Showing posts with label Tek. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tek. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Scientism and Big Pharma


A recent ad from Pfizer begins with this shocking assertion: "At a time when things are most uncertain, we turn to the most certain thing there is - science."  Now, is that true?

Pfizer should go back to school and read books like Science is a Sacred Cow which came out in 1950.  The author was Anthony Standen (d. 1993) who went to Oxford, studied Chemical Engineering at MIT and was an assistant editor of the Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology.  Standen starts off his work with this:

No one ever doubts what is said by a scientist.  Statesmen, industrialists, ministers of religion, civic leaders, philosophers, all are questioned and criticized, but scientists - never.  Scientists are exalted beings who stand at the very topmost pinnacle of popular prestige ... [1]

Standen goes on to say this, "The idea that science is infallible and beyond criticism, is a delusion, and even a dangerous one.  ... hardly anyone is able to recognize science for what it is, the great Sacred Cow of our time." [2]

Speaking of philosophers, Pfizer should also read Mortimer Adler's Truth in Religion:  The Plurality of Religions and the Unity of Truth (1990).  Mortimer Adler (d. 2001), who wrote the popular How to Read a Book, was the chairman of the board of editors of the Encyclopedia Britannica and was the man behind the Great Books series that came out in the early 1950's.  Adler's conclusion on faith was that truth must lie in one of the three dominant world religions: Judaism, Christianity or Islam. [3]  On Judgment Day the issue will be quite clear.  Although his family background was Jewish, Adler became a committed Christian in 1984 at the age of 82.  Let us follow his example and find the true identity of the Higher Power and worship Him, the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Another excellent work Pfizer should get hold of is Sacred Cows in Science - No Objectivity Allowed edited by Norbert Smith (2011).  This book challenges Deep Time, Darwinism, Materialism, extreme environmentalism and animal rights, climate change and other critical worldview issues.  Musician Dennis Jernigan, and father of nine kids, wrote the chapter "No One is Born Gay."  Jernigan points out how Big Science has changed its mind on the gender controversy:

Until 1973, homosexuality was considered a mental disorder by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) ... after many years of protest by the pro-gay movement ... In 1973, the Board of Trustees of the APA voted to remove homosexuality as a disorder ... and thus began our slide down the slippery slope ... My belief (and experience) and my observance (having personally talked with HUNDREDS of men and women desiring to walk away from unwanted same sex attraction) is that the facts of truth do not bear witness to the current and popular conventional wisdom of this age concerning homosexuality. ... Sex is for procreation ... for making babies.  Of course, man is his wisdom, believes everything is about him and life is all about getting the most pleasure. ... We pervert our desires when we substitute something else to meet that need or when we go outside the boundaries God established for our own good. [4]  

Is true truth decided by a vote?  Let science make your waffle iron - trust Jesus and the Bible for your eternity.

... No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun.  Despite all their efforts to search it out, no one can discover its meaning.  Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it. (Eccl. 8:17)


Notes:
1) Science is a Sacred Cow by Anthony Standen (E.P. Dutton, NYC, 1950), p. 13.
2) Standen, p. 34.
3) Truth in Religion: The Plurality of Religions and the Unity of Truth by Mortimer Adler (Macmillan, NYC, 1990), p. 108.
4) Sacred Cows in Science ed. by Norbert Smith (Create Space, 2011), p. 332, 333.

Sunday, August 5, 2018

Net Censorship and the End of the Gospel


As far as the mass of the people go, the extraordinary swings of opinion which occur nowadays, the emotions which can be turned on and off like a tap, are the result of newspaper and radio [& now TV & the Net] hypnosis.
  - George Orwell (author of Animal Farm & 1984)

Are Google, facebook, YouTube and Twitter trying to take over popular thought?  Now, certain political views are censored, but what's next?  The definition of marriage, religious doctrine, alternative opinions on controversial scientific issues (e.g. climate change) etc.

Journalistic bias is rampant and the "tek giants" have a virtual monopoly on the internet-of-ideas (IOI).  Mike Adams (NaturalNews.com, Censored.news, REAL.video) has produced an explosive report documenting net censorship. 

For example, here is a list of 55 serious errors, poor journalism and fact-checking epic fails in media reporting just about President Trump alone!  This includes the recent Time magazine cover with the crying Honduran child who was actually  never separated from her mother.  Mainstream media often calls the alternative media "fake news."  But who defines the alleged "fakeness" of alleged news?

To whom are the internet fact-checkers and moderators accountable to (SPLC, SNOPES, Politifact)?  The establishment media is losing audience at a rapid rate.  Is their only hope of survival crushing the opposition of conservatives, non-PC voices, #MAGA hats, Christians, Libertarians and so-called "haters" into silence?  Will the Drudge Report survive?  According to Mike Adams,

Maintaining monopoly control over cultural narratives is crucial for commanding primary influence over the worldview held by news consumers, whose beliefs, opinions and “realities” are largely shaped by the news to which they are subjected.

Is CNN, ABC and the like really just indoctrination and propaganda?  Do you think of YouTube as a public utility?  Adams has proposed a number of solutions to Techno-Tyranny through legislative and regulatory actions to halt the censorship of independent media (p. 53+).  Remember James Damore, who was fired from Google?  Adams has nailed it in describing the problem:

The highest priority of news monopolists is to silence independent, opposing voices that encourage individuals to “snap out” of their numbed, passive acquiescence to mainstream news narratives.

Will the Tek Giants be successful in their attempts to crush the Gospel?  Jesus said, "I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Mt. 16:18).  But, consider this report from David Roach on attacks from the techie Left on Christians:

National Religious Broadcasters is drawing attention to online censorship of Christian and conservative speech by tech companies such as Facebook, Twitter, Google and Apple by launching a new initiative - Internet Freedom Watch ... for documenting cases of internet censorship, including Twitter’s takedown of an ad by Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R.-Tenn., in October and Facebook removing former Gov. Mike Huckabee’s post supporting Chick-fil-A in 2012. ...  NRB, which has published a chart with more than 30 instances of internet censorship to illustrate the problem, has sent letters to the tech giants, urging constructive conversation and a resolution to the threats against religious freedom.

Robert Gagnon (fmr. NT Prof. @ Pittsburgh Theological Seminary) wrote a piece on the controversial Revoice Conference held recently in St. Louis.  Facebook removed it and suspended him for a day.  Doug Wilson (Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning) re-posted it on his blog "Blog & Mablog."  Facebook is also throttling Pulpit & Pen (theology-polemics-discernment).  Earlier this year we wrote on President Obama, free speech and banning Bibles.

An error I spotted in Adams' report is about the Flat Earth Myth (FEM) which is on page 28.  
   
Let us all seek mutual understanding through a Worldview of Wisdom (#WOW)  by dealing with opposing views via respectful dialog and debate.  Feedback (pro or con) is most welcome: ned_oa_1657@yahoo.com