And a month later, though actually submitted two months in anticipation, scientific research responds with:
http://pnis.co/vol2/s1.html Neural correlates of people waiting to get into Heaven It should be noted that PNIS is a mock scientific journal. -- rec -- On Thu, Dec 18, 2014 at 4:28 PM, glen <[email protected]> wrote: > > These articles popped up on my radar today: > > http://www.science20.com/writer_on_the_edge/blog/scientists_discover_that_ > atheists_might_not_exist_and_thats_not_a_joke-139982 > > http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2014/07/13/ > confused-science-writer-claims-that-atheists-might-not-exist/ > > http://www.evolutionnews.org/2014/08/evolutionary_st088461.html > > What makes me care is that my friends constantly accuse me of being an > atheist, despite my claim that I'm agnostic, a word they seem incapable of > parsing. So for about 5 years, now, spurred on in part by Nick's posts to > this list, I've been passively looking out for any hint of an objective way > to diagnose whether someone's a[n] [a]theist. I use "diagnose" for > provocation since I think all claims about metaphysical truth, including > both atheism and theism, are delusional. 8^) > > Does anyone here have or know of any diagnostic algorithms that do NOT > rely on self-reporting? > > I can easily imagine someone saying they do or don't believe in some thing > but behaving otherwise. So I'd love to find more objective measures of > it... even if they're only informal or N=1. One answer I've thought of > myself is the way we react to particular types of fiction. For example, I > really enjoy horror movies, witches, zombies, demon possessions, > telekinetics who can explode other people's minds -- > http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081455/ -- and of course the axe murderers > that lurk behind every corner and die over and over again only to come back > to life for the next installment. (But I can't stand those silly TV shows > about serial killers.) Would an atheist enjoy such things that rely > fundamentally on the supernatural? Similarly, I know lots of self-reported > theists who don't enjoy any fiction that relies on supernatural beings or > mechanisms. > > Where is the actual line between belief and suspension of disbelief? (cf > http://vimeo.com/12403866) > > -- > ⇔ glen > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
