Anyone have any ideas on how to kill God? I was thinking a out it and I think for a lot of people "God" is just this undefined "thing" out there that they can attribute other things to.
Like imagine a caveman kid talking to their caveman parent and asking questions like "Why is there a day and a night? Why is sky blue? Why is dog died?"
And the caveman parent just makes something up.
When people don't know the cause of something, they can create a cause out of their imagination.
God will always be lurking in the imaginations of stupid people, and we will always have stupid people on this planet.
For a while this scared me because I'm a stupid person with an imagination, so I knew the idea of "God" will stay with me till I die (since I can't think about anything when I die).
So I think the only way to kill God is if everyone dies. But even then it's a gamble because there's a whole "if a tree falls in a forest?" aspect.
Anyone else have any ideas?
We need more science education, and basic epistemology taught at every level. Not What to believe, but How and Why; and the What's follow from there.
I have a dear friend who fell down the Flat Earth rabbit hole some years ago, and only upon discussing the topic with him did I learn just how bad his science education had been all his life; and trying to get him interested in actual science proved impossible because the conspiratorial mindset was already in place alongside the "you're being lied to" defense.
Like, yeah, I personally can't detect the Cosmic Microwave Background of the Big Bang with the Observatory that's not in my back yard. But that's not proof that the scientists are lying, making up stories. Reproducibility can be a problem in science; but not with basic physical facts of the universe that have been reproduced across the continents, multiple times.
Education may not be a magic bullet, but it's definitely a fantastic tool to begin the journey towards the more rational.
Yeah, I absolutely agree. I think encouraging a scientific perspective (forming conclusions based on testing, while being open to the idea that those conclusions might change with additional testing) is incredibly important because it fosters the attitude that there are a lot of things we can’t know “for sure”, but we can be confident enough in our knowledge to take action, and humble enough to admit when we’re wrong.
You can get pretty far in life just by applying the scientific method and the golden rule.
Sorry about your friend. I hope that despite their distorted world view they’re still able to maintain healthy relationships and find/provide love and happiness, because at a personal level I think that’s the most important thing someone can achieve.