51. Hitchens vs. Hitchens

Comment #157426 by Serdan on April 9, 2008 at 4:44 am

Ygern, I know. Problem is that he was wrong on the facts. Something that is not befitting for The Hitch.

I don't get the vegetarian part..?


Badger, ORLY? Care to show me some references?

52. Hitchens vs. Hitchens

Comment #157391 by Serdan on April 9, 2008 at 3:24 am

Excellent! The Hitch at his best.

However,

Someone who says that "Do what you will must be the whole of the law". That's supposedly what Satanists say at their ceremonies. By the way Satanists are not atheists by definition. Their Satanic majesties are not non-entities.

Lulz. Before hearing this I would have thought it a good bet to suppose that Hitch had been reading Satanic literature. His views are perfectly in tune with what LaVey proposed in The Satanic Bible and elsewhere. Indeed, one of the things LaVey felt strongly about was that of the taxation of churches, something Hitch touches upon in this debate.

Aside from that, he is very much ignorant of occultism in general.

1.) "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law" - This was popularized by Aleister Crowley. However, even he did not wish to imply that you should just follow any impulse that might occur to you. He believed that following one's True Will would lead to self-realization. Of course one's True Will could supposedly be known through the help of a Holy Guardian Angel or somesuch, so it's all nonsense anyway.

2.) Moreover, the adherents of Thelema did not claim the name of Satan for themselves. LaVey was the first to do that in a coherent manner. He founded Satanism in 1966.

3.) Satanism is inherently atheistic. There is no room for gods when the most important thing in your own subjective universe is yourself.

4.) The "Satanic majesties" used in ritual are actually non-entities.

http://churchofsatan.com/Pages/PentRev.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thelema

53. 'We Make Our Own Heaven'

Comment #151362 by Serdan on March 28, 2008 at 2:49 pm

I still don't know what to do about the 'Santa' question.

Don't lie to the children in the first place?

54. 'We Make Our Own Heaven'

Comment #151357 by Serdan on March 28, 2008 at 2:43 pm

"I like to think freely, but still I can really think freely whenever I want 'cause I think thinking freely is good,"

The Redundancy Department of Redundancy should do something about that. ^_^

Kids are awesome.

55. Chemical brain controls nanobots

Comment #142544 by Serdan on March 12, 2008 at 5:16 pm

Steve,

The second one would be Michio Kaku, yeah?

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/opinion/mg18624957.300

You're right though, it's hard to tell if you have no knowledge of the subject matter.

It's a lovely article, by the way.

56. Out of the Blue

Comment #140878 by Serdan on March 9, 2008 at 1:17 am

This seems relevant to some of the discussion that has been going on:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080229141032.htm

57. Fleabytes

Comment #129942 by Serdan on February 19, 2008 at 7:40 pm

Bravo! Wonderfully written!

My only objection would be to your comments on Black Metal. It's a genre, not an ideology and the fact that the perpetrators were fans of such music is as relevant as the fact that they were atheists. If I were to venture a guess I would say that the problem lies with their upbringing. They particularly seemed to lack a sense of personal responsibility.

I may have missed something or read you wrong, but this is a pet peeve of mine. If anyone should be blamed in these cases it would be the parents. Pointing your finger at games/music/whatever is simply scapegoating.

PS, Satanism promotes personal responsibility and condemns such vandalism.

58. Dusty Clues: Study suggests no dearth of Earths

Comment #122119 by Serdan on February 4, 2008 at 7:20 pm

Why am I not surprised?

Every time man says "I'm special", he most likely is not.

59. Female Muslim medics 'disobey hygiene rules'

Comment #121441 by Serdan on February 3, 2008 at 12:06 pm

We've had similar cases in Denmark. An interesting case I found was that of Nalen Yasin, who made her own custom uniform which lived up regulations as well as her own needs. Yasin also mentioned that "according to Islam I can put aside the rules of modest clothing if I'm treating a sick person."

There's always a solution if all involved actually wants one.

60. How Evolution REALLY Works

Comment #113554 by Serdan on January 20, 2008 at 2:30 am

Cool. I've made something similar to this, except one of my objectives was to make it aesthetically pleasing.

http://www.serdan.eu/ncs.aspx

61. George Scales, War Hero and Generous Friend of RDFRS

Comment #111569 by Serdan on January 15, 2008 at 2:49 am

Now, there's a hoopy frood who knows where his towel is!

Mr. Scales, I wish you all the best from Denmark.


Sincerely,
Anders Kehlet

62. It was a bad year for God.

Comment #109871 by Serdan on January 10, 2008 at 1:36 am

The Bible provides the moral rule, which is timeless and unambigious:

"In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.(Matt.7:12)

In everything? I surely hope masochists will refrain from following that rule.

Oh, wait... Christians are masochists...

63. Changing my Mind

Comment #107106 by Serdan on January 4, 2008 at 4:45 am

qster, homeopathy is not mysterious in any way, it's nonsense and it does not work.

You really need to learn the principle of Ockham's Razor.

64. The Pagan Christ

Comment #106459 by Serdan on January 3, 2008 at 1:51 am

Albondigas,

Now that's interesting because when I look around and see complex things in the world like a computer, a car, or an airplane, there is something more complex behind them.

Hello, little puddle. ^_^

65. Mother Nature is Not Our Friend

Comment #106443 by Serdan on January 3, 2008 at 12:48 am

Dolce,

And eugenics? We've been down that road before (Stephen Jay Gould wrote about that, too), and it's not a pretty one.

If you are referring to the Nazis, I will just point out that nothing they did was pretty*. That those nitwits totally messed it up does not necessarily mean that any kind of eugenics is inherently bad.

*Except for the uniforms and such. Those bastards did have style.

66. Changing my Mind

Comment #106413 by Serdan on January 2, 2008 at 9:21 pm

qster, are you really suggesting that dogs have access to some mysterious sense of connected energy between all living beings? That they can sense other beings from afar?

That explains why they have evolved such fine noses, I'm sure. Why just sense your prey, when you can go to all the trouble of tracking it down? ¬_¬

67. Mother Nature is Not Our Friend

Comment #105851 by Serdan on January 2, 2008 at 1:20 am

@Comment #77:

Bonzai, the criteria for "fitness" would be decided by the parents. The only way in which the interests of others could come into play would be if the parents were credulous enough to let themselves be influenced by those vested interests or popular prejudice. In which case I really wouldn't care. Let stupid people do what stupid people do best, so long as it does not affect my life. Besides, even stupid people would most likely select in favour of higher intelligence, so such idiocy would only last for a few generations.

Umm... You will have to explain to me why it would be such a bad thing if people were allowed to select against "gay genes".

We can help the poor and develop such technologies simultaneously. It is only unreal if you think it would benefit people in the third world if we ceased to do such research. Actually, I would posit that the opposite is true.

68. Mother Nature is Not Our Friend

Comment #105813 by Serdan on January 1, 2008 at 9:26 pm

Ashton, I have reason to trust. Any such enhancements would be entirely optional. I only have to look at the history of my country to be reassured of that. Then again I live in one of the most awesome countries in the world. It would probably be best to withhold such technology from USA and similar countries for a while, but the religious are making sure of that, so I'm not concerned.

As for your specific example, it was a poor choice since most people do crave to fit in. You don't need some gene sequence artificially applied for that.

69. Mother Nature is Not Our Friend

Comment #105805 by Serdan on January 1, 2008 at 9:04 pm

Diacanu, I was actually going to put forward such an example myself. Making the atom bomb available to people of Khan's time would obviously be a bad idea, but why is that? We are not all that different from those people genetically, so what is the difference? Well, our culture of course. We have matured culturally along with the scientific advancements that made the nuclear bomb possible. I suspect the same thing will happen with genetic modifications. There will be gradual advancement leading up to this technology and we will mature culturally along with it. Unfortunately it seems we are lagging a bit behind on the cultural side, but we haven't brought about our own destruction yet, so I trust it won't happen with this technology either.

70. Mother Nature is Not Our Friend

Comment #105794 by Serdan on January 1, 2008 at 8:36 pm

Diacanu, well yeah, so what? I enjoy debate for the sake of debate. If you don't, we can just leave it at that.

71. Mother Nature is Not Our Friend

Comment #105788 by Serdan on January 1, 2008 at 8:31 pm

Diacanu, so you don't think it would be a good idea to enforce some arbitrary standard? I agree. What I don't agree with is your objections to even making the technology available.

We have been fixing what is broke for centuries. I wear glasses myself. But it seems that when it comes to more advanced biological enhancements you no longer think it's a good idea. Why not? It's just the next step in our technological advancement.

72. Mother Nature is Not Our Friend

Comment #105762 by Serdan on January 1, 2008 at 7:25 pm

Diacanu, "exactly what?"

What is it you think is obvious about the subjective nature of a standard? It seemed to me that you implied such subjectiveness meant we should disregard it, but that is apparently not the case.

73. Mother Nature is Not Our Friend

Comment #105760 by Serdan on January 1, 2008 at 7:16 pm

Diacanu, then correct me by answering the question.

74. Mother Nature is Not Our Friend

Comment #105758 by Serdan on January 1, 2008 at 7:13 pm

Diacanu, exactly what? That something is subjective does not make it useless. Or do you think we should just disregard ethics?

75. Mother Nature is Not Our Friend

Comment #105753 by Serdan on January 1, 2008 at 7:04 pm

Diacanu, my own subjective standard, necessarily. Though I would claim that most people can agree that sociopaths are "broke".

76. Mother Nature is Not Our Friend

Comment #105749 by Serdan on January 1, 2008 at 6:52 pm

Diacanu, as Harris points out it is actually broke, so will you help fix it?

77. Mother Nature is Not Our Friend

Comment #105744 by Serdan on January 1, 2008 at 6:29 pm

Bravo!

More people need to realize the simple fact that the world is utterly indifferent to our survival. The idea that we are somehow special in any objective sense is not only blindly selfish in the extreme, but ultimately foolish and destructive.

78. Man and God

Comment #103413 by Serdan on December 25, 2007 at 1:33 pm

[...] the militant new atheism [...] the terrorism and repression of militant Islamism [...] the new militant atheism is wrong [...]

Excuse me?

Above all, an ideology – for atheism is an ideology – that cannot see its own scientific limitation cannot claim to be scientific.

Is this a serious article or a children's book?
"[...] and then Mr. Tumnus - for that was his name - told Lucy [...]"


Oh, and my name is Anders Kronby Kehlet. Only one of those in the world. ^_^

79. What does atheism say about the purpose (or the meaning) of life?

Comment #98356 by Serdan on December 13, 2007 at 2:05 pm

Like so many things we hear from religites, the question doesn't make sense.

1.) The only thing atheism entails is disbelief in gods.

2.) There can be no objective "meaning of life", since the word "meaning" by definition is subjective.

Of course, what they usually mean by such a question is: "What meaning can there be without God?"
But the answer to that should be obvious given the above. If they cannot take responsibility for their own lives, then that is their own problem. It has no bearing on either the validity of religion or the existence of God.

Sometimes I wonder if they would prefer to live under the rule of a ruthless tyrant over being truly free.

80. Atheism's Wrong Turn

Comment #93175 by Serdan on December 2, 2007 at 11:22 am

Yay! Let's ransack some churches! Who's with me?!


Oh, wait...

81. Sudan demo over jailed UK teacher

Comment #92421 by Serdan on November 30, 2007 at 1:08 pm

You gotta be fucking kidding me.

"The marchers took to the streets after Friday prayers to denounce the sentence as too lenient."

The next idiot who claims that Islam isn't the problem will receive a broken nose.

82. Patience, fairness and the human condition

Comment #78390 by Serdan on October 12, 2007 at 4:22 pm

@Ultraviolet G: Sounds similar to this:

http://www.richarddawkins.net/article,1676,Monkeys-show-sense-of-justice,Dr-David-Whitehouse-BBC

83. Larry King Interviews Kathy Griffin

Comment #71980 by Serdan on September 20, 2007 at 4:13 am

Khiyal

Janus, the sacred is that which may not, under any circumstances be sacrificed or compromised. Not ever.

Cool... I'm Sacred.

84. The Fleas Are Multiplying!

Comment #69294 by Serdan on September 10, 2007 at 11:11 am

fides_et_ratio

An argument is much more interesting when you listen to both sides.

Only problem being that there is no argument. The existence of God is a nonissue, and always has been.

85. The smallest signs of retreat

Comment #68587 by Serdan on September 7, 2007 at 5:03 pm

What needed be said has already be said, so I will refrain from going on a rant and instead provide these words of wisdom.

Hávamál

53.
Hvor der er lidet Sand,
ere Søerne smaa.
Små ere Mændendes Sind.
Ej blev alle
éns i Kløgt.
Der er Vismænd og Dårer i Verden.

http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/havamal.html#wanderers

86. A force for good?

Comment #55478 by Serdan on July 11, 2007 at 8:32 am

"I start with a sense that there is purpose in existence. That we are connected to something bigger than ourselves."

Umm... That's one of the major problems with religion.

Your will has been stripped away and been substituted by that of another person, an organisation or, even worse, a meme. You're a puppet, nothing more.

Really, it's the oldest trick in the book if you want people to follow you blindly.

87. Cataloguing every species on earth

Comment #39267 by Serdan on May 10, 2007 at 8:43 am

This is totally awesome! ^_^

88. Genie shows barred by Islam, clerics say

Comment #34121 by Serdan on April 23, 2007 at 9:51 am

@Chamber: How can you ignore the rules of logic and then post a definition of "logic" to 'support' your argument? How can you claim to make logically sound arguments and at the same time commit some of the most obvious logical fallacies in the history of logical discourse?


I'll stop wasting my time now.

Bye.