God is dead

God is dead

Religion loses devotees every day at a seemingly accelerated rate, giving rise to the question of whether religion is necessary or not anymore.

The purpose of religion has always been a hot debate between evolutionary psychologists. Religions, by all means, are practical: they give clearly defined life guidelines thus are useful from an evolutionary point of view. This has lead to the theory of religion being an ideal trait for survival, thus individuals with religious beliefs being higher up in the natural selection pyramid.

While some attribute religion as a factor that has been navigating the river of History up to the present day, others argue that religion is a by-product of evolution, that being, or course, human intelligence. Many consider Stephen Jay Gould as the father of this theory, which elegantly ponders upon the fact that evolution led to consciousness, and religion seemed a satisfactory explanation to many metaphysical questions, such as mortality. Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins also argues that the non-questionable nature of religion leads to it propagating like a "virus".

Intriguingly, very recent studies have also related the VMAT2 gene as predisposing to mystic beliefs, opening the debate of whether religion is simply a human protective mechanism, therefore not related to 'pure' devotion.

Religion is based on faith, and faith requires believing in something without evidence. Professor Dawkins said in an interview that believing in God or in unicorns is comparable, as "the evidence that supports them is equally poor".

On the other hand, many consider religion helpful for the answers it offers to commonly questioned philosophical problems. Believing in God is seemingly a way of perceiving what we see, but faith is naturally spoon-fed by the society in which one lives, so an open mind may lead a believer to question the reality of their faith and if, from a rational point of view, is or not satisfactory.

Besides, believing in something without evidence can be very dangerous and interfering, as some believers have extrapolated sacred writings to a ridiculous extent, strongly defending ideas such as 'intelligent design' and immoral teachings from the Old Testament, for instance.

Figure 1. Intelligence leads to a more powerful ability to question things and thus to extract rational conclusions. This graph correlates intelligence with moderate religious belief. Do note that this is a present-day survey, considering that nowadays less families raise their children under the sticky influence of religion therefore people being more able to construct own ideas based on a higher span of arguments.

Religious belief is nowadays experiencing a notable decrease due to new scientific developments and the establishment of new moral values, such as sex equality and

Animal respect. So, if you are a believer, perhaps it may be interesting for you to strip off unthought-of believes and critically ask yourself: why do I believe in God?

To which argument do you attribute religion's existence?

 Do you find any advantages of religious-thought before rational reasoning?

When intelligence is not (only) in our genes

When intelligence is not (only) in our genes

Scientific evidence has showed that environmental factors have an almost equal effect on intelligence than genetics, opening the nature versus nurture debate.

“Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select". Psychologist John Watson pronounced this bewildering statement in the early nineteenth century, seemingly ignoring the importance of our genome in determining our intellectual traits. But, are we really just coded by our genes?

In 1996, Benjamin et al. published a paper showing the importance of a certain gene, DRD4, in determining one's personality. Perhaps their findings were not elucidating under the light of explaining the biological mechanism intelligence, but scientists are nowadays working on the so-called 'quantitative trait loci', a map denoting key genetic combinations that can lead to superior intelligence.

But here psychology kicks in. Murray and Herrnstein showed in 1994 that identical twins, with very similar intelligences during childhood, experienced remarkable variations in their IQ score as adults. Their findings were trailblazing, and opened the debate of the extent to which the environment can affect one's intelligence.

A recent study analysed IQ scores in malnourished Bolivian children before and after the intake of a series of protein supplements. It was discovered that the IQ increased notably after six months, proving nutrition key in intellectual performance. Interestingly, breast-feeding has moreover been shown to increase 4.6 IQ points in contrast to those who were bottle-fed.

Another hot-topic in the field is the alleged 'Mozart Effect', which indicates that children taking IQ scores after listening to classical music can improve their results in a magnitude of almost 10 IQ points.

However, being a 'genius' is not only about intelligence. Before reaching maturity, the brain is active, plastic, and will develop certain connections when exposed to specific influences. For instance, it is well known that Albert Einstein was intrigued by physics since an early age, as he was grown in a culturally stimulating environment.

Figure 1. One of the most studied factors determining acquired intelligence is the family's socioeconomic status.

DNA has been proved to be key in intellectual development, but environmental factors seemingly can affect one's natural intelligence to a remarkable extent. Taking the dual importance of genetics and environmental factors into consideration, one may ask himself: is our educational system ideal, or are we simply feeding children crude culture?

Ever heard about Vampirism??

Turkey, February 8^th, doctors discover a 23 year-old man who suffers from dissociative identity disorder, depression and alcohol abuse. Apparently a case due to traumatic experiences, but there were things yet to discover.

According to the medical report, the man has been described as what doctors claim to be a real-vampire. Is it possible that someone is addicted to blood?

This man, whose name and hometown weren’t revealed, started by slicing his own arms, chest and belly and drinking his own blood from a glass. Seeing he didn’t have enough he started stabbing and biting others, ending up arrested several times.

The patient declares the compulsions to drink blood were “as urgent as breathing”. Doesn’t this remind you of nowadays films? Is vampirism going to become a new physiological disease?

This first known patient with “vampirism” is said to be a danger not only for society, but also for himself. Someone who drinks blood has the risk of suffering health problems like haemochromatosis or contracting blood-borne disease. What do you think should be done about this?

Vampirism is no laughing matter, it’s a reality. Experts affirm it could become more and more popular due to sagas like “Twilight”, do you think this is possible? 

Have you ever thought of technology being the cause of your insomnia?

Specialist on sleep have announces a ‘new’ kind of insomnia which is increasing in our society, “technology insomnia”. This is caused by the abusive use of the Internet before going to bed, since the luminescence screen devices like mobiles or laptops are very counterproductive to sleep; they stimulate your brain impeding it to rest properly.

Jesus Escribá, neurophysiologist Hospital Medical Nursing Home, specialized in sleep medicine, stated that the use of these devices even an hour before going to sleep not only shortens the hours of sleep, but it affects their quality. Your body is not able to complete the sleeping cycle as it should, furthermore, the next day it’s inevitable that you feel exhausted, your brain can’t think clearly, etc.

This creates a double addiction, you become both addicted to technology and the use of sleeping drugs. Most people aren’t aware of this issue, which is sadly becoming more and more common every day.

            What people should do to prevent this kind of insomnia is disconnect from the internet, your phone, laptop... preferably an hour before going to sleep and leaving out of the room during the night.

Have you ever had insomnia? Was it because of technology?

Do you think it is a real problem or just nonsense?

Chaos in the Goya Awards

 The Goya Awards are today celebrating their 27^th edition. As usual actors and directors are invited to enjoy the show and receive their awards.

Apparently, this seemed a normal edition, with nominees like Daniel Giménez, Antonio de la Torre, Aida Folch, or a very well-known Penélope Cruz.  Also many films are competing in important categories like; Best Script or Best Production.

But this Sunday, the attention will be drawn to the claim and protests of some of the attendees to the ceremony. It’s been said that the Actors Association has been encouraging the attendees to claim against the situation of Spain.

The Association said that they “should take advantage of their fame” and denounces those things others can’t. “People want to be listened” and they are going to help.

However, the president of the academy is not in accordance with this idea and says the attention should belong to the show. What do you think about this? Shouldn’t actors help us and protest?  

It’s time to stop it.

The non-governmental environmental organisation, Greenpeace, one of the most famous organisations fot the protection of the enviroment known world-wide, has been protesting in Noth Korea againts the use of nuclear wepons.

Lately, tests with nuclear wepons have been taken by North Koreans in the undergrounds of the city. The organisation got concerned by this and decided to act againts this by protesting in a pacific way. Isn't it time to end the nuclear weapon age? The use, development and testing of this weapons means a risk to world peace and to human existence of any kind.

North Korea declared its test had "greater exploisive force" than its previous tests. 

The suspicions were not only confirmed, furthermore, after studying the situation experts affirmed the practice not only supposed a risk for Korean's health, but if anything was to go wrong, this technology threatened even the faraway US a s a long-range missile could hit it's coast.

Are we supposed to ignore this? Experts nowadays aren't sure of how many nuclear weapons are spread globally, it is said the numbers go from 4,300 to 17,300. We should be destroying and stopping the development of nuclear archery. Remember a thing: War is Costly, Peace is Priceless 

Accident? I don’t think so.

 Oscar Pistorius, 26, one of the most famous athletes of South Africa, made history in the Olympic Games in London last year, when he became the first double amputee runner to compete in track during the Olympics.

The Paralympics sprinter was accused of shooting the model Reeva Steenkamp, his wife, several times leading to her death. This tragic event took place in South Africa, February 14^th.

He was the only suspect for the murder, as there had been previous incidents in the house. He was being tested for blood alcohol and forensic examinations. Officers found a 9 mm handgun at the scene and arrested Pistorius, known as "Blade Runner". The spokeswoman added that the sprinter would seek bail, but police will oppose that request.

Moreover, Pistorius declared it was an accident, that he had confused her with a thief. Is that possible, to confuse your wife with a thief?

Before the shooting, Pistorius said on Twitter that he was excited about the imminence of the Day of Love and Friendship. Was this a way of covering up his intentions? Or did he kill his wife in a fit of rage and anxiety? Did he ever love her, or was it just a cover?

METEORITE SLAMS INTO CENTRAL RUSSIA.

A meteor streaked across the sky above the Ural Mountains in Russia this morning, injuring more than 400 people, many hurt by broken glass, and causing explosions. A fireball streaked through the clear morning sky, followed by loud bangs. President Vladimir Putin said he thanked God no big fragments had fallen in populated areas. A large meteorite landed in a lake near Chebarkul, a town in Chelyabinsk region. While NASA estimated the meteor was only about the size of a bus and weighed an estimated 7,000 tons, it exploded with the force of 20 atomic bombs. The meteorite arrived just hours before an asteroid named the 2012 DA14 was due to come within 17,000 miles of Earth at 2:24 p.m. ET, a record close-approach for an asteroid this size. The meteorite rocketed into the atmosphere at 33,000 mph - or 10 miles per second - and shattered into pieces somewhere between 18-32 miles above the ground. As it streaked across the clear morning sky, the meteorite left a trail of white cloud that could be seen across large parts of central Russia. Do you think the end of the world is coming? Augusta Thoenig

Giving Armstrong a second chance?

Lance Armstrong was an icon, a source of both inspiration and hope. His story, recovering from a cancer and breaking world cycling records, completely captured me, as did to millions around the world. Lance Armstrong is a story of triumph over adversity. However, this also has made the lies all more disappointing.

On the last post you were discussing whether people should be given a second chance, right? Well, do you believe Armstrong deserves a second chance to redeem himself? Hasn’t he already paid for his errors? Does he deserve to be crucified this way?

Note: Armstrong has been banned from professional cycling for life and stripped of his seven tours. Nike has broken his contract. He has lost millions. He has resigned as chairman of Cancer Foundation… 

Does she deserves to go to prison?

Emilia is a young mother of Valencia. She had a desperate economic situation, with 22 and two girls aged 2 and 6 years she found a wallet with a credit card and ID. She went to two supermarkets and bought diapers and food worth about 200 euros. She did it because she needed to feed her children and she didn't have money. That was five years ago. Now she was sentenced to prison 1 year and 10 months. After a lot of social support she was pardoned.

I think that some people have been pardoned from worst things and she did it because she was needed so I support her. 

Do you think she had to go to prison?

http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/1718104/0/emilia-soria/carcel/requena/