Moral norms have shifted dramatically across cultures and centuries. That's not a bug - it's proof that we humans are the authors of our ethics. The power to define right and wrong has always been ours. Let us use it wisely.
More at https://suchanek.name/texts/atheism/ChapterMorality.html#MoralDiv
Rousseau's "The Social Contract" suggested that society works best when we build it together by consent -- not by inherited tradition, divine authority, or, for that matter, a king or president who acts like one. We’re freest when we agree to play by the same rules.
More at https://suchanek.name/texts/atheism/ChapterMorality.html#Pacts
Picture taken in the National History Museum of #Uruguay #Freedom #Government
Spotted in a university library: “Photocopy instead of cutting” - a simple rule: Don’t cause harm. Worth remembering, even outside the library!
More at https://suchanek.name/texts/atheism/ChapterMorality.html#SeqHum
Wise words that still carry truth from Eleanor Roosevelt, the driving force of the UN Declaration of Human Rights.
More at https://suchanek.name/texts/atheism/ChapterMorality.html#Universality
When your beliefs, words, and actions are aligned, life gets a lot easier - for you and for those around you.
Not everyone can live that alignment openly - which makes it all the more important for those who can.
More at https://suchanek.name/texts/atheism/ChapterMorality.html#Conscience #psychology #freedom
Clubs of non-aggression form spontaneously among fishers, farmers, plane crash survivors in remote places, and even soldiers of opposing parties and Mafia members. People who are on equal terms realize they fare best when they don’t harm each other. No commandment -- just common sense.
More at https://suchanek.name/texts/atheism/ChapterMorality.html#Pacts
These two monkeys figured it out quite nicely: One scratches the other’s back, and then the roles reverse. They did not need a holy book to find this out. Neither do we: When we help each other, we’re all better off.
More at https://suchanek.name/texts/atheism/ChapterMorality.html#Reciprocity , picture taken in Bali, Indonesia
Empathy and altruism are ancient, evolved traits. They exist not just in humans, but also in humpback whales, dolphins, and apes. Turns out, compassion doesn't need a holy book -- it just needs a heartbeat.
More at https://suchanek.name/texts/atheism/ChapterMorality.html#Altruism, pic taken in Lagos, Portugal
People push a train to free a commuter whose leg slipped into the space between the train and the platform. Empathy is an innate trait -- let us use it more often.
More at https://suchanek.name/texts/atheism/ChapterMorality.html#Empathy picture by a CCTV camera via abc.net
The 1991 video game "Lemmings" lied to us 🐾 In reality, animals don't throw themselves off cliffs. Most animals have a pretty strong instinct to stay alive. It's easy to see what happened to those that did not...
SVG+CSS, more at https://suchanek.name/texts/atheism/ChapterMorality.html#Survival
What do we know about the origin of the Universe? How did life come into existence? How did humans evolve? Why are snowflakes so beautiful?
Fascinating questions (and the answers religion never gave you) in Chapter 4 of the Atheist Bible: https://suchanek.name/texts/atheism/ChapterUniverse.html
(also as a free audio-book)
The egg came first because evolution happens mainly between generations, not within them. Sometimes the best answers to ancient riddles come from science.
More at https://suchanek.name/texts/atheism/ChapterUniverse.html#BetterSpec
Two men, two legacies: One reportedly healed a few people, and inspired billions to believe; the other invented vaccination and quietly saved the world. Sometimes, true heroes don’t need a crowd - just science and compassion.
More at https://suchanek.name/texts/atheism/ChapterUniverse.html#Mir
Science isn't about absolute answers; it is about asking the right questions and exploring the wonders of the Universe together.
More at https://suchanek.name/texts/atheism/ChapterUniverse.html#BelSci
Science doesn't know everything. But what it knows is at least validated and often useful. Oh, and it steadily becomes more.
More at https://suchanek.name/texts/atheism/ChapterUniverse.html#BelSci
If our brain is just atoms, do we have free will?
Probably not in the sense that we can do what is not determined by the workings of these atoms in our brain. But probably yes in the sense that this working is largely unpredictable for the outside world...
More at https://suchanek.name/texts/atheism/ChapterUniverse.html#FreeWill
In the naturalistic world view, everything is determined by the laws of nature. Now, if we knew the exact state of every atom, particle, and object -- would we then be able to “compute” what the future brings?
Most likely yes. However, this computation would be so complex that it would probably not run any faster than nature herself. So if you want to know the exact state of affairs in the future, your best strategy is... to wait.
More at https://suchanek.name/texts/atheism/ChapterUniverse.html#Predictability #enya #future #philosophy
Conway's Game of Life looks complex? Look again: Every single checkerboard cell changes its color based only on its 8 neighbors, without any global coordination. And still, patterns and shapes appear. Just in case someone tells you that complexity cannot arise from simplicity.
SVG+Javascript. More at https://suchanek.name/texts/atheism/ChapterUniverse.html#Conway #complexity #geek #svg
Why are snowflakes so beautiful? Because they grow by switching between uniform growth and 6-fold branching -- depending on the temperature they fly through. Since this temperature is the same everywhere around the flake, the growth is symmetric. The result is this beautiful structure.
Image CC-BY-SA A. Kljatov, more at https://suchanek.name/texts/atheism/ChapterUniverse.html#Emergence #nature #snow #beauty
Around 100,000 years ago, homo sapiens emigrated from Africa to the rest of the world. They replaced the Neanderthals they encountered -- but also mated with them. Sometimes reality is weirder than the writers of the scripture imagined...
https://suchanek.name/texts/atheism/ChapterUniverse.html#Sapiens #evolution #biology #atheism
