Richard Robertson

_Robert_ wrote:
Please explain why is it so “ironic”?

What I mean regards how the far Christian right can ignore the establishment clause of the constitution, and promote Christianity. I.e. Sharia law “bad” but Christian Law “good”.

It’s just wrong to fight Islam, in the name of Christianity. The higher road to take is humanism.

Unseen wrote:
But isn’t randomness just a way of describing the behavior of things we don’t understand?

They say quantum level probabilities are purely random, but I’d like for them to find something non-random underneath someday in order to be able to explain it. So yeah, maybe we just don’t understand that yet.

Also, one could, in theory, tra…[Read more]

And it seems our three branches of government might look increasingly kindly toward Christian tradition in government and law. An ironic, preemptive move again the supposed arrival of Sharia Law?

Simon Paynton wrote:
If we think of “conscience” as “self-governance on behalf of the group” then God fills the place-holder of the ultimate arbiter of moral matters.

That makes sense to me as an explanation for why God was invented.

Doh! I see typos, at least, and some missing clarity. I’ll adjust the post after seeing the Feynman link.

@SimonPaynton Sieve of Eratosthenes is what I was trying to explain that costs too much programming-wise and in the computer resources it requires. And the more efficient sieve algorithms mentioned in that same wikipedia article make my head…[Read more]

Davis wrote:
criticism, humour, parody, discussions, moral disagreements, full out rejection of an ideology, ridicule and even a thrashing of a set of ideas…are all fundamental to breaking down some of the worst elements of an ideology and the effect it has on an open society

Good point, and arts like plays, drawing/painting, music, poetry, and o…[Read more]

tom sarbeck wrote:
PB, religiousness or religiosity? Didn’t the misinformation always exist? The press and later the web told people it existed.

Religiousity; yes (“science of spreading misinformation”); and maybe the press then the web also told people that the misinformation existed. (I’m still not yet feeling absolutely totally qualified in wo…[Read more]

So it comes down to what and how we build with ambition. We could have been less aggressive in general, perhaps more matriarchal and less patriarchal, and I think the result would have been less crime and less war, but also less rapid modernization. The ruling classes made (and still make) things happen, but often using lower classes for labor. I…[Read more]

_Robert_ wrote:
All of this cultural Marxist nonsense just strengthens the right.

Yes, the simple hive minds of populism, allergic to progress, claiming to be its victims, have been rising and winning, recently. It’s the Western version of Boko Haram, all those poor victims of modernity. It’s always the fault of those who don’t share the…[Read more]

@davis Great post. +1

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:
an article on conspiracy theory worth a read

Thx Reg. Can’t remember where I heard it, but the invention of the printing press caused the biggest surge in religiousness ever seen. Now, misinformation can spread worldwide in a matter of hours, and the science of disinformation keeps evolving and spreading.

I personally appreciate @toms tenacity and sincerity, but/and not attributions of nefarious purpose. I over-use the word charlatan, when I should reserve its use for pushers of woo who are blatantly pushing it for personal profit. Most anti-vaxers, for example, aren’t in that category, but are truly ignorant of the facts at large, and/or are…[Read more]