(December 21, 2020 at 3:28 pm)Prycejosh1987 Wrote:(October 21, 2020 at 5:35 pm)Brian37 Wrote: Just found out on Twitter. 2020 keeps getting sucker and sucker.
I loved watching Randi debunk cons like psychics.
https://twitter.com/jref?lang=en
Sadly Randi is not in a better place, or he might be. It all depends on if he surrendered in his last moments. Everyone has guilty consciences. Everyone is worried about hell, at least in the back of their minds. I believe in God and do all i can to please Him, and i am worried about hell, honestly.
Randi isn't anywhere as his own cognition, he is dead. He wasn't around 13.8 billion years go, much less 4 billion years ago. And while he will live on in the memories of those who knew of him, he is still dead. He isn't in heaven, he isn't in hell. He is simply dead. When our species goes extinct, and it will, even long before our planet dies, not one famous person, friend or foe alike, both rich and poor, when our species goes extinct, there will be no record of our species. The universe will go on without us.
No, it is not sexy, it is a harsh morbid reality. Humans are not the center of the universe, we are not even the apex of life on earth. We are a mere blip in cosmic time.
The idea of spending one's life to please a master is slavery. I find no value in living life in fear. The real social contract isn't a belief in old mythology in the age of kings. The real modern social contract is knowing that cooperation isn't the goal of dominance over others, or subservience, but one of a mutual social contract, not of gods or or superstition, but of equality and cooperation and fact based agreement.
I will not fool myself into thinking an "atheist utopia" is possible, it isn't. I can value the likes of say Martin Luther King Jr, Malala and Anne Frank as an atheist. But, that does not mean that I am obligated to blindly buy any god claim, anymore than you would claims of Ra, Apollo or Thor.
Randi was a valiant advocate for facts and fought against con jobs. It is pretty pathetic to me that Sylvia Brown spent her life conning people and getting rich doing it. But she once predicted her own death and was way off on the date.
I love the likes of Penn & Teller. They flat out tell everyone from the start everything they do is an illusion, a trick. I have no problem with that. But cons, they are not out just to make money entertaining you, they are vile snake oil salesmen. Randi spent his life fighting con artists.
