tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5956838.post7205725951093885772..comments2023-11-22T01:14:54.298-08:00Comments on amor mundi: Robot Cultist Admits He's A Robot CultistDale Carricohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02811055279887722298noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5956838.post-32894307756006587362012-05-25T20:27:04.172-07:002012-05-25T20:27:04.172-07:00> Giulio Prisco has now proudly declared that h...> Giulio Prisco has now proudly declared that he is a full-on<br />> fulminating wish-fulfilment fantasist. . . [whipping up]<br />> a faith-based initiative [and] dreaming of Making It Big and<br />> becom[ing] Raelianism or Scientology or Mormonism some day.<br /><br />Yeah, he's been tipping his cards on an out-and-out Transhumanist Religion<br />for some time now.<br /><br />E.g., I mentioned, in the comments to<br />http://amormundi.blogspot.com/2012/03/this-weeks-wfs-post-is-up.html<br />-------------<br />Some amusing remarks from the comment thread of<br />"Three arguments against the singularity"<br />by Charlie Stross<br />http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2011/06/reality-check-1.html<br /><br />. . . Short version: **Santa Claus doesn't exist**. . .<br /><br /><br />-----------------------------<br />Giulio Prisco<br />June 25, 2011<br />274:<br /><br />. . .In reply to: "I can't disprove [the Simulation Argument], either.<br />And it has a deeper-than-superficial appeal, insofar as it offers<br />a deity-free afterlife... it would make a good free-form framework<br />for a postmodern high-tech religion. Unfortunately it seems<br />to be unfalsifiable, at least by the inmates (us)."<br /><br />My question is, what is wrong with this. Some persons function better<br />_in this life_ if they can persuade themselves to contemplate the<br />possibility of an afterlife compatible with the scientific worldview.<br />They become happier and better persons, help others, and try to make<br />the world a better place.<br /><br />In other words, the pursuit of personal happiness without harming<br />others. Charlie, what the fuck is wrong with this?<br /><br />-----------------------------<br />Charlie Stross<br />June 25, 2011<br />276:<br /><br />Nothing's wrong with that particular outcome.<br /><br />Where it goes wrong is when the belief system in question acquires<br />a replicator meme ("tell all your friends the good news!"),<br />a precedence meme ("all other beliefs are misguided!") and finally<br />goes on a bender and turns mean ("unbelievers are soulless scum!<br />Kill them all before they pollute our children's precious minds<br />with their filth!").<br /><br />That's why I take a negative view of religions in general.<br />It's not what the founders say or think, it's not about what<br />the mild-mannered ordinary folks who use it as a compass to<br />guide them through life's heartache think ... it's all about<br />the authoritarian power structures that latch onto them for<br />legitimization, and the authoritarian followers<br />(_pace_ Altermeyer et al) who take their insecurity out on<br />the neighbourhood.<br /><br />-----------------------------<br />Giulio Prisco<br />June 25, 2011<br />277:<br /><br />Of course I totally agree with this, which why I also take a<br />negative view of _traditional_ religions. Yet, I keep hoping<br />that we can find ways to use the positive aspects of religion<br />(relief from life's heartache) without falling into the negative<br />aspects. . .<br /><br />-----------------------------<br />Charlie Stross<br />June 25, 2011<br />279:<br /><br />I have a nasty cynical suspicion that the gap between an intriguing<br />speculative belief system and a traditional religion is about<br />one generation.<br /><br />(Today's Christian baptist fundamentalists are only 100 years removed<br />from their founders, who were a much more flexible and free-thinking<br />group. They went from questioning and skeptical reformists to doctrinaire<br />authoritarians in just two generations, as I understand it.)<br />-----------------------------jimfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04975754342950063440noreply@blogger.com