Daylight Atheism » Futurity

Goodbye Religion? How Godlessness Is Increasing With Each New Generation

Ebonmuse — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 11:05:28 +0000

This essay was originally published on AlterNet.

Something strange is happening to American teenagers. If you believe popular wisdom, young people are apathetic, cynical and jaded; or, they're supposed to be conformists whose overriding desire is to fit in and be popular. But if you've been paying close attention over the past decade, you might have ... [visit site to read more]

Dispatches from Future America: Nation Ratifies Reproductive Rights Amendment

Ebonmuse — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 10:42:11 +0000

[Editor's Note: The last dispatch I received in this ongoing series was particularly bleak. As if on cue, I got another message the other day, this one apparently originating from a very different, and much rosier, future. I get the strong impression that these two possible worlds are, in some manner, competing against each other.]

JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI (August 6, 2037) — The Thirty-fifth ... [visit site to read more]

Dispatches from Future America: Government Increases Budget for Christiancare Program

Ebonmuse — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 10:40:01 +0000

[Editor's Note: After the two strange messages I received earlier this year, I thought the wormhole, or whatever it was, had closed forever. Evidently not. This past week, as fighting over the debt limit reached a fever pitch, I found a new e-mail from the future in my inbox. Elaborate hoax? Frightening warning of what lies ahead? You be the judge...]

NEW YORK CITY (July 24, 2037) — Mayor Harold Ford Jr., along with a group of civic dignitaries, was on hand for the gala ... [visit site to read more]

Weekly Link Roundup

Ebonmuse — Wed, 18 May 2011 01:11:33 +0000

I noticed a few stories this week that I haven't had time to write more about, but wanted to mention briefly:

• So-called "psychics" defraud their gullible customers out of thousands of dollars, usually through laughably obvious ploys in which they claim the client's money needs to be "cleansed". Can we please visit site to read more]

Dispatches from Future America: Nation Celebrates National Day of Reason

Ebonmuse — Fri, 13 May 2011 10:47:54 +0000

[Editor's Note: This just keeps getting stranger.

Last month, I received a news dispatch from a disturbing future version of America through an anonymous remailer. The other day, I received a message from a different address, presenting itself as the same thing... but apparently from a very different future than the previous one.

I have no idea how to explain this. Parallel universes? Uncollapsed ... [visit site to read more]

Dispatches from Future America: Court Upholds National Day of Christianity

Ebonmuse — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 10:57:42 +0000

[Editor's Note: The day after after publishing my article on the abuse of standing, I found a message with a strange attachment in my inbox, sent through an anonymous remailer. This attachment presented itself as a story clipped from a newspaper published in a future version of America. The author of the message wouldn't explain how they acquired it, other than a cryptic comment about wormholes. I have no way to ... [visit site to read more]

Movie Review: Into Eternity

Ebonmuse — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 19:28:30 +0000

This weekend, my wife and I saw Into Eternity, a gripping documentary by the Danish filmmaker Michael Madsen. It's well worth a wider audience, so here's a review of it that I hope will provoke some interest.

Every nuclear power plant in the world produces several tons of high-level ... [visit site to read more]

Apotheosis

Ebonmuse — Wed, 27 May 2009 10:46:26 +0000

Last month, in "Dreams of a Better World", I considered some of the immediate problems humanity could solve if we had the collective will to do so. I want to continue that theme in this post, but from a longer perspective.

Historically, humanity's knowledge has exceeded its wisdom. As soon as we invent a new technology, we begin adopting it on a wide scale, without asking whether we should or what the ... [visit site to read more]

Dreams of a Better World

Ebonmuse — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 22:38:26 +0000

As I've written in the past, I'm an optimist when it comes to human progress: I'm confident that we can overcome the problems that beset us. This isn't to say that I think our triumph is inevitable, or even that optimism is the only possible position for a rational person to take. There are plenty of reasons to despair, for those who seek them out. Nevertheless, I think there's one major, counterbalancing reason for ... [visit site to read more]

The Amorphous Enemy

Ebonmuse — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 12:50:19 +0000

In a previous post, "The Soft Landing", I wrote about the future and about one potential scenario that I find disturbing: that militant, fundamentalist churches will grow at the expense of moderate and liberal ones, leaving behind a world split between atheism and angry, intolerant religion. In this post, I'll again look to the future, this time to outline another possibility that I find worrisome in a different ... [visit site to read more]

The Soft Landing

Ebonmuse — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 15:30:39 +0000

Although it's much too early to look forward to a world without religion, one thing we can be confident of is that the numbers and influence of atheists will continue to grow in the near future. Census figures over the last few decades have consistently shown the rise of the nonbelievers in the educated and industrialized nations of the First World - even in America, despite its high religiosity as compared to its ... [visit site to read more]

On Cryonics

Ebonmuse — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:32:35 +0000

Last summer I wrote a post, "Why I'm Skeptical of the Singularity", which gave some reasons for doubting that godlike machine intelligences will ever come into being. Today I'll discuss another idea popular among enthusiasts of transhumanism, namely life extension through cryonics. Here, too, I intend to offer a qualified skepticism.

visit site to read more]