dimreepr

Do me a favour! That's the same as a racist saying my best friend is black as a defence, to his casual, cultural racist remark's. My argument has nothing to do with the existence of anything supernatural; our (by which I mean you and I) understanding of the universe is due to a simplified version of a very complex system, I doubt there's a single person who would say "I understand it all"; yet you are confident enough to say with absolute certainty that Spinoza's wrong bc he couldn't give you an example of something that's not available to anyone.

The thing is, AI, ant or whatever only seems intelligent bc of our intelligence and our fundamental need to empathise; for instance, my dog is so clever bc it has learned to mimic an emotional response; does not mean it was clever enough to think of that strategy...

Agree on the former and beg to differ on the latter. Because an ant, when deprived of sometihng to think about (eg the smell it's used too) will default to the simplest programme, i.e. search for a smell it recognises; it doesn't think about it, like a human can. Your arguments are dangerously close to religion, as in there's a magic spark to intelligence that can only be achieved by an organic organism. Ant intelligence is far more simple than our current AI, and our current AI is stupid...

Then you should try sticking vegetation to your clothes and sitting still... 😉

What you're missing is the value of ignorance, in people it can mean thinking in a different way to sometimes come up with a noval solution. In an ant ignorance means there's nothing to think/smell about.

Well, Dawkins did.

That doesn't mean you're free to spout bollox...

Is it tho, some answer's may never be revealed or resolved, even by science; but to say you're wrong bc I know better, while in a state of non-understanding, seems deluded. What's the second law of holes? Keep digging, the metal-detector went beep?

It has value in the ant community...

Which of them told you that? I bet it was Nigel.

But will the ants follow... 🙏

No, I said "you may as well say god did it", besides this is tangential to my point, which is that god is the delusion, for both side's of the argument. I feel that it's important to reiterate some facts about me, I'm a practising atheist and IFLS.

That very much depends on the culture that shapes the system, for instance, 'Bournville' is a model village that was built from chocolate... If we left it up to, 'business leaders and government officials', those guys, then only those guys would get to eat sweet chocolate; it would leave a bitter taste for the rest of us...😉

Isn't that all of us? We can't even learn from simple fiction, it seems... The grapes of wrath, et al... (the clues, often, in the title.)

Why do I need to prove the existence of something, in order to say "I don't know, yet"? Science, as far as I know, is not the only source of information available to you (history, for instance); besides, science never said "god didn't do it" they just question it's attendance, since it isn't answering it's email's, ATM...

Indeed, not many places to go, but many ways to get there... 😉

What gives you peace?

Indeed and I am not a vegan, but I'm from traditional farming stock and we, quite often, take pride in how we take care of the farmed; but that's another topic entirely... You do understand that I'm not literally sending anyone anywhere, right?

Thank you. But, TBH, we've had our fun and what fun it 'was'; if I want to smile, I close my eye's and picture the time she ran gleefully into the canal bc it was covered by a blanket of duckweed, I almost pissed myself laughing as I fished her out... Why wait for heaven... That's a conspiracy theory, designed to inspire fear; hell is a conspiracy designed to inspire peace. But if we consider the shepherd as a metaphore for teacher, given that we're not sheep, then it makes more sense...

Again with negative emotive language, the shepherd is trying to keep them safe, so they can eat their fill of the best grass and sleep, without being eaten. It does when it's the other guy that's suffering, especially if it's 'that' guy, he clearly deserves to (and I've got no other means to demonstrate how much he hurt me) for some reason... You're conflating an awful lot of history here, but imagine for a second the fundamental message is, heaven can only be achieved here and now, while we're alive and hell is a concept designed to help you achieve that. It doesn't have to be a 'brave new world' 'big brother' type scenario, it could just be a nice shepherd with an honest intent.

Indeed, apologies to all, I buried my dog yesterday and the wake got out of hand (neither cryptic or a joke) ... 🙄 Indeed, they are also a means to find peace, a map of a path to contentment; politics muddy the water's by peddling fear; but who in their right mind would fear contentment. Why, for instance, are contented people portrayed as 'sheeple'???

Thanks, I will... It makes me feel better; what's your excuse?

Let's hope so, bc the alternative kinda sucks...

Imagine that, a salon that only cuts hair...

It produces peace in the mind of a victim, so it has a value. When a vengeful God becomes to difficult to explain in terms of peace and love, one needs an antipode to explain the rest...