Fictional Universe/Religion chat

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"Unsure; mewling on my options. --il'Dictator Mikal 20:26, 18 February 2012 (UTC)" Hint: choose atheism -- we get to feast on the flesh of all those who oppose us. Plus, Richard Dawkins makes for a pretty good leader/prophet/god.

Stupid Troll Guy (talk)02:04, 19 February 2012

Im probably not going to go with atheism haha... as for the title; space opera is fun to write; although i tend to not do to many of them

il'Dictator Mikal02:31, 19 February 2012

So where are you going to land up? Catholicism?

Peter Monomorium antarcticum03:06, 19 February 2012

That would be interesting, given my parents converted from Catholicism somewherie between the birth of my brother and me (Only one of my family not baptized a catholic). I've been to the services of my grandparents a few times though and... i found it boring as hell. besides getting to walk with some palm branches, that was fun.

il'Dictator Mikal03:10, 19 February 2012

What do you call an 'interesting' church service then?

Peter Monomorium antarcticum03:16, 19 February 2012

what i grew up with, what i do now.

il'Dictator Mikal03:17, 19 February 2012

And what does that entail?

Peter Monomorium antarcticum03:18, 19 February 2012

standard fundamentalist protestant message. although the former started to get more and more liberal.

il'Dictator Mikal03:21, 19 February 2012

Doesn't sound that interesting. Are you sure you're not just a statist?

Peter Monomorium antarcticum03:36, 19 February 2012

it depends on how the preacher does it; the one at my church is good at doing it

il'Dictator Mikal03:45, 19 February 2012

Good at what, exactly?

Peter Monomorium antarcticum03:50, 19 February 2012

speaking, being sincere, holding attention.

il'Dictator Mikal03:51, 19 February 2012

And that's 'interesting'? You, my friend, are clearly deprived of entertainment.

Peter Monomorium antarcticum03:53, 19 February 2012

I consider long wordy history books to be pleasure reading; my idea of entertainment is a bit skewed yes :P. but, building on what i said in the saloon bar; ultimately the reason im going this far in my faith questioning (ive been doing this for a few years now) is simply... i dont feel happy, i feel judged, constantly, and just cant stand it; my own skepticism in the standard ideas of BL/YEC is just secondary.

il'Dictator Mikal04:01, 19 February 2012

Judged by who? Us?

Peter Monomorium antarcticum04:08, 19 February 2012

myself. as in when i compare myself to Christians i know, how im "supposed" to be, ect. i feel myself coming up short; and i judge myself on that.

il'Dictator Mikal04:11, 19 February 2012

What do they do that you don't?

Peter Monomorium antarcticum04:39, 19 February 2012

not so much what they do but how they are, what they believe. They always seem to "be in it" more then me. They don't seem so conflicted, so... questioning.They seem to feel god/something is there, i dont, not as much. And being the beliefs i do, i feel terrible for that. Case in point is prayer; i stopped believing prayer did much good a long time ago; and the last time i did pray the exact opposite of why i prayed happened.

il'Dictator Mikal04:43, 19 February 2012

I would say, then, that the religion for you is...$cientology!

Peter Monomorium antarcticum04:50, 19 February 2012

but im not rich and insane

il'Dictator Mikal04:52, 19 February 2012

The Mayan religion looks good. Most of their supposed undesirable beliefs are really confusion with the Aztecs.

Peter Monomorium antarcticum04:56, 19 February 2012

but i dont wanna have to navigate a weird gauntlet only to sit in a pyramid all day

il'Dictator Mikal04:57, 19 February 2012

Well, why not join your Henai religion then?

Peter Monomorium antarcticum05:00, 19 February 2012
 
 

Wait, are you one or the other?

Peter Monomorium antarcticum05:00, 19 February 2012

because 1) i dont wanna be maratrean 2.0, and 2) i know for a fact it isnt real. | im self described as insane, but thats me being weird

il'Dictator Mikal05:04, 19 February 2012

How do you know that it isn't real? Divine revelation works in mysterious ways!

Peter Monomorium antarcticum05:08, 19 February 2012

because i know it isnt :P. Personally my own religious Beliefs, if im not a christian, is something like Ietsisme.

il'Dictator Mikal05:22, 19 February 2012

That's quite a way from BL, I must say.

Peter Monomorium antarcticum05:25, 19 February 2012

But still stupid.

Nihilist (talk)05:29, 19 February 2012

not everybody feels so sure there isn't something else Fallacy, you should learn to accept that concept.

il'Dictator Mikal05:35, 19 February 2012

Oh, I accept it. I just think it's stupid.

Nihilist (talk)05:37, 19 February 2012

What if I said Nihilism was stupid?

Peter Monomorium antarcticum05:41, 19 February 2012

I'd ask you why.

Fallacy2 (talk)05:42, 19 February 2012

And I'd ask you why you nevertheless cared about gender neutrality and all that.

Peter Monomorium antarcticum05:44, 19 February 2012

Because I've been raised to dislike prejudice, and I view sexism and gender as perpetrators of prejudice.

Fallacy2 (talk)05:47, 19 February 2012

do you deny there is a physical difference between male and female sex?

il'Dictator Mikal05:48, 19 February 2012
 

But similarly, if you were 'raised to be a YEC'...

Clearly, you think it matters, is the point I'm trying to make.

Peter Monomorium antarcticum05:48, 19 February 2012

Yes, so?

Stupid Troll Guy (talk)05:50, 19 February 2012

If you think it matters, is that really nihilism?

Peter Monomorium antarcticum05:55, 19 February 2012

Yes.

Fallacy2 (talk)05:56, 19 February 2012

So you don't take it any further then? Why not?

Peter Monomorium antarcticum06:05, 19 February 2012

a) Why should I, and b) it's impossible to. You can't just stop having personal values and morals.

Stupid Troll Guy (talk)06:07, 19 February 2012

series murders would disagree

il'Dictator Mikal06:14, 19 February 2012

I'm pretty sure serial murders still have opinions on things.

Nihilist (talk)06:18, 19 February 2012
 

Can't you?

Peter Monomorium antarcticum06:16, 19 February 2012

No.

Nihilist (talk)06:18, 19 February 2012
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

So is actually thinking certain parts of the bible arent Literal; or thinking prayer is worthless. Or a number of things I believe

il'Dictator Mikal05:34, 19 February 2012

"So is actually thinking certain parts of the bible arent Literal" In talk, yes. In practice? No -- to be a functioning human being there are a number of things you have to ignore in the Bible.

Stupid Troll Guy (talk)05:36, 19 February 2012
 

Heresy!

What's wrong with Deism?

Peter Monomorium antarcticum05:36, 19 February 2012

Whos that to? me or him?

il'Dictator Mikal05:38, 19 February 2012

To you - why Ietsism over Deism?

Peter Monomorium antarcticum05:40, 19 February 2012

iunno. both work for me;

il'Dictator Mikal05:47, 19 February 2012
 
 

As far as I can tell, letsism is an even more watered down version of deism.

Stupid Troll Guy (talk)05:39, 19 February 2012

Yes, yes - but this 'higher force' may or may not have turned said water into wine.

Peter Monomorium antarcticum05:43, 19 February 2012

Can one of you hairless geeks please shorten the title of this thread so it's not such a drag to look at recent changes on my phone? Thanks.

Nutty Rouxnever mind06:36, 19 February 2012

I hate to break it to you, Nutty, but nothing's happening on RC right now. Or likely will for some time.

Peter Monomorium antarcticum06:39, 19 February 2012
 

Also, you can use the drop down to exclude the 'thread' namespace from the list. But I see Mikalos has changed the thread.

Peter Monomorium antarcticum06:41, 19 February 2012

You people and your insanely long threads.

Nihilist (talk)06:43, 19 February 2012

Your title made up most of it

Peter Monomorium antarcticum06:43, 19 February 2012

But I'm a nihilist, so you can't claim I had responsibility for that. Or something.

Nihilist (talk)06:46, 19 February 2012

That would be a determanist. And are you?

Peter Monomorium antarcticum06:47, 19 February 2012

More of a pessimistic incompatibilist, but the general idea's the same.

Nihilist (talk)06:48, 19 February 2012

^Wrong link.

Nihilist (talk)06:51, 19 February 2012

I don't give a squirt of piss what you pathetic shitheels yammer about on Saturday nIght or whether there's some button I don't know about I can push to exclude a namespace. Give me a button to ignore YOU so I can look at rc and see if you cunts are defaming anyone. You make looking at this site on a celly drunk in the back of a cab that's trying to murder me a vomitous experience and I already loathed you.

Nutty Rouxnever mind10:15, 19 February 2012

I forgot to recommend that you promptly get fucked. Thanks.

Nutty Rouxnever mind10:20, 19 February 2012

nutty im going to say i really dont give a fuck what you want to see or not see. i dont fucking care if its inconvenient for you to read, thats to bad, we felt like discussing things, so kindly fuck off

il'Dictator Mikal16:31, 19 February 2012

Except you already changed the thread title last night :-) Stop being so adorable.

Nutty Rouxnever mind16:48, 19 February 2012

that was because you asked nicely.

il'Dictator Mikal16:52, 19 February 2012
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Mikalos, here are some ideas for you:

  • Some variety of Paganism (I follow Lesbian Dianic Wicca, probably not your cup of tea)
  • Mormonism crossed with Scientology (19th century science fiction meets 20th century science fiction)
  • Start your own religion (like that Mara dude...)
  • Favorite fictional religion... Jedi is a bit too mainstream (and George Lucas is overrated), how about Olaf Stapledon's Star Maker?

The possibilities are endless!

Sarah Parker (talk)07:01, 19 February 2012

If you've given up intellectual integrity, why not believe you are god? I mean, that's what atheists already do anyways.

An American Nihilist (talk)07:32, 19 February 2012

"If you've given up intellectual integrity, "... i did?

il'Dictator Mikal07:40, 19 February 2012

Yes -- I don't even know how you could deny that at all -- you've practically literally admitted it.

Nihilist (talk)07:43, 19 February 2012

where

il'Dictator Mikal07:48, 19 February 2012

I'm pretty sure you've said that you believe in YEC and a 'higher power' because of some vague feeling you have.

Stupid Troll Guy (talk)07:52, 19 February 2012

the former is well.. former... and the second has fuck all to do with "intellectual integrity"

il'Dictator Mikal07:57, 19 February 2012

To me, once you've given up needing evidence to believe in things as big as 'higher powers', yeah, your intellectual integrity is pretty badly stained, if not fatally soiled.

Nihilist (talk)08:06, 19 February 2012

i consider the universe to be proof something beyond exists. Always have.

il'Dictator Mikal08:08, 19 February 2012

That's just a lazy cause-and-effect assumption; it's like thinking that there must be a god that makes it rain, and the same type of thought processes govern both.

An American Nihilist (talk)08:10, 19 February 2012

rain is simple, rais is easy. i can make it rain with a garden hose.

the universe is more, the universe is complex, the universe is chaotic, the universe is... beautiful and amazing.

il'Dictator Mikal08:12, 19 February 2012

...Which exactly proves what I just said. If you lived 10,000 years ago, you'd probably be saying the same thing about rain that you're saying about the universe. It's sort of a strange, pseudo-reversal god-of-the-gaps thought process -- as we learn more about the world around us, god (or a 'higher power', whatever the fuck that means) retreats to bigger and bigger things, things we don't understand.

And seriously, how does you seeing the universe as complex, chaotic, beautiful and amazing prove anything? If you thought it was ugly and horrifying, what would you think then?

Nihilist (talk)08:19, 19 February 2012

Do i say you have to believe me? Do i say "its 6k years old?" do i say "evolution isnt true, the big bang isnt true, X or y isnt true?" No. I haven't. Atleast not in this discussion. The fuck does it matter to you what nearly atheistic belief i might or might not have?

il'Dictator Mikal08:24, 19 February 2012

And that's how I think I know that you yourself realize what you think is bullshit.

An American Nihilist (talk)08:29, 19 February 2012
 
 
 
 

It's an interesting point, but postulating the existence of the universe as proof that the universe has a cause is not the same as proving that Specific Belief X is true. You move your hypothesis out of the realm by which supporting evidence for it is meaningful and so can never express confidence in it, indeed your confidence is only non-zero because of the probability quirk you can't really have absolutely zero confidence (for the same reason you can't have 100%, or infinite, confidence, it's an odds ratio thing). Even if you take the most broad and inclusive idea into account, you're almost certainly going to be wrong.

Though there is a more fundamental problem with this; are you balancing both sides of your deductions properly? If you assert that "something beyond" (doesn't matter what it is, unicorns, Yahway, goblins or sub-atomic particles of strange matter) created the universe then you are saying that this thing is causally connected to the universe. But what do we call something that is causally connected to the universe: well, the universe. This "something beyond" would necessitate "something beyond" that too. You need to seriously unpack what you mean by "the universe" before you can really start talking about this. Is it matter than you can see right now? In that case "the universe" is just what is inside your light cone at any one point and so "beyond" that is merely parts of the universe you haven't yet observed or interacted with - yet you wouldn't really consider such things to be truly "beyond" because they still posses physical and causal connections. We can continue linking things together to our own sensory experience like this until we hit the edge, or not. Anything "beyond" that simply doesn't exist by any meaningful way you care to define the term "exist" - it has no causal connection to us.

Anyway, sorry to make a longer thread longer.

Scarlet A.pngpathetic13:45, 19 February 2012

its ok, it was interesting to read. and you get the point across better. but im just not fully comfortable with the idea of athiesm full on.

il'Dictator Mikal16:27, 19 February 2012
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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