/atheism/ - Atheism

For me the primary reason I hate religion is because it lulled so many people into this false sense of security when it comes to the survival of consciousness with the false promise of an afterlife. This indifference to dying is seems so ingrained in our culture that even many atheists exhibit it. It's fairly disturbing to see even rational minds accept death when things could theoretically be done about it. Or at least die trying instead of giving up and accepting an almost fate. It's like they're trying to prove "look at me I'm not scared of death without an afterlife". Religion has framed so much of the discourse that some will try to out religion the religious.

Religion and the culture that derived from it stands in the way of attempting to develop biological immortality. And anything that prevents me from attempting to live longer deserves my utter hatred.

>>5915
Also I'm skeptical when it comes to consciousness uploading (fairly certain consciousness is tied to the neural networks) but there are other methods like tissue engineered organ transplants and gene therapy which we could try.

>>5915
Honestly I think acceptance of death is a healthy thing. That's a plus for being Atheist, or even arguably Buddhist (since it's about escaping from samsara). It's just healthier to live one good life than to sacrifice everything for people who won't appreciate, because you're in denial that death is final.

I guess I'll list the general reasons for disliking religion.

1) It has held back science
2) It has made a lot of innocent people unhappy since religious dogma becomes a tool for the majority to oppress the liberty of the minority.
3) It's a lie. If an Atheist admitted there wasn't a God but prayed at to a God with a wink because they liked the idea that a God or thing like that existed, I could understand that. It'd be like wanting to believe Superman existed but knowing otherwise. You could enjoy the mythos while knowing not to base your life around a lie.
4) I can invent a religion/code of conduct in line my own values that would be tailored to be more consistent than what I see people practicing.
5) It divides people and instils prejudice because it's based on lies.
6) It discourages skepticism, and keeps people thinking at the level of children.

1, 2 and 5 are the most important ones.

>>5917
Death is final, that's why it should be avoided at all costs.

Besides there are organisms that don't exhibit senescence and in vivo tissue engineering and gene therapy have been demonstrated, all this is just in its infancy. Don't be so defeatist.

And dying is the opposite of healthy, we just evolved with so much disease like senescence that we've become accustomed to the point we actually think there's no problem when it's literally killing all of us. Religion acted as a way to comfort us but with it was ingrained this irrational acceptance of death. I think you attitude is like going up to a cancer patient and telling them "just give up", not healthy at all and quite frankly disgusting.

I hate most members of the Abrahamic religions because they are annoying as fuck to debate with. You will give them evidence of a claim and then dismiss it because it isn't from their pastor.

>>5918
I don't like the idea of humans who unnaturally live for thousands of years. The cycle of life is to be respected: in with the new and out with the old. Our society would stagnate if the same old powerful people were allowed to remain alive perpetuating their ideas forever. We need new DNA to replace the old farts that we will inevitably become.

It's also just so much nobler to die peacefully than to cling to life so desperately you would rather upload your brain to the metal and plastic a computer. Frankly, such an after-life would be pathetic and I'd prefer death.

>>5940
Also and most importantly there is no point to society and progress if you're not there to enjoy it.

>>5940
>Secondly, people aren't necessarily stuck with one set of ideas throughout their lives.

Yes, but the older you get the more true the adage "You cant teach an old dog tricks." People become inflexible and used to doing things the old way. It's why so many old folks don't bother to use smartphones or computers when they're used to old technology. In addition, the brain itself becomes less capable of learning new ideas as it ages.

> Thirdly, when people like Tesla, Feynman and Einstein die we stagnate

Except this technology wouldn't go to just the geniuses. It would be more likely to keep alive politicians and the parasitical businessmen. The scourges of society, and some of your greatest enemies really. Lots of dumb but privileged people would live on. Imagine where we'd still be if the racist grandfathers from the 60's had never died out and been replaced by the flower children. Longer lives would let those with power remain so for longer, and would make for a more conservative culture.

>>5941
If you have kids you'll know they'll get to enjoy the progress. Your legacy will live on beyond whatever you see in your lifetime.

At some point living longer becomes selfishness, and you're just eating up social resources that could go towards supporting a new life. I don't think it's good to be too greedy. I wouldn't want to be unable to meet new people because resources went toward giving life support to the old, rather than towards making new babies on some colony ship.

>>5942
>"You cant teach an old dog tricks."
Because:
>the brain itself becomes less capable of learning new ideas as it ages.
Because tissue has undergone damage limiting its ability and it alters functionality to deal with these changes. So repairing the damage and returning the brain to a more plastic state would solve this issue. Also with tissue engineering we could incorporate new neural networks and expand thought like never before.

>It would be more likely to keep alive politicians and the parasitical businessmen. The scourges of society, and some of your greatest enemies really. Lots of dumb but privileged people would live on.
Well we could have a society based on a hierarchy based on intellect and cognitive ability where stupid people are restricted from accessing this technology.

>Imagine where we'd still be if the racist grandfathers from the 60's had never died out and been replaced by the flower children.
No hippies and SJWs, sign me up.

>Longer lives would let those with power remain so for longer, and would make for a more conservative culture.
You act as though there is no competition between these powers. Even with longer life that doesn't mean they'll hold on to their wealth and power for longer.

Also decentralization is really the key with this. Centralized power can still be passed down generations as it has, so instead of the asshole dictator it's his asshole son.

>If you have kids you'll know they'll get to enjoy the progress.
Nope I can't, I'll be dead so my ability to know won't be there. I'm sorry but souls don't exist.

>Your legacy will live on beyond whatever you see in your lifetime.
My legacy is for me to enjoy, if I'm not around I can't enjoy it or anything.

>At some point living longer becomes selfishness, and you're just eating up social resources that could go towards supporting a new life.
Or that new life is selfish for demanding my resources to support itself. If anything I'm alive and it's just potential. You're practically making the anti-abortion argument right now where you place more worth to life which hasn't yet formed to life which already is around.

Anyway I have class so I'll be on my way. Grasp more straws if you like.

Death is not the worst, living an unsatisfying life is. Old folks hooked up to tubes in hospitals and suffering frequently would rather die than live on in pain and huniliation. Whether you subscribe to a religious afterlife, or transhumanism, you would be better not to live in fear of death, which both are. Taking steps to ensure an afterlife is taking steps to delay focusing on living a good life, and with that at tide you may never acquire peace. It's not just about the years, but how they're spent, and you can try living in jail or unemployed in the middle of nowhere for some years as evidence that some olden happy months can even be more valuable than years. Besides, you can't become the ultimate legend until you are dead and the eulogists and biographists unreservedly romanticize you.

At some point if you lived forever you would probably get tired of living. Having tried everything even sex would become boring, and only the loss of memory could conceivably lessen the weariness of still being alive. At some point you would becomes an expert across multiple disciplines of learning, and find trouble finding fresh things to do. This is where death and rebirth usually come in.

Removed from the flow of time, boredom would grow with age along with general dissatisfaction at still being alive. Certain young people would hate you, and you would have a responsibility to move on and die.

>>5915
>It's fairly disturbing to see even rational minds accept death when things could theoretically be done about it.
M8, it's literally impossible to live forever. Even if you could extend your life by millions of years you'd still have to die eventually and accepting it is the healthy thing to do.

>>5915
Nigga you lose consciousness every time you go to sleep. While you sleep you qua your mind effectively don't exist for most of that time even if you count dreaming as a form of consciousness. That kind of desensitizes people to the idea that they'll no longer be.

>>5945
Are you sure that one can even get tired of living? There are millions and millions and millions of experiences and things to do, and you can't always remember them all and you can still forget. Well, except if you've done some implant or memory upgrading. But even me, I spend all or most of my time on the Internet, often doing the same things, yet I am never, ever tired of it, and the experiences that space exploration or the development of science, for exemple, would offer would be way greater than such an artificial and created thing as Internet.