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Is everything falling apart?

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Re: Is everything falling apart?

#961

Post by mensetmanusman »

judahmeek wrote: post #941
swat535 wrote: post #925

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a false dilemma, you are corroborating the actions of extremists with the entire concept of religion. This sounds more like Hitchen's kind of an argument, which is fine for entertainment purposes but it is reductive and prevents us from having interesting philosophical discussions regarding God and religion.

Philosophy has no practical value, except for contrarians who don't want to admit being wrong. History does though & the history of religion is that extremists who are religiously exclusive are much more likely to affect someone else's life due to their zealotry. That why there are so many wars & crimes linked to religious exclusion.

“Philosophy has no practical value”

This is a philosophical statement.

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#962

Post by Tepix »

tbrownaw wrote: post #894
celticninja wrote: post #815

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Organized religion is a different kind of societal harm, where personal religion can be good or bad, organized religion will always be a net negative.

> organized religion will always be a net negative. There are clear benefits to organized social stuff. For whatever reason, religions appear to be more effective at this than secular groups. One of the more "fun" theories I've seen is that this is because religious beliefs are often nonsensical and costly. For large scale events, I'm not convinced that nations that tried to do away with organized religion got better…

What are you comparing religions against? Boy scouts? Sports clubs?

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#963

Post by Tepix »

rhacker wrote: post #940
Tepix wrote: post #560

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ...and some numbers are wacky. > I guess teaching kids to trust in science and not in imaginary friends is slowly paying off.

They still have imaginary friends on facebook though. At least god has morals. We haven't replace those and the number of mass shootings seems to be going up as belief in god goes down.

You don't need god for morals (contrary to what many believe)

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#964

Post by rgrieselhuber »

_hcuq wrote: post #959
rgrieselhuber wrote: post #36

I remember watching the universal disdain Americans shared for high finance after 2008 and even movements like Occupy Wall Street resonated with a lot more people than one would have predicted. Then, all of the sudden, a whole new field of social engineering algorithms are unleashed on the populace, convincing everyone that their neighbor is the true enemy.

The greatest minds of our generation are engaged in the production of these social engineering algorithms.

All for a shot at owning a 900 sq ft million dollar house in the Bay Area.

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#965

Post by watwut »

myth_drannon wrote: post #119
watwut wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Contrapoint: it is actually good for Americans to worry about whether democracy will be destroyed in their country. Complacency and ignoring issues with "there are other countries that got it worst" may sounds smart or "worldwide-inclusive", but does not help neither Bosnians nor Americans. Possibly the most politically apathetic nation is Russia .. and where it got them. Political apathy is what you get in autocraci…

Well look at Israel, it had so many wars(some it almost lost). I would argue it made it stronger, more cohesive. I hope the same happens to Ukraine, despite the price it is paying.

They have own hard liners with genocidal rhetoric's and pretty violent practice. No, all the threats and violence did not made Israel better. It made them increasingly violent place.

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#966

Post by LeafItAlone »

gedy wrote: post #686
LeafItAlone wrote: post #623

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are a resident of NYC, what is happening in Albany (the capital of the state) certainly affects you. If you are a resident of New York, some of your Federal tax dollars[1] are going to New Mexico. Why would what they are doing with your money not be your business? [1] https://www.moneygeek.com/living/states-most-reliant-federal...

Maybe that's their point - do more at state level vs so much tax money & power at the federal.

> do more at state level

One of the two levels mentioned was at the state level and the question remains unanswered.

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#968

Post by rhacker »

Tepix wrote: post #963
rhacker wrote: post #940

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They still have imaginary friends on facebook though. At least god has morals. We haven't replace those and the number of mass shootings seems to be going up as belief in god goes down.

You don't need god for morals (contrary to what many believe)

When you're talking about an individual, of course. When you're talking about a population - what is replacing that?

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#969

Post by [deleted] »

antifa wrote: post #953
rhacker wrote: post #940

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They still have imaginary friends on facebook though. At least god has morals. We haven't replace those and the number of mass shootings seems to be going up as belief in god goes down.

It would surprise me if there were any statistics that didn't indicate the opposite of your implications.

[deleted]

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#970

Post by kmonsen »

Clubber wrote: post #493
kmonsen wrote: post #461

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But the output is depending on how much you put it, it’s actually progressive. Just less so than taxation in general.

Yes, it's progressive if you just consider the lower and middle class. Actually I think if you get what you put into it, it's neither progressive or regressive. If you include the upper earners, it's regressive. It's as if they capped income tax to your first $100K. Great for one group of people, not for the majority other.

You get more benefits from the first dollars put into SS than the last as far as I understand.
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