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Dorikka comments on Positive Thinking - Less Wrong
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I don't think that rationality and Christianity occupy the same place in one's life -- rationality in itself is only a means to an end, not an end in itself, while following the principles of Christianity does seem to be an end in itself for Christians.
Rationality is an art which one follows to acquire true beliefs and take effective action, regardless of one's utility function. The question 'Could the principles of rationality prompt a group of people to form this kind of community?' feels like it's asking something of rationality that is completely tangential to its purpose.
I could better understand the question 'Could the principles of transhumanism and/or altruism prompt a group of people to form this kind of community?'
Also for me, going to church and ish-following the principles of Christianity was a means to an end ("I want something to hold me accountable to being a better person") whereas trying to become more rational has less of a well-defined end.
One potential end for rationality is "I want to be able to hold myself accountable for being a better person." I'm not currently able to do that entirely, but I think I'm getting better, in part through participating in the LW community.
I go to church to help me be accountable to my daughter. The church we attend is gay-friendly and supports a family of two men and a baby. Some churches are filled with bitter people always looking to criticize each other, usually behind their backs. You're lucky to be part of a positive church community. I am, too.
I guess maybe it's not the ideal wording. But it seems like a very rational thing to do to seek out a supporting community. And if one doesn't exist that suits your ideology, it seems rational to create it. That being said, maybe not everyone feels the same desire for this type of community that I do, so it does depend on what your utility function is.
I used rationality because it's more general than the term transhumanism, which not everyone on lesswrong reacts positively to. And altruism doesn't seem right either; it wasn't out of altruism that I went to church, it was because I fulfilled MY utility function.
One's utility function describes the process by which one makes decisions; it can be altruistic. You may have been thinking of your personal hedonic function. I doubt that many of the other people were attending for selfish reasons.
I have no idea why most people attended. However, though I doubt they would have wanted to view their reasons as selfish, I suspect it had more to do with their own stability, happiness, etc than with making the world a better place.
You might be right. Many people do talk about how their lives were changed by religion rather than how God wants them to follow religion. I don't have enough experience with this to know which is more common, but, upon reflection, it seems probable that many people practice religion for reason that I would describe as selfish (though not entirely egoistic because people also care about their families and friends, as well as have at least some level of concern even for far away people).