[ExI] 41% of people are insane

[Mirco Romanato]

Il 24/06/2010 15.16, Tom Nowell ha scritto:
> I have two reactions to the Pew research:
>
> > From a cultural perspective, it seems the spirit of the age is apocalyptic - 41% believe in the second coming before 2050, 30% believe in world war III, a large number are worried about terrorist nukes - a lot of people possess fear of at least potentially existential risk for out civilisation.
>    
The Apocalyptic spirit is good to have thing done.
It is immensely useful as a motivation to accomplish things before it is 
too late.
What is worrisome is that they believe in Second Coming before 2050. It 
is a bit too far to motivate someone, as the majority will believe they 
will be already dead by the time of SC.

^Daniel 12:
4 But you, Daniel, close up and seal the words of the scroll until the 
time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge."
4"But as for you, Daniel, ^(J 
<http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Daniele%2012&version=NASB#cen-NASB-22086J>) 
conceal these words and ^(K 
<http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Daniele%2012&version=NASB#cen-NASB-22086K>) 
seal up the book until the ^(L 
<http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Daniele%2012&version=NASB#cen-NASB-22086L>) 
end of time; ^(M 
<http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Daniele%2012&version=NASB#cen-NASB-22086M>) 
many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase."

You see, the increase of knowledge is a sign of the End of the Times.

But they are not insane, only irrational. Sometimes is rational to be 
irrational (in very specific ways).

> > From a Christian perspective - *sigh*. 41% of people have listened to a preacher talk about the second coming without checking the Bible passages themselves. In Mark's gospel, chapter 13, Jesus makes it clear that even he doesn't know when the second coming is, only God the Father - "But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father." (In respect of the many atheists on this list, I'm quoting the version used on the atheist/agnostic discussion on http://atheism.about.com/od/biblegospelofmark/a/mark13f.htm )
>    
Well, if they believe they know, they are arrogant. But if they believe 
they must keep the people always prepared, they are right.
You know the parable of the spouses and the oil lamps.
> It is depressing to realise the folk beliefs of so many are so out of line with the "core texts" (to quote a phrase we've been using lately) they claim to believe. To use a Bertrand Russell quote Max More is fond of stating, "Most people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so." Most people would rather accept the word of an expert than review the arguments themselves(in this case their preacher; in the case of right-wing conspiracies, some articulate person on fox news; in the case of politics, whatever the latest media soundbite is).
>    
It is so true.
This is because I always have problem writing and talking about Islam. I 
checked the texts (at least the translations in English) and found that 
"extremist"'s actions are not so out of the mainstream of Islam.
Simply the majority of the Muslims (and Westerns) don't know what is in 
their books and accept the opinions of their leaders and experts without 
questioning them.
Muslims do so because they are mainly illetterate where western do so 
because they are mainly schooled in public schools (I'm repeating myself?).
The first must accept the opinion of the literate because they have no 
other choice where the latter are actively trained to accept the opinion 
of the experts without thinking.
> Luckily for us, most people who self-identify as transhumanists are willing to pay a little attention to arguments and source material, so our disagreements on this list are less dogmatic than on many internet fora. I hope this remains so for a long time to come, otherwise the "singularity cargo cultists" that Dale Carrico so enjoys attacking may actually come into existence.
>    
Damned you do, damned you don't.

Mirco
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