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Ask HN: Do you believe in God?

14 points by tylermauthe ↗ HN
I have always been intrigued by religion, specifically it's power to motivate, inspire and provide hope. Some of the greatest works (and greatest atrocities) have been carried out in the name of religion.

This got me wondering, do my hacker idols believe in God? Are they agnostic, like myself? Are they atheists?

27 comments

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mrtron
Off topic.

Why does it matter what others believe? Blaze your own path.

antidoh
It's Sunday, which I have noticed is a day to relax the rules.

It's OK.

tomasien
Blaze your own path of belief without input from other smart people with interesting perspectives? That sounds like the opposite of a good idea (a bad idea)
grimtrigger
This doesn't have much to do with hacking or entrepreneurship. I'm interested in the answer too, but lets not turn HN into reddit.
tylermauthe
Well, I was curious about the impact (if any) on entrepreneurship and/or hacking... Whether it inspires people or whether they find inspiration from elsewhere (Ubermensch anyone?)

That being said, this is definitely an almost-reddit question... And I apologize for that; I hesitated before posting it but figured I would anyway... I am a bastard.

[dead] tomasien
I think believe plays into Entrepreneurship really deeply, in that it's all about your world view.

Most great ideas have an "I believe moment" (I believe everyone should have a personal computer, I believe communication protocols should not necessarily be 2 way, etc.) because they start with things that haven't been proven yet, at all.

They are the BEST explanation for an unknown aspect of a world view we can come up with.

sswezey
I am an gnostic atheist, I don't believe in any god and I feel that there is enough proof to show that gods do not exist.

Also, (a)gnostic and (a)theist are not a sliding scale, they are more akin to x,y coordinates on a graph:

http://freethinker.co.uk/2009/09/25/8419/

almost
Nothing good can come of this topic (on a forum like this anyway)
gokuknows
I think this is an interesting question and is not off topic. I personally don't believe in god until proven wrong. i think the concept of believing in god is Ridicules it's no different then believing in unicorns.
huxley
I'm an atheist myself (born Catholic).

I tend to borrow bits from secular humanism and Camus' existentialism, which tell me that in the end, you need to find your own motivation, inspiration and hope.

Large groups of people are all capable of great works and great atrocities (along with a myriad of smaller ones), religions just happen to be one of the many divisions of people.

tylermauthe
Thank you for sharing this great response! I've been tempted to look into Camus, perhaps I will revisit that undertaking. Any recommendations for literature?
huxley
Depending on your temperament his fiction can be either very insightful or a total downer. I've found his non-fiction like "The Rebel" to be very accessible especially as philosophical works go (Heidegger and Kant being the epitome of inaccessible to the non-scholar and even then ... ugh). Camus also worked as a journalist so that had an impact on his writing.

It is very intense to read Camus straight, so I usually alternate it with something more optimistic or at least humorous. If I'm going to face the absurdity of existence as a mortal human being, I at least need a laugh or two on the way.

I remember William Barret's "Irrational Man" being a pretty good overview of existentialist thought.

modernise
Perfect being is a psychological reality. Faith does not entail religion. Sartre pronounced himself an atheist, but wrote extensively about the problem of bad faith. You put your faith in others every day. The problems begin when you put your faith in systems, rather than subjects (read: Worlds). Make faith-investing a conscious process. What about this Subject am I taking/acquiescing to on faith? vis what I am taking as manifest (read: System). Faith in Subject is good, and in System, not so much. All Subject is good, and all System is for sale. Everything else is pronunciation and posturing.
tylermauthe
I love the concept of "faith-investing" and making it conscious. I believe that bringing consciousness to any choice makes the choice better; especially when it is something so deeply entrenched like faith.

Also, I feel this idea has merit in the realm of Entrepreneurship... In some ways it equates to risk. We can blindly take risks or we can carefully take risks. Realizing that there is an element of faith behind all decisions, being aware of "faith-investing" may make us less blind to the risks we take and allow us to be careful instead.

lbcadden3
Yes I do.

His name is Bob and when he resets the computer we are all screwed.

tomasien
I believe in God, the same way people have believed in God for centuries: I believe in a God that is a series of forces that govern our world, many of which I can't explain or understand.

These forces for me are based on Science for the most part, and where science can't explain things, philosophy or just plain mystery. But to me, that's the same God Christians believed in 20 centuries ago, we just have better information now. They haven't adapted.

tomasien
I think believe plays into Entrepreneurship really deeply, in that it's all about your world view.

Most great ideas have an "I believe moment" (I believe everyone should have a personal computer, I believe communication protocols should not necessarily be 2 way, etc.) because they start with things that haven't been proven yet, at all.

They are the BEST explanation for an unknown aspect of a world view we can come up with.

heoahs
I don't want to try to start an argument or be insulting, but I don't believe you really grasp the question or the concepts you are talking about. Have you read the Bible to get a picture of who Christians think God is? That picture is rather incompatible with a "series of forces."
heoahs
That isn't a comment on whether they are right, just that what you are describing and what they believe are very very much different.
tomasien
I have 2x and have made a semi-serious about the circumstances surrounding the writing and compiling of the various parts of what we call "The Bible"

Examples of how they fit my understanding laid out above

The Torah: How the Earth came about, why it came about, and the best ways to live in society governed by the first two. God, someone made in our image (we're the most intelligent beings we knew of, it was actually good science to believe without more proof that God would look like us), made the world, put us in charge purposefully (as we operate purposefully) and now here are some things that will keep society from falling apart. And you HAVE to do them because God said so (makes sense, keeps things simple and in order)

The Prophets: Why the fuck is everything so bad for the Jews? Because of something that will happen in the future, so don't give up faith. This makes sense given the context of the Torah and given the need to not give up hope.

The New Testament: The prophets said we'd have a savior, and he delivers: but only in the way he could. Leading a military uprising wasn't feasible at the time, but leading a spiritual one was: hey guys, given the context of the Torah and the Prophets, we're going to have a revolution but not of this world. Of the next.

tomasien
However, over time we've begun to be able to explain the phenomena described in the Torah better, have been able to understand each people's place in the world better, and have become able to understand secular law and order.

So we've replaced many of the understandings that, dozens of centuries ago, made sense.

matkiros
Born and raised in a conservative, predominantly Christian Philippines, baptized and raised Catholic, hell I never went to a non-Catholic school my entire 23 years of life. Turned out to be agnostic, or whatever, I don't care. I just don't pretend to know what I really don't.
kellishaver
I was brought up with somewhat of a southern baptist upbringing. My mother was a baptist and active in the church, as was I as a child, though she was not really very socially conservative. My father believes (when last I checked), but is not so much a supporter of organized religion. My husband falls into this same category.

I, on the other hand, am an atheist. My personal philosophies tend more toward secular humanism. I'm all for taking care of one another, just because it's the right thing to do. I think we have an obligation to one another to do so.

There are some Buddhist teachings that resonate well with me, but that's because they align with my sense of morals and ethics, not any sort of spiritual motivation.

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mapcat
I believe in myself.
nednoriega
In your life you have just 2 options, 1) Just belive in God and accept him as your savior, and understand that the other things in this world are secondary...or 2) belive in the idea that a big explosion of nothing in the middle of nothing creates everything around you. I selected option 1.