[ExI] Christianity: where to now?

[The Avantguardian]

--- Bryan Bishop <kanzure at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Saturday 17 May 2008, M1N3R wrote:
> > Or what will be the future of religion anyways? I'm interested in
> > material on the topic, mainly connected to the Catholic Church. If
> > they must change, then how? And how is Christianity compatible with
> > most of the future models presented here? I just can't imagine a
> 
> Suppose the singularity occurs; what then? There will be a few billion 
> people that are behind the times. Many of them will suddenly have tools 
> and technology that they otherwise never had before. So this would mean 
> that you suddenly have billions of people very intensely interested in 
> something that they have never seen before, something that offers them 
> hope [and possibly doom] for themselves, their children, parents and 
> their villages. What would help ease the transistion, should they want 
> one? By transition I mean training and education about what's going on 
> and how to upgrade their shock level. What would help the medicine go 
> down? A spoonful of sugar? 

Are you suggesting sedating the masses with religion? I suppose real opium
would work too.
 
> Anyway, in Zindell's novels as well as in Orion's Arm, there's no 
> indication that Catholicism or the 'Kristians' [as Zindell calls them] 
> are made impossible in a post-singularity scenario. But frankly, when 
> you have a live demonstration right in front of a young kid, who are 
> they going to believe? Prayer for a cure to a disease, or a machine 
> that can deliver? Hm. 

On the other hand, the singularity would allow Catholocism to truly live up to
it's promise in ways never before seen. There is no reason why Catholic
metaphysics can't be run as a program (except for perhaps good taste). One
could easily program a simulation of Pearly Gates and fluffy clouds to upload
the faithful to and alternatively a simulation of Dante's Inferno to upload
(download?) sinners to. In fact you could have a whole market of religions
selling afterlives for the dead to be uploaded into and for the first time in
history, they would actually be able to deliver.

I think I would opt for Arcadia over Paradise. I tend to prefer nymphs to
virgins any how. ;-)
 
> Breaking up old, crusty social institutions is an interesting topic. How 
> would you do this without stepping on too many toes? Reform of 
> institutions isn't exactly something that humans are specialized in. 
> Especially since most institutions are supposed to last forever (the 
> U.S. Experiment didn't have a due date).

Yes but if you don't change something occasionaly, it's a monument, not an
experiment.


Stuart LaForge
alt email: stuart"AT"ucla.edu

"Fear is proof of a degenerate mind [...] Fortune favors the bold [...] Persevere and preserve yourselves for better circumstances [...] Love conquers all."- Virgil