annotate org/fear.org @ 162:bdeaad2b1507

cryonics links.
author Robert McIntyre <rlm@mit.edu>
date Sat, 23 Apr 2016 18:01:05 -0700
parents 8f44e4061701
children
rev   line source
rlm@161 1 #+title: Self Deception
rlm@161 2 #+author: Robert McIntyre
rlm@161 3 #+email: rlm@mit.edu
rlm@161 4 #+setupfile: ../../aurellem/org/setup.org
rlm@161 5 #+include: ../../aurellem/org/level-0.org
rlm@161 6 #+html_head_extra: <link rel="stylesheet"
rlm@161 7 #+html_head_extra: type="text/css" href="../css/ideas.css" />
rlm@161 8 #+options: num:nil toc:t
rlm@161 9
rlm@161 10
rlm@161 11 I used to be a fundamentalist Christian. I truly believed that God was
rlm@161 12 real, that Jesus died on the cross to save humanity from their sins,
rlm@161 13 that the world was only 6,000 years old, the whole shebang. There was
rlm@161 14 a point in my life when I would have died for Christianity. Back then,
rlm@161 15 one of the things that really bugged me was how my fellow Christians
rlm@161 16 didn't seem to /care/ about serving the Lord and trying to become more
rlm@161 17 Christ-like. They believed that they had the answers to how the world
rlm@161 18 was created, what happens when you die, how to ensure that they went
rlm@161 19 to Heaven, and the consequences for being judged without Jesus'
rlm@161 20 attoning blood! Knowing all this, how could they dare to live "normal"
rlm@161 21 lives that and not honor Jesus by their every action? It seemed like
rlm@161 22 people lived in a haze, without meaning or purpose to their lives.
rlm@161 23
rlm@161 24 #+BEGIN_QUOTE
rlm@161 25 The first principle is that you must not fool yourself—and you are the
rlm@161 26 easiest person to fool. So you have to be very careful about that.
rlm@161 27 After you’ve not fooled yourself, it’s easy not to fool other
rlm@161 28 scientists. You just have to be honest in a conventional way after
rlm@161 29 that. --[[http://calteches.library.caltech.edu/51/2/CargoCult.htm][Richard Feynman]]
rlm@161 30 #+END_QUOTE
rlm@161 31
rlm@161 32
rlm@161 33 Xanadu (Ted Nelson)
rlm@161 34
rlm@161 35 M22, Cryonics (Dr. Greg Fahy, Robert Ettinger)
rlm@161 36
rlm@161 37 AI Risk (Eleizer Yudkowsky)
rlm@161 38
rlm@161 39 Creation Science (Dr. Nathaniel T. Jeanson)
rlm@161 40
rlm@161 41
rlm@161 42
rlm@161 43
rlm@161 44
rlm@161 45 What if all the work that I've done for brain preservation research is
rlm@161 46 just an excercise in self deception?
rlm@161 47
rlm@161 48 I resolved not to be like the "casual christians" and devoted myself
rlm@161 49 to living a godly life. Lives were on the line! If someone died
rlm@161 50 without being saved, they would suffer in hell forever! How could I
rlm@161 51 not work to save as many people as possible, especially when Jesus
rlm@161 52 himself had assigned Christians their first and most important duty to
rlm@161 53 go into the world and spread the good news?
rlm@161 54
rlm@161 55 I wanted to become a great Christian apologist and win souls for
rlm@161 56 Heaven. Every day of inaction meant more people who would be lost
rlm@161 57 forever in hell, and only the body of Christ could help lead lost
rlm@161 58 people to a better eternity.
rlm@161 59
rlm@161 60 So I poured myself into studying the Bible and learning the rules of
rlm@161 61 my religion. I made a special focus on learning how to explain
rlm@161 62 Christianity to people who didn't believe. I took these things very
rlm@161 63 seriously and by the time I was 12 I had already read the New
rlm@161 64 Testament twice and spent a lot of my time on
rlm@161 65 http://www.answersingenesis.com/, learning how the natural world
rlm@161 66 confirmed the truth of the bible with overwhelming evidence. I prayed
rlm@161 67 every night to become a better Christian so that I could help
rlm@161 68 people be saved.
rlm@161 69
rlm@161 70 I wanted with my whole heart to not be "casual", to be a good
rlm@161 71 Christian, to help people... But it was this very desire that led me
rlm@161 72 to lose my faith.
rlm@161 73
rlm@161 74
rlm@161 75
rlm@161 76 I'm just a zealot, and all I've done is trade christian salvation for
rlm@161 77 technological salvation.
rlm@161 78
rlm@161 79 And even worse, I'm a heretic. I'm just going to get disillusioned
rlm@161 80 with mind uploading the same way I did with christianity.
rlm@161 81
rlm@161 82