Atheism, Unbeliever, whatever you call it!

Well, it comes to my mind, why we label free thinkers as atheist? Let's start from the definition of atheism. According to dictionary.com, atheism is the doctrine or belief that there is no God. We have a big problem here! What is God in the first place? We have a plethora of different definition of God, depending on religion or philosophy we subscribe in. Yahweh, Allah, Zeus, Wotan, Jupiter, Vishnu, The Tao, Amaterasu, Odin, Baal, and the nature itself is only a few of what humanity ever called as 'God'.

Let's look at this way, the reason why free thinkers are often labeled as 'atheist' is because they don't believe in your 'God' isn't it? But what about other people who believed in other 'God'? You label them as unbeliever? I don't see any difference in it. Both group deny your 'God', so shouldn't you label everyone who don't believe in your 'God' as atheist? Since you believed that your 'God' is the only one anyway, should that make everyone who don't believe in your 'God' as atheist?

What is the catch here? From the perspective of other person, the same applies. You are 'atheist' from the perspective of other person who subscribe in other doctrine. So, what is the conclusion here? Everyone is atheist, and the word become meaningless....

Physics of The Impossible - the review

Title : Physics of The Impossible
Author : Michio Kaku
Year Published : 2008
Rating : 4.7

Summary :  In this book, Kaku bring us to the world of science fiction. Explaining us how far we are from science fiction. Teleportation, force field, invisibility, beam weapons, hovercraft and time machine are only a small part of the book. The theories behind these amazing technology and the history of the idea behind it. With his lucid writing style, Kaku explained to us the reason behind his optimism that one day these technology are no longer dream of humanity.

My thoughts : I would say that I'm quite satisfied with the book. It answers some of the many question I have been wondering. The writing style make the book could be understood easier with not much big words. The hard part to understand is the Law of Physics behind it. The absurdity of quantum physics. I'm glad that he explain what is string theory (roughly) that he mentioned several times in the book. It really spark interest to find out more about (super)string and quantum theory.

Quotes on religion

"Rather than entertain the possibility of billions of saints, popes, churches, and Jesus Christs in the outer space, it was more convenient for the Church to simply burn him [Giordano Bruno]." ~ Michio Kaku

"Nothing can be more contrary to religion and the clergy than reason and common sense. " ~ Voltaire

"I believe in Spinoza's God, Who reveals Himself in the lawful harmony of the world, not in a God Who concerns Himself with the fate and the doings of mankind." ~ Albert Einstein

"Just because science so far has failed to explain something, such as consciousness, to say it follows that the facile, pathetic explanations which religion has produced somehow by default must win the argument is really quite ridiculous. " ~ Richard Dawkins

"Religions do make claims about the universe – the same kinds of claims that scientists make, except they're usually false." ~ Richard Dawkins

"In science it often happens that scientists say, "You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken," and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion. " ~ Carl Sagan