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"Not only is the Singularity religion for atheists" I also don't understand this statement. I asked the parent about why the singularity and AGI are "the apoca

by burnte 7y ago

"Not only is the Singularity religion for atheists" I also don't understand this statement. I asked the parent about why the singularity and AGI are "the apocalypse" for atheists, but I also don't follow the logic of this statement. Granted, I don't think there will ever be a "singularity", but I fail to see how it is in any way linked to atheism. Maybe a small subset of people, like you said, a "bizarre offshoot".

the_af 7y ago
Ah, yes. Sorry, I'm an atheist myself and I can see how my sentence could be misconstrued. Let me rephrase: there's a bunch of Silicon Valley technologists and like-minded people, who consider themselves enlightened atheists, and who have fallen prey to a different kind of religion: an apocalyptic tech-religion with a set of distinct beliefs such as the Coming of the Singularity, the Evil AI, the Upload Your Mind to the Cloud and Live Forever cult, etc. Not everyone believes in the same subset, and not everyone believes in the more bizarre of these beliefs. As an atheist myself, I definitely didn't mean that all or even the majority of atheists will fall for this. I meant that a specific subset of tech-minded, nerd, and likely well-to-do atheists tend to fall for these techno-religions. It's a "religion for atheists" because it's a religion that tries to hide the trappings of a more traditional religion, for people who presumably reject them and who don't consider themselves open to new age pseudoscience either. But tell me it's not cute how Ray Kurzweil has faith in reaching immortality (salvation) in his own lifetime.
- burnte 7y ago
  Thanks for the explanation. I agree there's a small group of virtual-theists like Kurzweil, he's been a bit off kilter for many, many years. I'd love to upload my mind into VR when my meatbag expires, but the chances of that happening in my life are near zero, and not much better for brain uploading in general, IMO.

by burnte 7y ago

the_af 7y ago

Ah, yes. Sorry, I'm an atheist myself and I can see how my sentence could be misconstrued. Let me rephrase: there's a bunch of Silicon Valley technologists and like-minded people, who consider themselves enlightened atheists, and who have fallen prey to a different kind of religion: an apocalyptic tech-religion with a set of distinct beliefs such as the Coming of the Singularity, the Evil AI, the Upload Your Mind to the Cloud and Live Forever cult, etc. Not everyone believes in the same subset, and not everyone believes in the more bizarre of these beliefs. As an atheist myself, I definitely didn't mean that all or even the majority of atheists will fall for this. I meant that a specific subset of tech-minded, nerd, and likely well-to-do atheists tend to fall for these techno-religions. It's a "religion for atheists" because it's a religion that tries to hide the trappings of a more traditional religion, for people who presumably reject them and who don't consider themselves open to new age pseudoscience either. But tell me it's not cute how Ray Kurzweil has faith in reaching immortality (salvation) in his own lifetime.

burnte 7y ago
Thanks for the explanation. I agree there's a small group of virtual-theists like Kurzweil, he's been a bit off kilter for many, many years. I'd love to upload my mind into VR when my meatbag expires, but the chances of that happening in my life are near zero, and not much better for brain uploading in general, IMO.