Lars

It would be a great gesture, but the practicalities make it almost impossible and in the end the money everyone gets is chump-change.

A far better solution is offering services, programs and assistance such as programs that attack poverty head on and ensure affordable housing, education, daycare and necesities for all. Programs that help knock d…[Read more]

It is not surprising that the how of consciousness is not understood. The complexity of the brain is mind boggling.

Indeed! One thing I’ve found pretty astonishing, is how many people who discuss free-will or consciousness don’t offer any theory of consciousness at all. Even more shocking is their illiteracy on what little we do know, and what we…[Read more]

Some people never contribute as much as they gain

A lot of people get hung up on social parasites. Let’s take those with serious addictions and social problems and the general crowd of fuck-ups who will almost certainly end up on the street given assistance or not (that includes a family member of mine who’d be on the streets without these p…[Read more]

@ Davis: I’ve read a lot of your responses on this board and I know you have a lot more empathy than that.

LOL. I’ve made the big mistake again of not dripping my comments with enough saturated sarcasm to be immediately apparent that it is sarcastic. I think that the text is clearly sarcastic and yet it can be taken as serious! Next time I’ll g…[Read more]

I’m still waiting for the great part when some misinformed yahoo screams about making America great again.

If you cannot afford health-insurance then you are a screw-up and you deserve to suffer and expire in the gutter. They can do whatever they like in those messed up European countries and scary places like Canada, but you’ll never take away i…[Read more]

There are inevitable deficiencies in language around this topic, e.g. especially the assumption that consciousness is an all or nothing kind of attribute. It’s not all or nothing, but it operates on scales of depth.

Yes. Yes yes yes.

Hey @unseen !  The only reason we are conscious, is to give us something to entertain ourselves with so our DNA can continue to mutate and evolve without interruption.

Zeus used to shag anything that moved, livestock included, and created a host of Demi-god heroes, all with splendid tales of achievement.  The Christian god got ONE chick pregnant, apparently without even having sex, and we still never hear the end of it.

No Zeus???  Way to ruin a good friday!  Give me those old Greek gods anytime.

Simon,

Then what on Earth did you mean about being a complete society? Religion is necessary to be a complete society. I must have missed something. What exactly does that mean?

I’m saying that religion also needs secular institutions in order to form a complete society (that incorporates religion, such as the UK or US).

God that is such bullshit. If by complete society you mean ones that are far more likely to be exclusive, non-progressive, restrictive and limiting then yeah, religious countries are certainly a c…[Read more]

Monitors for what purpose, Simon?

God’s way is NOT long term cooperation. The fundamental lesson to the core is that you must love God, believe in him, follow his commandments, agree with what he does OR ELSE. Jesus said some nice stuff. Cooperation is a value sometimes mentioned. It contrasts with submitting, aquiesing, blind faith and doing what you’re told which is all…[Read more]

It’s not a stretch for Christians to say that Jesus was the son of God, Simon, it’s the absolute core basic tenet of their faith. It’s what ‘Christian’ means. It means you believe that Jesus was the Christ who is the son of God.  Literally that.

You splendidly avoided Reg’s question with word soup. He didn’t ask you if it’s relevant…he straight out asked you if Jesus was the son of God…that the Bible comes from his direct words. It’s very simple to say yes or no…or a not-sure with a good explanation. We don’t care about the truth about Jesus’s existence cause we don’t have the means…[Read more]

NO IT WAS NOT NEW SIMON. Neither in religion and most certainly NOT in philosophy. The Greeks covered these themed multiple times and better than Jesus did. You cannot just deny it cause you’ve never read them. Your claim is utterly false. Pick up a book on religious history and comparative religion studies. Forgiveness and self sacrafice are…[Read more]

As if the people living in tribes and villages and great civilizations for the 200 thousand years or so before the times of Jesus had no clue about trying to be good to each other?

It cannot be put any simpler Simon. Christianity did nothing new…except destroy the Roman empire…and a 1000 years of utter stagnation to Europe. It is a second…[Read more]