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[MrWiggles]

The colloquial use of close minded has grown to be a pet peeve of mine. A rejection of an idea is not being closed minded.

Instead, I being open minded, have the harder task. I have to entertain new ideas, and evaluate them base on evidence. It would much less time consuming if I were to just accept all claims.

The other thing that pet peeve is that skepticism is equated with cynicism. There a rogain commercial, where they do exactly that. It pisses me off.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T69TOuqaqXI Great vid on open mindness.

And Ghost Hunter piss me off to. TAPS parades around as if they're doing science, when they're defaming it and fogging the general public image of what science is. Which is currently really shoddy.

Playing grab ass in the dark, is not science.

[Zironic]

Skepticism is a doubt about a certain object, so it is a form of cynicism. However cynicism is a deep distrust of human kind as a whole. Everything. Also, A skeptic only doubts due to a lack of clear evidence. Cynics view human motives as geared toward self interest. Cynicism is more of a political view.

[Leafsnail]

"For these people, open mindedness seems to mean 'Agreeing with me'"

Brilliant.

Anyway, that pretty much sums it up.  Sure, it could be true, but the stance of Christianity isn't any more likely than any other statements that don't actively contradict things.  Any work of fiction could be taken as literally true - how about the Science of Discworld series?  The Jedi beliefs?  The Harry Potter series?  Indeed, anything I can think up myself?

This is why the burden on truth should, and always will, rest with trying to prove a positive, since proving a negative is quite simply impossible, especially since you're allowed to edit your theory whenever something seems to contradict it (such as turning the "7 days" into a metaphor when it became clear that it wasn't possible).

[Rilder]

Aren't the Jedi Beliefs actually recognized as a religion by Britain?

[Leafsnail]

Aren't the Jedi Beliefs actually recognized as a religion by Britain?

Yep, due to numbers.  This reflects more on the fact that some people don't take the census very seriously.

[Zironic]

Aren't the Jedi Beliefs actually recognized as a religion by Britain?

Yep, due to numbers.  This reflects more on the fact that some people don't take the census very seriously.

Anyone want to move to britian to start a matrix religion?

[Leafsnail]

I just like the fact that the Jedi here outnumber the Scientologists dramatically.

[Jackrabbit]

Well, they're safer even if they start attacking you with glowing bits of plastic.

[RAM]

Is there any actual point at which you are either a religion or a cult? Or are they both the same thing and the terms are simply used to express how plausible the listener feels the subject is...

[Jackrabbit]

Is there any actual point at which you are either a religion or a cult? Or are they both the same thing and the terms are simply used to express how plausible the listener feels the subject is...

I think that religion does not require you to focus your attention on it. If you're, say, Christian, great! Go to church every now and then if you don't mind, and remember not to sin.

If you're in a cult, it's very likely that you devote most of your life to it, paying money and serving it. Sure, that sounds like priesthood, apart from the money thing, but it spreads to all of the followers. Their entire lives are based around it and they can't break free easily. I have a personal example but I'm afraid I'd be booted off the thread for breaking the rules.

[MrWiggles]

Cult and religion is a continuum. One can became the other, and there some that seem to be both.

Much like science and psedoscience is a continuum. One can became the other, and there some that seem to be both.

Homeopathy became a psedoscience.

Plate Tectonics became a Science.

SETI sets comfy in between.

[RAM]

SETI sets comfy in between.

I would argue that an ongoing test of a dubious hypothesis is still perfectly valid science so long as no assumptions are declared without supporting results...

(I think that the no examples bit is a bit of a failure, no quotes on page 81 might work though...)

[MrWiggles]

SETI sets comfy in between.

I would argue that an ongoing test of a dubious hypothesis is still perfectly valid science so long as no assumptions are declared without supporting results...

(I think that the no examples bit is a bit of a failure, no quotes on page 81 might work though...)

They also have a claim which cant be disproved.  It sits happily in between, even those employed with SETI will admit that, yes they do share some aspect with pesdoscience. I don't call it one myself, I lean towards the science side, but I recognize it being in the grey area.

[G-Flex]

I don't see how it's pseudoscientific.

They aren't sure whether or not there's extraterrestrial life that's been beaming signals all over the place, or that did a long time ago. It's plausible that there are, or were. So, they keep on the lookout for them so that they can spot them if they ever show up.

[Leafsnail]

It's not pseudoscience, they're just looking for signals from alien lifeforms.  They aren't saying there have to be signals, and they are using a medium we know about (radio waves) so it's not pseudoscientific - it's just unlikely they'll ever find what they're looking for.