I had never heard of Lawrence Krauss, but he's a theoretical physicist. He had a short video on the BigThink YouTube channel that brought these two topics into very specific relief.
Here are the two main quotes:
"The universe doesn't care about our common sense. We have to force our ideas to conform to the evidence of reality; rather than the other way around."
I have stated before that the truth exists in the universe whether you believe in it or not, whether you even know what it IS or not. The truth exists in perpetuity, and it never changes. Period. There is no belief involved. The truth is the truth, and no amount of belief can change that. All you can do is try to find what that truth is.
Religious zealots use this as an excuse to firmly entrench their beliefs and ignore all evidence presented to them, justifying this illogical thinking by claiming that God has already told them the truth. Never mind the fact that there is two centuries of evidence supporting the scientific principle of evolution, with new and exciting discoveries further proving its validity nearly every single day; they believe that the world was created in a week.
Translation: I'm not willing to use my brain for anything other than a repository of stuff somebody else brainwashed me with, and a means of regurgitating that stuff when confronted with evidence that suggests what I believe is wrong. I am afraid. I am a dullard. And I am unwilling or unable to attempt to understand the realities of the universe. Which brings us to the next quote:
"It's the searching for answers through life to some extent that make life worth living. If we had all the answers, we could just sit back and stare at our navels."
Religious zealots think they have all the answers. Actually, that's not true: religious zealots think that God has all the answers, and it's none of our damned business trying to find out what those answers are.
Translation, I'm lazy, I'm stupid, I'm incapable of comprehending things that are more than two sentences long, and anything new scares me to death. These people lead boring, unfulfilling lives. They try to plug the gaps in their mundane existences by turning to prayer, their community of other scared, lazy believers, and by reassuring themselves that the answers other people seek are off-limits to the human race.
They foolishly believe that the quest for truth is a fool's errand; whereas the reality is, the only fools are the ones not on that quest. To have all the answers, or to think you do, is to give up.
Two minutes. Wish I had thought of that. Bravo, Lawrence.
