The Religion Thread

[neoplacebo]

I think Hawking is right; artificial intelligence will be the end of the human race, and I don't think it will take more than a couple hundred more years. Pigeons win.

Seagulls are some tricky bastards too.

Crows will kick seagulls asses.

[JTA]

My first flight simulator used crude black & white wire-frame drawing. Now we're already on the verge of creating simulated worlds that you wouldn't be able to tell apart from the real thing. And on dirt-cheap consumer toys yet. And we're on the verge of being able to simulate the human brain - one which could be put into one of these simulations. In 50 years we might be doing it easily.

Just to expand on this:

We're already on the verge of creating simulated worlds - just for cheap entertainment yet - that you wouldn't be able to tell apart from the real thing. In 50 years we'll be doing it easily with people in the simulation unable to detect the difference.

In a few decades we'll be able to simulate a human brain. A full person with its own thoughts and emotions.

Stick that computer generated person in a totally realistic computer-generated world, along with some other simulated people, and it wouldn't know that it was in a simulation.

You could limit the simulation to just one room full of people, but give them each full computer generated memories of lives outside that room. You could watch their reaction to some event you create, then reset the simulation and run it again. They'd never know that their friends, memories, homes, etc. outside that room didn't exist.

Skip forward a few decades, and we'll be running large numbers of these simulations - the way large numbers of people run The Sims now. Maybe for scientific studies, maybe for marketing studies.

Or maybe for entertainment: A real person enters the simulation and gets to play President or General or CEO or movie star. Bush II or certain bankers or the CEO of Blockbuster might be players who did poorly. Any talentless celebrity "famous for being famous" may be playing in easy mode. Everyone else in the simulation is computer generated, right down to emotions and memories. You wouldn't have to simulate the whole world or anything beyond the horizon - just give your Sims memories that it exists.

There would be simulations for history lessons: 31st century students could walk through a fully accurate simulation of your 21st century town - complete with simulated people with a lifetime of 20th/21st century memories to give authentic 21st century reactions. We Sims would see them as another gaggle of tourists.

Perhaps an administrator could manipulate people in "god mode" through voices in their heads, or through less subtle means.

Now skip forward a few thousand years. There's one real world, but untold millions of 21st century simulations have been run. Thus it's astronomically more likely that you're in a simulation than in the real world.

Which brings into question which is the religion: Believing that you're in a simulation, or believing that you're not.

Albert Hoffman was the father of these artificial worlds when he synthesized LSD back in the 40's. I don't see any difference in generating these realities via digital means or chemical means......it's the manipulation of the human brain and its sensory inputs that is the key to this. The "reality" you're in at any particular moment is the only one you know or can conceive of.

I've been told by several people that everyone should try hallucinogens at least once in their life. One of those guys went off the deep end though, so I'm not so sure.

[JTA]

I think Hawking is right; artificial intelligence will be the end of the human race, and I don't think it will take more than a couple hundred more years. Pigeons win.

Seagulls are some tricky bastards too.

Crows will kick seagulls asses.

Crows are probably a bit more tricky to hit with spit balls as well.

[neoplacebo]

I think Hawking is right; artificial intelligence will be the end of the human race, and I don't think it will take more than a couple hundred more years. Pigeons win.

Seagulls are some tricky bastards too.

Crows will kick seagulls asses.

Crows are probably a bit more tricky to hit with spit balls as well.

Crows are pretty damn smart. They have forced humans to develop scarecrows. There are no scaregulls that I know of.

[rstrong]

I don't see any difference in generating these realities via digital means or chemical means......it's the manipulation of the human brain and its sensory inputs that is the key to this.

With LSD you can't share your "reality" with anyone else. And you can never return to it later.

The "reality" you're in at any particular moment is the only one you know or can conceive of.

Many Philip K. Dick stories have the protagonist questioning reality. Blade Runner, Total Recall, Paycheque, A Scanner Darkly, The Minority Report, The Adjustment Bureau, etc. The general lesson is "Whatever you can't wake up from IS reality."

[rstrong]

Crows are pretty damn smart. They have forced humans to develop scarecrows. There are no scaregulls that I know of.

Ted Talk: Joshua Klein: A thought experiment on the intelligence of crows

A talk about a vending machine for crows. One of the most wonderful things I've ever seen.

[JTA]

I think Hawking is right; artificial intelligence will be the end of the human race, and I don't think it will take more than a couple hundred more years. Pigeons win.

Seagulls are some tricky bastards too.

Crows will kick seagulls asses.

Crows are probably a bit more tricky to hit with spit balls as well.

Crows are pretty damn smart. They have forced humans to develop scarecrows. There are no scaregulls that I know of.

What happens when the crows discover scarecrows are not real? All hell will break loose.

[neoplacebo]

I don't see any difference in generating these realities via digital means or chemical means......it's the manipulation of the human brain and its sensory inputs that is the key to this.

With LSD you can't share your "reality" with anyone else. And you can never return to it later.

The "reality" you're in at any particular moment is the only one you know or can conceive of.

Many Philip K. Dick stories have the protagonist questioning reality. Blade Runner, Total Recall, Paycheque, A Scanner Darkly, The Minority Report, The Adjustment Bureau, etc. The general lesson is "Whatever you can't wake up from IS reality."

Sharing your reality is secondary in my view; what you yourself perceive to be reality is all there is. I've always been intrigued by the Carlos Castaneda books; he decided to make his sociology thesis about the Yaqui Indians of Mexico and after being introduced to some sort of peyote concoction by "Don Juan" he had a whole different agenda. And he realized this; his first book was titled "A Separate Reality." He was initially skeptical of what he had experienced but it ended up changing his "real" reality. So, who's to say what's real and what isn't? It's all perception. Mental illness is an example of this; no one shares the reality of the afflicted, but the afflicted imagines everyone does.

[Mr.B]

"Seagulls are some tricky bastards too. When we were teenagers me and my friend would buy some french fries from McDonalds and park our car in an abandoned parking lot. Next we would throw a french fry or two outside the window. Seagulls would swarm in by the millions. We'd roll down the window and take turns shooting spit balls at them."

A few of us were feeding seagulls from our hotel balcony in South Padre Island, Texas once and I got this bright idea to see if I could catch one; after all they seemed pretty bold about how close they came..... Bad idea.....bad, bad, idea !

I don't know if it was because that gull was a Texan or what, but that so-and-so was like grabbing onto a weed-eater going full-tilt; it turned me every way but loose !

From now on, I'll stick to watching others feed 'em......

"Ted Talk: Joshua Klein: A thought experiment on the intelligence of crows

A talk about a vending machine for crows. One of the most wonderful things I've ever seen."

Crows and seagulls already have vending machines...they're called humans.

[JTA]

"Seagulls are some tricky bastards too. When we were teenagers me and my friend would buy some french fries from McDonalds and park our car in an abandoned parking lot. Next we would throw a french fry or two outside the window. Seagulls would swarm in by the millions. We'd roll down the window and take turns shooting spit balls at them."

A few of us were feeding seagulls from our hotel balcony in South Padre Island, Texas once and I got this bright idea to see if I could catch one; after all they seemed pretty bold about how close they came..... Bad idea.....bad, bad, idea !

I don't know if it was because that gull was a Texan or what, but that so-and-so was like grabbing onto a weed-eater going full-tilt; it turned me every way but loose !

From now on, I'll stick to watching others feed 'em......

HAHA!

Down at the boardwalk you always had at least a couple of tourists from out of state who were infatuated with seagulls... they'd try to feed them and inevitably either lose their meal or get shat on.

[neoplacebo]

This is the reason the song "Under the Boardwalk" was written.

[Mr.B]

"Down at the boardwalk you always had at least a couple of tourists from out of state who were infatuated with seagulls... they'd try to feed them and inevitably either lose their meal or get shat on."

Frequently, it's the other way around.....they get shat on, and the sight and smell make's 'em lose their meal !

[Mr.B]

The pastor of a small country church, Clifford Dunn, was known for his long-winded sermons.

One hot Sunday morning, he noticed a visitor in the congregation, so he proceeded to preach an even
longer sermon, hoping to impress the visitor.

After the service, as the weary congregation filed out the door, the pastor's wife, Gladys, met and shook hands with the visitor.
She smiled brightly and said "I'm Gladys Dunn."
The visitor wiped her forehead and said "So am I!"

[neoplacebo]

I think the question is too vague; leaves room for a lot of imaginary scenarios. If someone (a civilian) were to murder my daughter and granddaughter I would have no qualms about killing that person, nor would I refuse assistance from anyone who wanted to assist in the effort. If the question were "...do you think it justified that a person or group of persons are justified in killing civilians because of their religious or political beliefs" it would probably produce different graphs.

[neoplacebo]

I'm not sure that daughter and granddaughter murderers would qualify as "civilians" in the minds of people answering the question. Plus, the question is equally vague for all respondents, which I think makes the comparison between religions valid even if a differently worded question would cause a shift that very well could maintain the same comparative ratios.

In our own experience most domestic terrorism since the 1970s has been carried out by white, male, often Christian, cons. Heck, I was even physically threatened recently by a Protestant con for exercising my right to free speech. Je suis Charlie, he is a Kouachi brother.

Could be, but I think if the question were less vague, there would be less "sometimes acceptable" responses. I do find it interesting that the fewest "sometimes acceptables" are from the Muslims.

[Mr.B]

"I was even physically threatened recently by a Protestant con for exercising my right to free speech."

....but the threat was not followed through; didn't intend to. I still love you Vrede.

PM

[rstrong]

Morell said:
The motive here is absolutely clear. Trying to shut down a media organization that lampooned the prophet Mohammed.

He probably got that wrong too. The shooters probably couldn't care less about the cartoons. It was just a convenient scapegoat.

They want their holy war. But the overwhelming majority of Muslims in France simply aren't interested in one. So the short-term goal is to provoke everyone else into attacking or oppressing Muslims to make them angry. To polarize Muslims and the rest.

[JTA]

This is the reason the song "Under the Boardwalk" was written.

You might get fondled by a hobo down there though, so I guess take your pick.

[neoplacebo]

This is the reason the song "Under the Boardwalk" was written.

You might get fondled by a hobo down there though, so I guess take your pick.

Hominy don't play that.

[rstrong]

Pastor advocates hitting other people's children to instill respect for his god

He was a bright kid, which didn't help things right? Made him more dangerous.
[...]
He was kinda not takin' the lord serious. And I walked over to him, and I went BAM!!! I punched him in the chest as hard as I could. I crumpled the kid!
[...]
I led that man to the lord right there. There's times when that may be needed.