Let the tech giants have AI & all of human knowledge. They subsidize UBI with their bubble profits. They stole everything, so seems fair?

Both of them beating up a penguin probably.

It’s a great community and shares a lot with us. More people should know about faith communities doing the good work in the world, rather than swindling their congregations for mega churches with elaborate shows, while telling people “empathy is not Christian.” It’s absurd what’s happening in those congregations right now.

Religion is a set of beliefs, typically in things beyond what we can falsify (hence faith). It’s not inherently powerful to believe people should be treated with respect. A belief in democracy is a belief in giving others equal power to our own (part of my UU faith).

Unitarian Universalism holds very little power in the world. It’s a beautiful faith tradition. Sure, there are powerful religions, but again, that’s power, not religion.

There are several passages that suggest money & Christianity aren’t aligned. Several passages in Acts talk about the disciples selling everything after Jesus passes and living as a commune with no private property. It says they sold & shared everything together.

There’s the camel & needle proverb. There’s Matthew 25:32. There’s multiple passages that speak of selling what you own and giving it to the poor. There’s Jesus throwing the merchants out in the temple.

When did Christianity become like this? Probably when power saw it could abuse faith, so hundreds/thousands of years ago. Your instinct is great, and you should challenge Christians. I mentioned Matthew 25:32 because it seems so diametrically opposed to what many Christians in power say. We’re supposed to care for the homeless, the immigrant, the prisoner—that’s what this book says.

James 2:15 states that belief is not enough. Belief without works of faith is empty, the same as no faith at all. People telling you they are a Christian while behaving otherwise should be made aware of this passage.

I say this as a Unitarian Universalist. I study the Bible to inform my beliefs, but they are not defined by them. I do think Jesus has been commodified and warped, and the people in power who tell us we’re a Christian nation in the US have lost sight of scripture. They quote the Old Testament and ignore John 13:34.

I also studied all this so when ICE / this government comes for me, I’ll have my receipts. Maybe it won’t matter, but speaking truth to power is important. If so many people believe this book, why do we act like we do? It’s power’s fault, not religion.

Note, I was an atheist for 20 years. I know all about the ills of religion. UU is not like my Catholic Church growing up. If you haven’t been to UU or a Quaker org, it’s worth your time.

My best is: just stop. Yes, Lemmy is like the rural version of Reddit. It’s slower, more niche communities, and not a lot of people making content. But screw Reddit. I was a 15 year reader. They’ve destroyed it for corporate greed. I’m all set.

Favorite, compared to other animals, most people in global north / “The West” and many people elsewhere have some semblance of a normal life, even if the global state is a nightmare.

Least, that we cannot recognize we are one species who could solve a lot of problems by working together. Instead, the selfish & rich create spoilage while being short sighted.

I don’t want ScreamingMinecraftYoutuber67 on my watch history, and yet, it’ll be there tomorrow morning.

/s

Accounts used by multiple people enter the room.

By kids often use my account on our shared family TV. We have adults in 30s/40s, early teens, and toddlers all using YouTube for different things.

This is a stupid idea.

From a lay person’s perspective living here my whole life:

• I grew up middle class. My parents made like $60k combined in the 90s/00s.
• I grew up around lots of different classes.
• I lived in the New England and Southern Belt areas.

One extreme, poverty:

• Many of my friends lived in public housing. This means smaller apartments and usually shadier folks.
• People try to pitch you on schemes or odd jobs.
• A lot of my friends had single mothers.
• I found out later that several dated drug dealers.
• I’ve had many people die from overdose (heroin, fent).
• In south and north, the poorer you are, the more your ethnic accent comes out (southern slang & Boston southie).
• Many smoke or eat poorly. Eating is usually because of material circumstances.
• A lot of people are giving in terms of money or time. They’ll rib you about it, but they’ll help you.

Other extreme, wealth:

• I work in tech. I’ve been successful and have hung out with pretty wealthy people, certainly much wealthier than me.
• They often live somewhere lavish, like a lake house, expensive apartment, or a family house.
• Most have some generational wealth. Some had successful parents. Others come from linages.
• Many have no awareness of how difficult things can be on the poor side. They lack lived experience.
• Most are kind, and self aware of their wealth.
• However, it feels like many have a “rules don’t apply” mindset.
• Tend to have worse empathy for the poor.
• Tend to have worse manners, but I wouldn’t say they are spoiled.
• More giving to their friends, less giving or trusting of strangers.
• Many are good at managing optics & image. I’ve heard a lot of stories about how home lives were too faced, like everyone saw the good side, but there was some darker edge beneath the surface.
• Older rich people seem to be the least empathetic. Younger rich people seem better.

It’s not really possible to capture what it’s like to live. Homelessness is a real problem and a worse version of poverty. The most sociopathic people I’ve known have been ultra wealthy. This is anecdotal.

We are all God’s dream. At least, that’s what I believe.

Thank you for writing and making content.

In this era, I feel like I’m in the Good Place: it’s impossible to make “good” ethical choices while engaging with modern world. Every day, some platform or artist is found supporting blood money, genocide, unfair labor, treats other artist/collaborators like shit, exploitation… Then we all have to pivot to some obscure alternative with its own issues, lest we be immoral internet users.

I’m so tired of all this shit… /rant

There’s a term in art called “authorial control.” Roger Ebert used the term to attack video games as art, saying they lacked “authorial control” and hence invalid for art.

The claim I hear in this is the AI taking away the control of the author. Yes, videos are edited, but there’s a bunch of choices made in that process. If some robot came in & started mucking around with my edits or lighting, especially without my knowledge, that’s a major red flag. YT, as a platform, already has enough problems. Invisible robots “enhancing” videos is perhaps one of the worst features they can add. Unwanted help is not help.

Somewhat irrelevant: omg, this is peak “corporate art sucks.” It’s like corporate art combined with fascist content, more than usual.

100 homie. Sorry if it sounded like I implied that. Not my intent.

Sounds like gender affirming care.

Sorry to be snide. I don’t take TRT, but everyone should be able to do this sort of stuff without judgment. You only got one life.

http://www.thelastquestion.net/

The God of the Gap will always live at some level.

Let’s say you’re arguing in good faith. What if I offered you a different conception of God?

You’re reading the Torah. Have you read the Gnostic gospels? They are early Christian texts & beliefs, some that run roughshod over the beliefs in Judaism. Some Gnostics believed YHWH was a false God, because why would God say, “You must believe in me?” Or why would he genocide the earth with a flood?

Other people have said it, but religion is made by humans. However, what if God was more like the Dao/Tao? Maybe it’s not a person (that’s a human notion), but more like a spring or fountain? Like a source of goodness? Or it’s a foundational substrate for metaphysical realities?

You say, “Why has no holy text predicted what science has revealed?” To me, it sounds like, “Why hasn’t a pig flown?” I think the critique misaligns religion with a goal.

Science reveals the physical world to us. We know there’s an inherent gap between what we observe and some sort of capital T Truth. We could be brains in a vat, a demon could have us hostage, etc. Religion lives in the gap, and I’d say it can reveal things. What it reveals isn’t about the physical world, though.

When I read a Bible verse, a Buddhist Sutra, or hear an Islamic Surah, it connects me to our species. I go to church for the people, the community. The values resonate with me, and I think my family & kids are better off because of that environment. I have science to explain the physical world.

I’m a Unitarian Universalist, so I look at religion in my own way (was an atheist for 20 years prior). Have you tried reframing God as not “old man in the clouds?” If you have, does that framing change how you read the Torah?

P.S. Check out some of the discussion of quantum science and consciousness. Some are arguing that consciousness is the metaphysical reality. Everything may be conscious, but certain conditions may need to be met for the emergence of it in physical reality. Some people have also theorized that all electrons are the same. Some fun theories out there.

Sure seems like a free market right now. /s