It seems so. I'm not sure what makes you say this. Some change in the tone in which Z posts? I haven't noticed it. I have yet to detect one shred of humility or forbearance or self-examination in any of Z's posts. He loves to incite and his main aim is to provoke reactions so that his personna is in the spotlight here on ET Chat. This latest statement, the one you quoted, is a perfect example of Z's brand of assertion. It is, indeed, pure assertion, with not even an attempt at defining the terms being used. The idea that scientific belief involves assumptions and ideological premises which might be considered analogous to those which underpin religious belief is intriguing. Anyone with even a superficial knowledge of the developments in, for example, theoretical physics in the past 40 years, knows that findings in that field have called into question the most basic tenets of the empirical method, our notions of causality and the nature of matter. I think this is a great debate to have and I would welcome it... with anyone other than this troll, who is incapable of anything resembling an exchange of ideas. Check his earlier threads. When confronted with the contradictions in his positions, he starts by telling people that they are 'stupid', that their arguments are 'stupid', and that only he makes the decision whether or not to respond to questions based on his statements. In his Darwinism thread, he called people 'stupid' about 30 times, in different ways, all using the word 'stupid'. He then moves on to claiming TOU violations. The, as hap says, he drops all pretense and simply flames those who question his assertions. His latest thread re: the story about the news crew who tried to plant a 'Muslim-looking' person in the crowd at a NASCAR race is a perfect example of the kind of inflammatory, intellectually dishonest material that this individual specializes in. He is a discredit to the left.
By the way.... just check his response to my first post in this thread. I have asked him maybe 20 times to clarify statements he has made re: his evocation of Nazism, his comments regarding pedophilic attacks on fellow ET members, his recantation of his statements regarding the origin of man on earth, and many others. His response here? To ask me for the 30th time to provide the citations. Anyone who has read through Z's threads knows that I have cited these threads multiple times. When something is inconvenient for Z, he does the easy thing - he ignores it, and proceeds as if it doesn't exist. And he calls me a little boy, just for good measure. And this is the person with whom you suggest we engage in debate?
Almost 11,000. And that's just since '04, and but one of his guises. If the internet didn't exist, Zzzzz would explode from the lack of an outlet to spew all the pent-up drivel. Or he'd go postal and be the guy you read about killing 20 people at a fast food restaurant. Zzzz should be thankful to Al Gore for inventing the Net. Perhaps he is, and that is why he defends Gore and the Left so such extremes.
Changes?? Well, Z10's posts are a study in consistency lately. But between the lines of that obsession that I often criticize, I sometimes detect a soul on an honest spiritual quest. (who am i to judge). It gets tiring to try to make sense of a world gone mad...or to come to the realization that humanity today is the final product of millions of years of brutality, and devotion to survival and self interest. Much easier to divide the world into something humans can easily understand...like team A, and team B. Team A is good. Team B is bad. Sounds childish; but it is simple and relieves stress...and what the fuck. Sorry to say, it is the easy way out. sax PS. nitro...you wanna become a monk? i know a great place in minnesota were i spent a number of years considering that option. they are always looking for new "vocations". (a good crew, really.)
This is an encapsulation of what I mean. It is a post I made elsewhere. I don't know if you understand what I am getting at, especially the last sentence of my reply: To me, the most important message of God is a self-evident one: If I (meaning God) exist, so by my very existence must my dual - evil - exist. And EVERY man on this planet is capable of both. Only GOD can exist as a "soliton wave" - singularly defined by good. I think this is the answer that all of humanity is striving to come to terms with, not only intellectually, but how to evolve towards a state where it can effectively deal with evil without humanity itself being engulfed by it. Beauty can sometimes confront evil [think Ghandi], but sometimes only evil means can confront evil [think Hitler.] I think we do a pretty good job of it for the most part, but need to get better, much better at it, at trying the beauty part first. nitro