Sunday School

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

Pew Survey: White evangelicals oppose abortion; all other religious groups support it.

In Kenya, rational atheists ask a Liar for Jesus to repeat her miracles. I doubt she will as her God is never happy to be put on the spot……..

…….. Or maybe their god is just too busy preparing legislation against women in Louisiana.  The bottom line is that a minority religious group is seeking one thing from their God: political power to impose their faith on the country. But they cannot win if enough people stand up for their constitutional and civil rights. Idaho Lt. Gov Janice McGeachin won’t be fighting for your rights as the delusion has rendered her insane. But does religious freedom law give you a right to abortion or does the Supreme Court have a crucifix on its roof?

In Nigeria members of the Religion of Peace go batshit crazy over a social media post and then stone and beat a human being before burning her to death.

All Irish atheist farmers have the right attitude and like all atheists, we try to be excellent towards each other!!

Hark ye to news about the lark with the ark in the park: Turns out that the Christian god is still angry with us.

The Christian arrogance behind the Praying Coach case.

Discriminatory prison chaplaincy may be unlawful in the UK, paper warns.

World of Woo:  Just stop it already or I will be forced to turn my hurricane gun on you.

Environment:  Our brains are wired to ignore climate change so we probably need to rethink our strategies towards dealing with it. There are steps we can take now to make a difference but be aware that the fossil fuel industry is very powerful so climate activism will become more drastic.

Lesson for today: Hindsight Bias.

New research uncovers stereotype differences between agnostics and atheists but can anyone spot flaws in it?

Neanderthals were likely skilled fighters and dangerous warriors.

Ancient DNA maps the ‘dawn of farming’.

Astronomers reveal first image of black hole at Milky Way’s center.

Sodium and water react, and quantum physics explains why.

Walking is a state of mind – it can teach you so much about where you are.

Long Reads: The U.S. Christians who pray for Putin. This James Webb Telescope article won a Pulitzer Prize recently so I am linking it again. Paradise at the Crypto Arcade: Inside the Web3 Revolution. Why are there continent-sized ‘blobs‘ in the deep Earth?  Safer than Childbirth – Abortion in the 19th century was widely accepted as a means of avoiding the risks of pregnancy. Letters from the loneliest Post Office in the World. The reality of people being ‘hungry for the Word’. Gardening with Heidegger: from mystery to truth, via the earth.

Sunday Book Club:  The Internet Is not what you think it is: A History, a Philosophy, a Warning.

Podcast: The Price of Immortality: The Race to Live Forever.

Some photographs taken last week.

While you are waiting for the kettle to boil……

Coffee Break Video:  Bacon and God’s Wrath – How a God-fearing Jewish woman found atheism. TED Talk: Hans Rosling and the magic washing machine. God comes out as Pro-Choice.

[StregaModerator]

Thanks, Reg!

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

Almost everybody should be able to see the Super Blood Moon tonight or early Monday morning no matter where you are living.

U.S. info here

 

[UnseenParticipant]

The evangelical takeover of first the Supreme Court and then the government, instituting a theocracy, is the unfolding of a plan that’s been unfolding for decades. Find the movie The Family (it’s on Netflix for one) for the full story.

https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/archive/2021/05/evangelicals-republican-voters/618845/

[—Participant]

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:

Environment:  Our brains are wired to ignore climate change so we probably need to rethink our strategies towards dealing with it.

I will absolutely admit, in day-to-day life, it is extremely difficult to map the effects of small actions to the idea of global catastrophe. In part, it’s difficult to even understand the broader impact of my actions when multiplied by millions of people. It’s not just what I do, but also what I buy and support, and the sort of community values I advocate for and help foster.

One of my favourite tv moments over the past decade comes from The Good Place. At some point in the show they look at why everyone is going to The Bad Place and not a single person gets into The Good Place. Our actions are connected to such complex networks of activity and impact that even simple actions can contribute to supporting war, slavery, climate change and more.

The means of combating this was at one point to give people relatively small and simple low-effort tasks that could make them feel like they were contributing to positive change like recycling or supporting carbon neutral offsets. But the commercialization of these sorts of programs means many things will be branded as positive, but the outcome will be undesirable. Recycling is plagued with issues that make it vastly inferior to waste reduction, and in some cases bizarrely worse than using virgin materials. Carbon credits are poorly monitored, so again, offsets can be bought while doing virtually nothing to reduce carbon emissions. Where does the average person find time to track all this shit?

On top of that, certain industries are culturally embedded. Pretty sure 4 out of 5 Albertans think the entire Canadian economy is propped up by the oil industry, and that all of our homes are powered by it (despite the fact that many provinces refer to electric bills as HYDRO). So much of Albertan prosperity has been built up around fossil fuels that it’s embedded in their culture. Without that resource, Canada would suffer, but not nearly as much as Alberta (though Saskatchewan and BC also generate a decent amount of revenue from fossil fuel projects). Albertans would really have to adapt, and no matter how much warning they are given that this cannot go on forever—someday things will have to change—it seems extremely difficult for them to let go of the perceived stability this industry brings.

And we can find this throughout Canada with a number of industries. Even when we acknowledge the issue and that something needs to be done, many of the things that need to be done could disrupt our lives considerably. That doesn’t mean making them worse, but it does mean change and change brings fear of instability. And so we let day after day pass with marginal change falling vastly short of the level of action that needs to be taken because honestly, the thought of doing anything major tends to feel impossible and scary and our brains aren’t having it.

[TheEncogitationerParticipant]

Reg,

Thanks for linking to the Michael Shermer Podcast on Transhumanism and Life Extension. I’ve had a fascination with the topic on and off for years. After my recent hospital stay last November, my fascination has grown even more. If something is worth doing, it’s worth doing for as long as you can and Transhumanism and Life Extension ties in perfectly.

Also, as many problems as our nation and world have right now, outliving them may be part of the best and most peaceful way to help solve them.

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

@theencogitationer – I have followed Aubrey de Grey for a long time now. He is always interesting to hear from.

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

A friend of mine reckons Aubrey de Gray must like the song “I am the Resurrection” by the excellent Stone Roses 🙂

[TheEncogitationerParticipant]

Reg,

That song does seem to go on and on and on there at the non-lyrical, instrumental last. 🙂

[TheEncogitationerParticipant]

Reg,

Aubrey packed a lot into a little time. I took notes from him and hope with the help of his Sens Foundation, to dodge lots of bullets and maybe undo damage as well.

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

[_Robert_Participant]

Interesting. Plus, the guy does like father time.

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

You just reminded me of a line in a song lyric written by a friend of mine (or a fiend of mine even). “When I found out Frank Beard had no beard I could only think but how how how could that be” before breaking into a hardcore version of La Grange. You know what I’m talking about 🙂

[UnseenParticipant]

With my luck, the elixir of immortality will be announced the day after I die.

[Author]

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