= 27d567bc2d48d9f40e9ccc20ea370b15)
knb comments on Open Thread, August 2010 - Less Wrong
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
= 783df68a0f980790206b9ea87794c5b6)
Loading…= b715d02e85f7b3b4ae65ca3d3e450868)
Subscribe to RSS Feed
Powered by Reddit
= f037147d6e6c911a85753b9abdedda8d)
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
Comments (676)
My sister and brother-in-law are both semi-religious theists, so I'm a bit reluctant to introduce him to anything as hardcore-atheist as Less Wrong, at least right now. Going through that huge theist-to-atheist identity transition can be really traumatic. I think it would be better if he was a bit older before he had confront those ideas.
I was 16 before I really allowed myself to accept that I didn't believe in God, and that was still a major crisis for me. If he starts getting into hardcore rationality material this early, I'm afraid it could force a choice between rationality and wishful thinking that he may not be ready to make.
If he is gifted and interested in science, introducing him to lesswrong, rationality and the Singularity could have a substantial positive impact on his academic development. What would be the worst that could happen?
My concern is not just that it would be traumatic, but that it will be so traumatic that he'll rationalize himself into a "belief in belief" situation. I had my crisis of faith when I was close to his age (14) and I wasn't ready to accept something that would alienate me from my family yet, so I simply told myself that I believed, and tried not to think about the issue. (I suspect this is why most people don't come out as atheists until after they've established separate identities from their parents and families.
A lot of people never escape from these traps. I think waiting somewhat--until he's somewhat older and more mature--will make him more likely to come to the right conclusions in the end.
I had rather the opposite experience - don't recall ever really believing (though I went to Catholic elementary school and semi-regularly attended a church), and was shocked in 8th grade to find that people were really serious about that stuff. Ended up spending a lot of time pointlessly arguing.
How is the above wrong enough to be at -2? I nearly universally reject any assertions that people have a duty to interfere with others but even so I don't have a problem with the above.