Politics & Other Philosophical Musings

Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance - George Bernard Shaw

Thoughts on Religion:

I answered this question on Quora the other day.  I think it summarizes well.

When will humans die off?

Hard to say.  The timing will depend on the cause.  I am more inclined to believe humanity  will wipe  itself off the map before the physics of the universe leads to our demise.  We are a self destructive arrogant lot.  Hard to imagine all those believers in revelation or some other doom & gloom would put up with being wrong.  They would probably put an end to humanity just to prove themselves right.

On the other hand, humanity is capable of great compassion and humility.  Gandhi, Jesus, Buddha, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King and the countless others who have given their lives for others without violence are examples of human compassion. 

If humanity doesn't wipe itself out first, I say we got at least 100,000 years or so.  Life is pretty resilient.  If by some miracle we manage to not get taken out by physical changes to our environment in the next 100,000 years - the probability of meteor strikes goes up with time among other things.  The sun will eventually burn out turning into a red giant  consuming the earth in about 5 billion years.  That should be the end of us.  

"You see, the religious people — most of them — really think this planet is an experiment. That’s what their beliefs come down to. Some god or other is always fixing and poking, messing around with tradesmen’s wives, giving tablets on mountains, commanding you to mutilate your children, telling people what words they can say and what words they can’t say, making people feel guilty about enjoying themselves, and like that. Why can’t the gods leave well enough alone? All this intervention speaks of incompetence. If God didn’t want Lot’s wife to look back, why didn’t he make her obedient, so she’d do what her husband told her? Or if he hadn’t made Lot such a shithead, maybe she would’ve listened to him more. If God is omnipotent and omniscient, why didn’t he start the universe out in the first place so it would come out the way he wants? Why’s he constantly repairing and complaining? No, there’s one thing the Bible makes clear: The biblical God is a sloppy manufacturer. He’s not good at design, he’s not good at execution. He’d be out of business if there was any competition." - Carl Sagan"