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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13477 Posts |
 Posted - 01/19/2016 : 18:28:26
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The Skeptic's Dictionary Newsletter January 2016
Some readers may know that I have incurable metastatic pancreatic neuroendocrine cancer. A few of you may wonder if this fact has altered in any way my beliefs about gods or the afterlife. The short answer is no. I still see no good reason to believe that any gods exist or that consciousness survives the death of the brain. Belief in such things may bring comfort or fear to some people, but it holds no attraction or influence on me, either on the basis of reason or emotion. Of course I would love to see my parents again and be reunited with friends and relatives who have died. Call me crazy, but the last thing I desire is to live forever, in whatever form, worshipping a being who allegedly created this universe. I suppose my fellow citizens should be pleased that I have no desire to harm them and do not believe that the only reason I shouldn't harm them is because I'm afraid of some god who will punish me in some sort of afterlife, maybe by depriving me of the pleasure of worshipping him forever. Worse, I could believe this god wants me to harm others unless they agree to conform to some ancient code.
I'm content to consider myself very lucky to have come into existence as a perceiving being after an eternity of non-being and it does not bother me at all to consider that there will be an eternity of non-being for me after I die. I don't know how rare conscious existence is but there are infinitely more non-beings who never had a chance at living than there are those of us who have been fortunate enough to have lived, laughed, and loved. |
I'm bummed.
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Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 01/20/2016 : 12:20:01 [Permalink]
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| Sucks. I stumbled across the Skeptic's Dictionary in 1994, I think, and that's what started me on my road from run-of-the-mill doubter to robust skeptic. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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ThorGoLucky
Snuggle Wolf
USA
1487 Posts |
Posted - 01/20/2016 : 19:18:44 [Permalink]
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Oh nooooes! In the early days of my Debunkatron, Robert T. Carroll linked to it from his Skeptic's Dictionary and that brought a goodly amount of traffic. He was an early "believer" and that meant much to me.
Also, I enjoyed reading his Unnatural Acts book about how being skeptical generally goes against our default evolutionary baggage.
Sad indeed. :(
Edit: typo |
| Edited by - ThorGoLucky on 01/22/2016 15:32:27 |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13477 Posts |
Posted - 01/20/2016 : 19:28:50 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by ThorGoLucky
Oh nooooes! In the early days of my Debunkatron, Robert T. Carroll linked to it from his Skeptic's Dictionary and ithat brought a goodly amount of traffic. He was an early "believer" and that meant much to me.
Also, I enjoyed reading his Unnatural Acts book about how being skeptical generally goes against our default evolutionary baggage.
Sad indeed. :(
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He also linked to one of my Kil Reports, and still has only three skeptics forums listed on his website, and ours is one of them. He has been very kind to SFN. Also, I met him at TAM 5 and he wrote about meeting me and a few other people in his newsletter. I felt honored.
And of course, The Skeptic's Dictionary remains a great resource. |
Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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This from The Skeptic's Dictionary News Letter
