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I am religious and believe in free will

71 (27.7%)

I am religious and do not believe in free will

10 (3.9%)

I am not religious and believe in free will

114 (44.5%)

I am not religious and do not believe in free will

61 (23.8%)

Total Members Voted: 251

[origamiscienceguy]

Yea, Believers (IMO) seem to ignore a lot of things their god supposedly made, just so they can continue to say "omg look at that cute kitty god made awee so cuuuuute"
Not even an exagerration. A post saying nearly that exact same thing was put on my facebook.

He made even the not so cute things with their own unique abilities to survive. It's pretty interesting too.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Baffler]

Yea, Believers (IMO) seem to ignore a lot of things their god supposedly made, just so they can continue to say "omg look at that cute kitty god made awee so cuuuuute"
Not even an exagerration. A post saying nearly that exact same thing was put on my facebook.

He made even the not so cute things with their own unique abilities to survive. It's pretty interesting too.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

They actually look really different in the deep ocean where they live. It's still not much of a looker I'll grant, but that picture shows the often-lethal swelling caused by decompression from the high pressure that it's adapted to in the wild.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Rolan7]

That actually makes the original picture significantly more disturbing.  I assumed the creature was just happy that way ):
Makes sense, though.

[TD1]

Yea, Believers (IMO) seem to ignore a lot of things their god supposedly made, just so they can continue to say "omg look at that cute kitty god made awee so cuuuuute"
Not even an exagerration. A post saying nearly that exact same thing was put on my facebook.

He made even the not so cute things with their own unique abilities to survive. It's pretty interesting too.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Tape worms.

[origamiscienceguy]

I'm sure tapeworms are very interesting if you study them.

[i2amroy]

Noticed this a few pages back but I missed it in my last post.

Anything older than about 50,000 years isn't dated with radiocarbon dating, since too many carbon-14 half-lives have elapsed from that point to get an accurate reading. We tend to use other, much longer lived radioactive isotopes like potassium-argon or uranium-lead dating for those, neither of which was particularly inclined to be present in the atmosphere that much.

[Angle]

So for those of us who are Atheists, what kind of beliefs do you hold? What things are important to you, what do you base your morals on, what do you find meaningful, etc?

For myself, I believe, no, I work under the assumption, that there is an objective universe, and that while our perceptions of it may be flawed, we can learn about it if we try hard enough. I value truth and honesty, and struggle above all else to be honest with myself, to not lie to myself or trick myself into believing things that aren't true.

My morals are largely based on what I want, and what I feel is right, and a whole lot of logic and consideration of whether my various values and desires are consistent with each other, and how best to enact them. As for what I want... Well, obviously it all comes down to the pursuit of Felicity, or the state of being happy. And in order to really be happy, I need the people around me to be happy. So I pursue

Also, I feel that the universe is vast and cold, and doesn't care about us in the slightest, and that ultimately it will kill us and destroy everything we've ever loved. And I don't really like that, so much of what I do is a way to metaphorically give the universe the finger. "I don't care if none of it matters in the end, I'm going to live my life as best I can, and I'm going to try and help others to do the same. So suck it!"

[TD1]

I do study them. Segmented like annelids, only with specialised segments evolved (or, as you believe, specifically designed) with hooks to grip into the gut. Sometimes a segment drops off and it is left hanging out of the anus of the host (possibly you). There is a type that infects nearly every part of frogs, albeit small ones. Cut the frog open, you can see them wriggline everywhere.

I'm not sure if I'm mixing this up with flatworms, but if not then they eat and egest through the same opening. They are interesting, true. Did you know that celebrities used to infect themselves with them so they could eat without becoming fatter? It grew  old when bits of it started emerging from their backsides. They are not benevolent little "awww look what god made creatures. Their existence gives the design argument very strong reasons for showing the creator of the universe is satan not goodness incarnate. Moreso, in fact, as all those lovely creatures god made are very good at being very cruel.

Angle: what I find important is myself and mine. Go out of your way to help those you can, and don't obstruct those you can't. I base morality on what is good for myself- my reputation, my memory, and my self-image.

[i2amroy]

So for those of us who are Atheists, what kind of beliefs do you hold? What things are important to you, what do you base your morals on, what do you find meaningful, etc?

Basically I'm of the opinion that:
1) There is an objective universe with laws that define it.
2) Personally I'm a big fan of a deterministic universe (Which still has totally plausible quantum physics explanations like the De Broglie-Bohm interpretation).
3) There is no such thing as a "spirit" or "soul". You are totally defined by your physical components.
3b) Because no non-physically defined parts exist, a "god" can therefore not exist.
4) Since you are constrained totally to your physical body, when you die that's it; you are gone permanently.
5) Based off of the previous numbers, my moral system basically comes down to two things:
   a) Preserve your own existence at all costs
   b) Do things that improve other's chance/duration of continuing their existence
6) Additionally because of #3 I see no reason why technology can't eventually make us functional immortal at some point in the future, nor do I see anything "unnatural" about it. If we can currently begin to treat things like someone being blind there's no reason to think we can't treat someone aging; it's just a matter of scale.

[Angle]

Tapeworms: Eeeeeeeeewwwwwwww...

So for those of us who are Atheists, what kind of beliefs do you hold? What things are important to you, what do you base your morals on, what do you find meaningful, etc?

-Snip-

1) Agree
2) Yup
3) Agree
3b) Yup
4) Well, sorta - Remember, you're not properly matter, you're the pattern that matter makes. If someone we're to switch every atom in my body for an Identical atom, I wouldn't even notice. By the same token, if they were to create a perfect computer simulation, that too would be me. This is complicated by the fact that your "pattern of self", if you will, extends beyond your physical body. It includes your possessions, the places you frequent, and even the people you know. Which makes recreating or simulating it pretty difficult. You could probably get "Close Enough", of course.
5) Hmm...
   a) Nope, there are more important things to me.
   b) This ones pretty nice, though.
6) Yeah, this sounds pretty good. Though it won't be immortality unless you figure out how to beat entropy, which is likely impossible. But another couple hundred years sounds pretty nice.

Angle: what I find important is myself and mine. Go out of your way to help those you can, and don't obstruct those you can't. I base morality on what is good for myself- my reputation, my memory, and my self-image.

Yeah, I do this too, and it forms the center of my considerations. But I care about other people and wish them to do well. I suppose really, it comes down to the fact that I'm really greedy - I want not only my own happiness, but everyone elses as well.

[i2amroy]

4) Point there, and it's something I've definitely thought about but just sorta cut out for the sake of space there.
6) There's several ways/theories that you could get around entropy even if you can't beat it. For example if the universe is truly infinite we could "offload" our entropy from a finite portion of it onto the rest of infinity to allow that finite portion to run for an infinite amount of time. Or if it turns out that multiple universes exist we could start cracking them like eggs to suck their juicy entropy.

[TD1]

If truth be told, I do base a lot of my moral actions on empathy. But at the end of the day, I can afford to do so. I don't know what I would do when the stakes were high, and that scares me.

Edit: put the question mark on the end by accident.

[Rolan7]

I believe in three things.  Friendship, ordered society, and nature.  These things are ultimately important to me, and I think they interact in antagonistic, yet ultimately positive ways.

And I like to think that, in the same way my consciousness is constant despite my body constantly exchanging molecules, it'll continue to exist after my body dies.  Logically I probably won't remember anything, since memory is a function of the brain.  My consciousness might become someone else in a different time, or I might persist as a 0-energy being simply observing all of space and time forever.  Maybe even as one of those fairies who only have short-term memory.

Though that might just be the primal instincts in my body shouting "ABOVE ALL ELSE, WE MUST NEVER DIE".  Even though I've certainly considered quitting, but decided to let things play out first.

[TD1]

Your conscious thought remains constant despite changing molecules because all those molecules do essentially the same thing. If you change a part of an engine, it will still function. Tear the engine apart, and it won't function. It is my firm belief that our consciousness won't out last our brain rotting or being "torn apart"

[Descan]

I'm sure tapeworms are very interesting if you study them.

Maybe but they aren't exactly indicative of a human-centered universe