20 JUN 2017 by ideonexus
Underreported Atheists
The authors of the study, published earlier this year, adopted a novel way to measure atheist identity. Instead of asking about belief in God directly, they provided a list of seemingly innocuous statements and then asked: “How many of these statements are true of you?” Respondents in a control group were given a list of nine statements, such as “I own a dog” and “I am a vegetarian.” The test group received all the same statements plus one that read, “I do not believe in God.”... 1 
notes
notes05 FEB 2016 by ideonexus
Tenets of the Satanic Temple
There are seven fundamental tenets.
One should strive to act with compassion and empathy towards all creatures in accordance with reason.
The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions.
One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.
The freedoms of others should be respected, including the freedom to offend. To willfully and unjustly encroach upon the freedoms of another is to forgo your own.
Beliefs should conform...Folksonomies: humanism rationality
Folksonomies: humanism rationality
1 15 NOV 2013 by ideonexus
The World is a Black Box
The world with its quarks and chromosomes, its distant lands and spiral nebulae, is like a vast computer in a black box, forever sealed except for its input and output registers. These we directly observe, and in the light of them we speculate on the structure of the machine, the universe. Thus it is that we think up the quarks and chromosomes, the distant lands and the nebulae; they would account for the observable data. When an observation turns out unexpectedly, we may try modifying our th...Folksonomies: scientific method empiricism
Folksonomies: scientific method empiricism
1 We don't know how it works, we only see the inputs and outputs and must extrapolate hypotheses from what we see.
15 NOV 2013 by ideonexus
Beliefs are Like the Charge in a Battery
Inculcating a belief is like charging a battery. The battery is thenceforward disposed to give a spark or shock, when suitably approached, as long as the charge lasts; similarly the believer is disposed to respond in characteristic ways, when suitably approached, as long as the belief lasts. The belief, like the charge, may last long or briefly. Some beliefs, like the one about Hannibal, we shall probably retain while we live. Some, like our belief in the dependability of our neighborhood cob...Folksonomies: belief reinforcement
Folksonomies: belief reinforcement
1 notes
notesSome reinforce with use (charging), while others vanish from the mind because they do not recharge.
24 OCT 2013 by ideonexus
Better to Believe and Be Wrong Than Not Believe Anything
He who says “Better to go without belief forever than believe a lie!” merely shows his own preponderant private horror of becoming a dupe. . . . It is like a general informing his soldiers that it is better to keep out of battle forever than to risk a single wound. Not so are victories either over enemies or over nature gained. Our errors are surely not such awfully solemn things. In a world where we are so certain to incur them in spite of all our caution, a certain lightness of heart se... 1 notes
notesIf you believe a thing and are wrong, you can improve your beliefs in light of new evidence.
10 OCT 2013 by mxplx
Reflective equilibrium
No moral position is universal and that each society makes its own moral rules unfettered, so that even acts we would view as unequivocally immoral could be morally unobjectionable in some other culture.
kayan people in vietnam put rings around their neck
general conformity to values, especially if it is cited in mainstream media as opposed to those who thought independentlyReflective equilibrium is a state of balance or coherence among a set of beliefs arrived at by a process of deliberative mutual adjustment among general principles and particular judgments
29 AUG 2013 by ideonexus
How Our Predisposition Toward Empathy Taints Our Logic
Our sexually selected instincts for displaying sympathy tend to affect our belief systems, not just our charity and courtship behavior. When individuals espouse ideological positions, we typically interpret their beliefs as signs of good or bad moral character. Individuals feel social pressure to adopt the beliefs that are conventionally accepted as indicating a "good heart," even when those beliefs are not rational. We may even find ourselves saying, "His ideas may be right, but his heart is... 1 notes
notesWe find logical ideas repulsive when they conflict with our need to associate with sensitive people. If a person suggests a correct and logical idea, but it is an idea that lacks empathy, we tend to find the individual repulsive (This happened to me on a thread when I suggested letting pandas go extinct).
09 JAN 2013 by ideonexus
Science Faith
Many religious believers mischaracterize naturalists as people without faith, but that is absurd. Eve^ryone must believe in something—it's part of human nature. I I have no problem acknowledging that 1 have beliefs, though they differ from more traditional kinds of faith. Naturalists must believe, first of all, that the work is understandable and that it knowledge of the world can be obtained through observation, experimentation, and verification. Most scientists don't think much about this...Scientists have faith that the world can be understood rationally.
02 FEB 2012 by TGAW
What We Can Celebrate About Malcolm X on May 19th
Malcolm’s not a static intellectual figure — his mind journeyed throughout his life, he held firm to his principles but was also strong enough to re-evaluate his beliefs and change when he deemed change is right. He was far from a flip-flopper who moved because it was politically expedient — and thankfully not an intellectual mule who refused to change when he uncovered new information and perspectives. Malcolm was intelligent and bold enough to be open-minded. His courage to be a truth...Folksonomies: malcolmx selfcorrectingalgorithm
Folksonomies: malcolmx selfcorrectingalgorithm
1 notes
notesMalcolm's evolution of thought and his own self-error correcting mechanism is something that should be embraced and celebrated.
02 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Davy Poem Using Laws of Conservation and Thermodynamics
In a thoughtful mood Davy wrote a new kind of metaphysical poem, ‘The Massy Pillars of the Earth. It reflects on the human condition, and suggests that since nothing is ever destroyed in the physical universe, only transformed (the First Law of Thermodynamics), then man himself must be immortal in some spiritual sense. It also returns in a new way to Davy’s early Cornish beliefs about starlight as the source of all energy in the universe:
Nothing is lost; the ethereal fire,
Which from th...A poem found in Humphry Davy Works.
