I don’t have much use for the ‘soul’ hypothesis; but if I did, I’d be inclined to speculate that dogs are designed to play a role analogous to that of the Microsoft ‘Surface’-brand devices.
MS built those, not because they wanted to be a hardware OEM; but because they wanted to give the Wintel hardware OEMs a kick in the ass and encourage them to stop building hardware that made ‘wintel’ a term of derision.
Dogs are a ‘Hey, look, soul-havers! With a couple of minor modifications this almost-wolf joyfully embodies selfless agape way better than you. Shape up!’ product.
Heh, my dad and I had an interesting conversation about religion and the religious persecution complex christians seem to have, during thanks giving. It actually was pleasant this time.
I had to explain to him the No True Scottsman fallacy a few times though. You see, the Westboro Baptist Church aren’t “real christians” to him. Nor the mormons. But he got the idea.
Interesting idea. I’ve asked my dad about dogs and cats. He kinda vacillated for a bit between evolutionary explanations, and just saying that god did it.
Eventuallly he settled on “dogs and cats are just really, really good prototypes for Adam’s companion, when god was trying to find him a best buddy, but when Adam didn’t like them ‘enough’ god ‘resorted’ to making Eve.”
I remember this from when I was a very small child and asking why dogs are so awesome.
The ‘Philosophical Zombie’ family of thought experiments is pretty neat. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard of anyone being convinced by it; but it has inspired both some fun thought experiments, and some entertaining fiction(I’m afraid I can’t find it now; but there was a great story about a tense standoff between a bunker full of survivors, besieged by qualia zombies, and a human force, intent on containing and exterminating a nest of qualia zombies before they could escape and wreak havoc; with the not-terribly-surprising-twist ending that both sides, as would be expected either of humans or of suitably sophisticated qualia zombies, believed that they were the humans and facing down the qualia zombies.)
They brought in some Maoris to do a haka for them, so there’s definitely some spiritual introduction going on between the species there.
Doesn’t appear to be video of it online anywhere… Not sure if Susan Savage-Rumbaugh mentions it in her TED talk but it’s worth a look if you’re not familiar.
Because they’re so good at meeting sentient beings and interacting with them in a peaceful manner? Because they are so accepting of people and ideas that do not fit their worldview?
Some Mormons know of Lilith, but usually only those who have spent some time with the Kabbalah.
She’s certainly never spoken of in meetings or lessons. But the fact that she “would not submit to Adam” was always met with a wink and a smile to those in the know.
You can buy as many name tags as you like in the Missionary Training Center (MTC). Name tags are a common gift to send to loved ones at home. Some people like to get their tags done in various foreign languages, but the tag-making people won’t do that for just anyone.
Once I was in the field, tags did break from time to time, and we just had the Mission Office order them in from Salt Lake for us.
I had a study set with fancy marking pencils that didn’t leave the apartment, and a walking-around set that took most of the wear. Now they both gather dust mostly.
Some people in the Church feel it’s uncouth to discuss such things. Good thing I’m not going to Sacrament Meeting tomorrow.
At that time in the Milwaukee Mission, the average Elder went home having played a major role in two baptisms. (At least, that’s what we heard from the Mission Office missionaries at the time. Not a perfect source, but usually accurate.)
There are lots of little rules that determine whether a particular baptism counts for you or not. It’s common for a Senior Companion to have given a key interview or blessing, and the Junior Companion not, and therefore not getting credit for it. It’s mostly because one has been in the mission longer.
You get a letter from the Mission Office congratulating you for the baptism every time it counts. Generally two or three Elders get credit for any given baptism.
I chalked fifteen. (Turns out my companions did rather well, too.)
A friend pointed out that I should include a note about my tactics. I didn’t do things like the other missionaries. I got to beat everyone else in the mission at the numbers games and have a relatively cushy existence for a missionary at the same time. (I was open about my unorthodox strategy with the Mission President, and it was “not a problem”).
One strategy I leaned on heavily was finding long-inactive member families, and helping them baptize their 8+Year-Old kids. Whatever you think of that practice, it was very Effective, and that word is a big deal to missionaries.
