1. The Trolls Among Us

Comment #223329 by alexhouse on August 2, 2008 at 3:32 am

A warning - I checked out /b/ on 4chan and found myself looking at kiddie porn.

I'm not sure whether this was real or simulated - but either way it made me;

a) Sick and,
b) A criminal in the UK

I immediately closed my browser and I won't be going back. I suggest you don't go there.

2. The Return of Religion

Comment #212616 by alexhouse on July 17, 2008 at 12:45 pm

I've often thought of the what a weak proposal Sensus Divinitas is - weak, because it is true that there are a lot of us who clearly don't have it.

I do, of course get that utter sense of awe at the universe, and the fact that I am in it, and that I can think, and that I can think about how stupendously, remarkably big and complex and beautiful and simple it is all at the same time.

Its just that that feeling never gives rise to any kind of conviction that there must be a God.

I suspect the Sensus Divinitas is something much more prosaic.

I am an ex-smoker. I will, for the rest of my life have a Sensus Nicotinas - a nicotine shaped hole in my psyche which will never be filled.

The analogy actually stands up under more than a quick glance. If you look around the world at the moment, smoking is endemic - surely you might ask, there must be a survival benefit engendered by smoking - a natural reason why people smoke - it's part of our design.

Bollox. We smoke because it gives you a slight high to get you hooked - but creates a hole for itself in you that can only be filled by more Nicotine.

I'm very lucky I never had that first drag on bullshit that they have to live with.

Just to rub it in further - the idea that "most" religious people come to God through a philosophical angst at the inexplicability of consciousness is just plain nonsense. They get hooked by their dealer's free samples at an early age.

3. Degrees of religion

Comment #206187 by alexhouse on July 8, 2008 at 6:50 am

Actually - I agree with Kia most of the time. I have a perfectly nice life thankyou very much, I just wish all these weirdos would stop rocking the boat. If we could all just get along fine, the world would truly be a wonderful place.

I might even buy into the intellectual dishonesty required to ignore the idiocy of organised religion if you could gaurantee it.

Unfortunately those weirdos do keep rocking the boat. In the context of her religion, those weirdos can claim they have the moral high ground. That can't be right. And then there are the inequities and moral depravities propogated in the name of religion that don't impact us directly....

I hope Kia's approach remains tenable for the forseeable future - because if it does, it will probably mean that somebody has managed to defend her right to be a harmless fool. Long may it continue.

4. Degrees of religion

Comment #206118 by alexhouse on July 8, 2008 at 5:48 am

epeeist - extension of it to the whole of the human race - and beyond - is definitely a cultural creation.

Nobody seriously doubts that altruism can be shown to be an evolutionary advantage these days - the point is what do we do with it.

I believe in universal Human Rights - and even Animal Rights. There are certainly an awful lot of people who don't. QED.

5. Degrees of religion

Comment #206102 by alexhouse on July 8, 2008 at 5:28 am

bucketchemist - do you believe in Human Rights? Do you believe that the golden rule is a good one to follow? They are undoubtedly cultural creations. They too will go away if we stop believing in them. Secular humanists have beliefs too - you better be prepared to defend them.

6. Aliens need Christ's redemption, too

Comment #201989 by alexhouse on June 30, 2008 at 2:41 pm

Interesting justification for his conversion. Being unable to see how God fits in the increasingly small gaps available to him is a "failure of the imagination".

He actually shows that this is rubbish. Science Fiction & Fantasy writers continually use their imaginations to come up with a myriad of possible mythical extensions and extrapolations based on our world view - some of them including Gods or mysticism - for fun!

How can he fail to see that all these extrapolations are equally as likely as the mythology of Catholic Christianity he faithfully chooses to be true? Personally I much prefer Asimov -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Question.

We can use our imagination to find a place for God in this universe - but a more relevant question is "why should we?" - and if any reason can be found - "What's so special about yours?" is the next. Getting to the last question is hard enough - answering the last in favour of Catholicism is absurd.

7. Happy Newton Day!

Comment #98988 by alexhouse on December 15, 2007 at 5:39 am

This has reminded me of a campaign I was considering starting. In 2012 the Olympics is coming to London and quite frankly I'm almost chewing my leg off in embarrasment about the opening ceremony already. I want to try and get the London Olympic Comittee to build it around Newton and the Enlightenment as a whole. I can see it now - astronomical objects, equations flying by, all that good stuff. Bearing in mind we can't really celebrate the one truly remarkable (in the literal sense) thing about Britain - the fact that we led the largest empire that there has ever been - I think the seeds of the relative eutopia we live in right now (I know, I know, but compare western society now with any other period in history and I think you'll have to admit I have a point) were in the Royal Society and it probably the one thing of which I can say I am proud of from a "patriotic" POV. Whether any of this is accurate is very much open for argument - but as a basis for an opening ceremony, I think it beats a bloody stupid jousting competition. We could throw in the Beatles too at a push. I'm sure there's some way we can connect the Enlightenment and them.