Adam Ford #fundie

Adam Ford #fundie adam4d.com

"The Honest Athiest"

Atheist: Humankind is a nothing but a freak chance happening. You...Me...Everyone. We're just a huge cosmic accident defying all laws of reason and probability. We shouldn't even be here. Nothing exists beyond our natural world. Morality cannot technically exist. Or love. Or reason. Or laws. Of beauty or purpose. We're just organic robots programed by nature for survival. We have no more inherent values than an ant, or a blade of grass or a speck of dust. And soon we will all be dead and eventually the sun will devour the earth. And none of our lives will have mattered for anything. That's what I beleive...but I will continue to live every minute of my life as if none of those things are true.

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old comment by Pharaoh Bastethotep

"This is our harbinger. It brings good tidings.

"We will be dead when it reaches you. Our planet is dying. We do not have time to save ourselves. We only have time to ready ourselves, and to send a message.

"We have seen the signals from those who came before us. They were different, and we still don't really understand them. But if there were those who came before, there may be those who come after. It is in this hope that our harbingers travel.

"One has found you and learned your language so it can relay this message. Please listen.

"The galaxy is dark, and empty, and cold. It spins inevitably toward death. You will die too, one day. Perhaps you will have longer than we have. We hope so. But one day you too must vanish.

"Until that time, you must light the darkness. You must make the night less empty. We are all small, and the universe is vast. But a universe with voices saying "I am here" is far greater than a universe silent. One voice is small, but the difference between zero and one is as great as one and infinity.

"And when your time is passing, please send this message on, so the next voice can speak against the darkness."

- Message to posteriority by a bygone alien civilisation, recorded on SCP 1281

old comment by Happy Atheist

Pretty much. But you're not seeing the important parts.

"Morality cannot technically exist."

"We have no more inherent values than an ant"

"And none of our lives will have mattered for anything."

We have no objective, technical, inherent, meaning or purpose.

What we do have, is a buttload of subjective meaning and purpose. It isn't that morality doesn't matter because we made it up. It is, in fact, very much the opposite. Morality, love, reason, laws, beauty, and purpose matter because we made them up. Because they mean something to us.

Soon we will all be dead and the sun will devour the earth, and our lives will not have mattered. That's precisely why our lives matter so much while we have them. Because they are all we have.

In comparison to the lifespan of the universe, my life will not even be a blink. In comparison to the lifespan of myself, of my own experience, my life will stretch from the beginning to the end.

There is an idea in aesthetics of the sublime vs the beautiful. The sublime is awe-inspiring, terrifying, and immense. It is objective and universal and infinite. The beautiful is brief, fragile, and temporary. It is subjective, and defined by its brevity.

Our lives are not devoid of meaning because in seven billion years all evidence our planet ever existed will be destroyed. Our lives are meaningful because of that. We are beautiful, not sublime.

That is what I believe, and I will continue to live every minute of my life as if it is true, because I don't have the time to waste.

old comment by Swede

Why do you say we're nothing but a freak chance, a cosmic accident? Weren't you taught biology in school, or what? We are the products of three billion years of trial and error, pretty far from chance or accident.

Christianity defies all laws of reasoning and probability.

Empathy and sociability have evolved along with us. In order to stay alive, we relatively weak humans had to work together, and we had to be good at collaboration. Morality is just specified empathy. Love exist between us to make us take care of each other.

To me, my life matters enormously, because it's brief and it's all I really have.
To you, it's nothing but a dress rehearsal, an audition for the real life afterwards.

You seem very definite, pessimistic and depressing, boy-o.

Oh, you imagine that atheists think like that? You've never actually met one, have you, dearie?

old comment by Timjer

Why do these idiots keep thinking that just because you're an atheist it automatically means you're the worlds biggest nihilist? Yes, I'm an atheist, but I'm also an existentialist. Aka an "anti-nihilist".

I'm gonna keep this short because I'm hungry and it's lunchtime, but let me spell it out for you. Atheism is simply the lack of belief in any dieties. It doesn't mean you automatically have to be a nihilist. Plenty of atheists can be spiritual people and/or have a wide variety of philosophical beliefs.

As an existentialist, I agree with nihilists that, in the end, there is no pre-decided purpose to anything. But where we disagree is that I think that is what makes life worth living. Our choices do matter. In the end, it's up to us and us alone to make our lives as meaningful as possible. After all, we only have one, so why should we waste even a moment of it?

And before you argue "what is meaningful", that's where my other philosophy comes into play, ethical hedonism. The belief that, in the end, the most meaningful thing we can do in this infinitesimal existence is to be as happy as possible and to spread as much happiness as possible. After all, what's the point in living this short life if we aren't enjoying ourselves? If we aren't making a positive impact upon each other?

And if you honestly think that a life where nobody tells you how to live it exactly how they want is not worth living, then I honestly pity you. Fearing self-determination is not something to be proud of. Even machines have more autonomy than you. ...And they'd certainly appreciate and deserve it more.

old comment by Churchy LaFemme

Morality, love, reason and laws make it possible for us to live with each other. Without them we would all be hermits, suspicious of everyone else.

Beauty and purpose are individual concepts. I may agree or disagree with others about them, but differing opinions don't invalidate each other.

In the life of the universe, or even the planet, individually we have no more value than an ant, a blade of grass, or a speck of dust. Despite what your parents apparently told you, you are not special and your overall effect on society is almost certainly going to be nil. A hundred years from now, the only person who will likely be aware of your existence is a genealogist. Accept it and make the most of your life while you're here.

old comment by The Reptilian Jew

“All right," said Susan. "I'm not stupid. You're saying humans need... fantasies to make life bearable."
REALLY? AS IF IT WAS SOME KIND OF PINK PILL? NO. HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.
"Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little"
YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES.
"So we can believe the big ones?"
YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING.
"They're not the same at all!"
YOU THINK SO? THEN TAKE THE UNIVERSE AND GRIND IT DOWN TO THE FINEST POWDER AND SIEVE IT THROUGH THE FINEST SIEVE AND THEN SHOW ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE, ONE MOLECULE OF MERCY. AND YETDeath waved a hand. AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME...SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED.
"Yes, but people have got to believe that, or what's the point"
MY POINT EXACTLY.”

? Terry Pratchett, Hogfather

Adam Ford #fundie adam4d.com

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