Disputing Miracles

    News has recently revealed improvement in Rep. Gabrielle Gifford's condition after being shot through the head by Jared Lee Loughner late last week. Gifford has shown movement in her left hand since Monday, and was able to move her arms and legs and sit up with assistance. The attending neurosurgeon, Dr. Michael Lemole calls her improvement "a major milestone" and added, "We're wise to acknowledge miracles."
    Claims of the miraculous, or phenomena that apparently break with the constitution of nature have never been substantiated by scientific or even conventional means. Hearsay and unfounded speculation are the main currency of miracles.
    The common source of purportedly miraculous results is divine intervention. It must be asked: is a god capable of miracles truly doing us a service by creating or allowing problems and then fixing them? Would it not be better if such things were prevented? One might argue that these are tests, that these occurrences make us stronger. Any evidence to support the existence of a god or to support this myopic notion have yet to be presented. What business does a god have in testing or making us more resilient? Is that just or fair? Is that loving, as many fundamentalist Christians would argue? If one is able to prevent harm but does nothing, at the very least it is indifferent, perhaps even curious. At worst it is malicious. If this god is the source of harm it is fair to say it is not benevolent. Thankfully, the evidence for such a deity does not exist.
    Theists would contend that our actions are not prevented, only judged so as to determine one's suitability for a heavenly existence. In this context free will is sacrosanct and for that reason alone, God will not intervene to stop a shooter, a suicide bomber, biological warfare, or any sort of catastrophe that was spawned in the depths of humanity. A deist might argue in contradiction to this benighted supposition by suggesting that a creating deity is not in control of its creations, merely responsible for bringing them into being. In either case the burden of proof rests with them, not with the scientific community that seeks to deduce the world using protocol, evidence, and reason.

How the World is Run

    The world is separated into three groups: engineers, facilitators, and consumers. Engineers are responsible for monumental and/or lasting creations, development that moves society in general. These are the folks behind the major commercial websites and enterprises, the ones who found something quite literally world-changing. Then there are facilitators, those who primarily are well-trained and can fit into systems very well. They are beholden to the engineers of this world, for it is they who understand on a fundamental level the knowledge with which facilitators work. Facilitators can also be thought of as developers. Lastly we have consumers, the lowest of the low outside of a special category, the dependents (i.e., those who are physically and/or mentally incapable of independent living). Consumers are the regular blokes that use iPods and computers and other advanced technologies without asking or being able to understand the hows and whys of living in an increasingly complex world.

It might also be said that humans are either imaginative, constructive, or creative. Creativity is something I define slightly differently than most life coaches or dictionaries, and it is a quality I hold in highest regard. Constructive is to coding what creative is to programming. One doesn't merely visualise the solution, he creates the scaffold for himself and everyone else to use. Imagination is essentially the conception of a potential reality or aspect of life. It is the attempt to alter and augment our current existence using vivid imagery, painting with your mind without the physical steps to back them up. That is the function of construction, or the process of building. Too often we see the wildly imaginative paired with the binding impracticality of ignorance and ineptitude; so too can we observe a tool remaining too basic to elevate our general lives. Creative humans have no equal, having both the insight and the ability to fundamentally alter society.

Where do you fit in?