/atheism/ - Atheism

>>3046

1. I'm okay with abortion.

2. I suppose homosexuality is a genetic anomaly. From an evolutionary view point, since evolution is supposed to select genes that get passed on into offspring.
Doesn't mean they are bad or anything.

3. Eastern religions intellectually crippled Asia. For example, while empiricists in Europe were dissecting cadavers and learning how the body actually worked, the Chinese were focusing on useless mystic ideas like Chi flow and slowly poisoning their emperor with mercury in an attempt to make him immortal with Taoist magic.

4. Race exists. People are different from each other. Just how different is hard to determine because of cultural and economic influences, and you cannot do any serious research into it because people freak out the moment you ask the question. "how are races different?".

And WTF are talking about? slave owners selecting slaves with salty sweat? I did my thesis on the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade and never heard that.

African Americans may have a genetic tendency towards hearts problems.. Or it might be because they eat more fatty foods.. or they might have less access to health care because of social class.

Most likely, it's a combination of all of the above. It's foolish to look for a single cause. Human events are much more complex than simple physics.

1.Yes, sometimes you can ruin lives just by letting babies live under a family that can barely support itself, or a father or mother will never help the child, or the family is not sane, or the family just doesn't want the baby. An unborn baby is not a even a 10 year old developed human.

2.Nothing serves a purpose because nature isn't how you think it is, you either are or aren't homosexual. The people who reproduce will pass on their genes the most. It's the way it works.

3.Not sure if I got the question right, are eastern religions dying? I think that any religion is very slowly dying.

4.In intelligence, my opinion is that race plays no role BUT some black people tend to be born in shithole places, anywhere in Africa for example. And one black person who was born in a shitty place, or one lack person who was born into a civilized society and decent city will not be the same person.

>>3048
>From an evolutionary view point, since evolution is supposed to select genes that get passed on into offspring.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biology_and_sexual_orientation#Sexual_orientation_and_evolution
It's not that straightforward.

>>3054
Nothing in human behavior ever is that straight forward.

2008 study, its authors stated that "There is considerable evidence that human sexual orientation is genetically influenced, so it is not known how homosexuality, which tends to lower reproductive success, is maintained in the population at a relatively high frequency." They hypothesized that "while genes predisposing to homosexuality reduce homosexuals' reproductive success, they may confer some advantage in heterosexuals who carry them." and their results suggested that "genes predisposing to homosexuality may confer a mating advantage in heterosexuals, which could help explain the evolution and maintenance of homosexuality in the population.".[

And most of our traits are created by combinations of genes, not a single one.

So you can pass on traits that you don't express.

OP here i misspelled benign as begins. Sorry for that.

>>3048

>https://www.google.co.in/search?q=did+slave+trade+cause+high+blood+pressure&oq=did+slave+trade+cause+high+blood+pressure&aqs=chrome..69i57.24106j0j4&client=ms-android-om-lge&sourceid=chrome-mobile&espv=1&ie=UTF-8

Since i can't remember the author of that paper this is the best i can provide And also the whole region of asia(except Japan) i.e china india and it's vassal nations all were isolated from all outside influence and due to contionous infighting along with periods totalitarian rules caused a technological stagnation


>Geopolitics: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD6AC8E04915265CA

Check the video about india and china in this one.

>>3057
>>3054

Please can you explain it in layman's terms

>>3046
>1.should abortion be legal
Yes

>2.are homosexuals a genetic anomaly or do they serve a purpose
It is a genetic anomaly, but it probably serves a purpose too.

>3.are eastern religions relatively begins since they aren't proselytizing (jainism, hinduism, sikhism, buddhism, mahavirsm)
No, they're just as shit too. Hinduism has it's oppressive caste system, and Buddhism get involved in government shit just like any other.

>4.to what extent is racism a scientific necessity i.e can some race sterotypes not be a product of class war but truly due to racial genetics
Racism, as in to discriminate against a race/races, is never justified. Even if you can show scientifically that one group of people is statistically better at something than other groups of people.

>>3046
1. yes, abortion kicks ass.
2. Fuck if I know.
3. What >>3064 said.
4. If by "scientific" you mean for like scientific purposes then fuck if I know. Probably a little. For everyday purposes judgements based on race are pretty shaky, you can tell a lot more by a person's other features, even just their clothes and hair, than you can by race.
Wow my responses were pretty uninteresting.

>>3059
Suppose that to be gay you need two genes, on makes you like girly things, the other makes you sensitive and charming. Both of those things girls like (or so I heard) so guys like this get the girls. No question therefore that having those is an evolutionary advantage. But what if having them both makes you suck dick? Then the presence of those genes would mean presence of homosexuals in the population, but they are still advantageous to straightfags who have them. This is just a general idea of mine, it doesn't even cover female homosexuality but that's how it could work.

Another idea is the "gay uncle" hypothesis.
Imagine that there are two tribes, one of them has some gay members and the other has no gays. The other tribe will have more children to feed and look after, but the first one has a bunch of gay guys with too much time on their hands so they can go hunt or help with the children. The first tribe could be more successful.

>>3046
1. induced abortion should be legal, the earlier in pregnancy it is practiced the better. to really alleviate the problem of dangerous overpopulation among underdeveloped, usually highly religious, societies it should be accompanied with a strong sexual education campaing, contraceptives, family planning, adoption, etc.

2. some of them, to some extent. not like they are wrongdoers for that.

3. different dogmas lead to different behaviour. I would rather analyze them separately, but overall I do think buddhism, jainism, taoism, shitoism, confucianism, pantheism and deism aren't essentially problematic, even though faith-based belief is always wrong.

4. Do racial differences exist? fact
Does that mean they have an impact in culture and behaviour? highly unlikely, perhaps a negligible one compared to the actual sources of societal problems.
Do racial differences justify the historical, completely unscientific racial discrimination (racism)? No fucking way

>>3046
1. Generally, yes but it depends on the age. Ask an embryologist on when the nervous system is developed enough that it would suffer in an abortion procedure. Outlaw abortion past an age where the procedure would qualify as torture or something. I really don't know the line is blurry as fuck and I think that's a big part of why the issue is so contentious. Uncertainty scares most people. Uncertainty about what defines a person is fucking terrifying to most people. Do everything reasonable to make it accessible and inexpensive or free. It's probably the most efficient way to raise the national standard of living by helping poor people control their reproductive rates and so they can allocate their few resources to the kids they actively choose to have. Also please hand out condoms and try to educate those people on contraception.

2. Uh, I guess they're technically an anomaly. I won't pretend to know whether or how much it's genetic versus epigenetic or due to womb conditions or something. It does seem to be fixed at birth though. I can't even begin to give half a shit whether it has a purpose or use in a society with pretensions toward freedom. There is Gay Uncle Theory, which explains how it may have been advantageous in the distant past.

3. Insofar as they're not currently looking for converts or blowing shit up, yes. I think any religion is inherently harmful for encouraging people to accept baseless claims and most include warped views of reality that make life needlessly more difficult.

4. Depends what you mean by racism. Races are obviously different genotypically and phenotypically, on a similar level to dog breeds. Stereotypes are silly, but it's sillier to pretend black people don't have biological differences from white people that manifests in things like the sound of their voices or their ability to run or take an IQ test.

>1.should abortion be legal

Yes, at every stage of pregnancy

>2.are homosexuals a genetic anomaly or do they serve a purpose

They are a genetic or epigenetic or both anomaly. They serve a purpose if slavery was legal

>3.are eastern religions relatively begins since they aren't proselytizing (jainism, hinduism, sikhism, buddhism, mahavirsm)

I assume you mean benign, and as you can see, Buddhism (or at least the premise of Buddhism) metastasized to San Francisco and countless college campuses

>4.to what extent is racism a scientific necessity i.e can some race sterotypes not be a product of class war but truly due to racial genetics

Absolutely a biological reality, and I support politics which discriminate on the basis of it

>>3145
> I support politics which discriminate on the basis of it
> if slavery was legal

That's a very unusal opinion you have there can you explain me how you have reached that conclusion/or why do you believe or live by it

also i'm gonna tripfag from now on.

>>3350

K

>I don't get why the Dalai-Lama has so much sympathy in the West.
He's jolly and smiles a lot, acting like a Buddha.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W083nSzx1Rc
He's charismatic.

>>3046
>1.should abortion be legal
Yes, and subsidized by the federal government. Giving poor people more reproductive control is a really good way to reduce poverty because fewer poor people will be born in the first place.

>2.are homosexuals a genetic anomaly or do they serve a purpose
The phrase "genetic anomaly" applies to literally everything controlled by genetics. Nothing natural serves a purpose because the universe does not have intent. Things just are the way they are. I don't think gayness is genetic except maybe partially. I think it has to do with early environment including womb conditions. I've known a pair of identical twins, one of whom was gay and the other was straight, although they were women and sexual orientation has been shown to be less hard-wired in women. As far as the reason the Gay has stuck around, it might be due to some kind evolutionary holdover. Gay Uncle Theory makes pretty good sense too. Even simple traits tend to involve a complex relationship between genetics and environment, and human sexuality is extremely complex.

>3.are eastern religions relatively begins since they aren't proselytizing (jainism, hinduism, sikhism, buddhism, mahavirsm)
Sure. They're definitely less likely to convert people. They're objectively less likely to harm people outside of the religion than the Abrahamic ones too. I'm not going to paint them with the same brush since they vary more than Western religions, except to say the above and that they encourage people to believe things on faith.

>4.to what extent is racism a scientific necessity i.e can some race sterotypes not be a product of class war but truly due to racial genetics
Stereotyping is stupid when dealing with an individual. Individual variation is always more informative about an individual than generalizations. When dealing with entire groups, generalizations are fine. As for racism, keep in mind that a lot of things correlated with race are largely the result of the situations people of that race are in, which is usually subject to the way other races treat them. That said, there are important genetic differences between populations, but our perception of racial lines can be inaccurate when compared with actual genetic lineages. Lots of people have a more diverse background than they realize. And on top of this, most consistent racial differences are on things that don't reflect on whom the person is. Stuff like vulnerabilities to diseases or predisposition toward certain types of atheletics. Even then, most genetic factors aren't really that noticeable until you look at the tail end of the bell curve. Consider IQ. The vast majority of humans of all races fall within a certain band, but if you look at the really intelligent or really dumb people, you will see a disproportionate number of people of certain races.

>1.should abortion be legal
Yes, not only just for the case of things like rape but for practical purposes too. As another anon has said, poorer people would be able to benefit most from this because they wouldn't be bringing more people into poverty. I'd go on to say it benefits themselves as well because they wouldn't have to spend what money they do have on another person who's entirely dependent on them.

This leads on to being better for everyone because less people are then going to file for government benefits because they (the aborted) don't exist.

>2.are homosexuals a genetic anomaly or do they serve a purpose

From a strictly evolutionary point of view they are an anomaly or I'd go as far as to say broken because they don't have the kind of sexuality that leads to reproduction.

How much that should influence society is more clear cut: basing society off of what's good from an evolutionary standpoint is stupid. My answer to the first question shows this as poor people having more kids (more kids being "good" as far as evolution is concerned) is actually bad for themselves, their offspring, and everyone else.

>3.are eastern religions relatively begins since they aren't proselytizing (jainism, hinduism, sikhism, buddhism, mahavirsm)

Eastern religions aren't brought up because the most vocal atheists come from western countries where Eastern religions have little influence in. All religions should be fair game to criticism and religions like Hinduism and Jainism have just as many absurd ideas as the Abrahamic faiths.

That being said, they still do have a major impact on the societies they're a part of. There's no door to door hindus as far as I can tell but people in abject poverty were shat on by the larger society because they were part of what Hinduism calls "the untouchable" caste.

So the answer is no.

>4.to what extent is racism a scientific necessity i.e can some race sterotypes not be a product of class war but truly due to racial genetics
Different races have different genetics to a certain extent. Black people are more likely to have different genetic disorders than white people and vice versa. This is an inescapable fact and to deny it would be worse for both parties.

As far as stereotypes go, one would have to present evidence that there's a correlation between a stereotype and a race and then pinpoint what DNA is found more in that race than any other and that same part of DNA also affects whatever the stereotype is.

Like if there's a link between the DNA that controls melanin count and cognitive ability.