Truth Wanted 02.14 2019-05-09 with ObjectivelyDan & BionicDance

Summary: Truth Wanted 2.14 – Bionic Dance<br>Intro<br>Faithless forum<br>Kate: Arguments from theists don’t change much<br>Definition of faith and how people use it<br>Atheist activism- Kate didn’t grow up religious; Most people in the movement came from a religious background; LGBT+ rights, women’s rights<br>What’s going on on Kate’s channel?? – working on a narrative fiction space-opera animation project<br>Calls <br> • Charles – Fort Worth – Goddess Columbia – paganism, important founding fathers (Ben Franklin, etc) were part of an occult; was America founded on paganism? Dan mentions Greek principles. Charles says Columbia is everywhere. Charles doesn’t believe in Columbia as a real being but as a symbol. Dan talks about rituals for symbols (burning the US flag if it touches the ground). Columbia is a powerful, inspirational symbol that Charles draws motivation from. Illuminati next time!<br> • Brenda – Minnesota – trans woman, asking about Kate’s experiences as a lesbian woman out as an atheist on YouTube; what is it like and how do you deal with hate? Kate says she is not usually targeted, doesn’t get much hate. “Most people think [lesbianism] is hot.” Brenda mentions special targeting of trans people from the GOP; transphobia in the community – conservatives need someone to hate. Kate, Brenda, Dan talk about what conservatives will hate after the trans community is normalized. Speculate Artificial Intelligence and its possibilities in the future.<br>Are AI’s capable of beliefs? <br>Kate – What makes me “me?” – I am what my brain does. If a person turned into a machine, is the self still there? What stops a computer from being a person?<br> • Alex – Rhode Island – conversations with people: should I push people to use more precise language? Dan references his video with Anthony Magnabosco, where Christian Dan claimed to have been an atheist at one time, but his definition of atheism was different from how most atheists define the word. Dan says asking about definitions is important, start off that way. Kate- we should be more pedantic about words because it helps us describe ourselves better. Dan mentions the Sapir Whorf Hypothesis. Dan says words matter. People use the language that they think they know but don’t or try to express ideas they don’t know how to express. Patience is a virtue. <br>Dan talks about having an attitude of open-mindedness. Kate says that changing people’s mind is a good feeling, but we must be willing to check our own sources.<br> • Jesse – NJ – Talking about religion in recovery communities - What about yourself? What about the doctors? God gave you this affliction. Dan mentions karmic influence in Christianity – it’s because you did this. Jesse speculates that people who reference Christianity in healing circles do so because they need to find something good to look towards, so they point to god. Dan talks about his pastor visiting him in the hospital when he had appendicitis. Kate asks if god is all-loving, why does this happen? <br> • Adam – North Carolina – Wants to talk about why science can’t prove anything. Kate clarifies that science has tentatively shown things to be the most likely, and that “science proved it” is shorthand for that. Adam views science as a dartboard metaphor. He believes the biggest problem with science is that we don’t re-test things. Some of science might be due to random chance. Dan says science has changed over time, and there is a sense of progress. <br> • Elijah- what kinds of games does Kate play for game night? Kate mentions Gizmos, Secret Hitler, Cards Against Humanity, among others. The call was literally all about board games.