The Wow I Can't Believe That News Story Thread

[DwnWthVwls]

Im on the train now. Im bored

[OccultHawk]

Originally Posted by elphenor

science answers "we don't know yet" when you go back far enough

Small qualifier

“We don’t know” is the cornerstone of all good science. Humility.

Pop scientists have taken to making fantastical unsubstantiated claims over the past few years. And the media (like Vice) twist good research into huge exaggerations like we’re on the cusp of stopping cancer or whatever.

And also there’s the problem of scientists having to exaggerate their progress to keep funding.

The public seems to think that ruling out an hypothesis is a failure instead of understanding that it's actually new information on a long journey. You’ll never get famous testing ideas that don’t work but it’s a fundamental part of the process.

Capitalism discourages peer review and the sharing of knowledge which is disastrous for progress.

[Lucem Ferre]

Originally Posted by elphenor

to self-identify sure

but if you imagine an alternate universe where nobody imagined deities, everyone would be atheists, no?

Well in that alternative universe neither of those terms would exist so the concepts would be completely strange and foreign to them. There would technically be no atheists because there was no need or the term in the first place. Which, I guess, would be dragging this conversation into a more abstract phenomenology territory. But to people like us who have been introduced to these ideas then they would be atheists who can't really reject an idea that they've never been introduced to. But, as already pointed out by Frownland thus making your question even more redundant than when Fluffy asked the same thing, people like Chula who are self identified atheists that are aware of the concept of god are rejecting the concept of God.

Definition of reject
transitive verb
1 a : to refuse to accept, consider, submit to, take for some purpose, or use rejected the suggestion reject a manuscript
b : to refuse to hear, receive, or admit : rebuff, repel parents who reject their children
c : to refuse as lover or spouse
2 obsolete : to cast off
3 : throw back, repulse
4 : to spew out
5 : to subject to immunological rejection

[OccultHawk]

Are babies atheists?

[Lucem Ferre]

Originally Posted by OccultHawk

Are babies atheists?

According to our perceptions guided by our languages, yes, because babies haven't had the chance to become introduced to the idea to believe in. The idea is far beyond their perception in the first place.

I'm guessing this is the 3rd and even more redundant attempt at throwing in a loophole that Frownland already addressed a few pages back before anybody even brought it up. Makes me wonder if anybody actually reads responses to have a constructive discussion or you just come here to scream a point of view at the screen.

[OccultHawk]

Are cats atheists?

[Frownland]

Are Christians atheists?

[Lucem Ferre]

Originally Posted by OccultHawk

Are cats atheists?

I don't know, I can't damn well ask a cat about it's existential thoughts.

Originally Posted by Frownland

Are Christians atheists?

I'm sure there are plenty of ironically named atheists, but not all of those Christians are atheist I'm sure. Some Christians might be Mormon, some might be Catholic, Christian Bale is a theist, but he doesn't have a particular religion that he follows.

[OccultHawk]

Originally Posted by Frownland

Are Christians atheists?

No.

[DwnWthVwls]

Yes. And yes to every other stupid example you can think of.

Seems Chula is not the only person who doesnt care about truth and is happy believing whatever the hell they want for bad reasons.