#materialsim

I have seen videos, books, and social media posts claiming that “no one can remain an atheist” after viewing this, or reading that, or considering something else. As with any hype, the assertion is simply not true. Claims of indisputable truth will always fall short. This has never been more true, perhaps, than now in the Internet age. Even so, people watched Jesus perform miracles in their…

Perspective is critically important for finite creatures such as ourselves because we view everything from "where we sit".

My thoughts are inspired by a Daily Galaxy article today, Astronaut’s ‘Lightbulb Moment’ in Space Reveals Humanity’s Biggest ‘Lie’s. Ignoring the obvious clickbait character of the title, I read the article, which is about the importance of perspective. A less sexy summary of the article might go like this: “Seeing the Earth from the vantage point of space provides a different perspective that…

Chernyshevsky:

But other research shows that materialism is a natural part of being human and that people develop materialistic tendencies as an adaptive response to cope with situations that make them feel anxious and insecure, such as a difficult family relationship or even our natural fear of death. There’s no shame in being materialistic – it could benefit society

(via There's no shame in being materialistic – it could benefit society)

Sumpix added. 

There's no shame in being materialistic – it could benefit society. ??????????????. 

I recently read an article by PHYS.org about a study of Facebook users tying social media use to Materialism. It said that the Facebook users with a higher level of engagement and posts were more likely to be materialistic based on their answers.  The site said “the results suggested that the link between materialism and Facebook activity can be partly explained by materialists displaying a stronger social comparison orientation, having more Facebook friends, and objectifying and instrumentalizing their friends more intensely”. I found this very interesting, I can’t explain why but it just makes sense to me that people obsessed with checking social media would be obsessed with material things as well. Another feeling I have that I can’t explain the reasoning for is thinking that people on Twitter might not have the same correlation between use of the social media and materialism. In a way, I think Twitter is meant to be more honest and put down your honest thoughts; so it makes sense to me that people might go on there more to “pick others brains” or see things they haven’t before rather than just to make them seem like they have a lot of friends.

https://phys.org/news/2017-11-materialists-facebook-friends-social-media.html#jCp

Filling in the Gaps: God or the Multiverse?

Photo by Larry Betag The God of the gaps assertion means, simply, that, if we do not know what lies behind the universe, then we assume (insert) God (into the gaps in our understanding). Atheists will say this “faith” is irrational and wholly unsupportable by science (i.e.; reason). They would rather rely on science (and reason they say), and conclude there is no scientific (i.e.; rational)…