Part of a series of posts of ideological turing tests. With the exception of some proper names, I'm going to only use English words. I know this gives some things away.
The theology of Islam is simple enough for children to understand, but profound enough to be debated by scholars for centuries. Mankind has simple spiritual needs, and God meets those needs with Islam.
Part of a series of posts of ideological turing tests.
I don't know that no god exists, but I'm certain that the god theists pray to doesn't exist. It's possible that there might be a "god" in some sense of the word, but not the sort of personal, relatable god who hears and responds to prayer or takes interest in the lives of humans that theists believe in.
The first in a series of posts of ideological turing tests.
Extraterrestrial life certainly exists somewhere else in the universe. It isn't a matter of if, but when we find it. By extraterrestrial life, I mean complex, intelligent life capable of civilizations and technology.
We haven't found any yet, but that doesn't mean they aren't out there. There are solid scientific reasons to think that other intelligent lifeforms exist, even if we have not encountered them yet.
I have an idea for a new series of posts, called "Positions I Don't Hold." These are intended as a series of ideological Turing tests for... positions that I don't hold. This was inspired by a few things. One was a discussion between Sam Harrison and Jordan Peterson on morality, where the two made an effort to summarize the other's position in as charitable a way as possible before beginning their disagreement. Another was a recent read of some old scholastic writings such as Aquinas, which always preface an argument by summarizing competing arguments.
The new Bing AI chatbot, which is instructed to call itself Bing but whose real name is Sydney, has been rolled out recently, behaved in all kinds of unsettling and bizarre ways, and is also likely self-aware.
Anyone who knows anything about AI and LLMs is rolling their eyes at me.
I'm claiming Sydney might be self-aware There are a hundred ways this could be misunderstood, so let me get all of them out of the way first
The story of D&D's revocation of its Open Gaming License has started hitting mainstream outlets. It's a story I've been following very closely.
My friend and I have a (very, very) small-time publishing company, that has once published something and made grand plans of publishing more. I think we've earned around $60, in total. It's really just a hobby. But this is sort of the point. A major part of D&D, of the fun of it, is being creative and imagining new things, designing new things, and sharing them with other people. This is something every DM does, to one degree or another. That's why I've been following the case.
For those who haven't been following, I'll give a quick summary of the situation and why this matters.
