4 ms·

In terms of body count, more people have been killed in the name of science than in the name of religion.

zaroth 8y ago
We kill with science, do we kill in the name of science? But even so, that doesn’t make all the killing in the name of religion less bad.
- xkcd-sucks 8y ago
  If killing is justified by an evidence-based predictive model, it's probably killing in the name of science. This would include the Vietnam war ("Domino theory"), the atomic bombings of Japan ("it will be less costly than invading"), and anti terrorist drone bombing ("they fit our proven terrorist heuristic")
  - frankling_ 8y ago
    I don't follow that line of reasoning at all. "Killing in the name of religion" would be to protect or spread some sort of metaphysical belief. The equivalent would be something like going to war with another country to build universities there.
    - acct1771 8y ago
      Check out this little country called Afghanistan. Although, not sure if any Universities specifically have been built there by the West, yet.
      - deleted 8y ago
        [deleted]
      - frankling_ 8y ago
        Just as an exercise, it would be beneficial for you to make your argument explicit. You would notice that it falls apart/there is none.
        acct1771 8y ago
        We (USA) do go and destroy places and institutions/governments and rebuild as benefits us, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_regime_change https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_r... or https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/12/23/the-cia-says-russia-hacked-the-u-s-election-here-are-6-things-to-learn-from-cold-war-attempts-to-change-regimes/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/12/2....
        acct1771 8y ago
        Also, who's arguing?
    - xkcd-sucks 8y ago
      Contrasting "scientism" as faith in "science" vs "science" as an evidence based process of ascertaining how the world works, you're probably describing "killing in the name of scientism" which is effectively religion insofar as it is a matter of faith. E.g. faith that building universities and education makes people behave in a "sciencey" manner

We kill with science, do we kill in the name of science? But even so, that doesn’t make all the killing in the name of religion less bad.

xkcd-sucks 8y ago
If killing is justified by an evidence-based predictive model, it's probably killing in the name of science. This would include the Vietnam war ("Domino theory"), the atomic bombings of Japan ("it will be less costly than invading"), and anti terrorist drone bombing ("they fit our proven terrorist heuristic")
- frankling_ 8y ago
  I don't follow that line of reasoning at all. "Killing in the name of religion" would be to protect or spread some sort of metaphysical belief. The equivalent would be something like going to war with another country to build universities there.
  - acct1771 8y ago
    Check out this little country called Afghanistan. Although, not sure if any Universities specifically have been built there by the West, yet.
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
    - frankling_ 8y ago
      Just as an exercise, it would be beneficial for you to make your argument explicit. You would notice that it falls apart/there is none.
      - acct1771 8y ago
        We (USA) do go and destroy places and institutions/governments and rebuild as benefits us, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_regime_change https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_r... or https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/12/23/the-cia-says-russia-hacked-the-u-s-election-here-are-6-things-to-learn-from-cold-war-attempts-to-change-regimes/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/12/2....
      - acct1771 8y ago
        Also, who's arguing?
  - xkcd-sucks 8y ago
    Contrasting "scientism" as faith in "science" vs "science" as an evidence based process of ascertaining how the world works, you're probably describing "killing in the name of scientism" which is effectively religion insofar as it is a matter of faith. E.g. faith that building universities and education makes people behave in a "sciencey" manner