rlm@161: #+title: Self Deception rlm@161: #+author: Robert McIntyre rlm@161: #+email: rlm@mit.edu rlm@161: #+setupfile: ../../aurellem/org/setup.org rlm@161: #+include: ../../aurellem/org/level-0.org rlm@161: #+html_head_extra: rlm@161: #+options: num:nil toc:t rlm@161: rlm@161: rlm@161: I used to be a fundamentalist Christian. I truly believed that God was rlm@161: real, that Jesus died on the cross to save humanity from their sins, rlm@161: that the world was only 6,000 years old, the whole shebang. There was rlm@161: a point in my life when I would have died for Christianity. Back then, rlm@161: one of the things that really bugged me was how my fellow Christians rlm@161: didn't seem to /care/ about serving the Lord and trying to become more rlm@161: Christ-like. They believed that they had the answers to how the world rlm@161: was created, what happens when you die, how to ensure that they went rlm@161: to Heaven, and the consequences for being judged without Jesus' rlm@161: attoning blood! Knowing all this, how could they dare to live "normal" rlm@161: lives that and not honor Jesus by their every action? It seemed like rlm@161: people lived in a haze, without meaning or purpose to their lives. rlm@161: rlm@161: #+BEGIN_QUOTE rlm@161: The first principle is that you must not fool yourself—and you are the rlm@161: easiest person to fool. So you have to be very careful about that. rlm@161: After you’ve not fooled yourself, it’s easy not to fool other rlm@161: scientists. You just have to be honest in a conventional way after rlm@161: that. --[[http://calteches.library.caltech.edu/51/2/CargoCult.htm][Richard Feynman]] rlm@161: #+END_QUOTE rlm@161: rlm@161: rlm@161: Xanadu (Ted Nelson) rlm@161: rlm@161: M22, Cryonics (Dr. Greg Fahy, Robert Ettinger) rlm@161: rlm@161: AI Risk (Eleizer Yudkowsky) rlm@161: rlm@161: Creation Science (Dr. Nathaniel T. Jeanson) rlm@161: rlm@161: rlm@161: rlm@161: rlm@161: rlm@161: What if all the work that I've done for brain preservation research is rlm@161: just an excercise in self deception? rlm@161: rlm@161: I resolved not to be like the "casual christians" and devoted myself rlm@161: to living a godly life. Lives were on the line! If someone died rlm@161: without being saved, they would suffer in hell forever! How could I rlm@161: not work to save as many people as possible, especially when Jesus rlm@161: himself had assigned Christians their first and most important duty to rlm@161: go into the world and spread the good news? rlm@161: rlm@161: I wanted to become a great Christian apologist and win souls for rlm@161: Heaven. Every day of inaction meant more people who would be lost rlm@161: forever in hell, and only the body of Christ could help lead lost rlm@161: people to a better eternity. rlm@161: rlm@161: So I poured myself into studying the Bible and learning the rules of rlm@161: my religion. I made a special focus on learning how to explain rlm@161: Christianity to people who didn't believe. I took these things very rlm@161: seriously and by the time I was 12 I had already read the New rlm@161: Testament twice and spent a lot of my time on rlm@161: http://www.answersingenesis.com/, learning how the natural world rlm@161: confirmed the truth of the bible with overwhelming evidence. I prayed rlm@161: every night to become a better Christian so that I could help rlm@161: people be saved. rlm@161: rlm@161: I wanted with my whole heart to not be "casual", to be a good rlm@161: Christian, to help people... But it was this very desire that led me rlm@161: to lose my faith. rlm@161: rlm@161: rlm@161: rlm@161: I'm just a zealot, and all I've done is trade christian salvation for rlm@161: technological salvation. rlm@161: rlm@161: And even worse, I'm a heretic. I'm just going to get disillusioned rlm@161: with mind uploading the same way I did with christianity. rlm@161: rlm@161: