Comments by "bj0rn" (@TheLivirus) on "Jonathan Haidt: Religion, evolution, and the ecstasy of self-transcendence" video.

@somor98 I think he explained that very well. Individuals that work togeather have a better chance of survival than those who don't. He even braught up the possibility of 'slackers' who use the benefits of the group without contributing, but then argued that under threat of being outperformed and overrun by other groups, such behaviour would be a disadvantage.
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@jtai36 Are ecosystems really cooperating organisms? I think it's more likely that they've just grown dependent on eachother, but remain selfish. One organisms wasteproduct is another ones food etc.
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@somor98 If you think about it, this "trust" is not necessary. There are other options: The group could either force the slacker to contribute, or they could just exclude the slacker from the group. And if you look at nature, that is a common occurence.
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@DoYerBest Seems legit.
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@Nemesis000000 Tell me about his attitude towards atheism! I don't get any negative vibe from this talk.
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@ClintSevilla No. He specifically stated that this elevated state of mind can be achived without religion.
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@DoYerBest Nice generalization and strawman. First of all, atheism does not require belief in modern cosmology. Secondly, modern cosmology explain the early development of the universe, not the origin. Likewise the theory of evolution explain the diversity of life, not the origin. And I'd say the most common position among atheists who belive in modern cosmology is that we don't know how life or the universe started.
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@AdamDLDixon Did you miss this part? "...but you don't need religion to 'get you through the staircase'. Lots of people find self-transcendence in nature, other overcome their selves at raves..." 03:17
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@bboschboi It's funny that you imply that "secularists" are non-religious. F.y.i. most christians belive in the separation of church and state.
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@AlexLococo Although I admit there are _fanatic_ atheists I can assure you that there's no such thing as "fundamental" ones. This fact should be clear if you just pick up a dictionary.
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@DoYerBest If not the theory of relativity, how would you explain that magnetic, electric, and gravitational fields propagate with c in vacuum, no matter the velocity of the observer? Call it 'mainstream' if you want, but I hold that it is the best explaination available. It have made extrordinary prediction such as the existance of neutron stars, black holes, time dilation, gravitational lensing and waves, etc. Why should I mistrust a theory with such a record?
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@JesusGaveMeNewSoul What do you mean by "One in spirit"? Why do you call them Father and Son? Do gods reproduce like mankind? If so, where's the mother? Is Jesus younger than God? Why do I have to ask for forgiveness if he already died for my sins? Why did he have to die in order to forgive me? Couldn't he just forgive me? What have I done to Him that I need forgiveness for?
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@1marcelo It's psychology and group dynamics.
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@SempeVeritas Wouldn't you agree that the answer is not so simple when we take into account that the 'group instinct' can also drive the individual to sacrifice himself in favour of the group (without the promise of an afterlife)? Yes, the instinct evolved to favour the individual, but as it turns out it sometimes overcome the instinct of self-preservation and reproduction. So, can we still call it purely selfish? I'm not so sure.
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@JesusGaveMeNewSoul What's the difference between Jesus and God and the holy spirit?
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@AlexLococo Yeah, as I explained in my comment. Atheists can also be fanatics.
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@DoYerBest Yes, and the argument fails in that it relies on two weak assumptions. All it does is reflecting the ignorance of the author. As the space-time fabric of the theory of relativity breaks down as the universe is extrapolated towards a singularity, the terms "cause", "effect", "existance" and "beginning" become meaningless. In other words: what is "cause" without the dimension of time? What is existance without the spatial dimensions?
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@JesusGaveMeNewSoul Wow, this is getting complicated. So when I ask for the Father, what I get instead is his Son's Holy Spirit, which in turn enables me to get to know the Father personally? I still don't understand the difference between the two and their relation to eachother. If they have both always existed, how can one be the Father of the other? I'll read your PM asap.
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This video makes me a bit down. It makes my dream of humanity working togeather as one seem not so bright anymore. It's like creating a world-wide monopoly. Without the pressure of competition, the groups overall performance become irrelevant to the individual, the 'slackers' will benefit from being selfish, and the group will dissolve.
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I can't see why so many Atheists find this provoking. I find it interesting.
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