very different from "the asteroid chose to alter human behavior."

There is a physical interaction with the asteroid (photons from source A bounce off Asteroid B and are intercepted by Humanity C) and physical properties of the asteroid (it reflects photons at a sufficient level for detection) that caused the change here on Earth. Thus it is astronomy. If it affected human behavior without that physical interaction then it would be astrology.

(Though I'd posit that an asteroid light years from earth would cause no change in human behavior beyond noting it was there, after all it would be millennia before it got here.)

But yeah, otherwise I agree with you. One of the great mysteries of faith (to me) is why it is at all satisfying to believe in something without evidence of any type (obviously it is to billions of people, I just didn't get that gene).

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Alex

I'm a bit confused by this:



There is a physical interaction with the asteroid (photons from source A bounce off Asteroid B and are intercepted by Humanity C) and physical properties of the asteroid (it reflects photons at a sufficient level for detection) that caused the change here on Earth. Thus it is astronomy. If it affected human behavior without that physical interaction then it would be astrology.

(Though I'd posit that an asteroid light years from earth would cause no change in human behavior beyond noting it was there, after all it would be millennia before it got here.)

But yeah, otherwise I agree with you. One of the great mysteries of faith (to me) is why it is at all satisfying to believe in something without evidence of any type (obviously it is to billions of people, I just didn't get that gene).

Yeah, I've been going over that paragraph in my head since I wrote it. 1) yeah, yeah, not light years. I meant far away, but close enough that we're keeping our astronomical eye on it. 2) I didn't mean no physical interaction. I meant it as an example of physical interaction that is not on a "push lever A for result B". Tiny amounts of photons with very little mass or momentum causing huge-scale changes in human behavior (like the writing of a really bad Bruce Willis/Ben Afleck vehicle). Just establishing that yes, I agree there might be mechanisms beyond moving muscles and bones that can alter the course of the world.