|
Pages: 1 ... 3 4 [5] 6
|
 |
|
 Poll
|
| Question: |
Do we still need religions
| Yes |
|
   1 (16.7%) |
| No |
|
5 (83.3%) |
|
|
| Total Voters: 6 |
|
Author
|
Topic: Political Miscellany (Read 18164 times)
|
|
|
Zanthius
Enlightened
 Offline
Posts: 941
|
If we are honest — and scientists have to be — we must admit that religion is a jumble of false assertions, with no basis in reality. The very idea of God is a product of the human imagination. It is quite understandable why primitive people, who were so much more exposed to the overpowering forces of nature than we are today, should have personified these forces in fear and trembling. But nowadays, when we understand so many natural processes, we have no need for such solutions. I can't for the life of me see how the postulate of an Almighty God helps us in any way. What I do see is that this assumption leads to such unproductive questions as why God allows so much misery and injustice, the exploitation of the poor by the rich and all the other horrors He might have prevented. If religion is still being taught, it is by no means because its ideas still convince us, but simply because some of us want to keep the lower classes quiet. Quiet people are much easier to govern than clamorous and dissatisfied ones. They are also much easier to exploit. Religion is a kind of opium that allows a nation to lull itself into wishful dreams and so forget the injustices that are being perpetrated against the people. Hence the close alliance between those two great political forces, the State and the Church. Both need the illusion that a kindly God rewards — in heaven if not on earth — all those who have not risen up against injustice, who have done their duty quietly and uncomplainingly. That is precisely why the honest assertion that God is a mere product of the human imagination is branded as the worst of all mortal sins.
quote by the famous physicist Paul Dirac
|
|
|
|
« Last Edit: August 02, 2018, 06:17:12 pm by Zanthius »
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
Zanthius
Enlightened
Offline
Posts: 941
|
You should be very afraid of almost all superintelligences, because designing goals that are compatible with the fulfillment of human values is very very hard.
What you should be afraid of Death 999, are machine learning algorithms developed by malevolent dictatorships:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e77022UWFu4
We might have a chance to develop a benevolent educational AI. If we don't do this, it seems more likely that malevolent dictators will win the battle for your future.
Also, if we don't develop an open source system where everybody has their own secure online account with their personal data, that information is rather going to be stored by dictatorships:
In Russia and China, there is not going to be a: "Your secure online account". There, Putin and Xi Jinping are going to have access to all your personal data, and they are going to use that data to determine your usefulness. They can also use that data to manipulate you in numerous ways.
You know, if Russia and China are developing some kind of new superweapon, you might be interested in doing the same, even if you think it is a bad idea, just to prevent them from gaining complete control. I don't think you would like it much if only Russia and China had nukes, would you?
|
|
|
|
« Last Edit: September 09, 2018, 01:21:23 pm by Zanthius »
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
Death 999
Global Moderator
Enlightened
Offline
Gender: 
Posts: 3873
We did. You did. Yes we can. No.
|
That's also a concern, but why not worry about both?
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
Deus Siddis
Enlightened
Offline
Gender:
Posts: 1387
|
Here is another video by Bret Weinstein. This guy seems to be really wise.
He goes into some more detail about his concepts in this video. What I found most interesting is his idea that friendly inter-group interaction depends on humans being inside an environment of overabundance. Under those circumstances we as organisms engage in trying to expand our numbers or control over resources as quickly as possible, without conflict, conceivably because conflict would slow down the expansionism or harvesting operations with its high costs and risks. But once surplus resources are spent or taken over, and further resource acquisition or expansion becomes a zero sum game, you have inter-group conflict. It is the same wisdom taught to us by 4X games, odd as it might sound.
Have you guys seen this documantary?
[...]
Nobody can stop the future, but if we work hard we might be able to prevent ourselves from ending up in a global Chinese or Russian digital dictatorship, where they own all our personal data.
Regarding the documentary's premise, I think it is important to keep in mind that superpowers are... powerful. It is only when one is fundamentally weak that it can be all that interfered with by another. The Chinese were seriously beaten by the Japanese when the Soviets liberated them and then helped install Mao. The Soviet system was geriatric and broken when the USA moved in and supported Yeltsin to promote its messy break up. Just the same, the USA would have to be already in a state of near total collapse for another superpower to mess with its internal mechanisms in a serious and successful way. The USA is in a state of decline, but you are way early to the party (that is, by years or decades) with these particular concerns.
I do not think your general fear is irrational though, just slightly misplaced. If your own country is a small Western European state with a weak military, then the power politics of "the big three" is a real concern for you, And I cannot say you should hope to rely on undemocratic and tenuous systems like NATO and the EU for any longer. The only thing you can really do is harden your own national military into something actually reasonable by modern standards and cooperate with local states on a state-to-state basis. Maybe the Eurofighter project is a good example of strength through this kind of flat hierarchy cooperation.
Learn from the legacy of the Gauls, Britons, Iberians! They relied too long on Pax Romana to safeguard their lands and peoples. But when Roman power collapsed, they were all immediately overrun by invaders. Their languages, cultures and societies erased from the world.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Zanthius
Enlightened
Offline
Posts: 941
|
I think Yuval Noah Harari as the alpha male and Bret Weinstein as the sage would be a great pair as leaders for a world government. Bret Weinstein is super wise and has a very good understanding of righteous governance. Yuval Noah Harari has a very large perspective of history and of what might happen in the future. I am not sure who should be the caregiver.
|
|
|
|
« Last Edit: September 20, 2018, 12:47:59 am by Zanthius »
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
Death 999
Global Moderator
Enlightened
Offline
Gender:
Posts: 3873
We did. You did. Yes we can. No.
|
Did you ever read Too Like the Lightning? That last comment reminded me of Bryar Kosala.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
Pages: 1 ... 3 4 [5] 6
|
|
|
|
|
