The converse is pretty funny too.

1. God made the universe out of magic.
2. Our minds and souls are made out of magic.
3. God made himself out of magic. Everything is made out of magic.
4. Nothing is real.

and thus:

5. believing in magic woo makes one very very stupid.

Of course Pixar is capable of some pretty magical stuff, and they're not stupid. I think you can be a skeptic without having a nothing-but bias.

(September 25, 2014 at 7:27 am)whateverist Wrote: Of course Pixar is capable of some pretty magical stuff, and they're not stupid. I think you can be a skeptic without having a nothing-but bias.

Pixar is an entertainment company that uses real world equipment to make cute shows. They do nothing "magical." If one thinks they do "real" magic then yes, they are extremely stupid. What kind of skeptic continues to postulate unreasonable and unevidenced imaginations?



"real" magic?? that struck me as soo funny as I typed it..

Sure, I assume everything is natural. What else could it be?

But, if not 'magical', some things are pretty amazing. And in general, the more you come to know, the greater the pile of things you come to realize you do not know.

When I say a nothing-but bias, I mean assuming that everything fits into knowledge you already have. While I'm sure there is nothing absurdly (or permanently) magical, there are some things that are mysteriously (in the sense of not already being well understood) amazing .. such as Evo-Devo. I see no reason to deny awesomeness props to such things.

(September 25, 2014 at 1:29 am)genkaus Wrote:

(September 24, 2014 at 5:08 pm)Blackrook Wrote: The human brain is a physical object under a delusion that it is something more than a physical object -- a mind, that exists outside the realm of the physical.

An atheist's task is to convince the human brain that it is nothing more than a biological machine, which operates with neurons and chemicals, rather than gears and levers.

Once that task is complete, we can abandon all belief in the soul, the spiritual world, and the afterlife.

Discuss.

You are mostly correct.
Though that is a job for physical monist - not an atheist.

There is no job as an atheist, since atheism doesn't really espouse anything beyond a disbelief in gods. It doesn't even have the job of disproving the existence of gods, and doesn't even espouse the disbelief in all supernatural things.

(September 25, 2014 at 8:10 am)Chad32 Wrote: There is no job as an atheist, since atheism doesn't really espouse anything beyond a disbelief in gods. It doesn't even have the job of disproving the existence of gods, and doesn't even espouse the disbelief in all supernatural things.

Yep, I decline all theist imposed errands.

(September 25, 2014 at 1:45 am)genkaus Wrote: Where is Chad? He takes the same position but he puts is so much more elegantly.

Thank you for the compliment, but I'm sitting this one out. I am however taking a keen interest in how many different ways there are to deny the relevance of the very feature that makes us human.

(September 24, 2014 at 5:08 pm)Blackrook Wrote: ...An atheist's task...

...is a contradiction.

(September 25, 2014 at 8:25 am)ChadWooters Wrote:

(September 25, 2014 at 1:45 am)genkaus Wrote: Where is Chad? He takes the same position but he puts is so much more elegantly.

Thank you for the compliment, but I'm sitting this one out. I am however taking a keen interest in how many different ways there are to deny the relevance of the very feature that makes us human.

DNA?

(September 24, 2014 at 8:37 pm)Blackrook Wrote: Agree or disagree: the mind is not "real."

A mind is the delusion the brain has that it exists somewhere that is not purely physical.

We are all sacks of meat, with no more inherent value than a side of bacon or a beef patty on a hamburger.

All we have to do to change a mind is pump the brain up with the proper chemicals and neurological impulses.

Even personality can be changed with the right drugs and electrical inputs.

So "we" (our minds) don't exist.

Our emotions aren't real.

Everything we think, feel, love, hate isn't real.

Nothing is real, other than the material world.

And since our experience of the material world is processed through a "mind" that is a delusion, we can't even be sure of that.

I get the impression that the most obvious effect religion has had on you is to thoroughly annihilate your self-esteem.