Friday, December 19, 2014

On PK

PK is a typical Rajkumar Hirani film - A mix of comedy with some romance thrown in , a preachy message - well shot , reasonably acted and decent music.
The movie is worth a watch - but I'm still disappointed. It's paradoxical that one can watch a brainless movie and come out happy (golmaal 3?) since expectations are non-existent but a good movie that doesn't match expectations feels worse or a movie that could have been so much better - if only they had let me(joking) direct and write parts of it, feels that much worse
The movie is similar in theme to Oh My God - Both these movies are against organized religion and the organizers while still supporting a theistic view. The irony of course , is that they don't seem to realize that they are in fact promoting one version of religion (a personal monotheistic one with one benevolent God) while making the pointed criticism of why are there so many religions? And why would any God want this confusion. But they don't seem to realize that it applies to their view too.
I first had an idea to write a book about this based on what I vaguely remember what Sagan had said in one of his books and I paraphrase - In our grand universe - the earth is a pale blue dot , the distinctions of religion or countries are too small. So an Alien who would observe us , our customs , what would he think especially when it came to religion. (not exactly original I guess?)
But I never went ahead with that idea - and this is in a nutshell , the story of PK. There is also a romance track that we shall ignore.

Over time there have been similar things - People seriously consider the question of "If Aliens exist are they saved by Jesus's sacrifice? Or would they have their own version of Jesus" - If you think thats crazy consider that various noted religious leaders have considered the questions of "Do pets go to heaven? How about babies? Unbaptized babies? Is there an intermediate stage between Death and Hell?" - There are answers of course - religion always has answers - but ponder how these leaders have arrived at the answers!
John Loftus' outsider test for religion also ponders a similar theme.
I guess my main complaint is that the satire is not biting enough and is needlessly diluted by the romantic plot + alien thrown in. Also an unnecessary bomb blast. While this maybe the "oh a bollywood movie needs this to be successful" - but many movies are successful in bollywood these days and they arent typical bollywood movies. I also think this tackles the easy, obvious problems in religion. It doesn't deal with the core things that make religion problematic - i.e. How do you verify the truth of a truth claim , given that humans are imperfect and everything we "know" is ultimately something we believe we know. And while the movie alluded to it , it didnt really drive home - Why is there evil in the world? And why wouldnt a God do something about it (or if there is a reason why would we think this God is good?)






Friday, April 18, 2014

Anti-scientific beliefs

http://dododreams.blogspot.com/2014/04/here-we-go-again.html
Since I have voluntarily sworn off commenting here , but because an itch must be scratched ...

The question is why are we fine with some beliefs that are not scientific in nature (batman is the greatest character ever!) v/s other beliefs (Catholicism is true!) when no one claims a scientific basis for those other belies - other than we " aesthetically don't like religion"

So lets take subjective beliefs - No one claims they are objective - my likes dont match your likes so I might find something to be the best and you dont - There isn't a logical problem there - we all agree.

But what about religious beliefs? Why do we object to religious beliefs or demand evidence? Because some , not all , religious beliefs aren't subjective.
Does God exist? (S)He either exists or doesnt - but it cannot be that (S)he exists for you and not for me.
Did God reincarnate himself as his child and then sacrifice himself to himself in some grand scheme ? Well he either did or didnt - it cannot be true for you and false for me.
Did God found a church and must we now follow that Church ? Either he did or he didnt - it cannot be true for you or false for me

Science does not claim to evaluate the best fictional creation - but it does claim to investigate how the universe began. So a claim that Batman is the best character ever isn't anti-science , but a claim that God created the universe , is  - there isnt any evidence to it.

To be sure there might be subjective religious beliefs like religion made me a better person ? perhaps it did and perhaps it made someone else worse - we can react to religion differently so that part is subjective - but whenever Religion is making a fact based claim? Well you need some science there - if you still believe firmly , without evidence , then that is an anti-science attitude.

You cannot handwave a factual claim and say well its not a scientific claim and then use that to be shielded from criticism.