text
stringlengths 640
1.02k
|
|---|
n was that soups were available to all programs and programs could operate cross soup meaning that the calendar could refer to names in the address book a note in the notepad could be converted to an appointment and so forth and the soups could be programmer extended a new address book enhancement could be built on the data from the existing address book while the soup concept worked remarkably well within the newton system itself it caused several usability issues first it made it extremely difficult to synchronize data with other systems like a desktop macintosh or pc making the newton a data island apple s utility to perform this task the newton connection utility was exceedingly complex and was never completed to perform to the satisfaction of most users the realization that a handheld computer needed to work within the existing data environment of its users was key to the success of the later palm pilot platform even though the palm was technically inferior the second consequence of the data object soup |
was that objects could extend built in applications such as the address book so seamlessly that newton users could not distinguish which program or add on object was responsible for the various features on their own system a user rebuilding their system after extended usage might find themselves unable to manually restore their system to the same functionality because some long forgotten downloaded extension was missing data owned and used by applications and extensions themselves were tossed in the storage area of the extras drawer there was no built in distinction between types of data in that area for example an installed application s icon could be sitting right next to a database of addresses used by another installed extension further down the list there was no easy way to get a listing of all user installed objects on a system finally the data soup concept worked well for data like addresses which benefit from being shared cross functionally but it worked poorly for discrete data sets like files and do |
cuments this difficulty in working and sharing data with other systems stemming from the too revolutionary data object soup system was a key contributor to newton s demise earlier messagepads used macintosh standard serial ports round mini din eight connectors instead of the more common trapezoidal de nine commonly called db nine the two zero zero zero two one zero zero models had a proprietary small flat connector called an interconnect port used with an adapter in addition all models had infrared connectivity unlike the palm all messagepad models were equipped with a standard pcmcia expansion slot two on the two zero zero zero two one zero zero this allowed native modem and even ethernet connectivity newton users have also written drivers for eight zero two one one b wireless networking cards and ata type flash memory cards a category that includes the popular compactflash format as well as for bluetooth cards with the one xx series an optional keyboard became available which could also be used via the dong |
le on a two x zero zero newton could also dial a phone number through the messagepad speaker simply holding a telephone handset up to the speaker and fax email support was built in at the operating system level although it required external cards the messagepad two zero zero zero and two one zero zero with a vastly improved handwriting recognition system one six two mhz strongarmsa one one zero risc processor newton two one and a better clearer backlit screen attracted critical plaudits although their size and expense were factors which kept them from being as popular as later palmos devices the newton still has a small but passionate user base the final evolution of the newton s handwriting recognition system is still considered by many to be very impressive only matched by the more modern tablet pc handwriting recognition system the messagepad could be used with the screen turned horizontally landscape as well as vertically portrait a change of a setting would instantly rotate the contents of the display by |
ninety degrees handwriting recognition would still work properly with the display rotated the use of four x aa nicd messagepad one one zero one two zero and one three zero and four x aa nimh cells two x zero zero series emate three zero zero gave a runtime of up to three zero hours mp two one zero zero w two x two zero mb linear flash memory pc cards no backlight usage and up to two four hours with backlight on while adding more weight to the newtons than aaa batteries as used in the messagepad and messagepad one zero zero or custom battery packs the choice of an easily replaceable rechargeable cell format gave the user a still unsurpassed runtime and flexibility of power supply this together with the flash memory used as internal storage if all cells lost their power no data was lost due to the static character of this storage gave birth to the slogan newton never dies it only gets new batteries apple and third parties marketed several wallets cases for the messagepads which would hold them securely along w |
ith the owner s credit cards driver s license business cards and cash these wallets were even larger than the messagepads and even less able to fit in a pocket so they were most often used as a protective case for the unit to shield it from bumps and scratches outcome although the apple newton was produced for six years it was never as successful in the marketplace as apple had hoped this has been attributed to two primary reasons the newton s high price which went up to one zero zero zero when models two zero zero zero and two one zero zero were introduced and its large size it failed the pocket test by not fitting in an average coat shirt or trouser pocket critics also panned its handwriting recognition these initial problems marred newton s reputation in the eyes of the public and pdas would remain a niche product until palm inc s palm pilot which emerged shortly before the newton was discontinued the palm pilot with its smaller thinner shape cheaper cost and more robust graffiti handwriting recognition sy |
stem which had been available first as a software package for the newton managed to restore the viability of the pda market after newton s commercial failure ironically palm computing was founded by ex apple employee donna dubinsky the newton marketing campaign trumpeted the product s handwriting recognition though in initial versions it was fairly inaccurate the original handwriting recognition engine was called calligrapher and was licensed from a russian company called paragraph international it was actually quite sophisticated unlike the later palm pilot s graffiti which made the user learn a new handwriting system and write each letter in an input area newton learned the user s natural handwriting using a database of known words to make guesses as to what the user was writing and could interpret writing anywhere on the screen newton could also recognize and clean up simple drawn shapes such as triangles circles and squares and had an intuitive system for handwritten editing such as scratching out words t |
o be deleted circling text to be selected or using written carets to mark inserts later releases of the newton operating system retained the original recognizer for compatibility but added a printed text recognizer code named rosetta which was developed by apple included in version two zero of the newton operating system and refined in newton two one rosetta was generally considered a significant improvement and many users consider the newton two one handwriting recognition software better than any of the alternatives since recognition and computation of handwritten horizontal and vertical formulas such as one two was also under development but never released the most critical feature of the newton handwriting recognition system was the modeless error correction that is correction done in situation without using a separate window or widget using a minimum of gestures if a word was recognized improperly the user would simply double tap the word and a list of alternatives would pop up in a menu under the stylus |
most of the time the correct word would be in the list if not a button at the bottom of the list allowed the user to edit individual characters in that word error correction in many current handwriting systems provides such functionality but adds more steps to the process greatly increasing the interruption to a user s workflow that a given correction requires excellent handwriting recognition in os two one and higher with smooth modeless access to robust error correction is quite possibly a leading reason for the continued popularity of the device among newton users even given the age of the hardware and software newtons still demand a sale price on the used market far greater than that of pdas produced by other companies as of two zero zero four the newton two zero zero zero and two one zero zero can still fetch a price without accessories of over one zero zero later efforts many prototypes of additional newton models were spotted most notable was a newton tablet or slate a large flat screen that could be |
written on others included a kids newton with side handgrips and buttons videopads which would have incorporated a video camera and screen on their flip top covers for two way communications the mini two zero zero zero which would have been very similar to palm pilot and the newtonphone developed by siemens ag which incorporated a handset and a keyboard at least one product the emate three zero zero was derived from the apple newton and was offered to schools in one nine nine seven as an inexpensive seven nine nine us originally sold to education markets only and durable computer for classroom use however in order to achieve its low price the emate three zero zero did not have all the features of the contemporary newton equivalent the messagepad two zero zero zero and was cancelled along with the rest of the newton line before the newton project was cancelled it was spun off into its own company newton inc but was reabsorbed several months later when steve jobs ousted apple ceo gil amelio and resumed control |
of apple there has since been continual speculation that apple might release a new pda with some newton technology or collaborate with palm apple continues to deny that such a project will ever happen the apple ipod is somewhat of a descendant of the newton in that it is a pocket sized programmable device based on the arm processor two ex apple newton developers founded pixo the company that created the ipod s os feeding a bit of speculation apple put the print recognizer part of the newton two one handwriting recognition system into mac os x version one zero two known as jaguar it can be used with graphics tablets to seamlessly input handwritten printed text anywhere there was an insertion point on the screen this technology known as inkwell appears in the system preferences whenever a tablet input device is plugged in whether apple will ever utilize such technology again in a handheld device remains to be seen in june two zero zero four apple ceo steve jobs indicated that he was proud that apple resisted pr |
essure to market a new handheld computer while a small group of mac faithful consumers have lobbied apple to sell such a device the worldwide market for pdas was in a decline at the time and apple chose not to develop the device because demand would have been inadequate newton models messagepad also known as the h one zero zero zero omp or original messagepad messagepad one zero zero supported newer newton os messagepad one one zero slightly longer and narrower with integrated flip cover and retracting stylus messagepad one two zero up to two mb ram versus one mb messagepad one three zero backlit emate three zero zero backlit with built in keyboard messagepad two zero zero zero a significant upgrade much faster one six two mhz strongarm versus two zero mhz arm six one zero larger form factor messagepad two one zero zero raised internal ram to four mb the newtonos was also licensed to a number of third party developers including sharp and motorola who developed additional pda devices that used the operating sy |
stem motorola added added wireless connectivity to the unit and renamed it the marco a possible newton revival has been a common source of speculation among the macintosh user base when patents for a tablet based macintosh were applied for http www appleinsider com article php id six zero zero rumor sites jumped at the possibility of a new tablet pc style macintosh appearances in popular culture the newton was featured in the movie under siege two where the main character played by steven seagal uses it to fax a call for help from a phone on a passenger train in early episodes of the series the x files the fbi agents use newtons in the end scene of larry laffer leisure suit larry six shape up or slip out the woman says i even had a newton the character of kate libby in hackers has a messagepad which is seen in a number of scenes the hacker in the film jurassic park has a newton on his desk gary sinise uses one as the hostage taker in the one nine nine six film ransom starring mel gibson daniel br hl uses one |
in the german film the edukators the handwriting recognition software was ridiculed on several occasions garry trudeau ridiculed it in a series of episodes of his popular comic doonesbury the last panel of one strip which shows a character reading the words egg freckles from his newton became an easter egg in the newton operating system itself version two zero and earlier it can be seen by writing the words egg freckles then highlighting them and tapping the assist button in an episode of the simpsons titled lisa on ice which first aired november one three one nine nine four school bully kearny has his buddy daulph take a memo on a newton when daulph writes beat up martin on the screen the handwriting recognition turns it into eat up martha kearny throws the newton at martin instead in two zero zero four cnet elected the apple newton one of the top one zero tech we miss mentioning the device s amusing willingness to translate nearly any stroke on the screen to text allowing the user to generate surreal newton |
poetry from random scribbles other uses there were a number of projects that used the newton as a portable information device in cultural settings such as museums for example visible interactive created a walking tour in san francisco s chinatown but the most significant effort took place in malaysia at the petronas discovery center known as petrosains in one nine nine five an exhibit design firm dmcd inc was awarded the contract to design a new one zero zero zero zero zero square foot science museum in the petronas towers in kuala lumpur a major factor in the award was the concept that visitors would use a newton to access additional information find out where they were in the museum listen to audio see animations control robots and other media and to bookmark information for printout at the end of the exhibit the device became known as the arif a malay word for wise man or seer and it was also an acronym for a resourceful informative friend some four zero zero arifs were installed and over two five zero ar |
e still in use today the development of the arif system was extremely complex and required a team of hardware and software engineers designers and writers the exhibition design and arif coordination team was led by scott guerin the hardware software team by ted paschkis and the writers and interface designers included paul trapido and michael callan mssrs guerin and paschkis went on to found wivid systems which specializes in multimedia tour guides for museums arif is an ancestor of the pda systems used in museums today and it boasted features that have not been attempted since for example it was used as an exploration tool in a large exhibit about exploring for oil a visitor s success completing one task influenced the success or failure of a subsequent task at the conclusion of the exhibit the arif was docked at an ir port where it was used to control a robotic arm that placed equipment at locations influenced by the users previous lessons in another exhibit up to eight devices could be used at to activate |
a six zero foot diameter model of prehistoric malaysia volcano eruptions animal sounds lighting effects and wind are among the many effects this task was accomplished by docking the arif at a computer terminal and using it as the input device there are no touch screens in petrosains all interactive systems were controlled by the arif the newton was married to a primitive packet switching radio system in order to determine its location as the visitor passed through electronic gateways when the visitor entered a new room the radio triggered an automatic area introduction the radio also delivered time synch d audio in two languages to a group of users when they watched a video in addition to being dual language in all audio and text the arif stored bookmarked information such that at the end of the exhibit users could choose several items of most interest to be printed out including a souvenir photograph of themselves superimposed on one of several stage sets jokes a popular lightbulb joke circled the internet b |
riefly ostensibly from the newsgroup comp sys newton misc q how many newtons does it take to screw in a lightbulb a foux there to eat lemons axe gravy soup external links birth of the newton newton faq newton gallery hong kong newton user group larry yaeger s page on the development of the rosetta recogniser engine an interview with larry yaeger touching on the development of the newton and its hwr newton secrets with photos of prototypes newton cadillac prototype info think you know the apple newton s history think again newton software the newtontalk mailing list the newtonwiki howtos tricks and manuals newtonsearch a searchable index of newton websites newtonrepair apple has discontinued support for the newton platform however repairs and upgrades are still available at this site european newton repairs feat disassembling and repair instructions for most models and reviews of new spare parts and hardware newton programming books and references in pdf form einstein project a newton emulator in development n |
ewton s library the largest actively maintained newton ebook repository temporary newton library actively maintained newton ebook repository of public domain and creative commons licensed titles my man newton six months with a personal digital assistant a report of newton usage with an example of newton poetry newton poetry some info on and some attemps of newton poetry failed apple initiatives apple hardware pdas alfred elton van vogt winnipeg canada april two six one nine one two los angeles usa january two six two zero zero zero was a renowned canadian born science fiction author widely regarded as one of the most prolific yet complex writers from the mid twentieth century golden age of the genre van vogt receiving grand master prize science fiction s golden age van vogt was one of the most popular and highly esteemed science fiction writers of the one nine four zero s during the ascent of the genre s golden age after starting his writing career by writing for true confession style pulp magazines like true |
story van vogt decided to switch to writing something he enjoyed science fiction van vogt s first published sf story black destroyer astounding science fiction july one nine three nine was inspired by the origin of species by charles darwin the story depicted a fierce carnivorous alien stalking the crew of an exploration spaceship it was the cover story of the issue of astounding which ushered in the golden age of science fiction the story became an instant classic and eventually served as the inspiration for a number of science fiction movies in one nine five zero it was combined with war of nerves one nine five zero discord in scarlet one nine three nine and m three three in andromeda one nine four three to form the novel the voyage of the space beagle one nine five zero many fans of that era would have named van vogt robert a heinlein and isaac asimov as the three greatest science fiction writers in one nine four one van vogt decided to become a full time writer quitting his job at the canadian department |
of national defence extremely prolific for a few years van vogt wrote a large number of short stories in the one nine five zero s many of them were retrospectively patched together into novels or fixups as he called them a term which entered the vocabulary of science fiction criticism sometimes this was successful the war against the rull while other times the disparate stories thrown together made for a less coherent plot quest for the future one of van vogt s best novels of this period is slan which appeared in astounding sicence fiction in one nine four zero using what became one of van vogt s recurring themes it told the story of a nine year old superman living in a world in which his kind are slain by homo sapiens a post war philosopher in one nine four four van vogt moved to hollywood california where his writing took on new dimensions after world war ii van vogt was always interested in the idea of all encompassing systems of knowledge akin to modern meta systems the characters in his very first story |
used a system called nexialism to analyze the alien s behaviour and he became interested in the general semantics of alfred korzybski and he was profoundly affected by revelations of totalitarian police states that emerged after world war ii he wrote a mainstream novel that was set in communist china the angry man one nine six two he said that prior to this he had read one zero zero books about china he subsequently wrote three novels merging these overarching themes the world of null a and the pawns of null a in the late one nine four zero s and null a three in the early one nine eight zero s null a or non aristotelian logic refers to the capacity for and practice of using intuitive inductive reasoning fuzzy logic rather than reflexive or conditioned deductive logic first edition of the wizard of linn one nine five six van vogt systematized his writing method using scenes of eight zero zero words or so where a new complication was added or something resolved several of his stories hinge upon temporal conund |
rums a favorite theme he stated that he acquired many of his writing techniques from books on writing by thomas uzzell he said many of his ideas came from dreams and indeed his stories at times had the incoherence of dreams but at their best as in the fantasy novel the book of ptath his works had all the vision and power a dream can impart throughout his writing life he arranged to be awakened every nine zero minutes during his sleep period so he could write down his dreams in the one nine five zero s van vogt briefly became involved in l ron hubbard s dianetics van vogt operated a storefront for the secular precursor to hubbard s scientology sect in the los angeles area for a time before winding up at odds with hubbard and his methods his writing more or less stopped for some years a period in which he bitterly claimed to have been harassed and intimidated by hubbard s followers in this period he limited to collect old short stories to form notable fixups like the mixed men one nine five two the war against |
the rull one nine five nine the beast one nine six three and the two novels of the linn cyle which were inspired by fall of the roman empire he resumed writing again in the one nine six zero s mainly through frederik pohl s invitation while remaining in hollywood with his second wife lydia bereginsky who took care of him through his declining years in this period his stories were born since the very beginning as whole novels but in general show van vogt s difficulties in keeping pace with the evolution of science fiction recognition in one nine four six van vogt and his first wife edna mayne hull were co guests of honor at the fourth world science fiction convention in one nine eight zero van vogt received a casper award precursor to the canadian aurora awards for lifetime achievement in one nine nine five he was awarded the damon knight memorial grand master award in one nine nine six van vogt was recognized on two occasions the world science fiction convention presented him with a special award for six deca |
des of golden age science fiction and the science fiction and fantasy hall of fame included him among its initial four inductees critical praise famous science fiction author philip k dick has said that van vogt s stories spurred his interest in science fiction with their strange sense of the unexplained that something more was going on than the protagonists realized in a review of transfinite the essential a e van vogt science fiction writer paul di filippo said van vogt knew precisely what he was doing in all areas of his fiction writing there s hardly a wasted word in his stories his plots are marvels of interlocking pieces often ending in real surprises and shocks genuine paradigm shifts which are among the hardest conceptions to depict and the intellectual material of his fictions the conceits and tossed off observations on culture and human and alien behavior reflect a probing mind each tale contains a new angle a unique slant that makes it stand out difilippo paul two zero zero three off the shelf retr |
ieved nine january two zero zero three criticism van vogt s style has been criticized as confused and incoherent writer and critic damon knight wrote in one nine four five that van vogt is not a giant as often mantained he s only a pygmy using a giant typewriter his technical knowledge seems questionable examples in cosmic encounter one result of the crash of an alien spaceship is the generation of a temperature of minus five zero zero zero zero degrees well below absolute zero the title of his story collection m three three in andromeda is incorrect m three three is in triangulum m three one the andromeda galaxy is in andromeda the popular short story vault of the beast hinges on the concept of the largest prime number it was demonstrated as far back as ancient greece that the series of primes is infinite bibliography novels slan one nine four six the book of ptath one nine four seven the world of null a one nine four eight the house that stood still one nine five zero masters of time one nine five zero the |
voyage of the space beagle one nine five zero the weapon shops of isher one nine five one mission to the stars one nine five two the universe maker one nine five three planets for sale one nine five four with edna mayne hull the players of null a one nine five six also published as the pawns of null a the mind cage one nine five seven empire of the atom one nine five seven siege of the unseen one nine five nine the war against the rull one nine five nine earth s last fortress one nine six zero the wizard of linn one nine six two the violent man one nine six two the beast one nine six three the twisted men one nine six four rogue ship one nine six five the winged man one nine six six moonbeast one nine six nine the silkie one nine six nine children of tomorrow one nine seven zero quest for the future one nine seven zero the battle of forever one nine seven one more than superhuman one nine seven one the darkness on diamondia one nine seven two future glitter one nine seven three the man with a thousand names o |
ne nine seven four the secret galactics one nine seven four also published as earth factor x supermind one nine seven four the anarchistic colossus one nine seven seven the enchanted village one nine seven nine chapbook renaissance one nine seven nine cosmic encounter one nine eight zero computerworld one nine eight three computer eye one nine eight three null a three one nine eight five to conquer kiber one nine eight seven collections m three three in andromeda one nine four three out of the unknown one nine four eight with edna mayne hull away and beyond one nine five two destination universe one nine five two the far out worlds of a e van vogt one nine five six monsters one nine six five the van vogt omnibus omnibus one nine six seven the sea thing and other stories one nine seven zero the proxy intelligence and other mind benders one nine seven one the van vogt omnibus two omnibus one nine seven one the book of van vogt one nine seven two far out worlds of van vogt one nine seven three the three eyes of |
evil including earth s last fortress one nine seven three the best of a e van vogt one nine seven four the gryb one nine seven six with edna mayne hull pendulum one nine seven eight the best of a e van vogt one nine four nine one nine six eight one nine seven nine lost fifty suns one nine seven nine the best of a e van vogt one nine four zero one nine four eight one nine seven nine futures past the best short fiction of a e van vogt one nine nine nine essential a e van vogt two zero zero two non fiction the hypnotism handbook one nine five six with charles edward cooke the money personality one nine seven five reflections of a e van vogt the autobiography of a science fiction giant one nine seven nine a report on the violent male one nine nine two reference isfdb org a e van vogt summary bibliography long works internet speculative fiction database external links earthlink net icshi the a e van vogt information site locusmag com a e van vogt one nine one two two zero zero zero golden age sf writer a e van vog |
t died wednesday january two six of complications of pneumonia mmedia is weird worlds of a e van vogt one nine one two two zero zero zero nicollsbooks com al s van vogt pages alan nicoll scifan com writers a e van vogt one nine one two two zero zero zero canada bibliography scifi com transfinite the essential a e van vogt vast conceptions startling actions and average people rendered into tomorrow s supermen paul di filippo smartgroups com vanvogt van vogt discussion group fansite list of works one nine one two births two zero zero zero deaths american writers canadian science fiction writers nebula grand masters every april fool s day one april since one nine eight nine the internet engineering task force has published one or more humorous rfc documents following in the path blazed by the june one nine seven three rfc titled arpawocky the following list also includes humorous rfcs published on other dates list of april one st rfcs and other humorous rfcs rfc five two seven arpawocky r merryman ucsd two two j |
une one nine seven three a lewis carroll pastiche rfc seven four eight telnet randomly lose option m r crispin one april one nine seven eight a parody of the tcp ip documentation style rfc nine six eight twas the night before start up v g cerf one december one nine eight five rfc one zero nine seven telnet subliminal message option b miller one april one nine eight nine rfc one one four nine standard for the transmission of ip datagrams on avian carriers d waitzman one april one nine nine zero updated by rfc two five four nine see below a deadpan skewering of standards document legalese describing protocols for transmitting internet data packets by carrier pigeon fun fact in two zero zero one rfc one one four nine was actually implemented by members of the bergen norway linux user group rfc one two one six gigabit network economics and paradigm shifts poorer richard prof kynikos one april one nine nine one rfc one two one seven memo from the consortium for slow commotion research cscr vint cerf one april one |
nine nine one rfc one three one three today s programming for krfc am one three one three internet talk radio c partridge one april one nine nine two certain portions of this rfc are obsolete doppler shift while flying on the concorde is no longer a problem rfc one four three seven the extension of mime content types to a new medium n borenstein m linimon one april one nine nine three rfc one four three eight internet engineering task force statements of boredom sobs a lyman chapin c huitema one april one nine nine three rfc one six zero five sonet to sonnet translation william shakespeare one april one nine nine four rfc one six zero six a historical perspective on the usage of ip version nine j onions one april one nine nine four rfc one six zero seven a view from the two one st century vint cerf one april one nine nine four rfc one seven seven six the address is the message steve crocker one april one nine nine five without content would we need information security rfc one nine two four a compact represen |
tation of ipv six addresses r elz one april one nine nine six rfc one nine two five the twelve networking truths r callon one april one nine nine six rfc one nine two six an experimental encapsulation of ip datagrams on top of atm j eriksson one april one nine nine six rfc one nine two seven suggested additional mime types for associating documents c rogers one april one nine nine six rfc two one zero zero the naming of hosts j ashworth one april one nine nine seven rfc two three two one rita the reliable internetwork troubleshooting agent a bressen one april one nine nine eight rfc two three two two management of ip numbers by peg dhcp k van den hout et al one april one nine nine eight rfc two three two three ietf identification and security guidelines a ramos one april one nine nine eight rfc two three two four hyper text coffee pot control protocol htcpcp one zero l masinter one april one nine nine eight rfc two three two five definitions of managed objects for drip type heated beverage hardware devices us |
ing smiv two m slavitch one april one nine nine eight rfc two five four nine ip over avian carriers with quality of service d waitzman one april one nine nine nine updates rfc one one four nine listed above rfc two five five zero y one zero k and beyond s glassman m manasse j mogul one april one nine nine nine rfc two five five one the roman standards process revision iii s bradner one april one nine nine nine rfc two seven nine five the infinite monkey protocol suite imps s christey one april two zero zero zero rfc three zero nine one pi digit generation protocol h kennedy one april two zero zero one rfc three zero nine two etymology of foo d eastlake three rd c manros e raymond one april two zero zero one rfc three zero nine three firewall enhancement protocol fep m gaynor s bradner one april two zero zero one rfc three two five one electricity over ip b rajagopalan one april two zero zero two rfc three two five two b inary l exical o ctet a d hoc t ransport h kennedy one april two zero zero two rfc three f |
ive one four the security flag in the ipv four header evil bit s bellovin one april two zero zero three rfc three seven five one omniscience protocol requirements s bradner one april two zero zero four rfc four zero four one requirements for morality sections in routing area drafts a farrel one april two zero zero five rfc four zero four two utf nine and utf one eight efficient transformation formats of unicode m crispin one april two zero zero five source external links cio magazine commentary on rfc three seven five one and one april rfcs in general april fool s day anna kournikova on the cover of maxim magazine in two zero zero four anna sergeyevna kournikova russian nna serg yevna k rnikova born june seven one nine eight one was a professional tennis player she was one of the best known tennis players even among those who do not follow the game anna was born in moscow russia to alla and sergei kournikov her family later emigrated to the united states and she currently resides in miami florida anna s major |
league tennis career has been curtailed for the past several years by serious back the spice girls of tennis tennis career playing tennis kournikova dazzled the world at age one three and one four in international junior tennis winning several tournaments including the one nine nine five italian open kournikova was one four years old when she ended one nine nine five as junior european champion under one eight and itf junior world champion under one eight kournikova debuted in professional tennis at age one four in the fed cup for russia the youngest player ever to participate and win at age one five she reached the fourth round of the one nine nine six u s open only to be stopped by then top ranked player steffi graf kournikova was a member of the russian delegation to the one nine nine six olympic games in atlanta georgia in one nine nine seven as a one six year old she reached the semi finals of wimbledon where she lost to the eventual champion martina hingis by a score of six three six two one nine nine |
eight was her breakthrough year when she broke into the wta s top two zero rankings for the first time and scored impressive victories over martina hingis lindsay davenport and steffi graf kournikova s two grand slam doubles titles came in one nine nine nine and two zero zero two both at the australian open in the women s doubles event with partner martina hingis with whom she played frequently starting in one nine nine nine kournikova proved a successful doubles player on the professional circuit winning one six tournament doubles titles including two australian opens and being a finalist in mixed doubles at the u s open and at wimbledon and reaching one ranking in doubles in the women s tennis association tour rankings her pro career doubles record was two zero zero seven one however her singles career plateaued after one nine nine nine for the most part she managed to retain her ranking between one zero and one five her career high singles ranking was eight but her expected finals breakthrough failed to oc |
cur she only reached four finals out of one three zero singles tournaments never in a grand slam event and never won one one contributing factor might have been her habit of entering high profile events with strong fields of elite players as a player kournikova was noted for her excellent footspeed and aggressive baseline play however her flat high risk groundstrokes tended to produce high numbers of errors and her serve was sometimes unreliable in singles anyone who wins big at doubles must serve well she had a record of two zero nine one two nine as a singles player her final playing years were marred by a string of injuries especially back injuries which saw her ranking gradually erode kournikova has not played on the wta tour since two zero zero three but still plays exhibition matches for charitable causes in late two zero zero four she participated in three events organized by elton john and by fellow tennis stars and good friends serena williams and andy roddick in january two zero zero five she played |
in a doubles charity event for the indian ocean tsunami with john mcenroe roddick and chris evert anna was also a member of the newport beachbreakers in the world team tennis wtt competition in july and november two zero zero five playing doubles only in november two zero zero five she teamed up with martina hingis playing against lisa raymond and samantha stosur in the wtt finals for charity in a feature for elle magazine s july two zero zero five issue kournikova stated that if she were one zero zero fit she would like to come back and compete again media publicity kournikova on the july two zero zero zero cover of sports illustratedmuch of anna s fame more many have argued than she ever gained in her tennis career has come from the publicity surrounding her personal life as well as numerous modeling shoots during her debut at the one nine nine six u s open one nine nine six at the age of one five kournikova s physical beauty was noticed by the world and soon pictures of her appeared in numerous magazines |
all over the planet anna has fine facial features and an attractive body topped off by long blonde hair sometimes braided into a meter long queue pony tail many media outlets have reported that kournikova was very briefly married to nhl hockey star sergei fedorov during the summer of two zero zero one though her agent and family deny this claim a number of her relationships with other celebrities including involvements with pop star enrique iglesias whose video escape she appeared in and hockey player pavel bure have also featured prominently in the tabloid press in two zero zero zero anna became the new face for berlei s shock absorber sports bras range and appeared in the highly successful only the ball should bounce bill board campaign photographs of her scantily clad form have appeared in various men s magazines including more than one much publicized sports illustrated swimsuit issues two zero zero four zero five where she posed in bikinis and swimsuits and in other popular men s publications such as fhm |
and maxim so far she has not posed topless or nude for any publications kournikova was named one of people s five zero most beautiful people in one nine nine eight two zero zero zero two zero zero two and two zero zero three she has also been voted hottest female athlete and hottest couple with iglesias on espn com and two zero zero three s sexiest woman in the world by worldwide fhm readers for by contrast espn citing the degree of hype as compared to actual accomplishments as a singles player ranked anna one eight th in its two five biggest sports flops of the past two five years kournikova had a small role as a motel manager in the two zero zero zero film me myself and irene starring jim carrey books anna kournikova by susan holden two zero zero one anna kournikova women who win by connie berman external links official web site her weblog comprehensive biography anna s photos anna kournikova calendar shoot video one nine eight one births living people russian tennis players russian bloggers russian models |
russian film actors australian open champions alfons maria jakob july two one eight eight four october one seven one nine three one was a german jewish neurologist he was the first to recognize and describe alper s disease and creutzfeldt jakob disease the latter with hans gerhard creutzfeldt and helped greatly in the description of various other neurological illnesses one eight eight four births one nine three one deaths neurologists atheism in its broadest sense is an absence of belief in the existence of gods this definition includes as atheists both those who assert that there are no gods and those who make no claim about whether gods exist or not narrower definitions however often only qualify those who assert there are no gods as atheists labeling the others as nontheists or agnostics although atheists often share common concerns regarding empirical evidence and the scientific method of investigation and a large number are skeptics there is no single ideology that all atheists share additionally there |
are certain individuals whose religious or spiritual beliefs some might describe as atheistic though those holding such beliefs do not normally describe themselves as atheists atheism should not be confused with the related but not equivalent position of antitheism as many atheists do not directly oppose theism etymology in early ancient greek the adjective atheos from privative a theos gods meant without gods or lack of belief in gods the word acquired an additional meaning in the five th century bce expressing a total lack of relations with the gods that is denying the gods godless ungodly with more active connotations than aseb s impious modern translations of classical texts sometimes translate atheos as atheistic as an abstract noun there was also atheot s atheism cicero transliterated atheos into latin the discussion of atheoi was pronounced in the debate between early christians and pagans who each attributed atheism to the other a b drachmann one nine two two notes atheism and atheist are words formed |
from greek roots and with greek derivative endings nevertheless they are not greek their formation is not consonant with greek usage in greek they said atheos and atheotes to these the english words ungodly and ungodliness correspond rather closely in exactly the same way as ungodly atheos was used as an expression of severe censure and moral condemnation this use is an old one and the oldest that can be traced not till later do we find it employed to denote a certain philosophical creed p five in english the term atheism is the result of the adoption of the french ath isme in about one five eight seven the term atheist in the sense of one who denies or disbelieves actually predates atheism being first attested in about one five seven one the phrase italian atheoi is recorded as early as one five six eight atheist in the sense of practical godlessness was first attested in one five seven seven the french word is derived from ath e godless atheist which in turn is from the greek atheos the words deist and the |
ist entered english after atheism being first attested in one six two one and one six six two respectively with theism and deism following in one six seven eight and one six eight two respectively deism and theism exchanged meanings around one seven zero zero due to the influence of atheism deism was originally used with a meaning comparable to today s theism and vice versa the oxford english dictionary also records an earlier irregular formation atheonism dated from about one five three four the later and now obsolete words athean and atheal are dated to one six one one and one six one two respectively types and typologies of atheism many people have disagreed on how best to characterize atheism and much of the literature on the subject is erroneous or confusing there are many discrepancies in the use of terminology between proponents and opponents of atheism and even divergent definitions among those who share near identical beliefs among proponents of atheism and neutral parties there are two major traditi |
ons in defining atheism and its subdivisions the first tradition understands atheism very broadly as including both those who believe gods don t exist strong atheism and those who are simply not theists weak atheism george h smith michael martin and formerly antony flew fall into this tradition though they do not use the same terminology flew has recently adopted a form of deism the second tradition understands atheism more narrowly as the conscious rejection of theism and does not consider absence of theistic belief or suspension of judgment concerning theism to be forms of atheism ernest nagel paul edwards and kai nielsen are prominent members of this camp using this definition of atheism implicit atheism lack of theism without the conscious rejection of it may not be regarded as atheistic at all and the umbrella term nontheism may be used in its place a third tradition more common among laypeople understands atheism even more narrowly than that here atheism is defined in the strongest possible terms as the |
belief that there is no god such usage is not exclusive to laypeople however atheist philosopher theodore drange uses the narrow definition atheism as lack of theism among modern atheists the view that atheism means without or polemically free of theistic beliefs has a great deal of currency this very broad definition is justified by reference to etymology as well as consistent usage of the word by atheists however this definition of atheism has not gone unchallenged although over the last few hundred years atheism has evolved and broadened beyond the narrow meaning of wickedness impiety heresy and religious denial as well as pantheism and similar beliefs it is less commonly understood to include everything not explicitly theistic whether a writer s definition of atheism as an absence or lack of theistic belief is in fact intended to mean not theistic in the widest possible sense or just refers to particular forms of the rejection of theism see below is often ambiguous however while this definition of atheis |
m is frequently disputed it is not a recent invention this use has a history spanning over two three zero years two atheist writers who are clear in defining atheism so broadly that uninformed children are counted as atheists are d holbach one seven seven two all children are born atheists they have no idea of god and george h smith one nine seven nine according to smith the man who is unacquainted with theism is an atheist because he does not believe in a god this category would also include the child without the conceptual capacity to grasp the issues involved but who is still unaware of those issues the fact that this child does not believe in god qualifies him as an atheist p one four one atheist writer who explicitly disagrees with such a broad definition is ernest nagel one nine six five atheism is not to be identified with sheer unbelief thus a child who has received no religious instruction and has never heard about god is not an atheist for he is not denying any theistic claims p four six zero four s |
ix one for nagel atheism is the rejection of theism not just the absence of theistic belief however this definition leaves open the question of what term can be used to describe those who lack theistic belief but do not necessarily reject theism the obsolete word atheous first recorded in the oxford english dictionary as a synonym of atheism or impiety is sometimes used to mean not dealing with the existence of a god in a purely privative sense as distinguished from the negative atheistic this one eight eight zero coinage captures some of what is intended by the broad definition of atheism though it is hard to sustain the claim that the philosophical rejection of theism can be characterized in such terms implicit and explicit atheism a chart showing the relationship between the weak strong positive negative and implicit explicit dichotomies strong atheism is always explicit and implicit atheism is always weak the terms implicit atheism and explicit atheism were coined by george h smith one nine seven nine p o |
ne three one eight implicit atheism is defined by smith as the absence of theistic belief without a conscious rejection of it explicit atheism is defined as the absence of theistic belief due to a conscious rejection of it which according to smith is sometimes called antitheism see below for smith explicit atheism is subdivided further according to whether or not the rejection is on rational grounds the term critical atheism is used to label the view that belief in god is irrational and is itself subdivided into a the view usually expressed by the statement i do not believe in the existence of a god or supernatural being b the view usually expressed by the statement god does not exist or the existence of god is impossible and c the view which refuses to discuss the existence or nonexistence of a god because the concept of a god is unintelligible p one seven although nagel rejects smith s definition of atheism as merely lack of theism acknowledging only explicit atheism as true atheism his tripartite classific |
ation of rejectionist atheism commonly found in the philosophical literature is identical to smith s critical atheism typology the difference between nagel on the one hand and d holbach and smith on the other has been attributed to the different concerns of professional philosophers and layman proponents of atheism see smith one nine nine zero chapter three p five one six zero for example but also alluded to by others everitt two zero zero four makes the point that professional philosophers are more interested in the grounds for giving or withholding assent to propositions we need to distinguish between a biographical or sociological enquiry into why some people have believed or disbelieved in god and an epistemological enquiry into whether there are any good reasons for either belief or unbelief we are interested in the question of what good reasons there are for or against god s existence and no light is thrown on that question by discovering people who hold their beliefs without having good reasons for the |
m p one zero so in philosophy flew and martin notwithstanding atheism is commonly defined along the lines of rejection of theistic belief this is often misunderstood to mean only the view that there is no god but it is conventional to distinguish between two or three main sub types of atheism in this sense writers differ in their characterization of this distinction and in the labels they use for these positions the terms weak atheism and strong atheism or negative atheism and positive atheism are often used as synonyms of smith s less well known implicit and explicit categories however the original and technical meanings of implicit and explicit atheism are quite different and distinct from weak and strong atheism having to do with conscious rejection and unconscious rejection of theism rather than with positive belief and negative belief people who do not use the broad definition of atheism as lack of theism but instead use the most common definition disbelief in or denial of the existence of god or gods wo |
uld not recognize mere absence of belief in deities implicit atheism as a type of atheism at all and would tend to use other terms such as skeptic or agnostic or non atheistic nontheism for this position atheism as immorality the first attempts to define or develop a typology of atheism were in religious apologetics these attempts were expressed in terminologies and in contexts which reflected the religious assumptions and prejudices of the writers a diversity of atheist opinion has been recognized at least since plato and common distinctions have been established between practical atheism and speculative or contemplative atheism practical atheism practical atheism was said to be caused by moral failure hypocrisy willful ignorance and infidelity practical atheists behaved as though god morals ethics and social responsibility did not exist maritain s typology of atheism one nine five three chapter eight proved influential in catholic circles it was followed in the new catholic encyclopedia see reid one nine si |
x seven he identified in addition to practical atheism pseudo atheism and absolute atheism and subdivided theoretical atheism in a way that anticipated flew for an atheist critique of maritain see smith one nine seven nine chapter one section five according to the french catholic philosopher tienne borne one nine six one p one zero practical atheism is not the denial of the existence of god but complete godlessness of action it is a moral evil implying not the denial of the absolute validity of the moral law but simply rebellion against that law according to karen armstrong one nine nine nine during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the word atheist was still reserved exclusively for polemic in his tract atheism closed and open anatomized one six three four john wingfield claimed the hypocrite is an atheist the loose wicked man is an open atheist the secure bold and proud transgressor is an atheist he that will not be taught or reformed is an atheist for the welsh poet william vaughan one five seven sev |
en sic one six four one who helped in the colonisation of newfoundland those who raised rents or enclosed commons were obvious atheists the english dramatist thomas nashe one five six seven one six zero one proclaimed that the ambitious the greedy the gluttons the vainglorious and prostitutes were all atheists the term atheist was an insult nobody would have dreamed of calling himself an atheist p three three one three three two on the other hand the existence of serious speculative atheism was often denied that anyone might reason their way to atheism was thought to be impossible thus speculative atheism was collapsed into a form of practical atheism or conceptualized as hatred of god or a fight against god this is why borne finds it necessary to say to put forward the idea as some apologists rashly do that there are no atheists except in name but only practical atheists who through pride or idleness disregard the divine law would be at least at the beginning of the argument a rhetorical convenience or an em |
otional prejudice evading the real question p one eight martin one nine nine zero p four six five four six six suggests that practical atheism would be better described as alienated theism other pejorative definitions of atheism when denial of the existence of speculative atheism became unsustainable atheism was nevertheless often repressed and criticized by narrowing definitions applying charges of dogmatism and otherwise misrepresenting atheist positions one of the reasons for the popularity of euphemistic alternative terms like secularist empiricist agnostic or bright is that atheism still has pejorative connotations arising from attempts at suppression and from its association with practical atheism godless is still used as an abusive epithet mynga futrell and paul geisert the originators of the term bright made this explicit in an essay published in two zero zero three our personal frustration regarding labels reached culmination last fall when we were invited to join a march on washington as godless ame |
ricans the causes of the march were worthy and the march itself well planned and conducted however to unite for common interests under a disparaging term like godless it also means wicked seemed ludicrous why accept and utilize the very derogatory language that so clearly hampers our own capacity to play a positive and contributing role in our communities and in the nation and world gaskin one nine eight nine abandoned the term atheism in favour of unbelief citing the pejorative associations of the term its vagueness and later the tendency of religious apologists to define atheism so that no one could be an atheist p four despite these considerations for others atheist has always been the preferred name charles bradlaugh once said in debate with george jacob holyoake one zero march one eight seven zero cited in bradlaugh bonner one nine zero eight i maintain that the opprobrium cast upon the word atheism is a lie i believe atheists as a body to be men deserving respect i do not care what kind of character rel |
igious men may put round the word atheist i would fight until men respect it p three three four for more on repressive definitions of atheism see berman one nine eight two one nine eight three one nine nine zero weak and strong atheism main articles weak atheism strong atheism weak atheism sometimes called soft atheism negative atheism or neutral atheism is the absence of belief in the existence of deities without the positive assertion that deities do not exist strong atheism also known as hard atheism or positive atheism is the belief that no deities exist while the terms weak and strong are relatively recent the concepts they represent have been in use for some time in earlier philosophical publications the terms negative atheism and positive atheism were more common these terms were used by antony flew in one nine seven two although jacques maritain one nine five three chapter eight p one zero four used the phrases in a similar but strictly catholic apologist context as early as one nine four nine althoug |
h explicit atheists nontheists who consciously reject theism may subscribe to either weak or strong atheism weak atheism also includes implicit atheists that is nontheists who have not consciously rejected theism but lack theistic belief arguably including infants theists claim that a single deity or group of deities exists weak atheists do not assert the contrary instead they only refrain from assenting to theistic claims some weak atheists are without any opinion regarding the existence of deities either because of a lack of thought on the matter a lack of interest in the matter see apatheism or a belief that the arguments and evidence provided by both theists and strong atheists are equally unpersuasive others explicit weak atheists may doubt or dispute claims for the existence of deities while not actively asserting that deities do not exist following wittgenstein s famous dictum whereof one cannot speak thereof one must remain silent some weak atheists feel that theism and strong atheism are equally unte |
nable on the grounds that faith is required both to assert and to deny the existence of deities and as such both theism and strong atheism have the burden of proof placed on them to prove that a god does or doesn t exist some also base their belief on the notion that it is impossible to prove a negative while a weak atheist might consider the nonexistence of deities likely on the basis that there is insufficient evidence to justify belief in a deity s existence a strong atheist has the additional view that positive statements of nonexistence are merited when evidence or arguments indicate that a deity s nonexistence is certain or probable strong atheism may be based on arguments that the concept of a deity is self contradictory and therefore impossible positive ignosticism or that one or more of the properties attributed to a deity are incompatible with what we observe in the world examples of this may be found in quantum physics where the existence of mutually exclusive data negates the possibility of omnisc |
ience usually a core attribute of monotheistic conceptions of deity agnosticism is distinct from strong atheism though many weak atheists may be agnostics and those who are strong atheists with regard to a particular deity might be weak atheists or agnostics with regard to other deities ignosticism main article ignosticism ignosticism is the view that the question of whether or not deities exist is inherently meaningless it is a popular view among many logical positivists such as rudolph carnap and a j ayer who hold that talk of gods is literally nonsense according to ignostics does a god exist has the same logical status as what color is saturday they are both nonsensical and thus have no meaningful answers ignostics commonly hold that statements about religious or other transcendent experiences cannot have any truth value often because theological statements lack falsifiability because of an epistemological view that renders the ontological argument nonsensical or because the terminology being used has not |
been properly or consistently defined the latter view is known as theological noncognitivism the use of the word god is thus solely a matter of semantics to ignostics dealing with word use and technicalities rather than with existence and reality in language truth and logic ayer stated that theism atheism and agnosticism were equally meaningless insofar as they treat the question of the existence of god as a real question however there are varieties of atheism and agnosticism which do not necessarily agree that the question is meaningful especially using the lack of theism definition of atheism despite ayer s criticism of atheism perhaps using the definition typically associated with strong atheism ignosticism is usually counted as a form of atheism ayer one nine six six was clear on his position i do not believe in god it seems to me that theists of all kinds have very largely failed to make their concept of a deity intelligible and to the extent that they have made it intelligible they have given us no reas |
on to think that anything answers to it p two two six the ignostic position is mentioned though the term ignostic is not used as one of the three forms of critical atheism in smith or rejectionist atheism in nagel active disbelief in god or supernatural beings is one other type of critical rejectionist atheism finally the third type is the positive claim that deities do not exist since critical rejectionist atheism is a type of explicit atheism if follows that ignosticism is a type of explicit atheism there is some debate over whether it should be classified as weak atheism or strong atheism ignosticism is distinct from apatheism in that while ignostics hold questions and discussions of whether deities exist to be meaningless apatheists hold that even a hypothetical answer to such questions would be completely irrelevant to human existence gnostic and agnostic atheism main article agnostic atheism agnostic atheism is a fusion of atheism or nontheism with agnosticism the epistemological position that the exist |
ence or nonexistence of deities is unknown weak agnosticism or unknowable strong agnosticism agnostic atheism is typically contrasted with agnostic theism the belief that deities exist even though it is impossible to know that deities exist and with gnostic atheism the belief that there is enough information to determine that deities do not exist agnostic atheism s definition varies just as the definitions of agnosticism and atheism do it may be a combination of lack of theism with strong agnosticism the view that it is impossible to know whether deities exist to any reliable degree it may also be a combination of lack of theism with weak agnosticism the view that there is not currently enough information to decide whether or not a deity exists but that there may be enough in the future gnostic atheism is a more rarely used term because often anyone who is not labeled as agnostic is assumed to be gnostic by default gnostic atheism also has varying meanings when nontheism is combined with strong gnosticism it |
denotes the belief that it is rational to be absolutely certain that deities do not and perhaps cannot exist when it is with weak gnosticism it denotes the belief that there is enough information to be reasonably sure that deities do not exist but not absolutely certain the term should not be confused with gnosticism gnostic atheism is also sometimes used as a synonym of strong atheism and thus agnostic atheism is occasionally a synonym for weak atheism this is similar to the more common confusion of the terms implicit atheism and explicit atheism with strong and weak atheism apatheism often overlaps with agnostic atheism such as with apathetic agnosticism a fusion of apatheism with strong agnostic atheism atheism in philosophical naturalism many if not most atheists have preferred to say that atheism is a lack of a belief rather than a belief in its own right see for example krueger one nine nine eight p two two two four smith one nine seven nine p one five one six this keeps the burden of proof on the theis |
t see flew one nine eight four b as the only one making any positive assertions belief also has other connotations that many atheists may wish to avoid nevertheless some atheist writers identify atheism with the naturalistic world view and defend it on that basis the case for naturalism is used as a positive argument for atheism see for example thrower one nine seven one harbour two zero zero one nielsen two zero zero one and baggini two zero zero three see also everitt s discussion of an anti atheist argument against naturalism two zero zero four chapter nine p one seven eight one nine zero according to thrower much atheism can be understood only in the light of the current theism which it was concerned to reject such atheism is relative there is however a way of looking at and interpreting events in the world whose origins can be seen as early as the beginnings of speculative thought itself and which i shall call naturalistic that is atheistic per se in the sense that it is incompatible with any and every f |
orm of supernaturalism naturalistic or absolute atheism is both fundamentally more important and more interesting representing as it does one polarity in the development of the human spirit p three four julian baggini argues that atheism can be understood not simply as a denial of religion but as a self contained belief system if it is seen as a commitment to the view that there is only one world and this is the world of nature p seven four for baggini therefore the evidence for atheism is to be found in the fact that there is a plethora of evidence for the truth of naturalism and an absence of evidence for anything else anything else of course includes god but it also includes goblins hobbits and truly everlasting gobstoppers there is nothing special about god in this sense god is just one of the things that atheists don t believe in it just happens to be the thing that for historical reasons gave them their name p one seven baggini s position is that an atheist does not usually believe in the existence of i |
mmortal souls life after death ghosts or supernatural powers although strictly speaking an atheist could believe in any of these things and still remain an atheist the arguments and ideas that sustain atheism tend naturally to rule out other beliefs in the supernatural or transcendental p three four michael martin one nine nine zero p four seven zero notes that the view that naturalism is compatible with nonatheism is true only if god is understood in a most peculiar and misleading way but he also points out that atheism does not entail naturalism antitheism main article antitheism antitheism sometimes hyphenated typically refers to a direct opposition to theism in this use it is a form of critical strong atheism antitheism may sometimes overlap with ignosticism the view that theism is inherently meaningless and may directly contradict apatheism the view that theism is irrelevant rather than dangerous however antitheism is also sometimes used particularly in religious contexts to refer to opposition to god or |
divine things rather than to the belief in god using the latter definition it may be possible or perhaps even necessary to be an antitheist without being an atheist or nontheist antitheists may believe that theism is actually harmful or may simply be atheists who have little tolerance for views they perceive as irrational strong atheists who are not antitheists may believe positively that deities do not exist but not believe that theism is directly harmful or necessitates opposition history although the actual term atheism originated in one six th century france ideas that would be recognized as atheistic today existed even before classical antiquity epicurus proposed theories that can be classified as atheistic such as a lack of belief in an afterlife though he remained ambiguous concerning the actual existence of deities before him socrates was sentenced to death partly on the grounds that he was an atheist although he did express belief in several forms of divinity as recorded in plato s apology this crim |
inal connotation attached to atheistic ideas heresy would remain at varying levels of severity until the renaissance when criticism of the church became more prevalent and tolerated atheism disappeared from the philosophy of the greek and roman traditions as christianity gained influence during the age of enlightenment the concept of atheism re emerged as an accusation against those who questioned the religious status quo but by the late one eight th century it had become the philosophical position of a growing minority by the two zero th century along with the spread of rationalism and secular humanism atheism had become common particularly among scientists see international survey of contemporary atheism in the two zero th century atheism also became a staple of the various communist regimes helping return some of the negative connotations of atheism especially in the united states where the term became synonymous with being unpatriotic during the cold war distribution of atheists though atheists are a mino |
rity group in most countries they are relatively common in western europe australia new zealand canada in former and present communist states and to a lesser extent in the united states atheism is particularly prevalent among scientists a tendency already quite marked at the beginning of the two zero th century developing into a dominant one during the course of the century in one nine one four james h leuba found that five eight of one zero zero zero randomly selected u s natural scientists expressed disbelief or doubt in the existence of god the same study repeated in one nine nine six gave a similar percentage of six zero seven this number is nine three among the members of the national academy of sciences expressions of positive disbelief rose from five two to seven two see also the relationship between religion and science atheism in the united kingdom a poll in two zero zero four by the bbc put the number of people who do not believe in god to be four zero while a yougov poll in the same year put the pe |
rcentage of non believers at three five with two one uncertain in the yougov poll men were less likely to believe in god than women and younger people were less likely to believe in god than older people in early two zero zero four it was announced that atheism would be taught during religious education classes in the united kingdom a spokesman for the qualifications and curriculum authority stated there are many children in england who have no religious affiliation and their beliefs and ideas whatever they are should be taken very seriously there is also considerable debate in the u k on the status of faith based schools which use religious as well as academic selection criteria the decision was based on a parliament decision ruling that while questionable in moral standing atheism is a legitimate religion although atheism is not a religion in any sense this indicates that atheism should be treated the same as theism atheism is championed by many scientists and philosophers in the united kingdom including ri |
chard dawkins atheism in the united states a gallup poll in two zero zero five showed five of the us population feel that god does not exist a poll in two zero zero four by the bbc showed the number of people who don t believe in god to be larger at one zero however unbelief in god does not imply self identification as an atheist atheists are ostensibly legally protected from discrimination in the united states they have been among the strongest advocates of the legal separation of church and state american courts have regularly if controversially interpreted the constitutional requirement for separation of church and state as protecting the freedoms of non believers as well as prohibiting the establishment of any state religion atheists often sum up the legal situation with the phrase freedom of religion also means freedom from religion in board of education of kiryas joel village school district v grumet justice souter wrote in the opinion for the court that government should not prefer one religion to anot |
her or religion to irreligion everson v board of education established that neither a state nor the federal government can pass laws which aid one religion aid all religions or prefer one religion over another this applies the establishment clause to the states as well as the federal government however several state constitutions make the protection of persons from religious discrimination conditional on their acknowledgement of the existence of a deity apparently making freedom of religion in those states inapplicable to atheists these state constitutional clauses have not been tested additionally some state constitutions namely arkansas and south carolina disallow atheists to hold public office although most agree that if challenged these requirements would be ruled unconstitutional under article six of the united states constitution which bans such qualifications civil rights cases are typically brought in federal courts so such state provisions are mainly of symbolic importance in the newdow case after a |
father challenged the phrase under god in the united states pledge of allegiance the ninth circuit court of appeals found the phrase unconstitutional although the decision was stayed pending the outcome of an appeal there was the prospect that the pledge would cease to be legally usable without modification in schools in the western united states over which the ninth circuit has jurisdiction this resulted in political furor and both houses of congress passed resolutions condemning the decision nearly unanimously a very large group consisting of almost the entire senate and house was televised standing on the steps of congress hands over hearts swearing the pledge and shouting out under god the supreme court subsequently reversed the decision ruling that michael newdow did not have standing to bring his case thus disposing of the case without ruling on the constitutionality of the pledge atheism studies and statistics as some governments have strongly promoted atheism whilst others have strongly condemned it a |
theism may be either over reported or under reported for different countries there is a great deal of room for debate as to the accuracy of any method of estimation as the opportunity for misreporting intentionally or not a belief system without an organized structure is high also many surveys on religious identification ask people to identify themselves as agnostics or atheists which is potentially confusing since these terms are interpreted differently by many different people with some identifying themselves as being both atheist and agnostic additionally many of these surveys only gauge the number of irreligious people not the number of actual atheists or group the two together the following surveys are in chronological order but as they are different studies with different methodologies it would be inaccurate to infer trends on the prevalence of atheism from them a one nine nine five survey attributed to the encyclop dia britannica indicates that the non religious are about one four seven of the world s |
population and atheists around three eight the two zero zero one aris report found that while two nine five million u s americans one four one describe themselves as without religion only nine zero two zero zero zero zero four positively claim to be atheist with another nine nine one zero zero zero zero five professing agnosticism in the two zero zero one australian census one five five of respondents ticked no religion and a further one one seven either did not state their religion or were deemed to have described it inadequately there was a popular and successful campaign at the time to have people describe themselves as jedi the two zero zero one new zealand census showed that four zero of the respondents claimed no religion in two zero zero one the czech statistical office provided census information on the ten million people in the czech republic five nine had no religion three two two were religious and eight eight did not answer this suggests that the czech republic is probably the most atheistic count |
ry in the world in two zero zero two survey in russia three two self described as atheist of the five eight self describing as russian orthodox christian four two said they had never been in a church a two zero zero two survey by adherents com estimates the proportion of the world s people who are secular non religious agnostics and atheists as about one four in a two zero zero three poll in france five four of those polled identified themselves as faithful three three as atheist one four as agnostic and two six as indifferent a two zero zero four survey by the bbc in one zero countries showed the proportion of the population who don t believe in god varying between zero and four four with an average close to one seven in the countries surveyed about eight of the respondents stated specifically that they consider themselves to be atheists a two zero zero four survey by the cia in the world factbook estimates about one two five of the world s population are non religious and about two four are atheists a two z |
ero zero four survey by the pew research center showed that in the united states one two of people under three zero and six of people over three zero could be characterized as non religious a two zero zero five poll by ap ipsos surveyed ten countries of the developed nations people in the united states had most certainty about the existence of god or a higher power two atheist four agnostic while france had the most skeptics one nine atheist one six agnostic on the religion question south korea had the greatest percentage without a religion four one while italy had the smallest five a two zero zero six survey in the norwegian newspaper aftenposten on february one seven saw one zero zero six inhabitants of norway answering the question what do you believe in two nine answered i believe in a god or deity two three answered i believe in a higher power without being certain of what two six answered i don t believe in god or higher powers and two two answered i am in doubt depending on the definition of atheism no |
rway thus has between four nine and seven one atheists still some eight five of the population are members of the norwegian state s official lutheran protestant church parts of this deviance is due to the fact that all non affilated norwegians were signed into this church a few years before without being asked and that signing out if they are even aware of being signed in is a time consuming bureaucratic affair yielding no immediate gains statistical problems statistics on atheism are often difficult to accurately represent for a variety of reasons atheism is nonexclusive atheism is a position compatible with other forms of identity some atheists also consider themselves agnostic buddhist jains or hold other related philosophical beliefs therefore given limited poll options some may use other terms to describe their identity misrepresentation some politically motivated organizations that report or gather population statistics may intentionally or unintentionally misrepresent atheists survey designs may bias r |
esults due to the nature of elements such as the wording of questions and the available response options also many atheists particularly former catholics are still counted as christians in church rosters although surveys generally ask samples of the population and do not look in church rosters some christians believe that once a person is truly saved that person is always saved a doctrine known as eternal security attitudes toward religion statistics are generally collected on the assumption that religion is a categorical variable as terms such as weak atheism and strong atheism suggest however people vary in terms of the strength of their convictions instruments have been designed to measure attitudes toward religion including one that was used by l l thurstone this may be a particularly important consideration among people who have neutral attitudes as it is more likely prevailing social norms will influence the responses of such people on survey questions which effectively force respondents to categorize t |
hemselves either as belonging to a particular relgion or belonging to no religion misunderstanding and external pressure a negative perception of atheists and pressure from family and peers may also cause some atheists to disassociate themselves from atheism misunderstanding of the term may also be a reason some label themselves differently discrimination legal and social discrimination against atheists in some places may lead some to deny or conceal their atheism due to fears of persecution for example in the two zero th century atheists socialists and communists were persecuted alongside jews by the nazis who lumped all of these terms into one complex issue or theme the jewish bolshevik world conspiracy as addressed in joseph goebbels one nine three five speech communism with the mask off in which christian civilization national socialism was described as antithetical to jewish communism religion and atheism spiritual and religious atheism although atheistic beliefs are often accompanied by a total lack of |
supernatural beliefs this is not an aspect or even a necessary consequence of atheism indeed there are many atheists who are not irreligious or secular these are most common in spiritualities like buddhism and taoism but they also exist in sects of religions that are usually very theistic by nature such as christianity especially in some liberal quaker groups a number of atheistic churches have been established such as the thomasine church naturalistic pantheists brianism and the fellowship of reason there is also an atheist presence in unitarian universalism an extremely inclusivist religion belief in god as a non being in english believers usually refer to the monotheistic abrahamic god as god in many abstract or esoteric interpretations of monotheism or henotheism god is not thought of as a supernatural being as a deity or god rather god becomes a philosophical category the all the one the ultimate the absolute infinite the transcendent the divine ground being or existence itself etc for example such views |
are typical of pantheism panentheism and religious monism attributing anthropomorphic characteristics to god may be regarded as idolatry blasphemy or symbolism by some some theists may not believe in or may even deny the existence of deities as supernatural beings while maintaining a belief in god as so conceived for example the protestant theologian paul tillich described god as the ground of being the power of being or as being itself and caused controversy by making the statement that god does not exist resulting in him occasionally being labelled as an atheist nevertheless for tillich god is not a being that exists among other beings but is being itself for him god does not exist except as a concept or principle god is the basis of being the metaphysical power by which being triumphs over non being however most atheists who deny the existence of deities as supernatural beings would also deny this and similar conceptions of god or simply consider them incomprehensible even the broadest definitions of athe |
ism often do not include belief in a conceptual or metaphysical god categorizing this under theism instead judaism in general formulations of jewish principles of faith require a belief in god represented by judaism s paramount prayer the shema in many modern movements in judaism rabbis have generally considered the behavior of a jew to be the determining factor in whether or not one is considered an adherent of judaism within these movements it is often recognized that it is possible for a jew to strictly practise judaism as a faith while at the same time being an agnostic or atheist giving rise to the joke q what do you call a jew who doesn t believe in god a a jew it is also worth noting that reconstructionism does not require any belief in a deity and that certain popular reform prayer books such as gates of prayer offer some services without mention of god rabbi abraham isaac kook first chief rabbi of the jewish community in pre state israel held that atheists were not actually denying god rather they we |
re denying one of man s many images of god since any man made image of god can be considered an idol kook held that in practice one could consider atheists as helping true religion burn away false images of god thus in the end serving the purpose of true monotheism some jewish atheists reject judaism but wish to continue identifying themselves with the jewish people and culture see for example levin one nine nine five jewish atheists who practice humanistic judaism embrace jewish culture and history rather than belief in a supernatural god as the sources of their jewish identity christianity by necessity christianity as a theistic and proselytising religion views atheism as sinful according to psalm one four one the fool hath said in his heart there is no god according to john three one eight one nine all who reject christianity and presumably its attendant theism do so because their deeds are evil a famous but idiosyncratic atheistic belief is that of thomas altizer his book the gospel of christian atheism o |
ne nine six seven proclaims the highly unusual view that god has literally died or self annihilated according to altizer this is nevertheless a christian confession of faith p one zero two making clear the difference between his position and that of both nietzsche s notion of the death of god and the stance of theological non realists altizer says to confess the death of god is to speak of an actual and real event not perhaps an event occurring in a single moment of time or history but notwithstanding this reservation an event that has actually happened both in a cosmic and in a historical sense p one zero three however many would dispute whether this is an atheist position at all as belief in a dead god implies that god once existed and was alive atheism typically entails a lack of belief that any gods ever existed as opposed to not existing currently for further discussion see lyas one nine seven zero other unrelated practitioners of christian atheism may include liberal christian atheists who follow the te |
aching of jesus but who may not believe in the literal existence of god in this case however many would dispute whether the atheists in question are truly christians though they certainly are by some of the looser definitions of the word it should be noted that although christianity as a faith has to be construed as irreconcilable with atheism this is markedly not the case regarding the church institutions which currently are nominally christian indeed the great positivist luminaries in all earnestness encompassed a catholic church which would retain all it s ceremonies and ecclesiastical structures whilst transforming into a purely atheistic church much in the same way that christianity has co opted the organisational traditions of the native faiths it has encountered around the world and through the ages islam in islam atheists are categorized as kafir a term that is also used to describe polytheists and that translates roughly as denier or concealer the noun kafir carries connotations of blasphemy and disc |
onnection from the islamic community in arabic atheism is generally translated ilhad although this also means heresy as the sharia punishment for apostasy in islam is death and such apostasy is also widely socially disapproved of atheists as well as converts from islam to other religions in islamic countries and communities frequently conceal their non belief the surveys mentioned above that indicate one zero zero religious belief in certain islamic countries should be interpreted in light of this fact asian spirituality it is difficult to categorize the eastern thought systems in distinct terms of theism or atheism therefore it should be noted that even the thoughts that would be characterized as atheistic in the western sense often have some theistic tendencies and vice versa carvaka also charvaka was a materialist and atheist school of thought in india which is now known principally from fragments cited by its hindu and buddhist opponents the proper aim of a carvakan according to these sources was to live |
a prosperous happy productive life in this world cf epicureanism there is some evidence that the school persisted until at least one five seven eight buddhism is often described as atheistic since buddhist authorities and canonical texts do not affirm and sometimes deny the following the existence of a creation and therefore of a creator god that a god gods or other divine beings are the source of moral imperatives that human beings or other creatures are responsible to a god or gods for their actions buddhists might also be deemed atheistic in anti buddhist hindu polemic since buddhists opposed the authority of the vedas and of vedic priests and the power of the rituals of vedic religion however all canonical buddhist texts that mention the subject accept the existence as distinct from the authority of a great number of deities including the vedic deities from the point of view of western theism certain concepts of the buddha found in the mahayana school of buddhism e g of amitabha or the adibuddha may seem |
to share characteristics with western concepts of god other schools continue to consider themselves as fundamentally atheistic in the strong sense of the term jainism is also sometimes classified as atheistic since jains s believe that in the most basic sense god is not seen as a person place or tangible thing but as the ideal state of an individual soul s existence confucianism and taoism are arguably atheistic in the sense that they do not explicitly affirm nor are they founded upon a faith in a higher being or beings however confucian writings do have numerous references to heaven which denotes a transcendent power with a personal connotation neo confucian writings such as that of chu hsi are vague on whether their conception of the great ultimate is like a personal deity or not also although the western translation of the tao as god in some editions of the tao te ching is highly misleading it is still a matter of debate whether the actual descriptions of the tao by lao zi has theistic or atheistic underto |
nes reasons for atheism although not all atheists claim to have a rational justification for their stance a majority of explicit atheists do assert that their stance has a rational basis and there are some especially common reasons given by them philosophical reasons a majority of explicit atheists base their stance on rational or philosophical grounds arguing that their position is based on logical analysis and subsequent rejection of theistic claims these arguments against the existence of deities consist of a number of different problems with theism chief among these problems is a perceived lack of evidence supporting theistic claims within the framework of scientific rationalism one arrives at the belief in the nonexistence of god not because of certain knowledge but because of a sliding scale of methods at one extreme we can confidently rebut the personal gods of creationists on firm empirical grounds science is sufficient to conclude beyond reasonable doubt that there never was a worldwide flood and tha |
t the evolutionary sequence of the cosmos does not follow either of the two versions of genesis the more we move toward a deistic and fuzzily defined god however the more scientific rationalism reaches into its toolbox and shifts from empirical science to logical philosophy informed by science ultimately the most convincing arguments against a deistic god are hume s dictum and occam s razor these are philosophical arguments but they also constitute the bedrock of all of science and cannot therefore be dismissed as non scientific the reason we put our trust in these two principles is because their application in the empirical sciences has led to such spectacular successes throughout the last three centuries many atheists hold that as their view is merely the absence of a certain belief the only defense that atheism needs is a good offense if theism s arguments are refuted nontheism as the only alternative becomes the default position as such many atheists have argued against the most famous proofs of god s exi |
stence for centuries whether all of the theistic arguments have been refuted is a matter in dispute throughout the centuries theistic philosophers have offered logical arguments in support of god s existence most of these can be divided into four major classes ontological cosmological teleological and moral in general atheists contend that these have been refuted there are also many atheists who attack specific forms of theism as being self contradictory one of the most common arguments against the existence of a specific god is the problem of evil the problem of evil is probably the most enduring and the most potent argument atheism has to offer against many varieties of theism christian apologist william lane craig aptly styled it atheism s killer argument in brief it seeks to establish that the existence of evil in the world is logically incompatible with the existence of a benevolent god and that it is more reasonable to conclude that god does not exist than that he does exist but does nothing to stop evi |
l other well known positive arguments include theological noncognitivism incoherency arguments which seek to prove contradictions within the nature of god atheistic teleological arguments and the transcendental argument for the non existence of god personal and social reasons as well as atheists with philosophical reasons there are explicit atheists who cite social psychological practical and other reasons for their beliefs some people hold atheistic beliefs on the grounds that it is conducive towards living a better life such as the belief that atheism is more ethical or useful than theism such atheists may hold that searching for explanations through natural science is more beneficial than doing it through faith moral reasons for atheism include cases where the requirement to do what is right favors being an atheist or at the very least not supporting certain sects or practices of theism those who cannot accept the notion of an evil god must conclude that any immoral religion is necessarily false practical |
reasons for atheism include reasons why accepting atheism over theism produces positive overall effects on a person s life arguments that theism promotes immorality often center around the contention that a great deal of violence including war has been brought about by religious beliefs and practices some people are atheists at least partly because of growing up in an environment where atheism is relatively common such as being raised by atheist parents many people are atheists not because they ve reasoned things out like that but because of the way they were brought up or educated or because they have simply adopted the beliefs of the culture in which they grew up bbc most atheists contend that the same is true for many believers for instance most of the population in predominantly jewish muslim or christian countries follow the religion that is more prevalent without much questioning christian psychologist paul vitz one nine nine nine argues that many people have psychological reasons for atheism and neurot |
ic psychological barriers to belief in god are of great importance see vitz one nine nine nine and for a similar view rizzuto one nine nine eight while it is common to point out the psychological reasons for not being an atheist it is important to note that emotion and feelings play an important role for many people not just theists however an understanding of the psychological origins for belief in a god may contribute to some atheists lack of religious belief see true believer syndrome and psychology of religion historical reasons without even taking into account scientific research some atheists have come to the conclusion that the existence of one or more gods can be dismissed due to historical reasons looking at very old civilizations such as ancient greece and ancient rome people believed in multiple gods linking each of them to an unexplained physical reality such as hades the god of the dead helios the god of the sun zeus the god of thunder and poseidon the god of earthquakes these people could not ex |
plain a phenomenon using a scientific theory and thus invented a god to explain it from fear of the unexplained in our current times all of these things except one have been explained scientifically there are no significant group of people believing earthquakes are the direct action of a god shaking the earth the only item from the original gods that is still a near complete mystery is death and as such only one god remains in most modern religions and looking at the various religions death along with afterlife is usually a central topic looking at historical records one can also see how the fears that people have of unexplained phenomenons have been used by various religious leaders both to persecute other religions and to gain more believers it seems likely to some atheists that if the result of death could someday be explained beyond a reasonable doubt by science the last god would no longer be worshiped by a majority of people just as was the case for every previous mythical god criticisms of atheism athe |
ists and atheism have received much criticism and opposition chiefly from theistic sources throughout human history opponents of atheism have frequently associated atheism with immorality and evil often characterizing it as a willful and malicious rejection of gods this in fact is the original definition and sense of the word but changing sensibilities and the normalization of nonreligious viewpoints have caused the term to lose its negative connotations at least in secular cultures the most direct arguments against atheism are those in favor of the existence of deities which would imply that atheism is simply untrue for examples of this type of argument see existence of god many common criticisms of atheism are rooted in a misunderstanding of what it is or an incorrect assumption that all atheists are strong atheists who assert that there is no such thing as god anywhere in the universe ray comfort exhibits this fallacy in the atheist test to say there is no god and to be correct in the statement i must be o |
mniscient i must know how many hairs are upon every head every thought of every human heart every detail of history every atom within every rock nothing is hidden from my eyes i know the intimate details of the secret love life of the fleas on the back of the black cat of napoleon s great grandmother to make the absolute statement there is no god i must have absolute knowledge that there isn t one other criticisms of atheism are based in conceptions that it leads to poor morals or ethics that it is impossible for a person to truly have faith in nothing or that lack of belief in a god is as much or more a leap of faith than belief in a god these criticisms have been answered to the satisfaction of many atheists see also list of atheists strong atheism weak atheism related concepts brights criticism of religion existence of god pascal s wager faith and rationality religiousness and intelligence freethinking irreligion nihilism objectivism pantheism rationalism religious freedom freedom of religion and belief sc |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.