Sam Harris

In his LETTER TO A CHRISTIAN NATION, Sam Harris writes:

“According to a recent Gallup poll, only 12 percent of Americans believe that life on earth has evolved through a natural process, without the interference of a deity.  Thirty-one percent believe that evolution has been “guided by God.”  If our worldview were put to a vote, notions of “intelligent design” would defeat the science of biology by nearly three to one.  This is troubling, as nature offers no compelling evidence for an intelligent designer and countless examples of unintelligent design.  But the current controversy over “intelligent design” should not blind us to the true scope of our religious bewilderment at the dawn of the twenty-first century.  The same Gallup poll revealed that 53 percent of Americans are actually creationists.  This means that despite a full century of scientific insights attesting to the antiquity of life and the greater antiquity of the earth, more than half of our neighbors believe that the entire cosmos was created six thousand years ago.”  - (end quote)

We have called ourselves Homo sapiens, but sapiens comes from the Latin for wise and intelligent.  Given the number of Americans who prefer faith and mythology to science and knowledge, isn’t it time we recognized a human subspecies?  The two types can interbreed of course, and the offspring can go either way.

Given that both types are contributing to the destruction of their own environment, maybe sapiens should be dropped altogether.  Any suggestions for new names for two subspecies of modern humans based on the type Harris describes above, and those of us who, while destroying the planet for future generations, rely on knowledge and observation rather than faith and superstition?

Tipping the scales in favor of the atheists, scientists, etc. (survival of the fittest) is the fact that knowing we are destroying the planet carries the seeds of redemption, whereas the arrogance of believers, not knowing they are destroying the planet, is a surefire road to extinction.

How about:

1.  a) Homo rationalis - (atheists, 95 percent of scientists, relilgious people who know that evolution, geology, archeology as explained by science is true).

  b) Homo gullibilis (those who are easily duped or cheated - for example, believing those who tell them that they can cheat death, or that science is wrong and mythology is true).

2.  other ideas?

unsmoked - 16 July 2009 07:24 PM

Tipping the scales in favor of the atheists, scientists, etc. (survival of the fittest) is the fact that knowing we are destroying the planet carries the seeds of redemption, whereas the arrogance of believers, not knowing they are destroying the planet, is a surefire road to extinction.

Does it? Do you believe this without evidence? If you do, you’re not on the side you think you’re on. I won’t call you a fuckwit. Not this time.

Do we know that we are destroying the planet? Are we destroying the planet?

If you are talking about global warming, I don’t think anybody has opined that it will destroy the planet.

It may destroy human existence and cause extinctions but I don’t think the planet will be destroyed by melting all of it’s ice.

Hey, I planted some shrubs today, so let mother earth live on brotha!

Suggesting your fellow humans are a “subspecies” is…. creepy. 

In fact, it’s downright theistic sounding.

Tipping the scales in favor of the atheists, scientists, etc. (survival of the fittest) is the fact that knowing we are destroying the planet carries the seeds of redemption, whereas the arrogance of believers, not knowing they are destroying the planet, is a surefire road to extinction.

Presupposing that somehow we lowly little human beings actually possess the power to destroy an entire planet (in this case I will assume you are referring to Earth).....I believe what you MEANT to say was that the believers don’t CARE that they are “destroying the planet”. They know, but don’t care. Right? You did say “arrogance”, not “ignorance”.

And why don’t they care? Because they’re waiting to be raptured up sometime soon. They think that they’ll be flying away before having to deal with any of the consequences of their lifestyles here on earth. They’ll make the mess, and the anti-christ can clean it up for them!

Traces and KTR made some good points, my dear baby-faced friend. You might want to be careful about how you word things around here, lest anyone on the SH forum think that you have become “one of them”. 

Jazzmin - 25 July 2009 10:23 PM

I agree, the whole “human subspecies” idea was a bit creepy, though pretty funny.
Instead of becoming a separate species from those who are less enlightened than Atheists, let’s just try to talk some sense into them.
It’d be more Homo Rationalis of us to do so.

How do you reason with the unreasonable?

GAD - 26 July 2009 03:29 PM

How do you reason with the unreasonable?

“Just the facts, ma’am.” Also, never give up and never give in ... til death do us part.