The Editor’s Notes
by Ken Holder
[email protected]
Attribute to L. Neil Smith’s The Libertarian Enterprise
Happy Birthing Person Day!
So a qustion has arisen concerning Theology. As best I can tell Theology comes down to this:
Rational Theology
First comes the question “is there such a thing as ‘god’”. You know, the Unmoved Mover, the Unknown Knower, the Uncreated Creator, the Unthought Thinker, the Unstarted Starter, the Unbegun Beginner, the lighter of the fuze for the Big Bang. Him; her, it, them, whatever, exist outside space-time as we know it; outside the universe! We can’t even imagine what that means. It is unknowable. Undefined, like divide by zero. Not in our ability to understand, much less prove.
Actually, there is no rational way to say, however, we may assume so in order to avoid the Catastrophe of the Invinite Regress.
If you don’t mind that, then Bob’s your uncle.
However, taking the assumption, we then have the first question of the nature of this god thing. There seem to be 4 possibilities:
1) God loves us and wants us to be happy,
2) God hates us and wants us to be miserable,
3) God is indifferent,
4) God is insane.
Thee have been entire systems of thought built around each one of these. Which one is correct? No way to tell, rationally. And here Rational Theology comes to an end. Anything else, and all this too, is nothing more than assumptions, speculations, and if carried on too long, bullshit.
Here endeth the lesson.
Of course, this is a free country and you may assume anything you wish. You just may not insist anyone else accept it as correct unless you can supply rational evidence, and that anyone else can only Rationally accept it as true or correct if they can independently verify it. Something is only knowledge if it can be communicated and independently verified. Otherwise, it is an opinion, assumption, belief. And presonal experience doesn’t meet the requirements. Knowledge requires common experience—or universal experience—of people by virtue of existing.
We can learn one thing about this assumed God: he/she/it/them is a mathematician. We observe this when we read the Great Book of Nature and find it is written in mathematics. From this we can assume the assumed God is logical and rational.
And what is this “Rationality” thing? More information
here:
How
to Think Clearly, by Paul Rosenberg.
Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters by Steven Pinker
Rationality: From AI to Zombies
by Eliezer Yudkowsky
Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, by Eliezer Yudkowsky
[GoTo Website] An entertaining novelization of teaching/learning rationality
in the Harry Potter universe. The author writes: “I ask the fundamental
question of rationality: Why do you believe what you believe? What do you
think you know and how do you think you know it?”
It is interesting that while people can tell you their “what,” the
“why” is almost always a real problem. Here endeth the second lesson.
Or, as the Buddha said:
Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conductive to the good and benefit of all, then accept it and live up to it.
— Buddha, Anguttara-nikaya
Can mathematics be spiritual? Ask Einstein, by Francis Su, in partnership with John Templeton Foundation.
Speaking of Theology and stuff like that: Does an Afterlife Obviously Exist?, by Sharon Hewitt Rawlette, and Encounters at the Time of Death, by Steve Taylor. And consider What Dreams May Come, by Richard Matheson about the same thing.
The device hoping to answer the ultimate existential questions, by Medical Research Council.
What is Web 3.0? Here’s what the internet will look like in the future, by Kimberly Gedeon.
Here’s a handy device, encrypted and distributed MEET ‘BOX’, A DECENTRALIZED CLOUD SERVER THAT LETS YOU OWN YOUR DATA INSTEAD OF AMAZON OR GOOGLE.
Is English the new Latin?: Publish in English or perish, by Aisha Al-Janabi.
Inside the space hotel scheduled to open in 2025.
Where are the fearless reporters investigating government overreach?, by Richard W. Rahn.
The left no longer has any idea what ‘neutral’ even is, by Post Editorial Board.
Now, Even Orchestra Auditions Besieged by Forced ’Social Equity, by Alexandra York.
The ‘Bill of Temporary Privileges’: Americans have no rights, by Andrew P. Napolitano.
Why Biden is in Danger of Replicating Woodrow Wilson’s Propaganda Machine, by John Maxwell Hamilton and Kevin R. Kosar.
More damned drome swarms: Incredible Footage Shows Drone Swarm Navigate Thick Forest With Eerie Precision, by Lucie Aubourg.
A new system could generate usable oxygen and fuel from lunar soil, by Deena Theresa.
Anyway, pictures:
The WOW! pictue of the week:
You need to reconsider that one!
And that $10 pizza is really really good!
My grandkids talk like this sometimes
Remember to stay Deplorable, my friends!
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