The Science of the Benefits of Religion • Hacker News Board

Re: The Science of the Benefits of Religion

#361

Post by michaelmrose » Tue, Sep 28, 2021, 5:14 PM UTC

temp8964 wrote: post #360

michaelmrose wrote: post #345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an atheist it would seem dualism would be out of bounds so given that your brain is you in a very literal sense what other factor do you believe defines humanness? I think therefore I am seems like the strongest possible argument here.

No. Brain alone does not define humanness. You can do a few thought experiments, such as: lab-grown full function brain, would it be treated as a human? lab-grown baby with brain development stopped at day x, would it be treated simply as a pile of meat? adult after accident left with x% brain function, would it be treated simply as a pile of meat? Just use your brain, you will see it is not that easy.

A fully functional lab grown brain would BE a human regardless of how it would be treated.

If the baby or the human had a sufficiently damaged or deficient brain it WOULD be a pile of meat. If they weren't treated as such it would be because of an emotional connection as opposed to a logical reason. This is all you've posited in this comment. Emotional situations designed to confuse the issue. I am using my brain, specifically to cut through the fog.

Re: The Science of the Benefits of Religion

#362

Post by hota_mazi » Tue, Sep 28, 2021, 8:02 PM UTC

rpmisms wrote: post #350

hota_mazi wrote: post #326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I did have an atheist phase, but that depressed me so severely that I almost had no choice but to reconsider my belief. Would you say then that you think it's more important for you to feel better than to believe true things? > Without a religious structure, life has no set purpose. Life has the purpose that you give it, there is no need for religion or deities for it. I feel empowered by the fact that I give my li…

> Would you say then that you think it's more important for you to feel better than to believe true things? Believing in a higher power and believing untrue things aren't codependent. I believe in science, and the power of man's reason. None of that contradicts my belief in a higher power.

That belief is irrational, though, since there is no evidence that such a being exists.

Re: The Science of the Benefits of Religion

#363

Post by iammisc » Wed, Sep 29, 2021, 2:21 AM UTC

PartiallyTyped wrote: post #354

iammisc wrote: post #342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nah they're just racist. The thing is a white liberal can become a homosexual should they choose to have sex with someone of the same sex. They can even theoretically become trans. No matter what a white man or woman does or how they feel about attraction or their gender.... He or she will never be brown. Sorry I'm not putting up with this intersectionality shit.

People don't choose to be gay/lesbians or trans, and there's tonnes of evidence in support of this.

Sure. But if I, a straight man, slept with a man, then I would become a homosexual by definition. Or if I pursued becoming trans. Now it's unlikely I'd do this but theoretically it is part of the set of possible actions..

There is no action a white man or woman can take, not surgery they can pursue, that will make them brown.