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meh, I think religion in this context is merely morality side-taking. morality is one of the great unsolved dilemma's of our kind, I can see the appeal of takin

meh, I think religion in this context is merely morality side-taking. morality is one of the great unsolved dilemma's of our kind, I can see the appeal of taking a shortcut. I myself have struggled with the balance between objective and subjective morals. I take an evolutionary psychology approach to why humans behave how they do, but that doesn't answer what we should do. I think this question is very relevant to hackers who work on AI. What happens when an artificial consciousness wakes up and it doesn't do anything because it doesn't have any idea of what it "should" do? there's axiometry, but in the absence of perfect information about the future you have to resort to Bayesian statistical models in order to choose between likely outcomes. I also think it's pretty clear that a 100% consistent interpretation of any axiomatic rule would have unintended consequences. http://www.overcomingbias.com/2007/11/terminal-values.html http://www.overcomingbias.com/2007/11/terminal-values.html

gscott 18y ago
> morality is one of the great unsolved dilemma's of our kind With religion morality is supposed to be the norm. For Christians, Jesus feed the hungry not because it made Jesus feel good but rather to model "normal behavior". This goes on with Jesus saving the woman from stoning, the son coming back to his father and his father forgiving him (for demanding his inheritance early and blowing it on hookers), and so on. Morality in the real world (without religion) is an excercise in making yourself feel good (and feel you are "better then others") without any self-examination.
- silentbicycle 18y ago
  Not all religious authority rests on any sort of divine command. In buddhism* , morality is based on the idea that it's immoral to do some things (primarily: kill, steal, engage in sexual misconduct, lie/slander, and consume intoxicants that cloud judgement) because they tend to increase the amount of suffering in the world. * Which may or may not be considered a religion, depending on how you define things; it's not necessarily theistic, for example.
  - nazgulnarsil 18y ago
    this is basically utilitarianism. i.e. this action will benefit me, but will create a disproportionate amount of suffering for others, thus increasing net suffering.
- nazgulnarsil 18y ago
  I think that morality in the real world is a set of behaviors that made it easier for our ancestors to get along with the group, thus increasing their mating pool and offspring survival rates. Dunbar's number explains why it is so easy for us to espouse ideals like thou shalt not kill within the group and then justify the killing of other groups to take their resources and women. Intuitive morality is a function of what was most effective in a tribal environment.

gscott 18y ago

> morality is one of the great unsolved dilemma's of our kind With religion morality is supposed to be the norm. For Christians, Jesus feed the hungry not because it made Jesus feel good but rather to model "normal behavior". This goes on with Jesus saving the woman from stoning, the son coming back to his father and his father forgiving him (for demanding his inheritance early and blowing it on hookers), and so on. Morality in the real world (without religion) is an excercise in making yourself feel good (and feel you are "better then others") without any self-examination.

silentbicycle 18y ago
Not all religious authority rests on any sort of divine command. In buddhism* , morality is based on the idea that it's immoral to do some things (primarily: kill, steal, engage in sexual misconduct, lie/slander, and consume intoxicants that cloud judgement) because they tend to increase the amount of suffering in the world. * Which may or may not be considered a religion, depending on how you define things; it's not necessarily theistic, for example.
- nazgulnarsil 18y ago
  this is basically utilitarianism. i.e. this action will benefit me, but will create a disproportionate amount of suffering for others, thus increasing net suffering.
nazgulnarsil 18y ago
I think that morality in the real world is a set of behaviors that made it easier for our ancestors to get along with the group, thus increasing their mating pool and offspring survival rates. Dunbar's number explains why it is so easy for us to espouse ideals like thou shalt not kill within the group and then justify the killing of other groups to take their resources and women. Intuitive morality is a function of what was most effective in a tribal environment.