• capybara@lemm.eeEnglish
      0·
      2 years ago

      People who are interested in aliens and UFOs rarely solely make this argument. Often, they’ve encountered or somehow know of these aliens.

      • 0x0@lemmy.zip
        0·
        2 years ago

        That’s a bit of an oxymorinic argument those people use. If an inteligent species dropped by and had ONE look around, they would NOT turn on their high beams.

        • CalipherJones@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          2 years ago

          If an intelligent species was able to travel the distance to actually reach us that’d mean they are far far far far beyond our technological capacity. It’d be game over if aliens ever reached us.

    • NarrativeBear@lemmy.world
      0·
      2 years ago

      Also given the scale of time of the universe. We as humans have only existed for a small amout of time on the vast scale of things.

      Countless alien civilizations may have existed and destroyed themselves, and may others may have not come into existence yet.

    • underwire212@lemm.ee
      0·
      2 years ago

      I think we should be looking inter dimensionally for alien life rather than extraterrestrial.

      • dgbbad@lemmy.zipEnglish
        0·
        2 years ago

        We are the evidence. Life can happen. It’s been proven. If it’s happening here, it’s crazy to think we are somehow special and it’s not happening somewhere else out there.

      • pyre@lemmy.world
        0·
        2 years ago

        alien doesn’t necessarily mean sapient, humanoid or even anything larger than a walnut. if you took life on earth as a sample of the universe it would be much more likely for an alien lifeform to be a plant or bacteria. and even an animal is more likely to be an insect than a mammal-like animal, much less anything humanoid.

        (someone should look into the numbers my source is just vague memory at this point)

    • s_s@lemm.eeEnglish
      0·
      2 years ago

      “Earth First” is an interesting and compelling explanation for the Fermi Paradox.

  • Susurrus@lemm.ee
    0·
    2 years ago

    Unsure if relevant, since this is a meme post, but for anyone interested: faith is quite a complex concept. And this silly atheist vs religious conflict is so pointless. It does nothing but elevate some people’s egos and infuriate others.

    Sadly, both sides are heavily uninformed. Most atheists spent at most 3 seconds studying religion, while most religious people never questioned a single thing about their religion. How can you understand somebody and their point of view, if you haven’t even imagined yourself in their shoes, let alone walked in them?

    Short story is: to ‘believe’ in God, or any other religious entity, does not mean ‘to think He exists’. In fact, you can ‘believe’ in any god, while being completely convinced they don’t exist. Fact and faith are fully separate.

    At least some confusion here is intentionally created by religious institutions, like the Catholic Church. Most of what they do goes against the Bible and Jesus’ teachings, but it’s not like they care. Focusing on Christianity here, because that’s what I studied the most (my country is Christian). Same applies to Judaism and Islam. Other religions less, since these three have the biggest, most organized official structures (massive red flag in case it wasn’t obvious).

    Anyway, I invite everyone to read about and learn their so-called enemies’ ways instead of blindly ridiculing them.

    • JasonDJ@lemmy.zip
      0·
      2 years ago

      I’d wager most millenial-and-older atheists probably attended mass regularly as kids. Many are probably baptized, confirmed, had communion, etc.

      We just realized it’s all bullshit intended for social control at some point along the way.

      Same kids who stopped saying the pledge in school as soon as they realized they could.

      Zoomer and younger atheists…yeah, they might have not had that experience. Probably because they were brought up by already-atheist (or at least barely-believing, twice-a-year types) gen-x and older millennials.

      • Susurrus@lemm.ee
        0·
        2 years ago

        Completely agree. I had the same experiences as a kid. Organized religious institutions always go against the religions they pretend to preach. Religious belief should be a personal choice, not a mass brain washing.

        The Catholic Church requires that Christians indoctrine their children into Christianity since they are born. But this is the Church speaking, not Christianity or Jesus. In fact, the New Testament clearly says that it is perfectly acceptable for the family of a Christian to reject Christianity. The sole fact that they love the part of their family that is Christian, is enough.

        But of course, barely any self-proclaimed Christians have ever opened the Bible, let alone read it. And the Church coveniently doesn’t recommend reading it.

        • JasonDJ@lemmy.zip
          0·
          2 years ago

          Funny you should mention that.

          My paternal grandparents were very religious, and my dad attended mass regularly as a kid and went to Catholic school.

          However, I don’t think he’s willingly set foot into a church except for funerals since I was born.

          My grandmother would drag me to church several times a week though.

          Didn’t stop my dad from threatening to baptize my kid behind my back when my first kid was a baby. I think it was said in jest, or maybe to troll me…but my oldest is 8 now and neither of my kids have been around my parents unsupervised. Reap what you sow.

          And the Church coveniently doesn’t recommend reading it.

          That’s their own fault. Should’ve left it in Latin. Or Aramaic.

    • dickalan@lemmy.world
      0·
      2 years ago

      I don’t need to analyze religion to know that 9000 gods on this earth means not a single one of them is right and that single one of them is just a money scam, no further deep thinking needed, magical thinking, fuck that

    • GladiusB@lemmy.world
      0·
      2 years ago

      First, paragraph breaks. Please use them.

      Second, that isn’t how everyone feels. That is how you feel. People do in fact find it utterly hypocritical to see one thing one way and not the other and then claim to have knowledge above anyone else.

      Third, aliens are more likely than gods. Mathematically speaking.

      • Susurrus@lemm.ee
        0·
        2 years ago

        1. Added paragraph breaks and will try to use them actively.

        2. As mentioned in another reply, I was referring to the base idea, and not to what people think or feel. Perhaps I failed to convey that effectively.

        3. Probably true. Hard to say for certain, but as far as I can tell, ‘aliens’ are practically guaranteed to exist, while gods are the opposite.

    • CalipherJones@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      2 years ago

      Reading the Bible has made me despise Christianity even more. It’s not the content that upsets me, it’s the brash hypocrisy that Christian Nationalists operate by that upsets me. Too many Christians go directly against Christs teachings. It’s not rocket science either. It’s clear, concise teachings to love your neighbor as thyself… And yet they’ll say oh no that’s taken out of context… Fucking ridiculous. Christ would flip so many Christian tables. That might be what the second coming is tbh. Just flipping these flagrant hypocrites tables.

      • Susurrus@lemm.ee
        0·
        2 years ago

        What you’re saying is completely true, but in no way contradicts what I said. I was referring to the fundamental idea of faith. I never said people adhere to it, and that nobody actually thinks God, or whatever else, exists.

        Obviously, a lot of people do. Just like a lot of people think the Earth is flat or that chocolate milk comes from chocolate cows. A huge number of people are uneducated, have been fed propaganda and manipulated for years. I don’t think anyone needs any convincing that churches lie to and scam people on a daily basis for personal gain. But doesn’t make faith or religion itself a lie.

        Similarly, there’s quite a few self improvement gurus who make up false ideas about self improvement and feed lies to their many, many followers. But does that make self improvement itself a lie, or a pointless dream?

        • MonkderVierte@lemmy.ml
          0·
          2 years ago

          So you refer with

          Short story is: to ‘believe’ in God, or any other religious entity, does not mean ‘to think He exists’. In fact, you can ‘believe’ in any god, while being completely convinced they don’t exist. Fact and faith are fully separate.

          to the church vs. belief thing?

        • CalipherJones@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          2 years ago

          “I don’t think anyone needs any convincing that churches lie to and scam people on a daily basis for personal gain.”

          And yet televangelists exist. Megachurches exist. Churches have been scamming Christs sheep for millennia all for them to be none the wiser.

  • Rachelhazideas@lemmy.world
    0·
    2 years ago

    Iamverysmart atheists understanding the nuances of religion and faith being an inherently irrational yet human response to existential dread challenge (impossible)

  • Manmoth@lemmy.mlBanned
    0·
    2 years ago

    What is a category error? I’ll try Basic Philosophy again for 400 Alex.

  • wanderwisley@lemm.eeEnglish
    0·
    2 years ago

    Why won’t you get the vaccine? “Because idk what’s in it.” Why did you get Chinese dick and hair pills? “Because I NEED it!”

  • jsomae@lemmy.ml
    0·
    2 years ago

    My experience with random processes: on large scales, things either happen 0 times or many times. So I find the idea that life exists in only one place pretty implausible.

  • Uncurable Utopia @lemm.ee
    0·
    2 years ago

    The concept of alien is inside our finite comprehension and logic. That is, if Earth is a habitable planet, and it is habituated, then there are possibilities of other habitable planets. If that so, then It’s science’s job to prove the existence of other habituated planets( eventually alien). But, maintaing this vast universe is believed to be done by an Omnipotent being/entity called God, I guess people developed this way of thinking by their conscience and comprehension. So far, science hasn’t been able to explain many cosmic events, why those happen, how they happen etc. But the melody, the harmony that lies in those events, even science sometimes has to say that those kinds of events can only be happen with the presence of an Omnipotent, conscious entity/being. Science and Religion are a total different thing. One is based on fact and the other is based on faith. Both have different psychological wiring on the mind thus people think differently towards these 2 subjects. Just let it as it be and laugh at this meme. Your faith or fact is unharmed. Don’t worry.🤝🫂

    • CalipherJones@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      2 years ago

      “But the melody, the harmony that lies in those events, even science sometimes has to say that those kinds of events can only be happen with the presence of an Omnipotent, conscious entity/being.”

      No. Scientists will collectively say “we don’t know” and continue research and asking questions. Modern scientists don’t chalk it up to God. This isn’t the 1600s.

      • Uncurable Utopia @lemm.ee
        0·
        2 years ago

        Not knowing something isn’t the fault of science. Science naturally researches, digs up what it doesn’t know and then proposes an answer/explanation. But it doesn’t mean that it allies with the concept of religion. This loop will end up somewhere like: “If you know something, then you don’t have to believe it anymore. Because… Well, you know it now.” This kind of loophole will circulate around people who try to mesh science and religion together. Science “MIGHT” eventually find the answers behind those unexplainable cosmic events. If science find it, then it’ll be science’s success. But religion comes within faith. People believe something they don’t know the answer of, existence of. They live their life by the commands of the books in hope for what is promised to them in afterlife. That’s it. [ What would happen if religious people came to know about God, heaven and hell, afterlife is just the bottom pit of the loophole. If people knew those things, you can’t be 100% sure that all the ‘religious’ people would live their life according to the commands of their religion to get into heaven. Uncertainty exists both in science and in religion. ]

        • CalipherJones@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          2 years ago

          “If people knew those things, you can’t be 100% sure that all the ‘religious’ people would live their life according to the commands of their religion to get into heaven.”

          They already don’t 😂

  • Atelopus-zeteki@fedia.io
    0·
    2 years ago

    Well I’ve never seen air. Nor oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, the list goes on and on. I’ve never seen Ukraine, but I do believe there is some awful shit going on over there.

    • CalipherJones@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      2 years ago

      We can weigh all of those gases. We can also blow them up. We can also look at emissions spectrums. There’s a lot of ways to test gases. That’s why we know they exist.

      As for Ukraine… People have been there. There are pictures and videos. Thousands of years of history.

      I’m not sure if you’re joking or not because I’ve seen people with similar arguments.

    • Nelots@lemm.eeEnglish
      0·
      2 years ago

      But you’ve certainly directly interacted with all of them in some form or another.