James A. Donald aka JAD or Jim (the first person to respond when Satoshi announced Bitcoin on the mailing list) has a thought provoking discussion going on about the future of religion in terms of promoting the maximum productivity of society:
https://blog.jim.com/culture/fixing-christianity/https://blog.jim.com/uncategorized/request-for-research-assistance/#comment-1774211I’d like to comment over there, but seems I’m banned there also.
Religion exists to create societies which are much more productive than without religion (i.e. the religious societies are more productive/erudite and thus resilient and anti-fragile…that’s until they’re co-opted by the
unholiness of human manipulation of the institutions of the religion):
https://www.psychologicalscience.org/news/were-only-human/why-do-we-have-religion-anyway.htmlIt’s long-term ineffective for us humans to rally around admiration or dedication to another human (although this happens sometimes in the short-term for example for cults and political leaders), because humans are imperfect and this will eventually lead to a collapse of such an idealism.
So humans can be very motivated if they believe there might be some higher purpose to their existence that
unifies around their core needs and maximizes their collective success.
Since we’re unable to prove scientifically that a God exists or doesn’t exist, this plausibility of a higher purpose to our existence is open to all possibilities (as it must be for us to exist as I have explained numerous times in prior discussions in these forums with for example @CoinCube). See quote below.
I’m intrigued by the comments over there at Jim’s blog pondering if an upgrade to Christianity might derive somehow from technological developments, such as the rise of social networking over the Internet.
One of my last recent public comments to @CoinCube was a challenge to tell me how I can be successful, i.e. to give me actionable information.
One thought occurred to me that up until now, social networking has been shaped by centralized corporations who are subsidizing and promoting leftism and unproductive activities (e.g. you should see my gf click Like on everything from someone she knows, without any thought to whether she really likes it).
As we move the Internet to a decentralized paradigm,
one of my goals is this subsidization will cease and we’ll have a more meritorious form of social networking.
For me lately one of the higher purposes that has been driving me is the thought that perhaps decentralization would ameliorate to some extent the corruption of top-down control power vacuums and that would include the institutions built around religion. Perhaps this may help drive humans back towards religion in its decentralized form as exemplified in Matthew 6:5? Thus any State violating the meritocracy would be viewed rightly so as a parasite and a heresy.
So can decentralization improve (the institutions of) Christianity more towards Jesus’ ideal?
Atheist: “Nope.”
Christian: “I want to introduce you to my best friend . . . Jesus Christ.”
Jew: “If he does then he's got about 3,000 years of explaining to do!”
Muslim: “I don't drop what I'm doing five times a day to pray for nothing.”
Scientist: “Haven't figured that out yet, we're still doing the math.”
Hippie: “Our Mother Earth, Gaia.”
Buddhist: “Do you think God exists?”
Stoner: “Do . . . like . . . any of us really exist?”
Polytheist: “They all do.”
Hindu: “33 Gods exist . . . or is it 33 crores?”
Feminist: “Yes She does!”
Agnostic: “Maybe.”
Sci-Fi: “God is an alien!”
Greek Philosopher: “What if God did exist? Then what?”
Criminally Insane: “I am God!”
Joan Osborne: “What if God was one of us?”
Aquinas: “Yes, and a good thing, too.”
Paine: “Yes, but we’re still screwed.”
Sartre: “No, so we’re still screwed.”
Nietzsche: “No, and a good thing, too.”
“Then there was the dyslexic agnostic insomniac who stayed up all night wondering if there really is a dog.”
Neoclassical Economist: “Whether or not God exists is irrelevant. The cost of believing in God is minuscule compared to the benefit you’d get if God does exist.”
Nietzsche: “God is dead”
God: “Nietzsche is dead”
Edit: Insane response. Thank you everyone. Of course this isn't meant to represent any belief system as it is just a comical approach to this on going of “does God exist?” Best wishes.
Poll
