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comment by user-inactivated
user-inactivated  ·  3732 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Hubski what is your idealogy? Political, Spiritual, Personal.

I don't like to box myself in because my ideas, choices, and decisions are mine, not those of whatever box I ally myself with. That said, I like some of the ideas presented in anarchism, libertarianism, and minarchism. I'm always open to new points of view too, another reason why I don't like to identify with any movement, party, platform, or ideology.

I'm very much undecided with regards to political ideology, really, simply because I haven't yet read enough to make an informed decision about political ideology. I do know what I'm not, though. I do not identify with any political party even if a handful of the ideas of one party or another may sound appealing to me. Each vote should be cast based on the merits of an individual, not the party (if representative votes should be cast at all!).

My ethics system pretty much consists of the Golden Rule and some form of Utilitarianism, for the most part.

I'm agnostic, but I'm as close to atheist as possible... I don't rule out the possibility of a universe-creating deity, but the existence of such an extraordinary supernatural thing is dubious. Unless we're all living in a computer simulation. Religion appears to be a waste of time for me, but if other people get something of value out of it, so long as they aren't damaging the minds or well-being of others, that's cool with me. I wouldn't call this spirituality, but I identify somewhat with the sentiments of Lawrence Krauss:

    Every atom in your body came from a star that exploded. And, the atoms in your left hand probably came from a different star than your right hand. It really is the most poetic thing I know about physics: You are stardust. You couldn’t be here if stars hadn’t exploded, because the elements – the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, all the things that matter for evolution and for life – weren’t created at the beginning of time. They were created in the nuclear furnaces of stars, and the only way for them to get into your body is if those stars were kind enough to explode. So, forget Jesus. The stars died so that you could be here today.

I'm probably best described as a secular humanist, a naturalist, and a phenomenalist. That said, I haven't done enough quality research into philosophy to rule out other philosophies.

I identify most with a lack commitment to identity. Perhaps that will change as I get older.





lil  ·  3731 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    So, forget Jesus. The stars died so that you could be here today.
Nice quote. I looked up Lawrence Krauss. He has quite a few interesting books. Which one would be best for an educated non-scientist?
user-inactivated  ·  3731 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Hmm. I'm not sure about books. I've only seen a video of one of his lectures:

. When I saw this first, I had no training whatsoever in physics, but I didn't have much trouble understanding what he was talking about.

. This one is good short one to help wrap your head around what he means when he refers to Nothing vs. nothing.

http://www.amazon.com/Universe-Nothing-There-Something-Rathe... looks good from what I can tell from the reviews, but I can't personally vouch for the book.

If you're looking for more of the stars-are-you spirituality kind of thing, and you thought that that's what he was about, then I'm afraid that I may have deluded you. His books are about an origin to everything by defining what nothing is, and how everything comes from nothing. The second video is a really good, succinct definition of nothing, and how something comes from nothing, but the lecture (if I remember correctly) is more in depth. He's also a proponent of the Standard Model, by the way, and is derisive towards string theory.