SBF: I think there might be a real God behind the Bible.
If you're right, then please tell that fucker I hate him. He is a horrible, horrible being as Dawkins described. Worse, actually.
I've told him myself but he never responded.
Posts by jp1692
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168Where to draw the line: how Platonism haunts our discourse and the search for exorcism
by slimboyfat inin the discussion about race i adopted a position i am not entirely comfortable with.
i think there is a sense in which it is useful to distinguish categories of description that can be fruitfully defended (apples and bananas) and those that cannot (caucasian or other racial descriptions for example).
but there is a more fundamental sense in which i believe that everything is socially constructed, every single line you can think of.
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jp1692
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315
Flat earth vs round earth
by Jrjw inmy brother has been talking about the earth being flat and some big conspiracy going on to make people beieve otherwise.
what are people's thoughts on this?.
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jp1692
Why just flat or round? Why not:
- Pyramid?
- Doughnut?
- Conical?
- Square?
- Polygonal?
I'm feeling a definite lack of imagination here from the anti-oblate spherists among us.
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168
Where to draw the line: how Platonism haunts our discourse and the search for exorcism
by slimboyfat inin the discussion about race i adopted a position i am not entirely comfortable with.
i think there is a sense in which it is useful to distinguish categories of description that can be fruitfully defended (apples and bananas) and those that cannot (caucasian or other racial descriptions for example).
but there is a more fundamental sense in which i believe that everything is socially constructed, every single line you can think of.
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jp1692
To be clear, SBF, I'm not an atheist.
I just don't believe in any of the gods that humans have invented; they are all horrible, malformed reflections of ourselves and projections of our existential fears.
Here are two viewpoints on the subject that nicely articulate my thoughts as well:
“The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.” ― Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion
"Those who raise questions about the God hypothesis and the soul hypothesis are by no means all atheists. An atheist is someone who is certain that God does not exist, someone who has compelling evidence against the existence of God. I know of no such compelling evidence. Because God can be relegated to remote times and places and to ultimate causes, we would have to know a great deal more about the universe than we do to be sure that no such God exists. To be certain of the existence of God and to be certain of the nonexistence of God seem to me to be the confident extremes in a subject so riddled with doubt and uncertainty as to inspire very little confidence indeed." - Carl Sagan
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121
Did man really go to the moon?
by atomant inl have researched this subject and come to the conclusion that no we didn't.what do others think?.
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jp1692
It’s time to abandon the superstitions and pseudoscience. It’s time to grow up. - Barry Vacker
Here's an interesting essay on the topic by Vacker:
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121
Did man really go to the moon?
by atomant inl have researched this subject and come to the conclusion that no we didn't.what do others think?.
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jp1692
HB: I reckon we should be patient with newbies and tolerate a bit of oddness--we were duped once remember.
It's good advice to be patient with people trying to sort things out after leaving a cult, but we do not need to be patient with those that do so rudely and act like petulant, ill-mannered children throwing tantrums because others disagree with them.
Recently we've had a crop of newbies that say things like "do the research," but fail to give any credible evidence for their claims and rarely, if ever, respond to well-reasoned and sourced counterarguments.
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168
Where to draw the line: how Platonism haunts our discourse and the search for exorcism
by slimboyfat inin the discussion about race i adopted a position i am not entirely comfortable with.
i think there is a sense in which it is useful to distinguish categories of description that can be fruitfully defended (apples and bananas) and those that cannot (caucasian or other racial descriptions for example).
but there is a more fundamental sense in which i believe that everything is socially constructed, every single line you can think of.
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jp1692
SBF: If not God, then what?
Nothing. It just is.
Can you let it be what it is and not try to make it something it isn't?
Let the stillness be still, the quiet be quiet. What is, is. Nothing more or less.
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jp1692
“Now everyone is calling me an idiot.”
That’s not true. There are still several billion people that have not yet commented on your intelligence.
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121
Did man really go to the moon?
by atomant inl have researched this subject and come to the conclusion that no we didn't.what do others think?.
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jp1692
It’s weird that people will used advanced technology—iPhones, tablets and the internet—to post conspiracy theory rants saying technology is a hoax.
How do they miss the irony and the fact that they are the butt of their own joke?
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jp1692
Here's on older thread on a very closely related topic:
It's interesting to note how quickly that thread also was hijacked by ignorant, off-topic comments from people that clearly didn't understand the subject well but wanted to argue it anyways!
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34
Hollow earth
by Jrjw ini thought the flat earth conspiracy theory was strange but ive just read an article about a new conspiracy theory that the earth is hollow and that its a paradise there and 8 foot tall intellectually advanced aliens live there who send space ships out every so often to check on mankind.
apparently lost viking colonies and nazis that fled there after world war 2 are living there immortally 🤣🤣 .
this world just gets better and better 🤣🤣🤣🤣.
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jp1692
They don't get the accolade of "theory" until they have been proven correct.
Actually this is not accurate. In science, a hypothesis only becomes a theory when it is well-supported by an abundance of evidence and there is a consensus among scientists in that field. We must always allow for the possibility the our theories are inaccurate, perhaps only in the details, or possibly even completely wrong.
Consider this from Merriam-Webster:
“In scientific reasoning, a hypothesis is constructed before any applicable research has been done. A theory, on the other hand, is supported by evidence: it's a principle formed as an attempt to explain things that have already been substantiated by data.“
When scientists use the word “theory” we have a very specific and precise meaning that is usually lacking in general discourse among non-scientists. A hypothesis, as a tentative explanation of a particular phenomenon, does not become a theory overnight. It often takes considerable time, rigorous research, careful experimentation and/or data collections as well as peer-review.
Check out this short essay from the National Science Teachers Association on the subject:
In particular, I really appreciated this comment from that essay: “All of our current understanding of scientific phenomena is theoretical and could be revised in a heartbeat if commendable and repeatable evidence falsifies it and supports a new theory.”
The truth and beauty of science is that all of “our explanations are tentative and open to challenge,” but you better have some damn good evidence supported by sound logical reasoning and a solid methodological approach!
Conspiracy “theorists” in tin-foil hats need not apply.