I had a thought today...
I found this scene at an old abandoned convenience store where I frequented while in elementary school. At the bottom is some broken glass, a bottle of Icehouse beer, 37 cents (1 quarter, 1 dime, 2 pennies), and a black, leather bound Bible. This is not a set up scene and its genuine nature got me to thinking:
What DO I believe in?
I guess it would be prudent to first define "belief". According to Merriem-Webster, belief is defined as "a state or habit of mind in which trust or confidence is placed in some person or thing." Belief can be held in an idea, a person, and, according to this, even a machine.
Generally the word is applied to religions and belief structures. People believe in their god. They believe it to exist. And therefore, because of this connotation of the word, people have connected belief to faith - The act of believing without evidence or data. While the true definition does not state this, we will use this definition as it is the general use idea of the word as defined by society.
What DO I believe in?
Not much, as I have come to realize. I do not believe in a god. I do not believe in machinary. I do not believe in people. I do not believe in the human race. Let's take these in order and I will preemptively apologize if I offend anyone.
I do not believe in a god. This one is pretty simple. It just doesn't make sense. The only reason I can see for an infinite being meddling in the affairs of mortals would be because of infinte bordem. The being has/had been around so long that the only thing left to do would be create a world, fill it with creatures and watch it go. I know I wouldn't be doing that with my infinite time.
I don't believe in machinary. I don't really think this is an option as machinary does not (YET) have the ability to think for itself. It does not act with free will or make independant decisions. AI is not true intelligence and without that, I do not think believing in a being that cannot decide right from wrong or good from bad is actually possible. One only hopes the machinary does not fail.
This third statement is probably my greatest downfall but I do not believe in people. I believe that biologically, we are selfish creatures designed to ensure the survival of the species through our own individual survival. Yes, there are exceptions to this rule, but overall, people are selfish beings because of biology, society, and personal choices. I do not find it to be beneficial to me and my interests to believe everyone to be good at heart. I am not going to leave my car unlocked in the mall parking lot. I do not show instant warmth and compassion to strangers because they "look like good people." The serious problem to this idea is that because I do not believe in people, because I do not have faith in people, I also do not trust people.
I do not believe in the human race because we live in a state of slow decay and suicide. We wage war. We toxify our Earth and pursue ever-increasingly imaginitive ways to eradicate one another. I recently finished school and in my schooling I took a course called Diversity management. Basically this course was how to handle yourself if you have someone other than your race working with you. The basic premise of the course was "We are all different. How to handle this." Right there is the problem. The human race is obsessed with what is different about one another. Focus not on differences but on similarities and the rest are just sidebar.
I choose not to believe in things because believing does not require reproducible data and evidence. I prefer to have an idea about something. Ideas can be changed and altered. Ideas can bend and flex with their times. Ideas are fluid and evolve. As my current status is rather tentative, I am trying to be an idea myself.
I need to bend and flex; I need to change and evolve. I need to have an idea.
I need to believe in myself.
Just a thought...
