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Troosha - I've never thought of the expection of favorable outcomes as a
form of faith.
But in reality it is, even if married to an inexplicable hope that may not be based on anything concrete.
posted by
gomedome
on May 19, 2007 at 8:53 PM
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cantey_1975 - how have you been - it's good to see you back
I find your entire comment very interesting, I'm somewhat at a loss as to what it has to do with this post but as you know; I am easily led astray by interesting topics.
The key to viewing this information is to draw relevent parrallels with what it all means to our daily lives. The quest to conquer the storage issues of this information will inevitably lead to the continuation of the rapid successions we have seen of computer generations as of late. We've come a long way since vacuum tubes but we have jumped into a loop of 2 years as a full computer generation, at least in terms of unacceptable redundancy. We also have the opportunity to flex our brains into thinking of dimensional sizes that are outside of our normal human perception. The further advancement in how we will be able to count, catalogue and store this type of complex information becomes inevitable as a spinoff from this research. Then we can project for fun when we think computer technology will advance to this level. 12-16 years is my guess . . . . what's yours? To clarify my question to you; If you had to guess how long it would take for mankind to bring computer technology to a point of being able to completely and efficiently catalogue the human genome: what is your guess as to how long?
posted by
gomedome
on May 19, 2007 at 8:47 PM
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gomedome
Although most people think in terms of “Faith” as believing in a higher power, let’s not dismiss the other form of faith; of simply having an inexplicable hope that things will work out or that we have the human capacity to lift ourselves out of a negative situation. Be it a faith a God or a God or faith in one self, hope is and can be a powerful force.
Loved your closing line….. (probably because I despise the term born again - who the the heck came up with that one???).
posted by
Troosha
on May 19, 2007 at 4:38 AM
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Hey Gome, I hope you and yours are well
here is a reminder for the rich diversity of the human species, which would comfortably ( to some) include its religious proclivities :
"The human genome is made up of DNA, which has four different chemical building blocks. These are called bases and abbreviated A, T, C, and G. In the human genome, about 3 billion bases are arranged along the chromosomes in a particular order for each unique individual. To get an idea of the size of the human genome present in each of our cells, consider the following analogy: If the DNA sequence of the human genome were compiled in books, the equivalent of 200 volumes the size of a Manhattan telephone book (at 1000 pages each) would be needed to hold it all.
It would take about 9.5 years to read out loud (without stopping) the 3 billion bases in a person's genome sequence. This is calculated on a reading rate of 10 bases per second, equaling 600 bases/minute, 36,000 bases/hour, 864,000 bases/day, 315,360,000 bases/year.
Storing all this information is a great challenge to computer experts known as bioinformatics specialists. One million bases (called a megabase and abbreviated Mb) of DNA sequence data is roughly equivalent to 1 megabyte of computer data storage space. Since the human genome is 3 billion base pairs long, 3 gigabytes of computer data storage space are needed to store the entire genome. This includes nucleotide sequence data only and does not include data annotations and other information that can be associated with sequence data. "
from http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/faq/faqs1.shtml
remarkable, isn't it?
posted by
calmcantey75
on May 19, 2007 at 12:10 AM
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Talion - the word "Bigot" comes to mind immediately
Considering that the foregone conclusions that prompt someone to make such a statement are entirely based on unfounded prejudice, bigot is probably the best descriptive term. This type of prejudice is unfortunately very common, we've seen many people harboring the same preconceived notions right here on Blogit. Some even becoming proactive in a negative fashion towards non believers based on these prejudices. I've often demonstrated that when one of these people are cornered and asked just what they are basing this prejudice on, there never seems to be an adequate answer. They just "know" that people who believe as they do are good and those who do not are bad, never once in their lives considering how they came to this conclusion. If the truth be known however, a conclusion based on real life observation has never been drawn, what they think they know is nothing more than their willingness to swallow the propaganda associated with selling them their religious beliefs. It's easy, intellectually effortless, self serving, partisan group think that otherwise good people sometimes are a party to . . . and of course some not so good people.
posted by
gomedome
on May 18, 2007 at 1:19 PM
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gomedome
I used to work with a very devout Christian woman. One day in the breakroom she and a few other like minded individuals started a religiously-themed discussion. Taking that as my cue, I got up to leave, but was dragged into the conversation. I've forgotten the details, but in a very civil manner, I let it be known I'm agnostic.
"You mean you're not a Christian?" she asked increduously.
"No, I'm not," I replied.
"But you're so nice..."
I shrugged and left it at that.
Because I'm "nice" I must have been a Christian. Look at it another way and we can deduce those who aren't "nice" couldn't possibly be Christian. Wow. Of course she didn't intend any harm and I accepted it without taking offense, but it reveals how she views those who believe versus those who don't.
For some of the believers, at best we unbelievers are lost or misguided or blind or deluded etc. until we recieve "the word." At worst we're the evil minions of Satan responsible for all the world's ills. I'll never be able to understand it. If someone thinks less of me because I'm black, we call that person a racist. If someone thinks less of a woman because of her sex, we call that person a sexist. What's the word for someone who thinks less of a person who doesn't believe in his/her concept of God? Of course I could think of a few, but there's not one that's socially acceptable.
posted by
Talion
on May 18, 2007 at 11:29 AM
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It certainly "tis"
posted by
gomedome
on May 18, 2007 at 10:26 AM
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tis true
posted by
Xeno-x
on May 18, 2007 at 10:22 AM
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