zedvictor4

Now, what is that supposed to mean?

P1. Everything that can be perceived must exist.

P2. GODS are imagined but never perceived.

P3. Therefore GODS are not actually perceived and are currently not known to exist.

One could compile similar sets of statements all day long.

Result...Temporary satisfaction.

End result....Nope.

Keep going Mr A.

And?

Anselm's argument.

Blarney.

Therefore.

Godel's argument.

Unnecessary overthink.

Godel was very good at that.

Put the two together.

And you end up with

Zero.

As ever.

Most of your comments are cryptic.

But that one was more cryptic than most.

I never wrote the question.

And you get 0 points for peeing in the woods.

Only points for peeing in the backyard.

Or peeing outdoors most of the time.

You're too quick to judge Poly.

I agree.

But this is a discussion website.

And your comment had obvious implications.

So even if you weren't implying that they should.....Why did you suggest that someone perhaps didn't "challenge yourself at all".

My question was only relative to the necessity of challenge.....Which was a statement undeniably made as a considered proposal on your part..

Strange N comment.

But anyone brandishing an AR15 over here would be charged.

We're more integrated and less paranoid over here.

And we don't make ridiculous pleas to an outdated constitution every time it's suggest that we give up our toys.

An AR15 is nothing more than a phallic extension.

You suggested that Sadolite might not challenge himself.

And I questioned why should he need to.

Or why should anyone challenge themself, if they are content.

Have you actually responded to that enquiry.

Nice jibe Poly.

But I'm pretty certain that Mr E doesn't feel bullied.

He's as thick skinned as me.

Are you OK Mr E?

You just went BOOM.

Maybe so.

But Icelanders dressing up as Vikings and pretending to worship mythical Norse Gods is very much LARP.

And for sure, clergy dressing for effect is all part of the show.

Love that.

Did you get it from the  Karma Sutra?

Only joking.

I would assume that low birth-rates are relative to culture, rather than to a lack of potential.

A reasonable concept.

Though, does a modified action become a new action.

Is every action frozen in time?

And is every new action relative to a separate moment in time.

Random thoughts.

Why should Sadolite challenge himself, if he is content with what he has?

And I'm not sure that your driving analogy is at all equivalent.

Could you please elaborate?

The "they" Doc.

Who actually are "they".

Conspiracy theorists always blame the "they".

So if I locked you in an enclosed room with a group of covid infected "they".

Would it not be normal for you to be fearful?

Similarly, if I didn't lock you in a room with a group of infected "they".

And left you on your backwoods veranda with your moonshine, your banjo and your pot of lucky shamrock.

Would it not be normal for you not to be fearful?

Normal is whatever it might be at the time Doc.

I bet that fear soon became the New Normal for Caleb Wallace and H Scott Apley......To name but two.

An unlikely statistic.

Do you have any impartial survey data to back up that claim?

It's what we refer to as historical re-enactment Poly.

Not unlike popular theism.

In fact just like popular theism.

Put on your best clothes and chant a lot.

And perhaps even process and attempt to look meaningful.

I prefer to ride my bike.

I put on my best cycling clobber and attempt to look sleek.

What about you Poly?

Do you enjoy dressing up when you're doing your polytheistic stuff?

It all boils down to the theist declaring this: 

And atheists have no reason to respond, other than because they very much enjoy doing so.

But the crucial thing that you are forgetting Mr E,  is that Atheists don't believe.

And it took me minus 50 years or so, to debunk popular Middle Eastern based GODS and their associated myths and fantasies.

End of History

End of recorders then.

End of the universe maybe.

@Sadolite

Well done.

Luck and Judgement, no doubt.

Such contentment eludes most.

@Reece101

Why challenge oneself.

If challenging oneself, challenges contentment.

Yep...I thought exactly the same.

Dancing great.

Female oppression not so.

True.

#10

Extremely well stated Poly

I agree entirely.

I believe zero.

I know that you don't actually have a clue.

Throughout my entire formative educational experiences.

I was never once formally "indoctrinated" with evolutionary data.

And I doubt that the USA was any different.

On the other hand GOD tales were a regular bore.

And I also doubt that the USA was any different.

I think that you were telling paranoid porkies.

And fortunately, my Dad always put me straight.

Normal is a Nation in fear of Covid Doc.

As is denying the fact.

As is not denying the fact.

As is attempting to make a political weapon out of a virus.

As will be dying and not being here tomorrow.

Stay safe Doc.

Are phones a reason for living?

Sure, for some.....New Normal.

And Buddha

Some long since dead Eastern Guy.

Way past disagreement.

For sure, watching people do stuff is entertaining.

Ballroom dancing is the new religion for some.

Have you ever watched Sufi Muslims dancing....I think that it's absolutely enthralling.

Doesn't necessarily make the ideology any more reasonable though.

Which book Poly?

The beauty of atheism, is that one doesn't need to write fantasy stories.

We cling on for a short lifetime.

And the older we get, the more we fear change.

And everyday we have a new normal.

Though we don't always realise.

I can remember when a normal phone was in a little red building by the side of the road.

We've moved on a tad since then.

Original Sin is an example of sexual repression and the development thereof.

Ooooooo.....Put some clothes on and cover up your bits.

And Kin Punishment is just another example of how some people can be arseholes.

I strive not to personify.

I think that you are perhaps personifying for me.

And I always strive to make it clear, that when I refer to material evolution, I regard species survival and development only as a short inevitable phase of a long and inevitable process.

If it was not us then it would have been them.....Who furthered the development of matter and knowledge.

So,  intermittently stochastic perhaps.

But ultimately inevitable.

Though perhaps not ultimately ultimate.

I hypothesize that GOD principle is that which is achieved with our help, and that which re-initiates the sequence of material development.

So the possibility of an infinite sequence.

But the beginning.

Neither You, I nor EtrnlVw has a clue.

Well.... Rocket engineering and brain surgery are developed techniques that can be taught and learned. So I would agree that anyone with a reasonable level of intelligence, and more importantly the ambition, could become a rocket engineer or brain surgeon.

The reason why I don't say rocket scientist, is because those that developed sophisticated techniques of engineering and surgery were perhaps a tad bit more intelligent than most.

Not sure that you are fully understanding of the term "Pagan" Poly.

Or the term atheist, for that matter.

Atheist Pagans is a contradiction in terms.

And "LOL" is you laughing at yourself.

Nice.

Who are they?

And what is normal Doc?

Normal is people fearful of change.

And Dem or Con makes no difference.

Tomorrow is always the New Normal.

Humans are sapient, as would be other evolved sentient organic structures, as might be evolved sentient inorganic structures.

And GOD principle might be a further extension of this process of material evolution, to a point of conclusion.

Personifying is a person thing.

And true, as gullible minors we  are often subjected to the personification of a GOD, derived from archaic and naive hypotheses/fantasy tales.

So theistically this is what GOD has inevitably become.

To be fair, I suppose that it all ends up meaning the same thing.

I'm just certain that worship is completely unnecessary.

As things will inevitably happen as they will.

@Tarik

One could be interested but not care.

It's all data management.

With the possibility of further mental or even physical application, or no further application.

Depends upon whether we are interested enough to care.

Well.

GOD is a label for human ignorance.

And then there are various and specific humanesque GODS aligned to popular religions.

As an atheist, and not accepting the idea of a humanesque or physical  GOD, I am therefore not aligned to any popular religious ideology. 

Why?......Lack of evidence......And lack of appropriate conditioning of course.

So that leaves me with a choice between chance or purpose.

And one likes to think that there is a purpose to everything...And one refers to such purpose as a GOD principle.

Even if that just be chance material creation and evolution to a point of conclusion and re-initiation.

With evolved organic structures such as ourselves not necessarily just along for the ride, and full of imagination.

GOD principle-----Creation-----Material Evolution-----GOD principle-----Re initiation-----And so on.

And theism doesn't get drummed into heads?

And atheism can be as rhetorical as you want it to be.

But atheism generally means, not adhering to popular religious ideology.

When it comes to the point of conclusion we are all as ignorant as one another.

And for sure, GOD is just a label for our ignorance.

And fantasy always has been an insubstantial but entertaining substitute.

As ever.....GOD principle sound.....But not a floaty about bloke.

Is that really you Mr E?

Back from the wilderness.

Hope that you and the lovely Mrs E are both well.

Science is as simple or as complicated as is necessary.

But to understanding any process fully whether it be religion or making custard, is to understand the complex processes of matter and the brain.

So Professor Poly.......EXACTLY what happens when you think that you're a polytheist?

If you think that it's external magic blokes firing data signals into your brain....Then you are undoubtedly mistaken/deluded.

And EXACTLY.....What makes custard happen?

For sure......Definitively, cooking,  religion and science are different.

But to understand fully, one needs to apply science to them all.

Well notwithstanding that a lot of Jews are antisemitic.

Semite is a bit of hijacked hyperbole....Check out it's general definition.

But another discussion.

But correct, hyperbole for sure.

And a reference to all religions and their ritual absurdities.

Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Catholicism etc etc etc.

I make no distinctions, unless the distinction is already made.

Jews and the afterlife, as it were.

And a wall is a wall.

No more no less.

And recording what has happened (history) is data acquisition, and storage.

No more, no less.

And nodding at walls, is no more or less a derived exaggeration of data manipulation.

And circumcision........Well, genital manipulation of minors is often regarded as perverse in western societies....Such are the contradictions of morality I suppose.

And the afterlife.

What to do hey.

How does one plan for eternity?

  

Agree.

Nice.

GOD is a theory.

But like all creation theories GOD falls at the first hurdle.

Something from nothing.

BOOM!

But what went boom.

Eternal existence is an easy answer.

But a magic bloke?

"Illiterate" wasn't quite the word you were looking for Poly.

Ignorant was probably the one.

Bit of a foot shooter there.

But hey, we all make mistakes.

"Calling" is an easy concept to understand Poly.

It's an internal response to acquired data.

No magical beings out there, Poly.

They're all inside Poly.

Engaging is the whole point of the exercise Poly.

People believe because we continually transfer the relative data from generation to generation.

Data originally born out of ignorance.

It must have been a magical floaty about bloke, as it were.

The fact that we keep transferring said data, is a testament to human fallibility.

Some of us have moved on though.

Entertaining.......But it's meant to be....And everything from a human perspective.

As I see it the future of Planet Earth may or may not be inextricably linked to the future of the universe.

The development of matter including humanity seems important, though the evolutionary process to a final point probably has billions of years to run yet.

And for how long our input will be vital is anyone's guess.....Though as technology evolves, the numbers of humans needed to facilitate the process will decrease greatly.

That is to say, that most humans are/will be surplus to requirements.

Whereas once we required natural selection to advance the knowledge of the species, we probably now have the knowledge to dispense with natural selection.

A.I. is probably the only way forwards.....With only a very select group of humans along for the ride.

Whether or not we keep churning out organic human dross, will to a greater extent, depend upon sustainability.