Re "Not what I believe either, there are still other alternatives, like the consciousness-only school in Buddhism, Advaita or the philosophy of Spinoza.":
Precisely. Consider the number of possible explanations of our human situation. How many are there? Well, to save you all the trouble I've exhaustively made a list and there is in fact an infinite number of answers. True, the human race has so far only come up with a number of explanations in the tens of thousands but it's early days yet and the ingenuity of the mind is inexhaustible. That is what is so tiresome about black-or-white, I'm right-you're wrong "thinkers" like Barry: to those like him either you accept a Sunday School version of fundamentalist Christianity or you buy into a dreary scientism that pretends it has all the answers. This David Berlinski chap is bright alright. (He penned the splendid A Tour of the Calculus - the best non-technical intro to the subject I've read.) But he also comes across as an arrogant piece of work. And allying himself with the ID propagandists doesn't help his cause. But he is teasing out the weaknesses and question-begging in these puffed-up, know-it-all "new atheists". Why are they called "new atheists"? Because old-school atheists-cum-agnostics like Bertrand Russell honoured their opponents whereas Dawkins et al can hardly contain their contempt. If you want an example, take this excerpt from a discussion between Russell and Fr. Frederick C. Copleston - notice how they cautiously circle around each other but show due respect. (Barry needn't waste his time listening - it's a philosophical dialogue not a rant.) Instead of emoting, can't we bring back civilized discourse like this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdicTfFygnU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdicTfFygnU
