May 11, 2022
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Hanging out cycle
Not the rarest way for hanging out to proceed:
Step 1: I like Bob.
Step 2: Bob wants to hang out. Inference: Bob likes me!
Step 3: Happiness
Step 4: Hanging out.
Step 5: Oh dear. What are the chances that someone talked to me for several hours and I didn’t say at least ten incredibly foolish and embarrassing things, that would make any half-reasonable person dislike me? Basically zero. Inference: Bob dislikes me. Alas, it was so promising.
Step 6: Sadness
Step 7: Bob asks me to hang out. Or, in spite of doubts, I ask Bob to hang out, and Bob seems enthusiastic.
Step 8: Confusion and joy. Return to step 3.
***
Perversely, the best hope for lasting happiness is if massive logistical barriers repeatedly prevent hanging out, keeping the process at Step 3.
lack of research =/= lack of problem
Knight Tube - Colin Wright on bad gender arguments
I recently had a great discussion with evolutionary biologist and journalist Colin Wright. This is a great introduction for anyone that wants to learn about the many false claims and arguments gender ideology is based on.
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Colin: I had been in the atheist community before. I had been really big on debunking things, I used to have a blog before during those years where I debunked a lot of creationist claims about evolution, about folk medicine type stuff, ancient Chinese medicine. I would like to debunk these, this is what I did, I cared about what's true over anything else.
And when I was criticizing creationism and intelligent design, all my colleagues and stuff when I was an undergrad at this time, it was fully supportive of just demolishing these arguments. And then when I saw people from within the university making these crazy claims like there's five sexes, or sex is a spectrum, or a social construct it's not even, you know, we just have these clouds of maleness and femaleness, it's a statistical thing, it's not a category. I initially thought I could just present them with the updated evidence of like, oh these people are just confused about what sex is, here's what sex actually is, you're just confused, but do it in a really kind way.
And I was expecting to receive back their evidence and we could have a nice back and forth. But instead, I just was called all sorts of names. They called me a transphobe, I'm just, you know, alt-right talking points, all this stuff. And this was wildly different than anything I had seen when I had criticized the intelligent design people who are usually willing to argue with you at least, and provide their evidence, as poor as I think it is, they think that there's some truth there to get at.
So I saw that as a problem, because I had gotten into science because I care about what's true, and I thought that being a professor and an academic was the best place to pursue truth, and to talk with the experts in the world about what's true, and use evidence and reason to come to conclusions. And I guess once I realized that that wasn't the case, at least in this area, it's not really something I wanted to do anymore.
==
Religious creationists aren’t going around trying to get people fired for saying evolution is true. But gender creationists are.
“If one comprehends the fallacies of any religion, one comprehends them all.”
-- Christopher Hitchens
Xtianity and other religions long ago figured out the utility of renaming completely normal human mental processes in ways that would solicit guilt and shame, and therefore control.
Doubt, for example, is a fantastic human trait. It fuels curiosity in ways such as “I’m not convinced, I need to learn more,” or “maybe there’s another way,” or “maybe there’s another explanation.” Doubt arguably sits behind humanity’s extraordinary progress over the last few hundred years... once we were allowed to doubt.
It was doubt that said “I know what God’s opinion is on the subject, but maybe this enslaving people thing everyone’s been been doing for thousands of years isn’t the right way to go” and sought to put a stop to it.
But doubt is anathema to “faith” - blind, unquestioning obedience and compliance to that which is false. If religions were true, doubt would be valued and prized. Indoctrination would not exist. Congregants would be encouraged to ignore and set aside scripture and pursue knowledge in the real world, as this would ultimately lead inevitably back to (their particular) god.
And yet that doesn’t happen. And an entire apologetics industry exists entirely to exploit confirmation bias and squash the terror of the sin of doubt.
Proverbs 3:5
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding
Romans 14:23
And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.
James 1:5-8
If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.
https://quranx.com/114.1-6
Say: I seek refuge in the Lord of mankind,
The King of mankind,
The god of mankind,
From the evil of the sneaking whisperer,
Who whispereth in the hearts of mankind,
Of the jinn and of mankind.
https://quranx.com/Hadith/Muslim/USC-MSA/Book-1/Hadith-244/
It is narrated on the authority of Abu Huraira that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) observed:
The Satan comes to everyone. of you and says: Who created this and that? till he questions: Who created your Lord? When he comes to that, one should seek refuge in Allah and keep away (from such idle thoughts).
Religion is incurious.
Why do these things correlate? These 15 correlations will blow your mind. (Is this headline sensationalist enough for you to click on it yet?)
Examples: