Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will

Debunking Christianity – Daniel Mocsny:

Determined is Robert M. Sapolsky‘s skeptical take on the topic of free will. The topic is relevant to this blog since conceptions of free will have a long (and contentious) history in Christianity and other religions. In the religion debate, the issue of free will is likely to come up at some point, given that religious conceptions of free will tend to be pretty far from the scientific picture. …

As Sapolsky’s book demonstrates at great length, free will is nowhere to be found in a scientific study of the human organism. Now, maybe some future scientific discovery will rescue free will, and therefore breathe some life into religious talking points that assume free will, but the trend so far is not encouraging for those who chain their theistic wagons to it. …

Sapolsky doesn’t say too much about religion in the book, but he hardly has to. Anyone who absorbed religious indoctrination about human nature (can we say, dualism?) will find themselves in an alien landscape here; but that is also true for most modern behavioral science books. The behavioral sciences, like much of science generally, tend to debunk just about every pre-scientific religious view that bears on them. …

debunking determined

The Human Supremacist Position

(FTB stderr) – Marcus Ranum:

A fairly common statement regarding AI goes something like: “AI cannot be creative; all they do is re-mix existing stuff probabalistically.”

I characterize that as “The Human Supremacist” position, because it’s implying that there is some sort of “true creativity” which only humans are capable of. There are a lot of problems with that position, which I will attempt to explore, herein. After that, I will describe some of my thoughts on how I experience the creative act, and compare it with how AIs implement creativity. …

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The Metastability of Faith

Debunking Christianity – Daniel Mocsny:

Atheism is easier than religious faith, and people are lazy, so why does anybody bother with the hard option? Why don’t human brains seek a kind of lowest-energy state, by analogy with dynamical systems that tend to run downhill? This post explores, rather speculatively, whether the human brain on faith gets stuck in a kind of higher-energy state, and becomes unable to get to the bottom, similar to what many dynamical systems actually do. …

debunking metastability-of-faith

On Free Will

(FTB) – Mano Singham:

Why do we cling so tenaciously to the idea that we have free will? To even discus the idea we need to be clearer about what we even mean by the term ‘free will’, since there is some ambiguity there and many different definitions floating around. The usual free will model is that ‘I’ consciously make a decision to take some action (get up, pick up a pen, say something, etc.) and then carry it out. The word ‘will’ is not that problematic. We can assign it to the decision-making process that results in the command to be executed. It is the word ‘free’ that causes problems. Free of what, exactly? A belief in ‘free’ will says that the ‘I’ is not purely biologically driven and is in control of that part of the process and could just as easily have made a different decision (keep sitting, not pick up the pen, stay silent, etc.) and carried that out.

But who is this ‘I’ that initiates the process? …

Believers in free will have to postulate some mechanism, not determined by our biology, that can override the biological processes that drive our consciousness, thoughts, and actions.

The difficulty of postulating such a mechanism while staying committed to the universal applicability of scientific laws is what has made an increasing number of people, especially scientists, come to the conclusion that free will is an illusion. Biologist Robert M. Sapolsky has concluded after decades of study of primates that there is no such thing a free will and has written a new book Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will. …

singham on-free-will

A Simplistic Analysis

(Jesus and Mo) – Jesus:

“I‘ve identified a fundamental cultural difference between the two of us — I come from a guilt culture, and you come from a shame culture.” …

jesusandmo simplistic

Getting Saved

(Bruce Gerencser) – According to many Evangelicals, getting “saved” is better than any experience humans could possibly have. Is this really true? Or is it, perhaps, essential for Evangelicals to convince themselves of this in order to justify claims that Jesus is the best friend, spouse, and lover anyone could ever have? …

Imagine a friend telling you that her spouse/boyfriend is an awesome person; that he is quite the lover; that no one in the entire world is as good as he is. Yet, when you ask, I would sure love to meet this hunka burning love of yours, she replies, You can’t. He’s invisible. What would your next thought be? That’s a rhetorical question, of course. Rational people would encourage their friend to seek out professional psychiatric help. Yet, because loving the invisible Jesus is a religious belief, we are expected to, without judgment, smile and say, that’s nice. …

If you are blessed with long life, you will have many wonderful experiences, experiences that are every bit as mind-blowing as Jesus. You will never feel this, however, as long as Jesus is lurking in the shadows. Don’t let Elwood P. Dowd’s pooka named Harvey get in the way of you experiencing all that life has to offer. …

brucegerencser getting-saved

Telling Left from Right

(BBC Future) – Kelly Oakes:

It can seem like an almost childish mistake, but a surprising number of adults confuse left from right and scientists are only just starting to understand why. …

bbc left-from-right

God as Donald Trump

(OnlySky) – Bob Seidensticker:

Praise and worship is the last thing that you’d think an all-wise god would want (unless it’s a god in the mold of Donald Trump). …

bseidensticker praise-and-worship

Gaslighting

(Guardian Comments) – Emma Brockes:

It’s the word of the year, according to one dictionary publisher, and after 84 years it deserves its spot in the limelight. …

theguardian mainstreaming-gaslighting

Christianity infantilizes Christians

(OnlySky) – Bob Seidensticker:

Christianity is like training wheels on a bicycle, not because it avoids falls in the real world but because it is reassuring. Its benefit is mental, not physical.

A different bicycle parallel works for atheism: imagine a child learning to ride a bike. The parent pushes the kid along, and the kid feels confident, but then the parent lets go. The kid doesn’t realize it and still pedals along happily, perhaps even talking to the parent who’s fallen behind. There’s some shock when they realize they’re on their own and doing fine—maybe startling them enough to fall. The belief was reassuring.

Similarly, when someone moves away from comfortable Christianity, it can be a shock to imagine that you’re doing this on your own, but you were riding along just fine, even if you didn’t realize it. Ex-Christians can be like that—that shock is in the past, and they’re exhilarated by their new freedom. …

I thought that Americans prefer to stand on their own two feet, bravely facing problems and obstacles. “I’d rather die on my feet than live on my knees,” right? Doesn’t this celebration of subservience clash with Americans’ self-reliant view of themselves?

You don’t need to be born again; you need to grow up. Christianity infantilizes its devotees. Few churches want their parishioners to be psychologically healthy enough to no longer need the church. Putting faith in God has never produced anything. Progress has always come from getting off your knees and doing it yourself. …

bseidensticker hope-offered

Language Affects our Sense of Time and Space

(BBC Future) – Miriam Frankel and Matt Warren:

The languages we speak can have a surprising impact on the way we think about the world and even how we move through it. …

bbc language-warps

Haughty and Marvellous

(Jesus and Mo) – Jesus:

“Apparently there are ten symptoms of narcissism, and you only need five to be positively diagnosed with it.” …

jesusandmo haughty

Absurdities to Die For

(OnlySky) – Hector A. Garcia:

In 2019 an enemy slipped past America’s defenses to steal far more lives than all its fights since WWI combined, and this on her own soil. It did so by bursting through an access point in our evolved psychology. The great irony is that this access point is the very adaptation that impels us to close ranks with our tribemates in wars among human beings. However, the present enemy is an army not of men, but of simple, single strands of RNA encased in protein shells known as COVID-19. At this writing, the coronavirus has killed over one million Americans, pushing the US to lead the total COVID death count across Earth’s 195 nations. …

Those claiming COVID-19 is a worldwide hoax, even in the face of dying relatives, those claiming vaccines contain tracking devices giving Bill Gates the joystick to our behaviors, then, are demonstrating to the tribe just how far they are willing to go. And when protestors see each other in their tribal regalia—like T-shirts reading “Fear God, not COVID” or even MAGA hats—when they chant in unison, they feel an ancient, emotionally intuitive sense of belonging. …

There is an important argument to be made that religions make us more vulnerable to preposterous group ideas. Indeed, research finds that religiosity predicts conspiratorial thinking, and this has practical consequences. As one example, one Pew Research survey found that among belief systems in the US COVID-19 vaccination rates are highest among atheists (90%), and lowest among Evangelical Christians (57%). …

What is clear is how destructive absurd ideas can be, and not only in the case of making us more vulnerable to deadly infectious diseases. Such beliefs have been the ignition sources for centuries of religious wars and inquisitions, and tears in the fabrics of society that in contemporary times have us fighting each other in the streets.

It’s fair to say that the forward march of science has done more than any other human enterprise to ameliorate human suffering. We cling to beliefs that reject scientific understanding at our own peril. …

hgarcia absurdities-to-die-for

Why Does God Need Praise and Worship?

(OnlySky) – Bob Seidensticker:

Is it obnoxious to have seen Donald Trump as president bask in effusive praise as if he were Kim Il Sung, Stalin, or some other dictator? If so, why expect the all-good Christian God to want that kind of praise?

There’s a progression of wisdom from sociopath, to average person, to wise person, to sage. As we move along this spectrum, base personality traits such as the desire for adulation fall away, but the opposite is true for the Christian god. Not only do we hear this from Christianity itself (“Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever,” according to the Westminster Shorter Catechism), we read it in the Bible (“At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth”).

What’s the point of praise? Obviously, God already understands his position relative to us. We’re informing him of nothing new when we squeal, “Golly, you’re so fantastic!”

Imagine a human equivalent where you have an ant farm, and the ants are aware that you’re the Creator and Destroyer. It would be petty to revel in the ants’ worshipping you and telling you how great you are. Just how insecure would you need to be?

This sycophantic praise makes sense for a narcissistic and insecure king, but can God really want or need to hear this? We respect no human leader who demands this. Christianity would have us believe that the personality of a perfect being is that of a spoiled child. …

bseidensticker praise-and-worship

Stopping Thought.

(OnlySky) – Captain Cassidy:

A thought terminating cliché is something that people say to stifle questions, dissent, or criticism. It’s a way for the people wielding it to shield themselves from contradictory information and end an uncomfortable conversation. Once the cliché has been deployed, the person using it fully expects that to end the discussion–in his or her favor. But in reality, the cliché is deeply dissatisfying to the person on the receiving end of it; it doesn’t make sense, it defies rational examination. It demands submission and obliterates the possibility of true communication. The person using it is in effect telling the target, “Screw off. I’m done with you now. Go away. Stop talking about this subject.” It is a statement of contempt–and of fear. And the Christian god not only shows this contempt to his people, but his people show it to outsiders. …

The Bible’s god doesn’t like us to think. He doesn’t want to give us the information we need to fully assess a situation and evaluate it. What’s he so scared of? What’s he afraid might happen? Well, let’s look, shall we? We’re rather fortunate in having a whole bunch of myths and Bible verses about exactly this topic.

1. The Garden of Eden. “Don’t touch that fruit I put there right in the middle of the garden for absolutely no good reason except to tempt you to eat it, or else you’ll die.” (Genesis 3) …
2. The Tower of Babel (Genesis 11). “ZOMG I’d better do something quick or else they’ll reach heaven and become competition for me.” …
3. “Don’t think too much because that’s really bad.” (1 Corinthians 8:1-2) …
4. “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit” (Colossians 2:8) …
5. In 2 Peter 3:16, we’re told that it’s bad to try too hard to understand the writings of Paul. …
6. And in James 1:5, we’re told that if we lack wisdom, we should ask God for it rather than seek it elsewhere. …
7. In 2 Corinthians 5, we’re told that it’s a valuable thing to “walk by faith, not by sight.” …

It’s very difficult for me at least to see so many verses and myths and not come out of it with a sure and certain suspicion that God’s not actually a good parent. He glorifies ignorance, wants to keep us children, makes it a virtue to ignore evidence, sees pursuit of knowledge as deeply questionable, and values “love” over wisdom gained outside his glorification. And even questioning God’s ways is a sin (as the Book of Job demonstrates). …

ccassidy stopping-thought

Robert Jay Lifton: Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism

Is Religious Faith Reasonable?

(Debunking Christianity) – John W. Loftus:

Neurologist Robert Burton explains, “Despite how certainty feels, it is neither a conscious choice nor even a thought process. The sense of certainty arises out of involuntary brain mechanisms that, like love or anger, function independently of reason.” Burton says “the feeling of certainty should be thought of as one of our emotions, just like anger, pleasure, or fear. This feeling is unrelated to the strength of the evidence of what we believe. This feeling of certainty can be extremely powerful—so much so that it wins despite contrary evidence that should mitigate it. Not only this, but our brains are very good at making up reasons to justify this feeling of certainty rather than following the evidence to the reasonable conclusions.” …

When we have sound reasoning based on sufficient objective evidence faith adds nothing to our conclusions. Faith has no method for acquiring objective knowledge. Faith is folly. Reasonable people should all think exclusively in terms of the probabilities by “proportioning their conclusions according to the strength of the evidence”, as philosopher par excellence David Hume said. When you do that you’ll see why religious faith is unreasonable. …

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