Are People Who Believe in God Stupid?

[Chuck Jones]

That's your belief.

[Coito ergo sum]

That's your belief.

...and it's a belief that actually makes sense, whereas yours is made up woo with no basis other than arbitrary wish-thinking.

[Chuck Jones]

No. Mine makes sense, yours is woo.

[dj357]

Woo is defined as that which is believed despite a dearth of evidence for it or a mass of evidence against it and is rejected by the scientific community consensus. Therefore your belief falls under that definition.

[Robert_S]

The universe is consciousness like the internet is our monitors, mouses, and keyboards.

[dj357]

The universe is consciousness like the internet is our monitors, mouses, and keyboards.

The claim was not that the universe is consciousness, but that it is conscious, a distinctly different idea

[Robert_S]

The universe is consciousness like the internet is our monitors, mouses, and keyboards.

The claim was not that the universe is consciousness, but that it is conscious, a distinctly different idea

Oh, well parts of the universe are conscious.

[Thinking Aloud]

Postulating that the universe is conscious is nothing more than anthropomorphic wishful thinking, just like any other concept of a god. It's the same as saying that the universe is "designed for life" when it clearly isn't.

So far as we know, in this sphere of 26 billion light years diameter, there's one mote of dust that transiently houses some life and some consciousness - not a good starting point for claiming that the entire rest of the universe is also somehow conscious. And even if it was conscious in some way we can't detect or understand (though why the remnants of a huge explosion should exhibit such a trait I don't know) the entirety of human consciousness wouldn't even register as an itch on the cosmic superbrain.

Humanity has been full of itself in its ignorance for too long, so it's not surprising it continues to dream up ever bigger things to which it can have a special relationship. I'm happy that I'm a really complicated chemical reaction attempting to sustain itself, and find that fascinating enough without wishing I was a special part of some vast incomprehensible etherial machine for which there is no evidence.

[Robert_S]

Postulating that the universe is conscious is nothing more than anthropomorphic wishful thinking, just like any other concept of a god. It's the same as saying that the universe is "designed for life" when it clearly isn't.

So far as we know, in this sphere of 26 billion light years diameter, there's one mote of dust that transiently houses some life and some consciousness - not a good starting point for claiming that the entire rest of the universe is also somehow conscious. And even if it was conscious in some way we can't detect or understand (though why the remnants of a huge explosion should exhibit such a trait I don't know) the entirety of human consciousness wouldn't even register as an itch on the cosmic superbrain.

Humanity has been full of itself in its ignorance for too long, so it's not surprising it continues to dream up ever bigger things to which it can have a special relationship. I'm happy that I'm a really complicated chemical reaction attempting to sustain itself, and find that fascinating enough without wishing I was a special part of some vast incomprehensible etherial machine for which there is no evidence.

And most people are dissatisfied with the thought of being a cog in a real corporate machine.

[Thinking Aloud]

And most people are dissatisfied with the thought of being a cog in a real corporate machine.

Funny that. Don't want to be part of something where effort is required, but do if all they have to do is dream it!

[Robert_S]

And most people are dissatisfied with the thought of being a cog in a real corporate machine.

Funny that. Don't want to be part of something where effort is required, but do if all they have to do is dream it!

The universal mind feeds on my dreams??? I is scared to sleep now.

[Chuck Jones]

The universe is conscious. End of story. Everyone shut up.

[Clinton Huxley]

If the universe is conscious, I'm going to squeeze it's Higgs bosons until it squeals.

[Animavore]

So rocks are concious?

[devogue]

So rocks are concious?

Yup