Hello. My name is Andrey, I’m a C++ programmer from Russia. I’ve been lurking here for about three years. As many others I’ve found this site by link from HPMOR. The biggest reason for joining in the first place was that I believe the community is right about a lot of important things, and the comments of quality that’s difficult to find in the bigger Net. I’ve already finished reading the Sequences and right now I’m interested in ethics and I believe I’ve got a few ideas to discuss.
For the origin story as a rationalist, as it often happens it’s all started with a crisis of faith. Actually, the second one. The first was a turn from Christianity to a complicated New Age paradigm I’ll maybe explain later. The second was prompted by a question of why I believe some of the things I believe in. While I used to think there was a lot of evidence for the supernatural, I’ve started trying to verify them and also read religion apologetics to evaluate the best arguments they have. Yup, they were bad. The world doesn’t look like there exists a powerful interventionist deity. (And even if the miracles they were talking about that happen right now are true miracles, all of them are better explained with not at all omnipotent or omniscient slightly magical fairies). This, coupled with my interests for physics and biology made me think there are problems that are both huge and don’t get the attention they deserve. Like, y’know, death or catastrophic changes. And all we’ve got are some resources, some understanding of how things actually are and a limited ability to cooperate with each other.
I’m looking forward to discuss stuff with people here.
I am also a former apologist (aspiring, anyways—teenage girls aren’t taken very seriously by theologians). I clung to my faith so hard. It’s amazing how much the evidence there is against the classical notion of the supernatural. It’s a snowball effect. Every piece stripped away another aspect of my fundamentalism, until I was a socially-liberal Christian. Then, an agnostic theist. Then, an agnostic atheist.
I’m also looking forward to getting involved with the community. The high standards for conversation here are intimidating, but it’s exciting, too.
Hello. My name is Andrey, I’m a C++ programmer from Russia. I’ve been lurking here for about three years. As many others I’ve found this site by link from HPMOR. The biggest reason for joining in the first place was that I believe the community is right about a lot of important things, and the comments of quality that’s difficult to find in the bigger Net. I’ve already finished reading the Sequences and right now I’m interested in ethics and I believe I’ve got a few ideas to discuss.
For the origin story as a rationalist, as it often happens it’s all started with a crisis of faith. Actually, the second one. The first was a turn from Christianity to a complicated New Age paradigm I’ll maybe explain later. The second was prompted by a question of why I believe some of the things I believe in. While I used to think there was a lot of evidence for the supernatural, I’ve started trying to verify them and also read religion apologetics to evaluate the best arguments they have. Yup, they were bad. The world doesn’t look like there exists a powerful interventionist deity. (And even if the miracles they were talking about that happen right now are true miracles, all of them are better explained with not at all omnipotent or omniscient slightly magical fairies). This, coupled with my interests for physics and biology made me think there are problems that are both huge and don’t get the attention they deserve. Like, y’know, death or catastrophic changes. And all we’ve got are some resources, some understanding of how things actually are and a limited ability to cooperate with each other.
I’m looking forward to discuss stuff with people here.
Hi there Andrey!
I am also a former apologist (aspiring, anyways—teenage girls aren’t taken very seriously by theologians). I clung to my faith so hard. It’s amazing how much the evidence there is against the classical notion of the supernatural. It’s a snowball effect. Every piece stripped away another aspect of my fundamentalism, until I was a socially-liberal Christian. Then, an agnostic theist. Then, an agnostic atheist.
I’m also looking forward to getting involved with the community. The high standards for conversation here are intimidating, but it’s exciting, too.