Magic is just what you don’t understand. Everything is a mechanism. Even if there was magic, a human soul, the afterlife, God, it would still operate under certain logical rules and principles. Eventually, unless there was something keeping us from obtaining knowledge, we would be able to apply science to magical forces. Science will eventually understand everything it is possible to understand, which might honestly be everything.

We know that the universe was much denser and close together based on measurements, but cannot truly see the beginning. We think it’s most likely that the big moon in the sky most likely came from another planet hitting ours, but we don’t know exactly how the collision went down. Science is our best understanding, not some absolute source of knowledge. Our interpretations are often incorrect and updated accordingly, and even the most accurate theories are known to be an incomplete understanding. Until we understand everything, science is the search for knowledge, rather than knowledge itself.

There’s way more firearm accidents and suicides than incidents where guns actually helped. They make everyone, especially gun owners, less safe. If safety is the primary concern, the less guns the better.

I don’t know what “willing cooperation” has to do with anything. The US government has the willing cooperation of millions and had the willing cooperation of a majority of Americans in the past. That doesn’t mean the US government didn’t do some of the worst shit ever during the peak of their popularity. It’s also not like consent isn’t manufactured in China.

If anything, it’s my belief in the similarities of the Chinese and US governments that makes me think they would do hateful things with their power. People in China are the same as people here. I don’t have a rose tinted view of people here either.

Except the Chinese government has way more control over their companies than the US government does. In fact, there has been an explicit push recently by the government to increase their control and ownership of companies. It’s also consistent with how most large states operate, especially ones with a history of trying to control ethnically Chinese people outside of their borders.

That isn’t to say that a ton of anti China sentiment isn’t racist; it’s just that one doesn’t need to be racist make such a prediction. It’s true that many people who hate China hate it for the wrong reasons, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t things to take issue with.

Better question might be when did non Christians get involved. Before recently, it was basically all Christians of different flavors who even got to play a role in politics. Secularism was more about not valuing one version of Christianity over others, at least that’s the sense I have. The role might have changed but it’s always been a major force.

Made me think of this.

I’m going to attempt to understand this. Tell me where I’m wrong.

No idea what A or B theory means, but relativity kind of blows a hole in simultaneity, so I assume that B theory has other implications like determinism or something. Something about relationships defining everything.

Chairs only exist in our brains I guess. Brains also invented themselves. Spooky

Plato is silly?

This might have some implications about there not being underlying rules to reality, or that we can never really get anything more than a shadow of them.

Not sure about this one. It might be more epistemological than metaphysical.

The creation and end of existence aren’t as important as the rules and the observable state of things?

I could google these things, but I had fun doing it this way.

That really is a controversial one. I don’t believe this will ever happen on purpose and could never be achieved without forcing other people to comply through violence. I get believing people suck and that the universe would be better off without us, but it is nearly impossible for extinction to be willingly realized. I just don’t like the idea of forcing people like that.

While mostly true, someone out there always wants to genocide you.

I haven’t. People were justified in their anger, and let that anger out in the way they could. That’s why you shouldn’t give people a reason to be justifiably angry and instead meet the needs of the people without abusing them. The acquittal of those cops told people that the law didn’t apply to law enforcement. If the law doesn’t apply equally, why should it be viewed as anything other than tyranny?