Re: Atheist Ten Commandments

[noobler9]

envy and lying are common and useful at times, there is a reason they are used so much in real life there are good arguments to be made that without the competitive and conflict based attitudes of the greeks, christianity would be just another judaism/islam/buddhism thing, well islam doesn't entirely belong there, it did have a little bit of a point in it's early days, but it's gone full retard in so many ways at the moment

morality is VERY, VERY HIGHLY desirable, but not necessary for life

[noobler9]

if fidelity wasn't partially selected for, then every oppurtunity would be taken, it'd look like a horror show that's basing it's horror off real actions without any real attempt to make it look bad

[phinny5608]

Thanks for making this. Especially going into the first 4 which, as you said, are not immediately obvious. As a very recent ex-Christian, I'm still trying to regain my footing on where I stand and how my outlook should be. This has given me a lot to think about, and I really appreciate it.

[HYPNOSISWORKS123]

Excellent. CNot that it always works, but creating the idea of god and vowing to keep god as the one and only supreme authority also prevents people from falling prey to charismatic leaders who might try to lead people in the direction of hatred and killing. Also, the idea of god provides psychological comfort in the sense of there being "afterlife insurance" if you obey.

[lgnks]

I appreciate this video because you are able to clearly convey the theories of the evolution of morals. These codes of conduct, only gained through history's wisdom, explains, so simply, the resulting "commandments" of today. I came up with the same reasoning and result years ago and it is this reasoning that not only solidified my atheist point of view, but also allowed me to continue to live my life as i see fit. Thank you for being able to put "in words" what i could only think.

[rackers]

slow....down......

[sandbar3000]

AMEN. As a Christian, I honor you since you are respectful and you believe (as I do) that atheists and theist (in the basic human level) do have the same standards. We just interpret them in different ways.

I Have said before - don't kill and the Bible says say. Okay. What about killing with one's words? May be we (all of us) should be more careful with our words - since words can (and do) hurt.

[sandbar3000]

6:30 learning to want what you have - it is very similar to being conent with what you have

[RationalEmotive]

These definitions flashed on the screen are so lulzy.

I might save you some time in telling you not to bother with dogmatism and fundamentalism, or maybe not.

There is no truth out there I have to defend against dogmatists such as jezuzfreek, spoken in layman's terms

[roidroid]

@ 6:38

>if i steal this kid.

Yowza. You upgraded from your PSP target pretty quickly, now we're bagging whole children.

[barcode9588]

LOL, I just noticed that!

[Cessations]

ten things you should always abide by is far too limited and don't have enough fine print to be lauded or thrown about as they are.

But then again, how are we to reach the masses if not with something simple?

[Cessations]

But that's not to say that we should get rid of Thou Shalt Not Steal in the whole - just take it with a grain of salt. And now you'll wonder how murder can be 'circumstancialized' if that's a word. I'm positive there are some circumstances in which murder would indeed be a necessity ... I see the ten commandments as something you teach to a baby, and then spend the rest of the baby's life teaching it in what times is is considered 'right' to go against the ten commandments. I think a list of any

[Cessations]

Well. Eh. If I were to respond to this video, I probably would have gone for a similar approach, but not quite. I would agree that the ten commandments we have have a great deal of merit, otherwise why would they still be around. However, in my mind, you would also have to add in the idea of circumstances. It goes back to the, "I steal the bread to feed my family" sort of idea. That isn't wrong, and so if I have to, I will steal. I won't abide by rules if they fly in the face of my survival.

[ChaosmanOne]

I also think that the perception of adultery as a societal "sin" is only accurate as it relates to certain personality types. Most logical people would realize that adultery is nothing more than the innate and fundamental drive for life to breed as often as possible with as many partners as possible in order to increase genetic diversity and generate "better" traits. Why should humans be excepted from this rule?

[barcode9588]

I agree, I don't think that adultery is "inherently" wrong, whatever the hell that means. I just think that because fidelity has been selected for, that is the only reason why we think it is moral.  The only reason we have a gut instinct that adultery is "wrong", is because evolution has placed that predisposition in us. To a large extent I do believe that morality is simply a byproduct of evolution, with no intrinsic value in and of itself.

[CMTHEN1954]

If moral values have no intrinsic value, and also serve a social cohesion function, then why bother with trying to live by them. If fact, many society build social cohesion (gangs for example) by violating these values, viz., rape, killing, stealing, etc. So, the cohesiveness argument is flawed.

[IsPoLiNNiLoPsI]

"fidelity has been selected for": Obviously not, since we still cheat all the time (hey, score one more for House). So how do we reconcile the fact that none of the social cohesion commandments form an evolutionarily stable strategy? (Selfish Gene, ch5) Actually, most aren't even socially stable strategies.

[barcode9588]

I'm not advocating that all social cohesion commandments work in cooperation. They are constantly in competition with each other. Consider fidelity, right? On the one hand, an argument can be made that infidelity and forced sexual conduct means an organism spreads his genetic material farther. On the other hand, fidelity is encouraged for modern social cohesion.

[sandbar3000]

Can I learn about evolution and natural selection from you?

[ChaosmanOne]

....Obey your parents on the provision that their orders (subliminal, physical, or verbal) are logical. Further, honor your parents by supporting them as they have supported you as necessary in reciprocation.

[paliut1992]

good explanation on how to explain that they are just fundamental rules that we need to follow was a society.

[WyldFire777]

Fantastic video. I'm a Christian, but wow, I love this explanation of the Ten Commandments. A scientific way to explain religion. Awesome. :)