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nyan_sandwich comments on I've had it with those dark rumours about our culture rigorously suppressing opinions - Less Wrong Discussion

26 Post author: Multiheaded 25 January 2012 05:43PM

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Comment author: [deleted] 25 January 2012 07:10:00PM *  3 points [-]

derp

Comment author: [deleted] 25 January 2012 08:42:30PM *  0 points [-]

Oh you mean our very own escaped basilisk made by [he who must not be named]?

Edit: Removed name.

Comment author: [deleted] 25 January 2012 08:43:14PM *  0 points [-]

innocent comment

Comment author: [deleted] 25 January 2012 09:29:50PM 6 points [-]

It's not like it's terribly difficult to find, even without the name.

Comment author: [deleted] 25 January 2012 08:56:11PM *  4 points [-]

I didn't find the idea that scary or dangerous at least any more than Pascal's wager. But I also have this creepy meta-feeling that I really desperately want to believe that so I'm risking less than I would be if I did find it dangerous/plausible/scary.

Comment author: faul_sname 26 January 2012 12:29:44AM 6 points [-]

I did find the idea scary, not because the basilisk itself was scary but because its existence suggests a significant class of equally scary or scarier ideas.

Comment author: Multiheaded 27 January 2012 04:40:23AM 2 points [-]

Exactly.

Comment author: [deleted] 03 February 2012 10:53:03PM 0 points [-]

Like what? (Reply by private message if you want.)

Comment author: [deleted] 03 February 2012 10:51:49PM 2 points [-]

I found it isomorphic to Pascal's wager, at least assuming that people who fail to be Christian solely because they've never heard of (or seriously thought about) Christianity in the first place won't go to hell.

Comment author: Eugine_Nier 04 February 2012 01:36:49AM 1 point [-]

at least assuming that people who fail to be Christian solely because they've never heard of (or seriously thought about) Christianity in the first place won't go to hell.

I've thought about the idea enough to realize that (assuming one takes it seriously at all) the above is not guaranteed.

Comment author: Prismattic 04 February 2012 01:45:05AM 1 point [-]

Well, people who failed to be Christian because they lived before Jesus ended up in limbo, according to Dante. I'm not sure if that's based on any actual theology.

Comment author: [deleted] 04 February 2012 10:39:44AM 3 points [-]

IIRC, the current stance of the Church is the reverse of that: atheism is a sin if you've heard of the idea of God but you refuse to think seriously about it, but not if despite thinking it through you still can't believe it.

Comment author: FiftyTwo 02 May 2012 12:45:12AM 1 point [-]

Can you source that?

Comment author: [deleted] 07 May 2012 02:00:46PM 0 points [-]

I think I read that in Youcat where it talks about the first commandment, but neither the Google Books nor the Amazon previews contain that part of the book.

Comment author: Eugine_Nier 04 February 2012 01:50:33AM 1 point [-]

I was actually referring to the basilisk.

Comment author: [deleted] 04 February 2012 10:47:30AM 3 points [-]

You mean that gung onq guvat zvtug unccra rira gb gubfr jub unira'g urneq be gubhtug nobhg gung fpranevb?

Comment author: Eugine_Nier 04 February 2012 09:20:24PM 1 point [-]

Yes.

Comment author: [deleted] 04 February 2012 10:42:40AM 0 points [-]

Do you mean “not guaranteed that, given that hell exists, people who have never heard of it won't go there”, or “not guaranteed that, given that hell exists and that people who have never heard of it won't go there, it is equivalent to [the thing that should not be mentioned]”?

Comment author: [deleted] 25 January 2012 09:19:32PM *  1 point [-]

irrelevent comment

Comment author: Solvent 26 January 2012 11:03:19AM 0 points [-]

I personally did not find that scary at all. However, I understand that many intelligent people were discomforted.

And so. If anyone wants to know what this is about, PM me and I'll try to figure out if it will upset you, and then tell you what it is.