Sure there is. You can value evidence without requiring it for everything you believe. There’s no place for anything if you require evidence for everything. For example there’s no way to prove you are or aren’t just a brain in a jar. You can say “I think therefore I am”, but that doesn’t prove you are what you think you are.

Science accounts for this by saying we should adopt the simplest and most probable explanations, but what is “probable” starts to become hard to define in an infinitely expanding universe or multiverse.

The premise of any scenario we imagine or hypothesize can always be questioned. “God” is philosophically the circular logic that forms the basis for everything built on top of it. “God” is the “I am” that requires no justification or explanation (even if there might be one). “God” is the name people give to the “it is what it is” feeling that we fall back on when we start driving ourselves crazy thinking about free will or other seemingly paradoxical aspects of our observed reality.

There’s nothing atheistic about valuing evidence.

Considering how many people are already walking around with smartphones, isn’t the hypothetical “no privacy” future you’re scared of already here?

I know people are going to hate me for saying this, but based on your stated priorities recommend getting a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro. As much as I love ricing Linux and playing games, I use my MacBook Air for 90% of all my computing and coding. MacOS provides the most polished user experience out of the box (although it’s going down hill with every update they push). And once MacOS hits the enshittification event horizon you can switch to Asahi.

I suggest at least going to an Apple Store and dicking around with a display model to get a feel for the UX.

Oops, already ate it. Sorry, didn’t know it was evidence.

“Human nature” is a reductive term used to describe a set of complex behaviors that no one fully understands.

This is so sad. Alexa, play We Don’t Care by Demon Hunter.

Would the circles being the same size imply that the two people have 100% accurate models of each other?

Wouldn’t it make more sense for Canadian companies to continue taking money from US advertisers while Canadian consumers stop buying US products?

Then they came for the gamers, but there was no one left to speak up.

How many lives have they destroyed?

Somewhat understandable. I mean new people show up all the time and we gotta tell them. Plus it’s sometimes fun to say things even if we’ve already heard them before.

Why? Because gaining a greater understanding of the world can often provide benefits.

I was in a thread the other week where someone said they hated “religion” but didn’t have a problem with “faith”. I think I’m starting to understand what they meant by that.

When people reduce their faith to religion it loses its power and leads people astray.

It’s not just reading, people don’t want to mentally engage with things. There are people who would rather read movie reviews than go watch a movie and form their own opinion on it.

Engaging with material will always require something of the audience. We can try to make things as accessible and easy to understand as possible, but that doesn’t “solve” the problem, it just lowers the bar. Lowering the bar isn’t bad, but it seems like the wrong strategy for the current era. I think a better strategy is attempting to foster and enthusiastic community at a local level. Get together with friends on the weekends and mess around with stuff in person, talk about it.

Barely passed your English classes as well I assume. /s

Ask the artist in person.

I think this meme would be more funny without the “even”.

*if your goal is to eliminate hunger in a hypothetical future 5 years from now.

I think it’s a mistake to think that donating $50,000 to a charitable organization in 5 years is more important or “better” than buying $100 of groceries for someone who needs it today.

This person isn’t trying to maximize the amount of “good” they can do, they’re trying to minimize what it will cost them because they’re greedy and unwilling to actually give something of themselves.

“Giving all you have” doesn’t have to mean taking all of your money and possessions and just giving them to someone. It can also mean earnestly engaging with the idea that we’re here to serve and elevate each other, and having faith that in doing so we will create a better world.