Introducing: the agnostic paleontologist

[RichW9090]

I'm a vertebrate paleontologist, and obviously, accept evolution as the best explanation we have for the diversity of life we see on Earth today.  I'm an agnostic, not because I myself don't know if there is or is not a God, but because, philosophically, I believe that if there is a God, then by definition we cannot know anything about him.  That position also means I can ignore the question of origins - I don't care how the universe came to be - it has no effect on the study of evolution.  Just as I don't really care how life arose - it doesn't make any difference to the study of evolution, which is the history of life once it did arise.  Sort of takes the wind out of the sails both for the Creationists and the militant, positivist atheists, like Dawkins, who insist that there is no God.

So while I don't care how life arose (though of course, I expect it will be via the operation of the known laws of the material, physical universe), I challenge Creationists, both YECs and OECs, as soon as they make any claims about the material evidence for Creationism or evolution.

I also hold the science side to the same rules of logic and reason.

Richard White

[jumbojak]

Welcome to the board!

Speed through your ten posts and have a chat with Gerry. He's our resident creationist, for the moment at least.

[Tank]

Welcome Richard

Thank you very much for accepting my invitation. All members have to make 10 posts in the 'Getting to know you' area. After that you can do whatever you like, within the rules. 

Welcome to HAF.

Regards
Chris

Notes for new members.
The Rules.

Users who comply with forum rules will graduate to full membership after 10 posts.
Till that time your ability to post is limited to the "Getting to Know You" section of the forum.
It is our hope that this small restriction improves the overall atmosphere of HAF.

Some threads you might find interesting.
Where did you get your username from?
10 Things About Yourself
Tell us A Bit About Where You're From
Photography
Non-religious pet peeves
Pets...what do you have?
Favorite Song, with video
Why God?*
How to tell your family you are an atheist.*
"Rules for Conducting a Discussion" by Dr. Mortimer J. Adler*

*You will need 10 posts before you can add a post to this thread, but you can read it at any time.

[xSilverPhinx]

Welcome to the forum, Richard!

[Sandra Craft]

Welcome, Richard. Tho I'm no scientist I hold the same opinion on god, The Beginning Of It All, and evolution as you.  But to be fair to Dawkins he doesn't say absolutely there is no god, he concedes about a .03% doubt in his mind about it.  It's not much doubt about "god: yes or no?" but it is some doubt. 

I don't really care if a god of some kind exists or not, tho if it's supernatural then it's not even possible to know which puts me on the agnostic side.  However, since I don't find any description of a god I've ever heard at all convincing or likely I call myself an atheist.

[RichW9090]

Thanks for the welcomes, all.  I've been looking at some of the Gerry threads, and trying to work up some enthusiasm to engage him.  Sometimes it's hard to be anxious to do so, when you see literally hundreds of such posts every day.  I'm active on perhaps a dozen similarly themed Groups and Forums, and Gerry, from what I see so far, hasn't posted anything that dozens of others haven't posted repeatedly.  It's also difficult to come in at the end of a long thread and try to tease out some one point upon which to engage a Creationist - it will perhaps be best for me to join in as he initiates new threads.

Sandy, you are right about Dawkins - he has occasionally hedged his bets with a qualifier.  But his followers have almost to a person ignored that and adopted the complete positivist stance.  And most of the time Dawkins plays directly to that audience.

Rich

[Dobermonster]

Welcome, Richard.

I think just about everyone would be happy to step back and let you one-on-one with Gerry. It's hard to avoid letting creationists get away with presumptions and fallacies when there are multiple people involved in the discussion. 

[Recusant]

Hello and welcome to HAF, RichW9090. I'm looking forward to your contributions to discussions here. Which area of vertebrate paleontology do you specialize in, if I may ask? I hope that you enjoy your time reading and posting here.

[Tank]

Thanks for the welcomes, all.  I've been looking at some of the Gerry threads, and trying to work up some enthusiasm to engage him.  Sometimes it's hard to be anxious to do so, when you see literally hundreds of such posts every day.  I'm active on perhaps a dozen similarly themed Groups and Forums, and Gerry, from what I see so far, hasn't posted anything that dozens of others haven't posted repeatedly.  It's also difficult to come in at the end of a long thread and try to tease out some one point upon which to engage a Creationist - it will perhaps be best for me to join in as he initiates new threads.

Sandy, you are right about Dawkins - he has occasionally hedged his bets with a qualifier.  But his followers have almost to a person ignored that and adopted the complete positivist stance.  And most of the time Dawkins plays directly to that audience.

Rich

It wasn't until I read The God Delusion that I gave religious fundamentalism, of the creationist sort, a second thought. Frankly I though he was hyping it up for effect. After a little bit of looking around I joined The Richard Dawkins Forum (RDF) and eventually became a moderator. It was an interesting insight in many ways. I think that Dawkins, like everyone, is very much a result of their upbringing. In has case one of privilege that isolated him from the bulk of humanity. Bit of an odd chap sometimes.

[Tank]

Richard you can just come here to chill out as well you know 

[Niya]

Welcome Richard, nice to see you join and looking forward see your contributions and discussions.

[Eric V Arachnid]

Hello

[RichW9090]

Hello and welcome to HAF, RichW9090. I'm looking forward to your contributions to discussions here. Which area of vertebrate paleontology do you specialize in, if I may ask? I hope that you enjoy your time reading and posting here.

Recusant, my specialty is a broad one - the Plio-Pleistocene  of North and South America, and on particular, the Great American Biotic Interchange.  I work with a number of different mammal groups, but especially artiodactyls (pronghorna and deer) and xenrthrans (armadillos and their fossil relatives). You can see my research and bibliography here ( http://www.thewildlifemuseum.org/research/ ) and most of my publications are available as pdf downloads there.

[RichW9090]

Did Gerry never introduce himself in this section?  I can't seem to find his post.......

[xSilverPhinx]

Did Gerry never introduce himself in this section?  I can't seem to find his post.......

No, he jumped right into lengthy debates. This is his first thread, which has was moved to the creationsim/intelligent design section: http://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/index.php?topic=13577.0