> Obviously, I am not the only one who is
> frusted by those who seem to equate all
> religious thought with fundamental
> Christianity. Aarrgh! What century do
> you think this is?
Almost the 21st, and religious fundamentalism is still quite common in many parts of the world. Aarrgh! indeed.
> We all know that there is no "God" in the
> sense of some huge all-powerful man with a
> beard who created us and gets upset when
> we have sex for any other reason than
> procreation. Among intelligent people, which
> probably includes anyone on this list, these
> arguments have been won a long time ago. As
> Nietzche said; that God is dead.
He may be dead to us, but to many others he's alive and kickin'.
> The "God" that is harder to vanquish is the
> ineffable one that the mystics talk about, the
> one that is defined as undefinable. This "God"
> will never be disproven, for the same reason
> that a child can always say "Why?" to
> whatever explanation you give him. Like
> "infinity", this "God" is a symbol and a useful
> meme. To get upset when this symbol is used
> is like getting upset when someone says
> "infinity".
No, "god" can't be compared to a relatively neutral meme like "infinity"; it is firmly (and IMHO duly) linked to things like ignorance, irrationality and oppression. It's a meme that carries a lot of (often unpleasant) historical baggage. That's why atheists get upset when you use it.
> If you're so lacking in a poetic sense
> that you cannot appreciate this "God", that's
> no reason to verbally abuse those that do.
> Would you insult Douglas Hofstadter when
> he uses the word "God" in this sense?
Not openly, but I'd certainly respect him less for it.
> I don't find it hard to imagine an advanced SI
> with a brain the size of a planet thinking,
> analyzing, constructing and testing mental
> models, expending the energies of whole stars,
> for countless terateraflops, trying to understand
> the universe, why it's here, and ultimately giving
> up, realizing it'll never know, and at that moment
> feeling a great awe.
....or frustration. Personally, I don't think a SI would *ever* give up completely, though it may give the search for absolute understanding of everything an increasingly lower priority.