A Rational Argument For Irrationality
By well-wisher
Mon, 21 Mar 2016
- 524 reads
Premise 1: - Robots and computers are incapable of irrational thinking.
Premise 2: - I do not want to be like a robot. I want to celeberate those things about myself that are uniquely human.
Conclusion : - I do not want to completely abandon or condemn irrational thinking.
Premise 2: - I do not want to be like a robot. I want to celeberate those things about myself that are uniquely human.
Conclusion : - I do not want to completely abandon or condemn irrational thinking.
I am not opposed to atheism; the personal, individual rejection of belief in a deity and believe that every individual has the right to be an atheist if they so choose but I am strongly opposed to antitheism, the active intolerance towards faith or religion because I believe that antitheism is antiliberal; anti freedom of belief and that the goal of antitheists, particularly militant antitheists such as Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris, is not the peaceful, harmonious coexistence of theists and atheists but the complete eradication of all faiths and religions.
I view antitheism and other forms of militant skepticism as a kind of mental transhumanism. Just as transhumanists devalue organic human beings and believe that the human race would be better off abandoning their organic bodies and brains and accepting superior technological replacements so anti-theists and militant skeptics devalue human irrationality and believe that human beings would be better off leaving it behind and evolving into purely rational beings.
And I think that, given that artificially intelligent beings will one day be able to replace human scientists and mathematicians; able to perform the jobs of people like Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris better than they can but won't be able to replace people in those fields, such as the arts and some branches of philosophy, where irrationality is not totally condemned, so human irrationality is not something that we should devalue and try to erradicate but that we should be celebrating and preserving.
For me human irrationality or the diversity of human belief is as much a part of the rainbow of humanity as diversity of race, nationality, gender, ability or sexual orientation and I believe the human race would be less colourful and less interesting without it.
Antitheists such as Dawkins or Harris ask, "Why do we need made up wonders and miracles? Isn't there enough wonder and miracle in nature?". I believe that human irrationality and the beautiful artistic or quirky, eccentric things such as reading tea leaves or believing in fairies that it gives rise to, are one of the wonders of nature; one of the wonders of human nature.
And, as I stated in my opening argument, I do not want the purely rational mind of a computer, I am not a computer; I am, warts and all, a human being with a soul, whatever that means, and proud of it.
I view antitheism and other forms of militant skepticism as a kind of mental transhumanism. Just as transhumanists devalue organic human beings and believe that the human race would be better off abandoning their organic bodies and brains and accepting superior technological replacements so anti-theists and militant skeptics devalue human irrationality and believe that human beings would be better off leaving it behind and evolving into purely rational beings.
And I think that, given that artificially intelligent beings will one day be able to replace human scientists and mathematicians; able to perform the jobs of people like Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris better than they can but won't be able to replace people in those fields, such as the arts and some branches of philosophy, where irrationality is not totally condemned, so human irrationality is not something that we should devalue and try to erradicate but that we should be celebrating and preserving.
For me human irrationality or the diversity of human belief is as much a part of the rainbow of humanity as diversity of race, nationality, gender, ability or sexual orientation and I believe the human race would be less colourful and less interesting without it.
Antitheists such as Dawkins or Harris ask, "Why do we need made up wonders and miracles? Isn't there enough wonder and miracle in nature?". I believe that human irrationality and the beautiful artistic or quirky, eccentric things such as reading tea leaves or believing in fairies that it gives rise to, are one of the wonders of nature; one of the wonders of human nature.
And, as I stated in my opening argument, I do not want the purely rational mind of a computer, I am not a computer; I am, warts and all, a human being with a soul, whatever that means, and proud of it.
- Log in to post comments