X-Message-Number: 29563
From: 
Date: Sun, 17 Jun 2007 11:14:37 EDT
Subject: Harris, Dennett

Not that it's important, but I can't resist a comment or two on Rudi  
Hoffman's enthusiasm about Sam Harris and Daniel Dennett.
 
Dennett's Consciousness Explained is a joke. He gets some  things right--just 
about everybody does--but he gets the main things wrong. He  didn't come 
within a mile of explaining consciousness.
 
As regards Harris' case against faith, I haven't read his stuff,  but it 

ought to be clear that we cannot realistically push our agenda by  telling 
people 
to be logical and abandon their inculcated mindsets, which are  buttressed not 
only by upbringing but by evolution. Some of those tendencies are  

hard-wired. There are built-in bological tendencies not only for self  
preservation (to 
a certain degree, and under certain circumstances), but also  e.g. for 
protecting your children and for defending your community. 
 
"Religion" is not just bibles and gods. It is any kind of ideology or  

consecration to a cause. And if we want converts to cryonics, we generally won't
get them by tellling people how stupid their beliefs are and how they should  
look down upon the people they look up to. 
 
We are interested primarily in what people do, not what they believe or say  
they believe or think they believe. Polls "show" that Americans in a large  
majority "believe" in "God" and in many other things where actions show  
something very different. 
 
People don't use the benefits of modern medicine as a form of rebellion  

against the cruelties of God or nature. They just use them because they  work. 
The 
churches, with a very small number of exceptions, do not  denigrate medicine, 
and few of them or their leaders have spoken out against  cryonics. Our own 
efforts, as I think should be very clear, should focus on what  we do best and 
what our resources allow, which most definitely is not a crusade  against 
faith. 
 
In Youniverse I tried to offer a working strategy for life,  although without 
much hope that many would or could buy it. The problem is that  there are too 
many things we just don't know yet, which could have a bearing on  the 

central questions. The "faith" I recommend is just a certain kind of  integrity 
or 
honesty, with no certainties except our own feelings, and those of  uncertain 

duration. It's very possible that many people, full of delusions, are  and will
be happier and more successful in most respects than I am. When  someone's 

delusions are comforting to him, it usually helps neither you nor him  to try to
disillusion him.
 
R.E. 



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