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--></style></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink="#954F72" style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>Put your faith in Hermes and nothing ill will come of it, I promise. Just burn some incense occasionally and be thankful. That is all.</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div style='mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal style='border:none;padding:0in'><b>From: </b><a href="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org">Ben via extropy-chat</a><br><b>Sent: </b>Tuesday, May 4, 2021 12:42 PM<br><b>To: </b><a href="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org">extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org</a><br><b>Cc: </b><a href="mailto:ben@zaiboc.net">Ben</a><br><b>Subject: </b>[ExI] Fwd: Pascal's wager</p></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>On 01/05/2021 23:04, Spike commented:</p><p class=MsoNormal>> Perhaps you know of Pascal’s Wager, where the philosopher (who </p><p class=MsoNormal>> discovered a whole buttload of cool math (and so is forever on my list </p><p class=MsoNormal>> of people who can do no wrong)) expounded on how humans make a </p><p class=MsoNormal>> win-draw bet on the existence of god. If they choose to believe and </p><p class=MsoNormal>> are right, then good. If they choose to believe and are wrong, then </p><p class=MsoNormal>> nothing happens, so what the “hell” difference does it make? It’s a </p><p class=MsoNormal>> win-draw bet, ja?</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Nein.</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>It's a non-starter, because first, which god do you choose to believe </p><p class=MsoNormal>in? Choosing the wrong one could be just as disastrous as choosing none, </p><p class=MsoNormal>if there were a god or gods. And considering how many gods we've </p><p class=MsoNormal>invented over the millennia (a LOT), the odds are overwhelmingly in </p><p class=MsoNormal>favour of choosing the wrong one.</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Additionally, being a believer almost always comes along with </p><p class=MsoNormal>restrictive rules on how you should live your life, so depending on </p><p class=MsoNormal>which religion you bet on, you could lose a lot in the way of enjoyable, </p><p class=MsoNormal>educational and otherwise positive experiences, and gain a lot in the </p><p class=MsoNormal>way of miserable, guilty and fearful ones. Not to mention being an </p><p class=MsoNormal>active contributor to holding back human development generally (this </p><p class=MsoNormal>applies whether gods exist or not).</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>But I'm sure most of us on this list know this already.</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>-- </p><p class=MsoNormal>Ben Zaiboc</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>_______________________________________________</p><p class=MsoNormal>extropy-chat mailing list</p><p class=MsoNormal>extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org</p><p class=MsoNormal>http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/extropy-chat</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>