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Post by maolsheachlann on Sept 9, 2018 19:56:18 GMT
This might be the least topical post ever, but I think it's interesting that there is a minor current of atheistical belief in immortality which often gets overlooked. The Scottish idealist philosopher John McTaggart was an atheist and a believer in immortality, as was the quantum physicist Hugh Everett. I wonder if perhaps some of the believers in the "technological singularity" might be believers in possible immortality?
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Post by hibernicus on Sept 13, 2018 19:11:59 GMT
The singularity believers basically believe they can become gods. Atheism and materialism are not synonymous, though a lot of atheists seem to assume they are. MacTaggart was a Philosophical Idealist (i.e. he believed mind is the fundamental reality).
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Post by hibernicus on Sept 13, 2018 19:16:16 GMT
And for quite a long time in the early modern period atheism was defined, not as disbelief in the existence of God(s) but as belief that God(s) take no interest in humanity - Epicureanism. That's IMHO a much more fundamental divide than existence/nonexistence of God, and it's why a lot of the less rationalist type of atheist seem to develop into paganism (deifying or defying the indifferent forces of nature). In that sense ancient paganism was more like atheism than we think.
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