[ExI] road to wellville, was: RE: morality

[efc at swisscows.email]

On Sat, 20 May 2023, spike jones via extropy-chat wrote:

>> ...No, I thought it was highly charming at some level. I like people who
> stand up for their principles and adding this note, at the risk of
> alienating customers who are not christian or conservative, I find that
> admirable... Best regards,
> Daniel
>
> Consider the function of prayer by the religious.  We consider it pointless
> discussion with an imaginary being, but is it anything else?  Ja!  It causes

Well, I'm not so sure about that one. I think there are studies that
prove that prayer does have psychological and physical health benefits.

> the prole to slow down, consider their actions, maybe take it a little
> slower, particularly to be slow to anger.  Sometimes it helps humans to hear
> themselves verbalize about a problem, for they talk themselves into a
> solution.

That's another angle too. Problem solving, refocusing the brain on
finding a solution. Never thought of that angle.

> Consider using ChatGPT or Eliza as a life coach, or the poor-man's
> psychologist.  ChatGPT can't really counsel the user beyond what they tells
> it, ja?  Eliza doesn't even pretend to do that very sincerely.  So what is
> that?  It is the atheist's prayer.
>
> Using ChatGPT as a life coach is the atheist's version of prayer.

Well, there's even the "proto" appraoch of just writing down your
thoughts as well. It helps many people with reasoning and problem
solving. Add chatgpts reasoning and information too that and yes, it is
quite a nice tool. =)