7 ms·

"The Internet Is My Religion"

52 points by jrlevine 15y ago

Alex3917 15y ago
"The next Buddha will be a Sangha." — Thich Nhat Hanh
thebooktocome 15y ago
Lost me at the Rand quote.
- whackedspinach 15y ago
  Kept me a the Rand quote. Do you actually dislike the quote or just Rand in general? If you disliked the quote, I would like to know what you disagreed with. If the latter, I would have to say that ignoring everything someone has ever said just because you disagree with them on some points is attacking the person, not the idea. Just because I disagree with Hitler's actions doesn't mean I ignore everything he ever said.
  - thebooktocome 15y ago
    1. On the surface, it's false -- or else the blind cannot create. Rand has few good words for people who are not ISO humans. This is not as clear in Atlas Shrugged, but is more evident in her non-fiction, and I disapprove of it. A quick Google search brings up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vJoaWa-kWQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vJoaWa-kWQ 2. Quoting Rand signals, if not acceptance, approval for her general thesis. It is a good thesis in so far as it romanticizes (in her technical sense of the word, see _The Romantic Manifesto_) the ability of humans to produce great things. It is a bad thesis in so far as it blames those who cannot produce great things -- for any reason -- for "enslaving" those of the previous class.
Griever 15y ago
Very interesting talk -- I think. Too bad I don't know how it ended because as the email input prompt appeared I closed the window immediately.
- 2shea 15y ago
  Use a fake email. The entire video is truly inspiring and worth watching.
davidcollantes 15y ago
I can't see it. Where is the HTML5 version of this?
pnathan 15y ago
Sorry, but this is ridiculous. It's okay to appreciate helpful humanity, but to deify it is absurd.
VMG 15y ago
Please add tl;drs to these sorts of things. I don't want to have to seek randomly in the video to know what this is about.
johnnyg 15y ago
I hope religion is more than the interconnectedness of us all, though I've got no idea.
billybob 15y ago
"We are the leaders of this new religion. We have faith that people connected can create a new world. Each one of us is a creator but together we are The Creator." It all sounds lovely until the universe turns into a cold, dead cinder. Seriously, making stuff is beautiful, and helping people is beautiful, but those don't add up to transcendent beings. If everything about us, right down to our deepest desires, is fundamentally just the motion of atoms, when the universe ends, it might has well have never happened. I am a Christian, so I'm biased here#, but it seems to me that non-religious people keep trying to simultaneously claim that the universe is merely a semi-random collection of atoms and energy, AND that we can find transcendent meaning in it. You can't have it both ways. #Then again, I think it's impossible NOT to be biased about a question like the meaning of life. We all want some particular thing to be true.
- insickness 15y ago
  The fact that the universe is a semi-random collection of atoms and energy is EXACTLY the meaning I find in all of this. Life--particularly human life--is so damn beautiful and rare that every single moment here needs to be appreciated. Trying to live your life a certain way in the hopes of gaining some sort of non-existent afterlife utopia shows a complete lack of appreciation for your own time here among the living.
  - billybob 15y ago
    "Needs" to be appreciated why? If appreciation is merely brain chemistry, it's no different from hunger or hate, none of which have any moral value at all, because there is none to be had. Murder and charity and the blowing of the wind: all are meaningless accidents in a purely material universe. And your description of an afterlife is not at all how I think of it; it sounds quite mercenary. It's more like "spend your time painting as if someone will see it, not as if you will burn it immediately upon finishing."
    - insickness 15y ago
      Ah, so it comes down to this: morality. As if human beings themselves aren't inherently good enough to figure things out for ourselves. Instead we need a mythical super-being to tell us what is right or wrong. This is where a religion based on the appreciation of life conflicts with a religion based on controlling others via morality. I have no problem if you want to believe that there is a super-being in the sky or that we are all made of stars or that there is some inherent order to the universe and life that we do not yet understand. But don't pretend that you are right and others are wrong. Your version of a God with his omnipotent powers and everlasting love has just as much cause to communicate with me personally as he does with you or the Pope or your preacher. No one can tell me that they know better than I do what lies beyond this life. Why do we have to keep our eyes closed to the beauty of life here on earth for it to have "meaning"? Life is awesome, devastating, amazing, heartbreaking, and wonder-filled. Every moment is a gift. Knowing that one day it will all come to an end makes it all the more beautiful for me.
insickness 15y ago
For those of you who can't watch it or want a synopsis: It's an inspiring talk about a guy who has dealt with multiple extreme health issues, like cancer and a lung transplant, and how people--connected by the internet--made it possible for him to get the help he needed to live. He's not saying that he worships the internet, rather that communication and understanding other people is what is best in all of us. In this sense, the internet is his religion because it allows him to have faith in the goodness of the world.
gaius 15y ago
Read the comments on Youtube and tell me the Internet is "The Creator". Right now the Internet is at the primordial ooze stage of evolution.
- saraid216 15y ago
  Funny. I've read YouTube comments more thoughtful than yours.
georgieporgie 15y ago
his slightly nervous, ever-so-geeky, sensibility... I would love for that sentence to be explained. The speaker took the stage and spoke with confidence. I saw no signs of nervousness. As for geeky, I guess you mean he was skinny, wearing a rumpled shirt and glasses? Sensibility? You mean he looked sensitive, or reasonable? I dunno, it just seems like a whole lot of snap judgment of a guy and some words that seem to have just been assembled at random because it sounded cool.
- ldh 15y ago
  Agreed, that language seems a bit overblown. And the extraneous comma makes it stand out even further.
chipsy 15y ago
The internet's a third level of "human organism," not a deity. The first two levels being individuals, and traditionally organized bodies with leaders. That said, it is a great source of "godly" works.
known 15y ago
Will Congress ratify Internet as a Religion?
efnx 15y ago
I think he's pretty right on. One can argue that currently the connection between human beings made possible by the internet is _not_ godlike, but if you extrapolate this kind of connection to its endpoint - telepathy and humankind as an organism, you start to get something very godlike by today's standards. If you still don't agree with him then we're arguing about the definition of god, which is a silly thing to argue about.

52 points by jrlevine 15y ago

Alex3917 15y ago

"The next Buddha will be a Sangha." — Thich Nhat Hanh

thebooktocome 15y ago

Lost me at the Rand quote.

whackedspinach 15y ago
Kept me a the Rand quote. Do you actually dislike the quote or just Rand in general? If you disliked the quote, I would like to know what you disagreed with. If the latter, I would have to say that ignoring everything someone has ever said just because you disagree with them on some points is attacking the person, not the idea. Just because I disagree with Hitler's actions doesn't mean I ignore everything he ever said.
- thebooktocome 15y ago
  1. On the surface, it's false -- or else the blind cannot create. Rand has few good words for people who are not ISO humans. This is not as clear in Atlas Shrugged, but is more evident in her non-fiction, and I disapprove of it. A quick Google search brings up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vJoaWa-kWQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vJoaWa-kWQ 2. Quoting Rand signals, if not acceptance, approval for her general thesis. It is a good thesis in so far as it romanticizes (in her technical sense of the word, see _The Romantic Manifesto_) the ability of humans to produce great things. It is a bad thesis in so far as it blames those who cannot produce great things -- for any reason -- for "enslaving" those of the previous class.

Griever 15y ago

Very interesting talk -- I think. Too bad I don't know how it ended because as the email input prompt appeared I closed the window immediately.

2shea 15y ago
Use a fake email. The entire video is truly inspiring and worth watching.

davidcollantes 15y ago

I can't see it. Where is the HTML5 version of this?

pnathan 15y ago

Sorry, but this is ridiculous. It's okay to appreciate helpful humanity, but to deify it is absurd.

VMG 15y ago

Please add tl;drs to these sorts of things. I don't want to have to seek randomly in the video to know what this is about.

johnnyg 15y ago

I hope religion is more than the interconnectedness of us all, though I've got no idea.

billybob 15y ago

"We are the leaders of this new religion. We have faith that people connected can create a new world. Each one of us is a creator but together we are The Creator." It all sounds lovely until the universe turns into a cold, dead cinder. Seriously, making stuff is beautiful, and helping people is beautiful, but those don't add up to transcendent beings. If everything about us, right down to our deepest desires, is fundamentally just the motion of atoms, when the universe ends, it might has well have never happened. I am a Christian, so I'm biased here#, but it seems to me that non-religious people keep trying to simultaneously claim that the universe is merely a semi-random collection of atoms and energy, AND that we can find transcendent meaning in it. You can't have it both ways. #Then again, I think it's impossible NOT to be biased about a question like the meaning of life. We all want some particular thing to be true.

insickness 15y ago
The fact that the universe is a semi-random collection of atoms and energy is EXACTLY the meaning I find in all of this. Life--particularly human life--is so damn beautiful and rare that every single moment here needs to be appreciated. Trying to live your life a certain way in the hopes of gaining some sort of non-existent afterlife utopia shows a complete lack of appreciation for your own time here among the living.
- billybob 15y ago
  "Needs" to be appreciated why? If appreciation is merely brain chemistry, it's no different from hunger or hate, none of which have any moral value at all, because there is none to be had. Murder and charity and the blowing of the wind: all are meaningless accidents in a purely material universe. And your description of an afterlife is not at all how I think of it; it sounds quite mercenary. It's more like "spend your time painting as if someone will see it, not as if you will burn it immediately upon finishing."
  - insickness 15y ago
    Ah, so it comes down to this: morality. As if human beings themselves aren't inherently good enough to figure things out for ourselves. Instead we need a mythical super-being to tell us what is right or wrong. This is where a religion based on the appreciation of life conflicts with a religion based on controlling others via morality. I have no problem if you want to believe that there is a super-being in the sky or that we are all made of stars or that there is some inherent order to the universe and life that we do not yet understand. But don't pretend that you are right and others are wrong. Your version of a God with his omnipotent powers and everlasting love has just as much cause to communicate with me personally as he does with you or the Pope or your preacher. No one can tell me that they know better than I do what lies beyond this life. Why do we have to keep our eyes closed to the beauty of life here on earth for it to have "meaning"? Life is awesome, devastating, amazing, heartbreaking, and wonder-filled. Every moment is a gift. Knowing that one day it will all come to an end makes it all the more beautiful for me.

insickness 15y ago

For those of you who can't watch it or want a synopsis: It's an inspiring talk about a guy who has dealt with multiple extreme health issues, like cancer and a lung transplant, and how people--connected by the internet--made it possible for him to get the help he needed to live. He's not saying that he worships the internet, rather that communication and understanding other people is what is best in all of us. In this sense, the internet is his religion because it allows him to have faith in the goodness of the world.

gaius 15y ago

Read the comments on Youtube and tell me the Internet is "The Creator". Right now the Internet is at the primordial ooze stage of evolution.

saraid216 15y ago
Funny. I've read YouTube comments more thoughtful than yours.

georgieporgie 15y ago

his slightly nervous, ever-so-geeky, sensibility... I would love for that sentence to be explained. The speaker took the stage and spoke with confidence. I saw no signs of nervousness. As for geeky, I guess you mean he was skinny, wearing a rumpled shirt and glasses? Sensibility? You mean he looked sensitive, or reasonable? I dunno, it just seems like a whole lot of snap judgment of a guy and some words that seem to have just been assembled at random because it sounded cool.

ldh 15y ago
Agreed, that language seems a bit overblown. And the extraneous comma makes it stand out even further.

chipsy 15y ago

The internet's a third level of "human organism," not a deity. The first two levels being individuals, and traditionally organized bodies with leaders. That said, it is a great source of "godly" works.

known 15y ago

Will Congress ratify Internet as a Religion?

efnx 15y ago

I think he's pretty right on. One can argue that currently the connection between human beings made possible by the internet is _not_ godlike, but if you extrapolate this kind of connection to its endpoint - telepathy and humankind as an organism, you start to get something very godlike by today's standards. If you still don't agree with him then we're arguing about the definition of god, which is a silly thing to argue about.