The question thread!

[SulcataIxlude]

Perhaps so, but it could create jobs and heavily boost up munitions sales! Plus it would scare off a lot of potential illegals, so see its a almost yet insane in theory but messy solution!

[SulcataIxlude]

Why is it addicting to read Talon's posts?

[SulcataIxlude]

I wonder if all sex scenes in movies are real or not.

[Talon87]

Originally Posted by SulcataIxlude

I wonder if all sex scenes in movies are real or not.

Do you mean genuine sex scenes (where we see naked people orgasming and, possibly, actual penetration and fondling and foreplay is shown)? Or do you mean the "stock Hollywood sex scene" (e.g. something like Mr. and Mrs. Smith) where people just smooch a whole bunch and the next thing you know they're under the bedcovers "naked"?

I guess my answer would be:
a) if they're showing real sex, then it has to be real. Besides, it'd be easier to get "stunt doubles" who are willing to fuck each other's brains out than it would be to get the real male actor or real female actress to make love to a sex doll that was manufactured to look just like the opposite actor/actress.

b) if they don't show anything requisite of actual sex taking place (e.g. no penile penetration, no handjobs or blowjobs with the actual penis shown on camera, etc.), then I'd say it's never real and is always camera tricks involving two people who quite have their shorts and bras on, etc.

[SulcataIxlude]

Talon you pwn. I've been wondering about that question for ages, but your answers do make sense. :O

How come most westerners, and most atheists have a 'holy than thou' or display asshole like attitude when it comes to other cultures, 'superstitions', and things of that nature?

Why do westerners love to complain about everything in 'third world' countries? I never complained in Indonesia, but majority of all white people I met in Indonesia bitch about everything over there. :P

[Talon87]

Originally Posted by SulcataIxlude

How come most westerners, and most atheists have a 'holy than thou' or display asshole like attitude when it comes to other cultures, 'superstitions', and things of that nature?

Well, despite the observation that both groups do it, I think the answers are quite different. I'll tackle the atheist one first (since it strikes closer to home), and then if I have time I'll try the Westerner one.

I think that the superiority complex in atheists is something common to theists, as well, but I'm not going to go into comparing and contrasting the two groups with the How and the Why of their superiority complexes; I'm just going to focus on the atheist one since that'll save me time and that's what you asked about. I think that many (perhaps most) atheists genuinely believe that they are smarter or more "in the know" about the world than their theist neighbors. You'll find it in lots of atheists' arguments -- this general tone of:
1- I was once dumb and unlightened, too, and I either believed in God or wasn't sure what to believe.
2- Then I saw the light, and now I am enlightened.
3- You still haven't seen the light, so let me try and show you.
4- If you still don't get it, then you're just dumber than I am. Maybe it'll take you longer to figure out. Maybe you'll never figure it out.

(I should note that a lot of born-again Christians have a similar attitude! But like I said, let's not get into it since there are too many subtle differences between the two groups.)

It's very hard not to be condescending towards somebody you think is unenlightened. And the thing is, most atheists are intellectuals (this is not an opinion, but an observed "fact" [I will hesitate to be so arrogant as to claim it is certainly a fact, yet ...] that I and many people have observed, even many theist friends I have). In fact, there is a hugely disproportionate number of Intellectuals to Non-Intellectuals in atheism, and the opposite in Christianity in the modern world. There could be many reasons for this, such as the atheists' arrogant claim that "only the smartest people will realize religion is a sham; stupid people will always be duped," or perhaps the theists' argument of "atheism has a niche appeal to a certain small group of humanity, whereas Christianity has a broad appeal. Christianity is easy to understand because it is true; atheism is difficult to understand because it is a convoluted lie; and only the most intellectual members of our society can be caught by this lie because only they can think on such a high-order of mental processing that they allow themselves to get trapped." (If that was confusing, let me put it this way: most conspiracy theorists are intellectuals [some to the point of madness], yet that doesn't make conspiracy theorists right nor their theories true. A simpler man could tell you why the conspiracy theory is bogus, but the intellectual -- capable of processing so many possibilities -- allows himself to get caught up in the minutia of an event and to begin to believe there really is some conspiracy at work.)

In the end, one reason why many atheists (myself included) come off as arrogant to theists is because we don't understand (and at times all-too-rudely reject) how theists can accept that Santa Claus is not real after having believed in him for years yet they claim that the same arguments don't apply to God. When you think about it, Santa and God are very similar (from the atheist's POV), and so it follows that disbelief in one should lead to disbelief in the other. As an atheist, I think it would be a very interesting experiment (if a bit unethical) to take a bunch of children, raise them as Christians of various denominations, and then (at the age of 10), have two groups:
Group A: some outside force (a movie, a book, a child at school) introduces to them the notion that God isn't real
Group B: one of the parents sits their child down and explains, just as they did with Santa, that God is not real

I think it would be really interesting to see what would happen. Honestly, I believe that the children in Group A would grow up as most of us do -- some remaining Christian, others becoming agnostic and perhaps eventually atheist, and some doing that but then reverting to Christianity. But I believe that children in Group B would almost certainly (95%+) abandon their faith in God just as most do in Santa; would come to view children who believe in God at the age of 12, 15, 18 as we would children of those ages who believe in Santa; etc. I think it would be a very interesting experiment. Oh well.

Okay, going to pass up the Westerner one for now, I'll let someone else have a go at that.

Why do westerners love to complain about everything in 'third world' countries? I never complained in Indonesia, but majority of all white people I met in Indonesia bitch about everything over there. :P

I think this is the same psychological phenomenon that we see in women who try to "break their man" and make him into the man they want him to be. Allow me to explain:

There are some women who, when they find a man they really like dating and are considering for marriage, can't bring themselves to accept him with (as they see it) "his flaws." So rather than dump him (since he is after all 90% perfect), they work hard on changing the remaining parts of him to conform to their ideal man. Maybe he's a bit tubby so they threaten to hold off on sex until he goes to the gym more. Maybe he's a bit too needy so they try to break him and make him more independent.

The thing is, though, some women like a tubby guy (theoretically); some women like a needy guy (because they like to feel needed); etc. The "flaws" this woman sees in her man aren't necessarily absolute flaws, but relative flaws -- flaws relative to her own preferences.

I think it's the same way with tourists and foreign nationals who go to another country they claim they like but then bitch about stuff. People force their opinions of "what's good and what's not" on a country, e.g. they may claim that Indonesian television sucks compared with American television, or they may claim that Indonesian weather is awful compared with the weather from home, etc. Let's say they come from Alaska. Is Alaskan weather better (as an absolute rule) than Indonesian weather? Of course not. Fundamentally, you'll always have people who prefer hot climates to cold climates and vice versa. There's nothing "absolutely good" about Alaska's weather, nothing that is going to make all 6 billion people on Earth say, "Wow! I want to move to Alaska when I grow up! "

So, the next time you find an American in Indonesia complaining about the weather, or the food, or the customs, just remember: it's all relative. You're the white guy who grew up in Cold and hungered for Hot; he's the white guy who grew up in Cold and misses Cold now that he finds himself in Hot. So it's natural, completely natural, for him to be miserable in Indonesia while you're loving it. And so on and so forth.

In the end, people seek the following in a country of residence:
- its worst points are no worse than the place I come from
- its best points are better than the place I come from

So, for most human beings, life will never be perfect -- because they'll never find a country that matches and excels in everything compared with "home." There's always going to be that one thing that makes their new home country worse than the one they were born in.

[SulcataIxlude]

Speaking about atheist stuff...

http://onclepsycho.canalblog.com/archiv ... 35086.html

[SulcataIxlude]

What's the best nature for regigigas?

[SulcataIxlude]

How come most deities worshiped today (especially the monotheistic ones) are quite boring in comparison with deities from ancient areas (iron age, bronze age, etc) and tribal beliefs? Honestly I think guys like Jesus would be far cooler if he was like some kind of warlord like deity that spreads love... by launching holy flames left and right to non believers, as he shags various goddesses, and he also wrestles deities from other faiths. ;)

[Talon87]

This question can be easily answered by any comic book nerd: "Because a perfect being is boring, and most modern religions all claim to be the gospel of a perfect being."

Think about it. The ancient Gods were imperfect. Part of why it's fun to read The Epic of Gilgamesh is that you can read about senile, aging demigods. Part of why modern kids still love the old Greek myths (especially teenagers) is because they involve a lot of raunchy, lecherous characters getting involved in all sorts of extramarital hijinx. (Gods also fall in love with each other or with mortals, which is really cool. And of course romantic kiddos love the "forbidden love" stories involving gods and demigods!) There's just something awesome (in a very dark and scary way) about Hades abducting Persephone to make her his bride, i.e. she's forced into becoming the Queen of the Underworld against her will. (Sounds like an H-doujin waiting to happen. ) And what about Norse Gods? Norse Gods died.

But modern Gods? They're perfect -- too perfect. They don't lust. They don't age. They don't die. They can't die. Because they're all-knowing and all-powerful, and even the simplest-minded of folks can reason out that an all-knowing being, BY DEFINITION OF WHAT IT MEANS TO BE "ALL-KNOWING", would know the answer to the question "How do I conquer death with no negative side-effects?" I mean, I suppose you could be all-knowing without being immortal (e.g. a religion could tell a creation story of a wise Creator who realized, in his infinite wisdom, that living forever would be bad), but the Abrahamic religions also argue for an all-powerful God, and (again) Joe Simpleton could tell you, "Ya can't be all-powerful if you're capable of dying. To be all powerful, you gotta be immortal." So regardless of whether immortality is a good thing or a bad thing, an all-powerful being is consigned to immortality. And the Abrahamic God? He's both. He's both all-knowing and all-powerful. (In fact, you could even say that by being "all-powerful," that includes "all-knowing"ness because you couldn't be the most powerful being in existence if someone else matched you in all excellences non-knowledge-based and furthermore knew more than you did.)

So like I said at the start: God, like Superman, is boring because he's perfect. Superman never loses, Superman can fly, Superman can heat things up and freeze things, etc. etc. Even his one weakness seems to be a deus ex machina weakness that never has any real consequences. Fuck, even when he was finally killed -- just to get people to shut up with the "Superman's too perfect" talk -- DC brought him back from the grave. Proving that the critics were right all along -- that Superman was, and is, so fucking perfect he can't even die and stay dead. And that makes him boring.

This is why people love Spider-Man, and why the Spider-Man movies have been such a box office success with laypeople. It's an imperfect hero stuggling with the same things we do -- employment, education, and dating/marriage. He can die. He can be defeated. He doesn't know everything, and even things he thinks he knows may not be fact. And yet he has the bravery to still put his (very mortal) life on the line for us. (It probably helps that he's "one of us," a fellow human, whereas God and Kal-El are both these "non-human outsiders who patronizingly protect us." Call it human arrogance, I guess, but I think it's probably true for some people.)

Honestly, this is why when people tell you "God loves you," it's really cheap and often has little effect on treating someone's depression. Because there's nothing "special" about being loved by a being who has infinite love, infinite patience, and infinite time to love each and every one of us infinitely. At some selfish, animalistic level, we yearn to be loved by somebody whose love isn't guaranteed; whose love has to be won or (even better) earned; whose love does know bounds, and yet seems to be limitless concerning us; etc. This is why most Catholics will choose a wife over God (i.e. entering the priesthood or the monastic order).

[Lunar Delta]

What an awesome post. And so true, too, especially the final part about being perfectly loved.

[SulcataIxlude]

I say we bring forth the cult of Fa'rishkavei! God of evolution, sex, and retribution!

How come american small towns fail in comparison with small towns in Indonesia, and Canada?

[SulcataIxlude]

A need a tiny bit of help with something...

In my novel (well the sequel to my novel) there are these three alien races that worship Fa (the God I keep mentioning in FB TO.) Now without spoiling too much here is how they worship him...

There are these fish men who are religious zealots (think if evangelists christians made babies with wahabist muslims), and are very willing to force other people with sharp and explosive things in their 'heretical' mouths if they do not submit to Fa.

There are these small tribal like aliens that worship Fa is a very liberal fashion (like how some tribal societies in africa and asia worship christian and islamic faiths, but mix it with a lot of their old religions.) They are oftened looked upon with suspition by the fish men, and always questioned about their ways of worship (yet can't kill them since Fa stated that none of his followers are allowed to destroy each other if they believe in him.)

Now here is where SI's question begins. There is one more race (imagine gigantic 12 foot tall beings that are a mix of ogre, tyranosaurus rex, and a lot of muscle), and they are kind of in the 'middle' in regards to how fanatical they are in their worship. They are conservative, but not like the fish men, and they definately are not liberal like the little tribal guys that worships a spider god who is really another aspect of Fa. One thing to note though (if this helps) is that they often beat themselves to near death with whips, fast often, or strangle themselves when they pray so they can learn how to focus on Fa despite pain. Also they skin alive heretics and use the freshly flayed skins of their enemies in religious rituals, boast moral amongst their people, and scare the crap out of foes.

Now how can I make the 'giant' guys relate in terms of religious worship to real life examples so to say? Thanks again for your time. :O

[The Morg]

They sound like some kind of cross between monks and Spartans... :O

[SulcataIxlude]

How come white supremacists always complain and speak out against the non white, race traitors, and etc yet how come they don't gather into militarized groups, and go out on race purging genocidal crusades? I know in the past guys like the klan and such used to kill blacks and other 'non anglos', but what I mean is like all white supremacists gather together, and unleash their 'final solution.'

[Talon87]

They're too stupid. Seriously.

[Loki]

Originally Posted by SulcataIxlude

How come white supremacists always complain and speak out against the non white, race traitors, and etc yet how come they don't gather into militarized groups, and go out on race purging genocidal crusades? I know in the past guys like the klan and such used to kill blacks and other 'non anglos', but what I mean is like all white supremacists gather together, and unleash their 'final solution.'

It was called the Holocaust. It didn't turn out really well at the end for the supremacists in the end.

[SulcataIxlude]

Will domesticated animals die out when mankind is extinct, or is there a chance they will evolve and become dominate species after their masters are gone?

[SulcataIxlude]

What aer Jews, Muslims, and other faiths apart from Christianity views about evolution?

[Jerichi]

Jewish
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_views_on_evolution
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... Id=4761360

Islamic
http://www.masud.co.uk/ISLAM/nuh/evolve.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_creationism (Look in the second paragraph under the subhead "Theology")

Hindu
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/144/story_14456_1.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_views_on_evolution

Mind you, I've only made scans of the articles, but they seem to have good info. I'd also suggest looking at the non-Wiki articles first due to all the tags in the Evolution pertaining to bias and lack of citation (thought the Hindu one is pretty well sourced).

[SulcataIxlude]

Oh wow it seems like Jews and Hindus for the most part accept evolution more than most of their Christian counterparts. Thanks Jer.

[SulcataIxlude]

Is it just me, or does it seem like just about almost everyone on the net says and/or are atheist? :P Especially at some forums I go to it seems like lot of folks really dislike religion and such (not to mention billions of youtube videos of folks proclaiming they are atheist, or they bash any form of deism.)

[Talon87]

For better or for worse, there seems to be a trend with the human mind regarding these sorts of things:

Politics: teens and young adults tend to be liberal, adults and older adults tend to be more conservative

Religion: children tend to follow whatever their parents believed, teens and young adults have a high propensity towards agnosticism (with many going so far as to be atheist), and the young adults on upward tend to become Born Agains, finding God in their heart again.

[SulcataIxlude]

Yeah a question that doesn't deal with anything religious stuff! (Sorry if my questions lately have been really tedious, I just been thinking a lot about stuff of that nature lately.) In the novel I am nearly done with I state that to be able to use magic you have to be able to manipulate energy/chemical reactions/etc via the most basic form of psyonics (being able to manipulate thing via using your mind.) Does that idea sound bizarre, or somewhat rational (I always figured that whenever folks in rpgs and stuff like that use magic they have to master manipulating things via their mind or something so that way they can actually 'tap into' magic or whatever they are doing.)

*Sorry if this question came out sloppy, it's 5:25 am and haven't slept in like over 20 hours.

[Another Fan]

Originally Posted by SulcataIxlude

Yeah a question that doesn't deal with anything religious stuff! (Sorry if my questions lately have been really tedious, I just been thinking a lot about stuff of that nature lately.) In the novel I am nearly done with I state that to be able to use magic you have to be able to manipulate energy/chemical reactions/etc via the most basic form of psyonics (being able to manipulate thing via using your mind.) Does that idea sound bizarre, or somewhat rational (I always figured that whenever folks in rpgs and stuff like that use magic they have to master manipulating things via their mind or something so that way they can actually 'tap into' magic or whatever they are doing.)

*Sorry if this question came out sloppy, it's 5:25 am and haven't slept in like over 20 hours.

Like, very basic stuff, SI, stuff that incalculable probability usually takes care of? That'd be interesting. Otherwise, eh, not too different from most other magicks.

Oh, okay, question, what's better: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preputioplasty this? Or just cutting it a bit?