Programmers and Atheists
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Some of the brightest and most famous scientists in this world are religious. Part of the desire to understand the way the universe ticks is to get closer to God and understand the divine beauty He created. Education doesn't imply atheism - it implies a deeper understanding and a more solid basis for ones beliefs (either way). It's like all these discussions we've had over the last couple of days: evolution, quantum mechanics and relativity, plate techtonics etc etc. The more you see and the more you understand the more you find yourself hitting a point (as Paul will attest) where you go 'That's so cool. Almost too cool...' cheers, Chris Maunder (CodeProject)
Hmmm But try to imagine this. On one side we have knowledge - as in the theory of relativty, quantum mechanics........ It's really unconceivable that a person who is studying quarks and hadrons will also be preapared to believe that a god or gods exist. I mean everything else old timers thought, they thought wrong - inclusing the flatness of the earth, and earth being the center of the univers...How can we then believe their concepts about god? Its too far-fetched to think that they got everything wrong but got it right regarding god. The more you understand the universe, the more you understand life; god becomes a dream that was just that - a dream that arose in barbaric man's attempt to solve the unknown..... Nish
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Hello Tomasz It was not meant to be offensive.... Not at all... I am sorry if it did. But it cant be worse than people blowingup buildings and planes over matters of religion, can it? Nish
It was not meant to be offensive.... Really? You're suggesting that people who believe in God are dumb. Seems that you just can't respect people who do not think just like you. Is there much difference between you and Taliban? Tomasz Sowinski -- http://www.shooltz.com
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1. Do you really believe good programmers are smart? 2. Do you really believe atheists are smarter than others? 1. programming is a skill, like building a brick wall. Reqirements: "heady". slightly introvert. focuse your mind on one problem. good abstraction skills. To handle complexity you need to accept a model for a given system (and, at some point, stop to "ask why", at least for the moment). Be the model ever so "stupid", like describing module behavior by desires and emotions ("The print spooler seems to prefer local files"). Being a bit overly suspicous, a bit of a "keep everything under control" freak, a bit of "anal fixation" surely helps. So IMO "good programmer" might tend to see religion as arbitrary models, without "true/false" tags. Treat "Atheism" as just another religion. And perhaps pick one they favor. But smart? If I'd been smart, I'd taken the psychology course instead, with all the cute chicks hanging out there. ----------- 2. "Gott würfelt nicht" (God doesn't throw dice) A. Einstein, commenting on the evolving quantum theory -----------
>But smart? If I'd been smart, I'd taken the psychology course instead, with >all the cute chicks hanging out there. Oh, I must be half smart because I used to take psychology at Night school :-) Michael :-)
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hey I am gonna make a few statements below :- "Most good programmers are atheists" "All great programmers are athesists" "Most atheist programmers are good/great programmers" I just want you guys to ponder over those statements. The whole point is only smart people can write smart programs. And smart people know god is a trash-theory for the simple reason that, they are smart :-) Nish :suss:
Dude, some day when you need faith and don't have it, you are going to feel pretty damned dumb. "I never met anyone I didn't like" Will Rogers.
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Hmmm But try to imagine this. On one side we have knowledge - as in the theory of relativty, quantum mechanics........ It's really unconceivable that a person who is studying quarks and hadrons will also be preapared to believe that a god or gods exist. I mean everything else old timers thought, they thought wrong - inclusing the flatness of the earth, and earth being the center of the univers...How can we then believe their concepts about god? Its too far-fetched to think that they got everything wrong but got it right regarding god. The more you understand the universe, the more you understand life; god becomes a dream that was just that - a dream that arose in barbaric man's attempt to solve the unknown..... Nish
Only one problem - that's not true at all. Modern mathematics is still based heavily on what the ancient Greeks learned. They may have gotten physics wrong, but they got mathematics right. The ancient Hebrews invented the alphabet. Most Western languages use an alphabet (although it may be a different one.) Modern medicine is finally looking at many natural remedies that have been used for thousands of years, and are finding that some of them really do work. The more you understand, the more you realize you don't know. It may seem far-fetched to you that God exists, but the more I think about things, it seems even more far-fetched that this extremely complicated universe, life, and everything else just appeared by chance, or out of thin air. The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
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Hmmm But try to imagine this. On one side we have knowledge - as in the theory of relativty, quantum mechanics........ It's really unconceivable that a person who is studying quarks and hadrons will also be preapared to believe that a god or gods exist. I mean everything else old timers thought, they thought wrong - inclusing the flatness of the earth, and earth being the center of the univers...How can we then believe their concepts about god? Its too far-fetched to think that they got everything wrong but got it right regarding god. The more you understand the universe, the more you understand life; god becomes a dream that was just that - a dream that arose in barbaric man's attempt to solve the unknown..... Nish
It's really unconceivable that a person who is studying quarks and hadrons will also be preapared to believe that a god or gods exist. Tell that to Stephen Hawking or Isaak Newton. How can we then believe their concepts about god? Take this quote from Dr. Schaefer (the director of the Center for Computational Quantum Chemistry at the University of Georgia): "The significance and joy in my science comes in the occasional moments of discovering something new and saying to myself, 'So that's how God did it!' My goal is to understand a little corner of God's plan." It isn't what someone does or doesn't believe - but that they have tested their beliefs and had a good long look at the other side of the fence when making their decision. There is a difference between ignorance and stupidity. cheers, Chris Maunder (CodeProject)
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hey I am gonna make a few statements below :- "Most good programmers are atheists" "All great programmers are athesists" "Most atheist programmers are good/great programmers" I just want you guys to ponder over those statements. The whole point is only smart people can write smart programs. And smart people know god is a trash-theory for the simple reason that, they are smart :-) Nish :suss:
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It was not meant to be offensive.... Really? You're suggesting that people who believe in God are dumb. Seems that you just can't respect people who do not think just like you. Is there much difference between you and Taliban? Tomasz Sowinski -- http://www.shooltz.com
Taking it a bit personally aren't you Tomasz. I think people who believe in God are deluded fools. Christian and I still get on fine. He (I'm sure) can't understand why I can't see the obvious, that being God. Nisterboy (or whoever) worded it poorly, but he seemed to me to be trying to kick off another self perpetuating thread. He latched onto the fact that a large number of non Christian (who aren't necessarily Aetheist's) members have been argueing for evolution and against Noah. Converted that into Aetheist's make better programmers. I could make an arguement for and against this using two members as examples. I can make use of these members due to their beliefs being made public in forums and homepages. Also the quality of their help in forums and articles. Aetheist's make better Programmers - Michael Dunn Christians make better Programmers - Christian Graus As always use the facts to help reinforce your arguement. Michael Martin Pegasystems Pty Ltd Australia martm@pegasystems.com +61 413-004-018 "Don't belong. Never join. Think for yourself. Peace" - Victor Stone
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Dude, some day when you need faith and don't have it, you are going to feel pretty damned dumb. "I never met anyone I didn't like" Will Rogers.
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hey I am gonna make a few statements below :- "Most good programmers are atheists" "All great programmers are athesists" "Most atheist programmers are good/great programmers" I just want you guys to ponder over those statements. The whole point is only smart people can write smart programs. And smart people know god is a trash-theory for the simple reason that, they are smart :-) Nish :suss:
Complete rubbish. Some of the worst programmers I've ever known were (and probably still are) atheists. I don't read anything into that, and neither should you. :mad: Andy Metcalfe - Sonardyne International Ltd
(andy.metcalfe@lineone.net)
http://www.resorg.co.uk"I'm just another 'S' bend in the internet. A ton of stuff goes through my system, and some of the hairer, stickier and lumpier stuff sticks." - Chris Maunder (I just couldn't let that one past ;))
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hey I am gonna make a few statements below :- "Most good programmers are atheists" "All great programmers are athesists" "Most atheist programmers are good/great programmers" I just want you guys to ponder over those statements. The whole point is only smart people can write smart programs. And smart people know god is a trash-theory for the simple reason that, they are smart :-) Nish :suss:
that's generalization.. and to generalize such things is plain dumb.. in my opinion.. my personal opinion towards religios is divorced: on the one hand my opinion is: "people invented god, so they had some easy solutions and didn't ponder on problems they couldn't know" religion did cause so many evil things.. but i think this is more a problem of humans not of religious.. i think religious is just a good excuse for that.. yaya.. have a nice day.. bernhard "The remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served us nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found." Calvin Trillin [American writer, born 1935]
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Complete rubbish. Some of the worst programmers I've ever known were (and probably still are) atheists. I don't read anything into that, and neither should you. :mad: Andy Metcalfe - Sonardyne International Ltd
(andy.metcalfe@lineone.net)
http://www.resorg.co.uk"I'm just another 'S' bend in the internet. A ton of stuff goes through my system, and some of the hairer, stickier and lumpier stuff sticks." - Chris Maunder (I just couldn't let that one past ;))
On the other hand, The worst programmer I worked with was deeply religious. He turned me religious too after he left, everytime I had to fix his code I could be heard praying "Oh god, what the **** is this pile of **** supposed to be" :-) Michael :-)
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Taking it a bit personally aren't you Tomasz. I think people who believe in God are deluded fools. Christian and I still get on fine. He (I'm sure) can't understand why I can't see the obvious, that being God. Nisterboy (or whoever) worded it poorly, but he seemed to me to be trying to kick off another self perpetuating thread. He latched onto the fact that a large number of non Christian (who aren't necessarily Aetheist's) members have been argueing for evolution and against Noah. Converted that into Aetheist's make better programmers. I could make an arguement for and against this using two members as examples. I can make use of these members due to their beliefs being made public in forums and homepages. Also the quality of their help in forums and articles. Aetheist's make better Programmers - Michael Dunn Christians make better Programmers - Christian Graus As always use the facts to help reinforce your arguement. Michael Martin Pegasystems Pty Ltd Australia martm@pegasystems.com +61 413-004-018 "Don't belong. Never join. Think for yourself. Peace" - Victor Stone
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hey I am gonna make a few statements below :- "Most good programmers are atheists" "All great programmers are athesists" "Most atheist programmers are good/great programmers" I just want you guys to ponder over those statements. The whole point is only smart people can write smart programs. And smart people know god is a trash-theory for the simple reason that, they are smart :-) Nish :suss:
Was this based on a scientific study ? A random sample or is it just the drivel coming out of an unorganised mind ? Please will you define the following:- What is a good programmer , what is a great programmer , what do you mean by the concept of aetheist ? How many programmers you sampled in order to arrive at this statement , what controls did you have in place to be sure that the sample was random. I suspect that you , like myself, are an aetheist but I think you are over generalising just a tad. If you mean that to be an effective programmer , it useful to have an open mind , then I would agree , but I see no reason why aetheists should have a monopoly on that . In an infinite universe , anything is possible.
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hey I am gonna make a few statements below :- "Most good programmers are atheists" "All great programmers are athesists" "Most atheist programmers are good/great programmers" I just want you guys to ponder over those statements. The whole point is only smart people can write smart programs. And smart people know god is a trash-theory for the simple reason that, they are smart :-) Nish :suss:
If Einstein, Newton, Dostoievski, and practically ALL great minds in human history were stupid enough to be religious, tham I'm happy to be in such a good company. I vote pro drink :beer:
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hey I am gonna make a few statements below :- "Most good programmers are atheists" "All great programmers are athesists" "Most atheist programmers are good/great programmers" I just want you guys to ponder over those statements. The whole point is only smart people can write smart programs. And smart people know god is a trash-theory for the simple reason that, they are smart :-) Nish :suss:
I'm an atheist and a programmer. But I'm also an adult. And I know that adults don't refer to other people's deeply-held beliefs as a "trash-theory".
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hey I am gonna make a few statements below :- "Most good programmers are atheists" "All great programmers are athesists" "Most atheist programmers are good/great programmers" I just want you guys to ponder over those statements. The whole point is only smart people can write smart programs. And smart people know god is a trash-theory for the simple reason that, they are smart :-) Nish :suss:
This is a grossly generalized statement. Contrary to this, I'd argue, irrespective of our programming skills and our religions, belief in God *should* help us to avoid useless distraction (go figure) and thus to concentrate in our programming / debugging job better. // Fazlul
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I'm an atheist and a programmer. But I'm also an adult. And I know that adults don't refer to other people's deeply-held beliefs as a "trash-theory".
I've generally stayed out of these religious threads until now. I have read all of them and have found them quite interesting. My comments/question aren't necesarily specific to this thread topic (or this branch of it) but maybe some of the pseudo-religious scholars would like to comment. Up to when I was 9 years old, my mother made sure I attended Catholic church and sunday school every week. One evening our neighbors house caught fire. My best friend and his 2 year old sister burned to death. Their screams haunted me for many years. A couple weeks later, I asked my mother why God allowed them to suffer so much in their deaths. She had no good answer, but suggested I talk to our priest. He also had no good answer. A few months later, after my sister's confirmation I had a chance to ask a bishop the same question. Once again, no good answer. I've been an atheist ever since. Why would a good god allow two innocent children to suffer in such a horrible death? And don't patronize me with "God has a purpose or God works in mysterious ways", I'm not buying it.:confused: Mike Mullikin "Real programmers don't document their code. It was hard to write - it should be hard to read!"
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hey I am gonna make a few statements below :- "Most good programmers are atheists" "All great programmers are athesists" "Most atheist programmers are good/great programmers" I just want you guys to ponder over those statements. The whole point is only smart people can write smart programs. And smart people know god is a trash-theory for the simple reason that, they are smart :-) Nish :suss:
Ooo! I love this game. "Most atheist programmers have difficulty with punctuation." Seriously though, I take offence. I'll agree with the smart people - smart programs comment, but the whole trash-theory is - as others have pointed out - extremely close-minded. I can't imagine what a burden close-mindedness must be like. J - Pagan and proud.