5 ms·

I think the same brain space is used by futurists too. Magic batteries, dehumidifiers, a/c units, rockets, tunnels, Mars colonization, integrated neutral/digita

I think the same brain space is used by futurists too. Magic batteries, dehumidifiers, a/c units, rockets, tunnels, Mars colonization, integrated neutral/digital systems. People want to feel like they are a part of a new age of knowledge set apart from the intellectually content masses, and feel like they're more honest in breaking free from the doctrine handed down by elites. And no. It's not fair to say that about religion in general. There are many reasons why people believe their religions.

oAlbe 8y ago
> There are many reasons why people believe their religions. What are those reasons in your opinion?
- Koshkin 8y ago
  Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people. — K.Marx
  - squirrelicus 8y ago
    "The gulags are a great idea" - Lenin. Marxists don't deserve a seat at the table of moral philosophy, no matter what your professor might have told you
    - claudiawerner 8y ago
      By the same logic, neither does liberalism (based on the writings of philosophers such as John Locke), since it must be responsible for the actions (sometimes horrific) of every liberal state, or even any state that claims to be liberal, no?
- squirrelicus 8y ago
  Religions distill generations of solutions to psychological problems we all face. Job: what do you do when tragedy strikes, when it feels like God and Satan have plotted against you? Don't destroy your own foundation; the tragedy wasn't your fault. Abraham and Isaac: if sacrifice makes a better future, what if we sacrifice the thing we cherish most in hope of the best possible future? God will never expect you to sacrifice your child; there is a limit to the efficacy of sacrifice. Sadly a lesson the brutally immoral Aztecs never learned. Christ as Redeemer: it is possible that even the worst among us can be saved from the hell they choose to create. There is divinity in each and every person that must be respected. It's tempting to prescribe the worst punishment and exile for those that make bad or antisocial choices. But more often than not, what they need most in order to rehabilitate is love. They can be resurrected from the death of nihilism. These small examples are lessons that were learned by countless generations before them. Codifying them and passing them on was critical to the thriving of the societies that respected them. We reject them at our peril.
  - lihaciudaniel 8y ago
    Couldn't be said better, but nihilism can be solved by means of responsibility. And psychological problems by therapy, assuming you live a good life (1% or the privellage part of the world)
ykevinator 8y ago
It's the same. There is no logical difference between believing in flat earth and believing in spermless conception
- xemoka 8y ago
  There is one difference here though: we have observed parthenogenesis in nature, so we know it can occur. We have not observed anything like a 'flat earth'.
  - ykevinator 8y ago
    But during those observations no one ever ascribes divinity to it. Instead, a scientific explanation is sought. If one believes that Jesus and the parthenogentic shark were the same phenomenon, then one should do some soul searching to ask why one does does not seek the same category of explanation. It is a defect in the seeker, not a difference in the phenomenon (a fixable defect).
- squirrelicus 8y ago
  There is more to Christianity than unbelievable fairy tales like spermless conception. Read Matthew. You'll be surprised how... American it sounds. Basics we take for granted like "the blind leading the blind" are scriptural and religious, and things that are easy to forget how to name and call out without the religion. Indeed, the foundation of capitalism, the right approach to differences in natural ability, and how we should view equality are found in Matthew 25. Just read that one if you can't stomach the Bible in general.
  - ykevinator 8y ago
    I'm not anti Bible, I just think belief in something despite evidence to the contrary is irrational and in this regard, belief in flat earth and the supernatural are equally irrational. We don't all have to be rational. Irrational people are not bad people. It's not immoral to be irrational. I love many irrational people in my circle of friends and family. But to believe in something despite evidence is called faith and faith and science cannot coexist because people of faith offer no condition under which they will acknowledge that their belief is incorrect. So with that rule set of logic, flat earth believers and believers in supernatural are in the same category, with love and respect. As a side note, that the Bible is wise and moral is independent of its accounts of the supernatural being true. The supernatural can be explained by the time period in which it was written.

oAlbe 8y ago

> There are many reasons why people believe their religions. What are those reasons in your opinion?

Koshkin 8y ago
Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people. — K.Marx
- squirrelicus 8y ago
  "The gulags are a great idea" - Lenin. Marxists don't deserve a seat at the table of moral philosophy, no matter what your professor might have told you
  - claudiawerner 8y ago
    By the same logic, neither does liberalism (based on the writings of philosophers such as John Locke), since it must be responsible for the actions (sometimes horrific) of every liberal state, or even any state that claims to be liberal, no?
squirrelicus 8y ago
Religions distill generations of solutions to psychological problems we all face. Job: what do you do when tragedy strikes, when it feels like God and Satan have plotted against you? Don't destroy your own foundation; the tragedy wasn't your fault. Abraham and Isaac: if sacrifice makes a better future, what if we sacrifice the thing we cherish most in hope of the best possible future? God will never expect you to sacrifice your child; there is a limit to the efficacy of sacrifice. Sadly a lesson the brutally immoral Aztecs never learned. Christ as Redeemer: it is possible that even the worst among us can be saved from the hell they choose to create. There is divinity in each and every person that must be respected. It's tempting to prescribe the worst punishment and exile for those that make bad or antisocial choices. But more often than not, what they need most in order to rehabilitate is love. They can be resurrected from the death of nihilism. These small examples are lessons that were learned by countless generations before them. Codifying them and passing them on was critical to the thriving of the societies that respected them. We reject them at our peril.
- lihaciudaniel 8y ago
  Couldn't be said better, but nihilism can be solved by means of responsibility. And psychological problems by therapy, assuming you live a good life (1% or the privellage part of the world)

ykevinator 8y ago

It's the same. There is no logical difference between believing in flat earth and believing in spermless conception

xemoka 8y ago
There is one difference here though: we have observed parthenogenesis in nature, so we know it can occur. We have not observed anything like a 'flat earth'.
- ykevinator 8y ago
  But during those observations no one ever ascribes divinity to it. Instead, a scientific explanation is sought. If one believes that Jesus and the parthenogentic shark were the same phenomenon, then one should do some soul searching to ask why one does does not seek the same category of explanation. It is a defect in the seeker, not a difference in the phenomenon (a fixable defect).
squirrelicus 8y ago
There is more to Christianity than unbelievable fairy tales like spermless conception. Read Matthew. You'll be surprised how... American it sounds. Basics we take for granted like "the blind leading the blind" are scriptural and religious, and things that are easy to forget how to name and call out without the religion. Indeed, the foundation of capitalism, the right approach to differences in natural ability, and how we should view equality are found in Matthew 25. Just read that one if you can't stomach the Bible in general.
- ykevinator 8y ago
  I'm not anti Bible, I just think belief in something despite evidence to the contrary is irrational and in this regard, belief in flat earth and the supernatural are equally irrational. We don't all have to be rational. Irrational people are not bad people. It's not immoral to be irrational. I love many irrational people in my circle of friends and family. But to believe in something despite evidence is called faith and faith and science cannot coexist because people of faith offer no condition under which they will acknowledge that their belief is incorrect. So with that rule set of logic, flat earth believers and believers in supernatural are in the same category, with love and respect. As a side note, that the Bible is wise and moral is independent of its accounts of the supernatural being true. The supernatural can be explained by the time period in which it was written.