6 ms·

I’m pretty concerned about a AI generating infectious memes and memeplexes/religions. It doesn’t take much to start a religious genocide. Look at Hong Xiuquan,

I’m pretty concerned about a AI generating infectious memes and memeplexes/religions. It doesn’t take much to start a religious genocide. Look at Hong Xiuquan, the brother of jesus from China. 30 million dead. Synthetic religion could be so convincing it sucks us all into some delusion

mberg0 4y ago
- greenhearth 4y ago
  - dang 4y ago
    Could you please stop posting flamewar comments and/or using HN for political/ideological battle? Your account has unfortunately already been posting like that quite a bit, and we end up having to ban such accounts. It's not what this site is for, and it destroys what it is for. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful.
    - greenhearth 4y ago
      Ok, sorry about that, I'll try to follow the rules. But what's the fun in message boards if you can't have some snark and spirit once in a while :)? I can take it, as well as give it, btw.
    - greenhearth 4y ago
      Update: Hey, after reading the rules, I don't believe I've written anything egregiously violating, except maybe push back on some opinions, which were themselves based in ideology. I don't flame without any reason, I just respond when I feel strongly that something that posted is wrong on some level. And I don't press anything either, just express an opposing point of view to some statement that obviously needs it. Thanks for the warning though, all the best!
      - dang 4y ago
        We may be reading those rules pretty differently. Your GP comment seemed egregious to me. Also, don't miss the point that we ban accounts that use HN primarily for political or ideological battle, even if they're not breaking the site guidelines in other ways (and regardless of which politics or ideology they're battling for). That's because it's not what this site is for, and it destroys what it is for. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
        greenhearth 4y ago
        I don't know what "GP" is, but everything is ideological/political. If you expect me to comment nothing on a post like the one above, then you can ban me now
        dang 4y ago
        "GP" stands for 'grandparent' (at least I think it does) - so in this case by GP comment I meant https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32676920 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32676920. Yes, in a sense everything is ideological/political, but not in a sense that would make garden-variety snark the same as substantive, thoughtful comments—it's not. We want thoughtful comments here, not snark. Whatever ideology you favor, I assume it's about something deeper and more important than internet putdowns, so HN's rules should be easy enough to adapt to. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- vitiral 4y ago
  It's a-theist, not a-positive. It can be confusing. One positive might be protection against meme religions? Hopefully?
yboris 4y ago
This may be the best book to read on the topic: Breaking the Spell by the philosopher Daniel C. Dennett. In short: religion is a meme (that has evolved over centuries). Crudely put, one can draw some parallels between religion "infecting" a human and a virus that makes an ant crawl to the top of a blade of grass (as the virus needs a sheep's stomach to reproduce). https://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Spell-Religion-Natural-Phenomenon/dp/0143038338 https://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Spell-Religion-Natural-Pheno...
- trasz 4y ago
  - olddustytrail 4y ago
    Presumably by "the west" you mean some parts of the Americas?
    - trasz 4y ago
      No, I mean all of west. Protection of children from religion is pretty much nonexistent.
      - what-imright 4y ago
        ^totally. There really needs to be action on this front. The problem has a massive scale and is more likely IMO to negatively affect a young persons experience than global warming, war, race and the phobias. Trouble is the human mind needs something to cling to. It simply wasn’t meant to challenge the mysteries of existence and the universe, and to accept death. So we fall into the delusion pit.
j0hnyl 4y ago
- sigzero 4y ago
  I bet you're a pip at parties.
  - dang 4y ago
    Please don't respond to a bad comment by breaking the site guidelines yourself. That just makes everything worse. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- dang 4y ago
  Religious flamewar (or any flamewar, but especially religious) is not welcome here, so please don't post like this to HN. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
olddustytrail 4y ago
[flagged]
- EFreethought 4y ago
  And what did your precious little god do for those 12-20 million people?
  - olddustytrail 4y ago
    - EFreethought 4y ago
      - olddustytrail 4y ago
        Learn how the world works? That's how I know you're a kid.
        dang 4y ago
        Could you please stop breaking the site guidelines? Comments like you posted in this thread are not what HN is for, and destroy what it is for. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful.
  - dang 4y ago
    Could you please stop posting flamewar comments and/or using HN for political/ideological battle? It's not what this site is for, and it destroys what it is for. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful.
- 4y ago
olddustytrail 4y ago
And you know what another dangerous meme is? Humour. You can make offensive and degrading remarks about pretty much anything. But no one wants to admit they are not infected with the humour meme.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- trasz 4y ago
  Humor isn’t harmful. There were no genocides in the name of humor. It doesn’t destroy peoples lives. It doesn’t promote unhealthy behaviors, and doesn’t cripple peoples’ ability to understand the reality around them.
  - olddustytrail 4y ago
    Nonsense. The preperation for the Holocaust was the "humourous" depictions of "the Jew". You must be aware of examples from your own culture also.

mberg0 4y ago

greenhearth 4y ago
- dang 4y ago
  Could you please stop posting flamewar comments and/or using HN for political/ideological battle? Your account has unfortunately already been posting like that quite a bit, and we end up having to ban such accounts. It's not what this site is for, and it destroys what it is for. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful.
  - greenhearth 4y ago
    Ok, sorry about that, I'll try to follow the rules. But what's the fun in message boards if you can't have some snark and spirit once in a while :)? I can take it, as well as give it, btw.
  - greenhearth 4y ago
    Update: Hey, after reading the rules, I don't believe I've written anything egregiously violating, except maybe push back on some opinions, which were themselves based in ideology. I don't flame without any reason, I just respond when I feel strongly that something that posted is wrong on some level. And I don't press anything either, just express an opposing point of view to some statement that obviously needs it. Thanks for the warning though, all the best!
    - dang 4y ago
      We may be reading those rules pretty differently. Your GP comment seemed egregious to me. Also, don't miss the point that we ban accounts that use HN primarily for political or ideological battle, even if they're not breaking the site guidelines in other ways (and regardless of which politics or ideology they're battling for). That's because it's not what this site is for, and it destroys what it is for. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
      - greenhearth 4y ago
        I don't know what "GP" is, but everything is ideological/political. If you expect me to comment nothing on a post like the one above, then you can ban me now
        dang 4y ago
        "GP" stands for 'grandparent' (at least I think it does) - so in this case by GP comment I meant https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32676920 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32676920. Yes, in a sense everything is ideological/political, but not in a sense that would make garden-variety snark the same as substantive, thoughtful comments—it's not. We want thoughtful comments here, not snark. Whatever ideology you favor, I assume it's about something deeper and more important than internet putdowns, so HN's rules should be easy enough to adapt to. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
vitiral 4y ago
It's a-theist, not a-positive. It can be confusing. One positive might be protection against meme religions? Hopefully?

yboris 4y ago

This may be the best book to read on the topic: Breaking the Spell by the philosopher Daniel C. Dennett. In short: religion is a meme (that has evolved over centuries). Crudely put, one can draw some parallels between religion "infecting" a human and a virus that makes an ant crawl to the top of a blade of grass (as the virus needs a sheep's stomach to reproduce). https://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Spell-Religion-Natural-Phenomenon/dp/0143038338 https://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Spell-Religion-Natural-Pheno...

trasz 4y ago
- olddustytrail 4y ago
  Presumably by "the west" you mean some parts of the Americas?
  - trasz 4y ago
    No, I mean all of west. Protection of children from religion is pretty much nonexistent.
    - what-imright 4y ago
      ^totally. There really needs to be action on this front. The problem has a massive scale and is more likely IMO to negatively affect a young persons experience than global warming, war, race and the phobias. Trouble is the human mind needs something to cling to. It simply wasn’t meant to challenge the mysteries of existence and the universe, and to accept death. So we fall into the delusion pit.

j0hnyl 4y ago

sigzero 4y ago
I bet you're a pip at parties.
- dang 4y ago
  Please don't respond to a bad comment by breaking the site guidelines yourself. That just makes everything worse. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
dang 4y ago
Religious flamewar (or any flamewar, but especially religious) is not welcome here, so please don't post like this to HN. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

olddustytrail 4y ago

[flagged]

EFreethought 4y ago
And what did your precious little god do for those 12-20 million people?
- olddustytrail 4y ago
  - EFreethought 4y ago
    - olddustytrail 4y ago
      Learn how the world works? That's how I know you're a kid.
      - dang 4y ago
        Could you please stop breaking the site guidelines? Comments like you posted in this thread are not what HN is for, and destroy what it is for. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful.
- dang 4y ago
  Could you please stop posting flamewar comments and/or using HN for political/ideological battle? It's not what this site is for, and it destroys what it is for. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful.
4y ago

olddustytrail 4y ago

And you know what another dangerous meme is? Humour. You can make offensive and degrading remarks about pretty much anything. But no one wants to admit they are not infected with the humour meme.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
trasz 4y ago
Humor isn’t harmful. There were no genocides in the name of humor. It doesn’t destroy peoples lives. It doesn’t promote unhealthy behaviors, and doesn’t cripple peoples’ ability to understand the reality around them.
- olddustytrail 4y ago
  Nonsense. The preperation for the Holocaust was the "humourous" depictions of "the Jew". You must be aware of examples from your own culture also.