Generic Thread Title. Also, hello!
February 13, 2012 at 6:04 pm
(This post was last modified: February 13, 2012 at 6:08 pm by Tempus.)
I don't usually bother with introductory posts on forums, much less begin them at the tail end of an all-nighter, but what the hell 
I'm an atheist. Depending on what the claim is it may be of the gnostic, agnostic or ignostic variety. As for other positions I hold; I'm pretty much a determinist and nihilist. From there you can probably figure out my positions on other things pretty easily. My hobbies include composing music, modding, watching anime and reading.
While I haven't always been an explicit atheist, I was never religious - more just vaguely spiritual. The previous year and a bit has been an intense period of self contemplation for me in the sense of evaluating my meaning / purpose / goals / etc. I began reading and frequenting anarchist-esque sites and became briefly enthralled by their talk, however after reading (among other things) Ted Kaczynski's criticisms of the naive attitudes of many anarchists and the realities of primitive peoples lives I gradually became disillusioned with the idealistic visions of eternal sunshine and hippie communes. Not to mention the impossibility of having the available knowledge I love to pursue in book and digital form... Still, I harbour a soft spot for some of their goals and think things can be salvaged from the movement. One excellent and inspiring piece I found around this time was this: http://deoxy.org/rst.htm
It seemed to echo back to me my own dissatisfaction with the way the world worked. I remember feeling so frustrated with being locked into this merry-go round of media, work and socialising in which no real meaningful contact was actually made. This was a time of great despair and aimlessness for me.
Eventually I came across the so-called 'New Athiests' via a video of Sam Harris'. Around this time I also found a number of excellent Youtube atheists and also finally realised that agnosticism wasn't a middle ground between atheism and theism. Dawkin's talks about evolution also lead to an even greater interest in science. Although I no longer have that much of an interest in those four anymore they profoundly affected my world view. Around this time was probably when I found out about the concept of the 'absurd' which Camus describes and subsequently lead me to rejecting my pessimistic attitude in favour of a more realistic (though not optimistic) one. The glass isn't half-full or half-empty; it contains a 1:1 ratio of air and liquid.
I don't know any other atheists which is basically why I joined up. My atheism is a very small part of me but being unable to share it and have it understood is lame. Most people I know have this incoherent, wishy-washy, self serving, spiritual nonsense... "Everything happens for a reason" and such. I mean, what does that even mean! What reason?! What are you TALKING about!
Bla bla bla this is getting way too long so I will end here.
I'm an atheist. Depending on what the claim is it may be of the gnostic, agnostic or ignostic variety. As for other positions I hold; I'm pretty much a determinist and nihilist. From there you can probably figure out my positions on other things pretty easily. My hobbies include composing music, modding, watching anime and reading.While I haven't always been an explicit atheist, I was never religious - more just vaguely spiritual. The previous year and a bit has been an intense period of self contemplation for me in the sense of evaluating my meaning / purpose / goals / etc. I began reading and frequenting anarchist-esque sites and became briefly enthralled by their talk, however after reading (among other things) Ted Kaczynski's criticisms of the naive attitudes of many anarchists and the realities of primitive peoples lives I gradually became disillusioned with the idealistic visions of eternal sunshine and hippie communes. Not to mention the impossibility of having the available knowledge I love to pursue in book and digital form... Still, I harbour a soft spot for some of their goals and think things can be salvaged from the movement. One excellent and inspiring piece I found around this time was this: http://deoxy.org/rst.htm
It seemed to echo back to me my own dissatisfaction with the way the world worked. I remember feeling so frustrated with being locked into this merry-go round of media, work and socialising in which no real meaningful contact was actually made. This was a time of great despair and aimlessness for me.
Eventually I came across the so-called 'New Athiests' via a video of Sam Harris'. Around this time I also found a number of excellent Youtube atheists and also finally realised that agnosticism wasn't a middle ground between atheism and theism. Dawkin's talks about evolution also lead to an even greater interest in science. Although I no longer have that much of an interest in those four anymore they profoundly affected my world view. Around this time was probably when I found out about the concept of the 'absurd' which Camus describes and subsequently lead me to rejecting my pessimistic attitude in favour of a more realistic (though not optimistic) one. The glass isn't half-full or half-empty; it contains a 1:1 ratio of air and liquid.
I don't know any other atheists which is basically why I joined up. My atheism is a very small part of me but being unable to share it and have it understood is lame. Most people I know have this incoherent, wishy-washy, self serving, spiritual nonsense... "Everything happens for a reason" and such. I mean, what does that even mean! What reason?! What are you TALKING about!
Bla bla bla this is getting way too long so I will end here.
