Path: shell.portal.com!svc.portal.com!sdd.hp.com!spool.mu.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!cs.utexas.edu!convex!news.duke.edu!hookup!olivea!news.hal.COM!halsoft.com!netcomsv!sacbbx!astaroth!125-430!michael.aquino From: Michael.Aquino@125-430.astaroth.sacbbx.com (Michael Aquino) Date: 08 Nov 94 06:51:46 Newsgroups: alt.satanism Subject: Re: Set vs. Nature Message-ID: X-FTN-To: John Dewey Lines: 39 JD> Recent scientific findings are proving certain aspects of the JD> Setian philosophy entirely unfounded and without merit! JD> Animal behaviorists have recently concluded that certain animals JD> besides ourselves, are capable of abstract thought, and therefore, JD> self-awareness. It is only a matter of time before this knowledge JD> is sanctified by the academe and codified within the classroom JD> textbook. At such a time, this fanciful excersize in hubris, JD> otherwise known as "The Gift of Set," will be challenged by men JD> of reason and neatly categorized under the dubious heading, JD> "Theological Sophistry." I for one - and many others of my acquaintance - have long taken it for granted that many non-human animals are capable of abstract thought & intelligent communication. What is so novel about that? The Gift of Set is based on the premises that (1) there is an intelligence level in humanity unexplained by the known processes of natural evolution; (2) this level is drastically & uniquely beyond that of any other Earthly species; and (3) its "distance" from the normal range of natural phenomena implies a deliberate cause for it. Up to the Australopithecine Hominids of some 1-2 million years ago, their brain sizes and capacities were not much more than as required for survival, as with other creatures. But when we come to _Homo erectus_ ca. 600,000 BCE, the first true man-like species, we have a jump to our present "overendowment". This gives evolutionary scientists nightmares. Anthropologist Loren Eisley said that the advent of the human brain "measured in geological terms, appears to have been surprisingly sudden", referring to this "huge mushroom of a brain which has arisen magically between night and morning ... When I said that the human brain 'exploded', I meant no less." I could go on for quite some time about the Gift of Set [or Eisleyean "mushroom"] phenomenon, as it is a well-known "skeleton in the closet" of evolution and has been much "worried about" accordingly. But I trust the point is made. Granted that reading some of the stuff on this newsgroup makes a good case that not everyone made it up to _Homo erectus_, and/or that just having a big brain doesn't force everyone to actually *use* the thing!