LewsTherinTelescope's recent activity

  1. Comment on "The reason I'm not an atheist is that I think the philosophical arguments against it are unanswerable" (gifted link) in ~humanities

    LewsTherinTelescope
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    It was The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson. (To be clear, it's not at all a major part of the book, just a brief joke to show how out of his element...

    It was The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson. (To be clear, it's not at all a major part of the book, just a brief joke to show how out of his element the main character is by upending his assumption.)

    2 votes

  2. Comment on "The reason I'm not an atheist is that I think the philosophical arguments against it are unanswerable" (gifted link) in ~humanities

    LewsTherinTelescope
    Link Parent
    I once read a book that had a small bit riffing on this, where a character stuck in an alternate history timeline asks about Christianity, but finds that here Ahura Mazda is more popular and is...

    I once read a book that had a small bit riffing on this, where a character stuck in an alternate history timeline asks about Christianity, but finds that here Ahura Mazda is more popular and is said to have intervened when the Romans tried to crucify Yeshua and in so doing taken "the Yeshuans" into the Zoroastrian fold for a time.

    2 votes

  3. Comment on "The reason I'm not an atheist is that I think the philosophical arguments against it are unanswerable" (gifted link) in ~humanities

    LewsTherinTelescope
    Link Parent
    I agree with that, yeah. I was just disagreeing with the framing that which irrational beliefs people hold doesn't matter at all, which IME is a well-intentioned sentiment that nonetheless can end...

    I agree with that, yeah. I was just disagreeing with the framing that which irrational beliefs people hold doesn't matter at all, which IME is a well-intentioned sentiment that nonetheless can end up leading to ignoring more subtle harms (like the example I used earlier about science denial).

    3 votes

  4. Comment on "The reason I'm not an atheist is that I think the philosophical arguments against it are unanswerable" (gifted link) in ~humanities

    LewsTherinTelescope
    Link Parent
    Sure, you can probably leave it be since the effects of the belief in this context are almost solely good (bringing her comfort). On the other hand, if she believed she was going to Hell, I'd...

    Sure, you can probably leave it be since the effects of the belief in this context are almost solely good (bringing her comfort). On the other hand, if she believed she was going to Hell, I'd instead try to convince her otherwise. What the actual belief is and what its consequences are is just as relevant to the decision here as it is to the other examples, it's not a "who cares what they think, we're all irrational" scenario.

    2 votes

  5. Comment on "The reason I'm not an atheist is that I think the philosophical arguments against it are unanswerable" (gifted link) in ~humanities

    LewsTherinTelescope
    Link Parent
    I've been mentioning both positives and negatives, my position has never been that religion is evil nor that belief is unimportant. Just that our beliefs about the world do have consequences that...

    I've been mentioning both positives and negatives, my position has never been that religion is evil nor that belief is unimportant. Just that our beliefs about the world do have consequences that matter, and while religion is not alone in this it's not a lone exception either.

    You say good is more important truth, but where does that judgement come from? In your deer-hunting example, the behavior is good because it accounts for your physical and emotional needs. In your vegetarianism example, the behavior is good because of the consequences of meat consumption. In your soup kitchen example, the behavior is good because those beliefs drive someone to recognize the humanity in those around them. In your leftist passivity example, the behavior is bad because of the harm being allowed. In these contexts those people having those beliefs is a net positive (or in the last case perhaps not), but we can only determine this because we try to look at the beliefs and their outcomes analytically too rather than treating them as separate from the rest of life.

    2 votes

  6. Comment on "The reason I'm not an atheist is that I think the philosophical arguments against it are unanswerable" (gifted link) in ~humanities

    LewsTherinTelescope
    Link Parent
    I don't know enough about those specific examples to comment, but I'm not denying that religion is heavily affected by the culture in which it's practiced, I'm disagreeing with the "so what?" and...

    I don't know enough about those specific examples to comment, but I'm not denying that religion is heavily affected by the culture in which it's practiced, I'm disagreeing with the "so what?" and "what the fuck right to complain about irrational beliefs do I have?" framing. What someone believes about the world influences how they interact with that world, which impacts both them and the people around them (both positively and negatively). That makes those worldviews important.

    You use the analogy of believing Hillary Clinton was a shoo-in for the presidency. Perhaps this was rational-but-ill-informed or perhaps it was irrational, I don't know enough about how you formed the conclusion, but when it was shown to be false you evidently accepted that. On the other hand, in 2021 we saw thousands of people who had believed their preferred candidate was a shoo-in decide that rather than accepting they were incorrect they would storm the Capitol. The presence or absence of a well-informed and rational response to the situation led to two very different outcomes. Should we have reacted by going "well really we're all irrational sometimes, what right do we have to complain?"

  7. Comment on "The reason I'm not an atheist is that I think the philosophical arguments against it are unanswerable" (gifted link) in ~humanities

    LewsTherinTelescope
    Link Parent
    I've no idea whether his full reasoning is good or not, mind (though admittedly the answer here doesn't feel like a very compelling start to me). I just don't think a single question in an...

    I've no idea whether his full reasoning is good or not, mind (though admittedly the answer here doesn't feel like a very compelling start to me). I just don't think a single question in an interview about a separate topic is likely to be a complete position, especially when it starts out with a caveat like that.

    1 vote

  8. Comment on "The reason I'm not an atheist is that I think the philosophical arguments against it are unanswerable" (gifted link) in ~humanities

    LewsTherinTelescope
    Link Parent
    This is a false dichotomy, imo. Religion is not the only way to be kind, but a church that opens a food shelter because they believe Christ commands them to care for the downtrodden is being kind...

    This is a false dichotomy, imo. Religion is not the only way to be kind, but a church that opens a food shelter because they believe Christ commands them to care for the downtrodden is being kind for a religious reason. Religion is not the only way to be hurt, but a queer child whose parents pressure them to deny who they are because a pastor said they'd burn eternally otherwise is hurting for religious reasons. Religion is not the only way to be curious, but a scientist who studies nature to understand God's glory is being curious for religious reasons. Religion is not the only way to be ignorant, but someone who avoids the COVID vaccine because they were taught scientists are morons who can't even get the age of the Earth right was kept ignorant for religious reasons. Religion is obviously not immune to people, but people are not immune to religion either. They influence each other, just as with any cultural belief.

    Their core belief is that climate change isn't real, and they'll finds belief systems that supplement that.

    With all due respect, this sounds to me like a secular version of presuppositionalist assumptions—"everyone knows I'm right, they just pretend otherwise so they can sin". Perhaps there are some who fall in that camp, but there are also people who are just incorrect, and the reasons for that incorrectness can be influenced by religion as much as by any other element of society.

    2 votes

  9. Comment on "The reason I'm not an atheist is that I think the philosophical arguments against it are unanswerable" (gifted link) in ~humanities

    LewsTherinTelescope
    Link Parent
    While I get what you're going for, pedantically I'd point out that there are people who don't really get as much from physical affection, it's a trend but not an absolute rule. Less pedantically,...

    While I get what you're going for, pedantically I'd point out that there are people who don't really get as much from physical affection, it's a trend but not an absolute rule.

    Less pedantically, what we believe does influence how we act, and while religion isn't unique in this it's not a unique exception either. Raising someone to believe in a God who forgives is more likely to result in them valuing kindness to others than raising someone to believe in a God who eternally torments any who stray (conversely, if someone came to me as an agonistic-leaning-atheist with solid proof that if I don't follow specific rules then Ammit the Devourer will eat my soul, that'd be a pretty hefty consequence to consider). Teaching someone about how scientists are all lying or ignorant regarding a global flood is more likely to result in them dismissing science as a whole (e.g. vaccine denial) than teaching someone about how we've realized mistakes in our worldviews and gradually deepened our understanding of history and nature alike.

    We will all be wrong many times in our lives, including about fundamental things, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't care about truth and beliefs, it just means we need to be open to listening.

    3 votes

  10. Comment on "The reason I'm not an atheist is that I think the philosophical arguments against it are unanswerable" (gifted link) in ~humanities

    LewsTherinTelescope
    Link Parent
    He does clarify at the start of the section that he's just talking about "something beyond materialism" in general: And that part is just one question near the end when he's been primarily...

    He does clarify at the start of the section that he's just talking about "something beyond materialism" in general:

    The reason I’m not an atheist is that I think the philosophical arguments against it are unanswerable, or at least the philosophical arguments for something beyond materialism are unanswerable.

    And that part is just one question near the end when he's been primarily addressing a different topic for the rest of the article (pretty sure it was only pulled out to be the title because it's provocative and draws clicks). So while I'm not particularly convinced of Christianity by what he says there (nor especially drawn by it to look into more), I'm willing to guess it's probably not the full extent of his thoughts on the matter.

    1 vote

  11. Comment on USA to mandate surveillance tech for new cars also determing fitness to drive by 2027 in ~transport

  12. Comment on USA to mandate surveillance tech for new cars also determing fitness to drive by 2027 in ~transport

  13. Comment on Valve is working on Proton for ARM processors in ~games

    LewsTherinTelescope
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    I don't think they support Intel Macs at the moment, so there'd probably have to be other work on top of the ARM port to support Apple Silicon. Don't know the specifics of what they use besides...

    I don't think they support Intel Macs at the moment, so there'd probably have to be other work on top of the ARM port to support Apple Silicon. Don't know the specifics of what they use besides Wine though so not sure what the roadblocks are.

    4 votes

  14. Comment on Disney reportedly keen on buying Fortnite developer Epic Games in ~games

    LewsTherinTelescope
    Link Parent
    They do have a cart now, I wonder when that got added.

    They do have a cart now, I wonder when that got added.

    1 vote

  15. Comment on Android to debut "advanced flow" for sideloading unverified applications in ~tech

    LewsTherinTelescope
    Link Parent
    From what I can find, it sounds like it originally referred to transferring a file between two devices (contrast "download" from a server). My guess would be it made its way to Android by people...

    From what I can find, it sounds like it originally referred to transferring a file between two devices (contrast "download" from a server). My guess would be it made its way to Android by people installing APKs from their computer over ADB and then over time became broader to mean any direct APK install, but I can't find much proof either way so this is entirely speculation.

    7 votes

  16. Comment on Android to debut "advanced flow" for sideloading unverified applications in ~tech

    LewsTherinTelescope
    Link Parent
    Oh for sure they need to clean their own shit up too, just responding to the "does absolutely nothing" point with a thing it can do. Whether they will execute that properly remains to be seen (and...

    Oh for sure they need to clean their own shit up too, just responding to the "does absolutely nothing" point with a thing it can do. Whether they will execute that properly remains to be seen (and as I said in my comment, the broader anti-privacy trends going on make me worried about this).

  17. Comment on Android to debut "advanced flow" for sideloading unverified applications in ~tech

    LewsTherinTelescope
    Link Parent
    I know someone who's looking for a job and the number of times they've gotten excited at an offer/interview only to come back and say "oh, it was fake" after looking into the company more......

    I know someone who's looking for a job and the number of times they've gotten excited at an offer/interview only to come back and say "oh, it was fake" after looking into the company more... Shit's rough out there.

    2 votes

  18. Comment on Android to debut "advanced flow" for sideloading unverified applications in ~tech

    LewsTherinTelescope
    Link Parent
    Sure, that prompt on its own won't solve it, but the article lists further steps beyond that to hopefully further lessen the odds (rebooting to cut off any calls, delay to remove the panic impulse...

    Sure, that prompt on its own won't solve it, but the article lists further steps beyond that to hopefully further lessen the odds (rebooting to cut off any calls, delay to remove the panic impulse and give a chance to talk to people about it). I'm just talking about the use of the word "coached".

    But yeah, it's not going to solve everything, nothing will; that doesn't mean no attempt can be made. It'd be good to get better at the other solutions you mention too (especially on the Play Store that they control), but given those aren't going to be perfect either, attacking the problem from multiple angles is probably more effective than just one.

    1 vote

  19. Comment on The 49MB web page in ~comp

    LewsTherinTelescope
    Link Parent
    Going without JS entirely requires too much manual work for me, but I do keep uBlock Origin in medium mode—blocks all third-party scripts and frames unless whitelisted, along with applying the...

    Going without JS entirely requires too much manual work for me, but I do keep uBlock Origin in medium mode—blocks all third-party scripts and frames unless whitelisted, along with applying the usual filter rules—and the web is a whole lot more useable that way. Posts like this article reinforce that this is DEFINITELY the right call, that's insane.

    (I imagine using uBO in normal mode would still work pretty well, but the extra upkeep medium requires is small enough that I don't mind doing it in exchange for the stronger guarantees.)

    3 votes

  20. Comment on Android to debut "advanced flow" for sideloading unverified applications in ~tech

    LewsTherinTelescope
    Link Parent
    (Not same person, answering for myself.) Difference with Windows to me is that there almost all software is distributed exclusively or near-exclusively outside the Microsoft Store, so in practice...

    (Not same person, answering for myself.) Difference with Windows to me is that there almost all software is distributed exclusively or near-exclusively outside the Microsoft Store, so in practice almost every single user who ever installs anything would need to turn it off. This would make it completely useless as a protection, so the inconvenience is a bigger factor.

    If the ecosystem were such that the vast majority of programs were downloaded via one of a few stores and the number of people running direct-download installers/programs was small, as is the case on Android, then yes I would be fine with them adding a toggle to allow running unsigned EXEs and making you wait a bit to turn it on.

    (If this was required for every individual install rather than being a one-time thing I would feel differently, and same if the app could only be registered if it was uploaded to Google Play rather than having the separate dashboard + third-party store support, or if it cost $100 every year like Apple's notarization crap.)

    10 votes