[ExI] Pascals wager

[Stathis Papaioannou]

On Wed, 5 May 2021 at 06:25, Ben via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

> On 04/05/2021 18:00, bill w wrote:
> > atheism has no goals to offer people
>
> Not so sure about that, either.
>
> I'd call achieving an unblinkered, rational view of the world a goal. A
> very worthy one, too.
> I'd call combating the evils of religion in a non-violent way a worthy
> goal as well.
>
> Many atheists still have what I call a 'crypto-dualist' worldview, which
> is betrayed in their language. They may say they have no beliefs in the
> supernatural, but then say things which reveal some kind of conviction
> that there is something non-natural about the mind, for instance. Look a
> the number of atheists who can't take the final step to fully embrace
> materialism, and as a consequence deny that uploading can work, for
> instance ("it would 'only' be a copy!!").
>
> I'd say that an important goal of atheism is to divest oneself of any
> trace of non-materialism, to fully accept that the mind is a result of
> physical processes, and all the consequences of that view. And yes, I
> know how difficult that can be. For many people, atheism is just as much
> a challenge as any religious path. But far more rewarding, in my view.


Atheism does not entail materialism. Atheists just believe that there are
no gods, either material or non-material. Most atheists are probably
materialists, but they don’t have to be in order to consistently be
atheists. Moreover, a materialist could claim that computers cannot be
conscious because there is a certain material quality that biological
systems possess that computers lack. It requires some careful argument to
refute this position.

> --
Stathis Papaioannou
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