[ExI] The void left by deleting religion

[spike]

> bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of Eliezer S. Yudkowsky
> Subject: [ExI] The void left by deleting religion
...
> >
> >> So, into the old bit bucket with it, all of it.  I miss it to
> >> this day I confess.
> >
> > There are considerable parts that I miss too.
> 
> Samantha, Spike, what do you miss?


Eli, to this I have a good answer, altho not as short as the question.

Imagine yourself as a somewhat geeky straight male, about 20 years old.  It
isn't hard to do.  At least it isn't hard for me to do; I know *exactly* how
it feels.  For this thought experiment, you will be my college roommate
Chalkie Whiterson.  We are the kind of guys that normal girls gaze past,
looking for someone else.  Pretty much anyone else.  You and I have never
really had a sweetheart, nothing that amounted to anything.

We are students at a Seventh Day Adventist college.  There are about 1500
students here, on a campus isolated by distance from everything, in such
places as College Place Washington, or Collegedale Tennessee.  We have no
car, so we hang around campus most of the time.  Rather all of the time, but
that is fine with us because we like it here.  Who wouldn't?  This place is
filled with single young ladies!  But these are special single young ladies,
for you see, if one is SDA, one's future success in matrimony largely
depends on finding a like-minded mate. Membership in this particular cult
does have its lifestyle implications, such as eschewing of alcohol and
drugs, fancy clothing, jewelry, not working on Saturday, for instance.  The
ladies realize this as well as we do.  So now, even tho you and I are geeks,
these ladies will accept us anyway.  Or at least we will do in a pinch, for
this is a closed society, immune mostly from outsiders and outside
influence.

Is it clear in your thought experiment that this campus is more sexually
charged than a singles bar?  In the bar, some are single, the rest are
pretending to be.  There is a spectrum of ages, looking for a companion for
the evening.  But on this campus almost everyone is single and under 30,
looking for a companion for life.  Sex is seldom mentioned here and even
less seldom done, but it is on everyone's mind.  Constantly.  If not more
often than constantly.

SDA is a hybrid religion, nominally christian but borrowing heavily from
Judaism.  We observe the old testament sabbath, so on Friday evening at
sunset, all the school books are put away, the radios and televisions turned
off, the stores closed, everything closed except the church.  Since there is
nothing competing for attention, most of the students go there for a vespers
service.  There is singing, prayers, testimony.  It is a highly emotional
time, which itself results in endorphin rushes that cause our cheeks to
glow.  Some are moved to tears, even a few of the men on occasion.  

No less sexually charged is this environment than the rest of the campus the
rest of the time.  Most of the women are beautiful, the rest at least
acceptable.  Many of their faces have never seen makeup, so they have a most
healthy and rosy countenance.  They are well scrubbed, hair in place,
tastefully and modestly dressed.  And they want us, they want to be with us,
they appear happy to see us.  We don't understand why exactly, but clearly
they do.  We can see it in their faces, for they are mostly open and honest
types.

Afterwards we go to the back courtyard at the men's dormitory, where the men
and women mingle and visit in larger or smaller groups.  Some guys bring out
their guitars, there is laughter, there is singing and companionship.  Happy
times are these, fine times indeed.  The women must be back in the dorm by
ten, so we walk them over, politely saying our goodnights.  Then we make our
way back to the dorm commons area, where the young men gather and talk.
These conversations cover philosophy, religion, science, history, the
future, perhaps the girl we spoke to that evening, things of interest but
tending away from business or worldly concerns.  

Chalkie, you and I are technogeeks, engineering students, so we focus on
things that will eventually take the form of extropianism: the future,
science, technology, what computers will eventually be able to do and how
humans will interact with them, that sort of thing.  We enjoy the company of
like-minded men interacting in the polite and respectful way that these
young men behave when there are no women around for which to compete.  Since
tomorrow is the day of rest and there are no appointments other than church,
there is no hurry to sleep.  The quiet and often remarkably profound
discussions continue until well after the clocks are showing single digits.
We eventually go back to our room filled with the satisfaction of time well
spent, looking forward to repeating the cycle next Friday night.

Eli my young friend, THAT is what I miss.

spike