Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Hell, we don't even have to put in the perspective of the universe and all time. In a mere matter of 50 to 100 years from today, it's likely no one will even remember you existed.
I have no problem at all with that. It's outside my scope. If other people want to indulge in the inflation of trying to be more than they actually are, that is their affair.
Dr Izuma added: “We decided to remind people of death because previous research has shown that people turn to religion for comfort in the face of death. As expected, we found that when we experimentally turned down the posterior medial frontal cortex, people were less inclined to reach for comforting religious ideas despite having been reminded of death.”
It is important to note that religious and nationalist sentiment were equally effected and these were chosen simply because they were measuring response to perceived ideological threats. So while this is not the discovery of a "volume control" for theism specifically it does highlight that religious ideology is no different than any other ideological fixation and a perceived threat is a perceived threat.
It would be nice if we could put a magnetic field against the medial frontal cortex of some of the ideologically rigid in hopes of shining a little light in the tightly locked Pandora's Box of their deepest fears and show them that broader thinking is not the self-annihilation they seem to think it is.
Yes, it puts the whole ideas of Stalin, Pol Pot, and Mao into perspective. The majority of people who have bread around the globe are sadly genetically predisposed to find a strong Political leader, even if it's just in their imagination (whether in Earth or in Heaven). At least the ones in heaven aren't real, so one can argue about what their actual dictates are.
religious and political ideologies are also the ones that have the "go full retard" defense, where if facts are presented that make the "beloved group" look bad, a significant proportion of groupies (tribalist genes) will ardently defend and biasly rationalize their group even more.
Religion is really just about Heavenly Politics often piggy-backing on phenotypes for tribalism and phenotypes for immortality beliefs to quell the death anxiety (which most animals need to posses, but we are the only ones that can think/dwell about death constantly)
Of course it is.
Think about it.
The alternative is to face the idea that our existence is as fleeting and meaningless as that of the housefly you swatted at yesterday.
That would require facing an idiotic false equivalency. Humans aren't houseflies.
The actual alternative is to face the idea that our existence is auto-meaningful yet still fleeting like the existence of any other mammal or multicellular organism. A bitter sweet melody indeed, and with humans natural tendency (by statistics) to get hung up on the negatives (because the negatives could hurt you, so you better think about them), there is sadly more bitter than sweet for most random people.
Dr Izuma added: “We decided to remind people of death because previous research has shown that people turn to religion for comfort in the face of death. As expected, we found that when we experimentally turned down the posterior medial frontal cortex, people were less inclined to reach for comforting religious ideas despite having been reminded of death.”
They probably were less inclined to reach for atheism despite having been reminded of death too.
The alternative is to face the idea that our existence is as fleeting and meaningless as that of the housefly you swatted at yesterday.
That's because our lives are just that meaningless. I mean you can get kudos for inventing the longer lasting DVD or something, but those are just as fleeting and meaningless.
That's because our lives are just that meaningless. I mean you can get kudos for inventing the longer lasting DVD or something, but those are just as fleeting and meaningless.
Fire works are not meaningless to me. Neither are Big Bangs. Neither is the fleeting rain which often washes away the pain. Only something eternal and changeless (non-fleeting) could be meaningless. Like some purposeless slab of unmovable rock.
Yes and if scientists shut down our optic nerves color would vanish from the world as we perceive it. Your point?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
