Question:
Atheist's and Theist's who is more interested in fantasy, myth, legend, and Science fiction?
celexra
2010-06-05 09:14:22 UTC
I was just curious as to which belief system found fantasy, Science fiction, myth, and legends interesting.
Atheist's please do not answer with " Christians, because they believe in a fictitious god."
If you could please answer whether or not you find these things interesting, and what belief you hold. ( religion)
Sixteen answers:
Kati
2010-06-05 09:22:42 UTC
Hm, there's a lot to consider.

I can't say i believe in a god particularly.. i can't say i'm an evolutionist either. I don't sternly believe anything.



Ever heard of the 'annunkia'? Look it up. Research it. Open your mind and consider it.

The reason we're so close-minded is because we were brought up that way and the media controls our minds ^^

This is interesting though.
anonymous
2010-06-05 16:19:04 UTC
Yes, I find religion very interesting. I also find science fiction to be pretty fun to play around with mostly because it's sort of a way to guess at what the future might be like. I do however know the difference between fantasy and reality, myth and fact. Something that religious people seem to be less capable of.



And I told you that I DO find it interesting in the first two sentences of my answer.
Harkness
2010-06-05 16:42:43 UTC
While I like science fiction, I don't find myth and legend particularly interesting. Fantasy faction can be interesting, but I'm not really into it. My favorite genre is horror.
Geoff
2010-06-06 02:43:38 UTC
I was actually writing an answer to your question "Does lack of evidence prove that something does not exist?" when you chose a best answer before I could post my response. Since I was writing in part a direct response to the answer that you chose as best, I thought I'd try to get it to you since you might find it interesting. But first I'll answer this question!



I'm an atheist, and I really enjoy science fiction and fantasy in general, but there's a lot of work in those genres that I'm less fond of. Some sci-fi and fantasy are written with a strong message of something like, "Don't trust in human reason, because the universe is filled with forces more powerful and more wise than we." I'm not as into that type of sci-fi/fantasy, because it doesn't resonate with me. Certainly the universe is a mysterious place, but I firmly believe that human reason is the best tool we have for navigating it, and for coming to fully appreciate how awe-inspiringly beautiful it is. I think the best sci-fi and fantasy have themes like that.



Now, your previous question, just in case you find it interesting:



The absence of evidence for something does not prove that the thing does not exist. However, there can be positive evidence for nonexistence. For instance, if I say that there is a mighty dragon living in my back yard that flies around my town every Thursday and burns down houses, you could collect evidence that this is untrue. You could visit my town and see that there are no burned buildings, and you could talk to my neighbors and discover that they know nothing about such events, and you could visit my back yard and see that there is no dragon. This would all be positive evidence that the dragon does not exist.



However, I might then claim that the dragon is invisible, and that the people in my town are very quick at rebuilding after the dragon burns things down, and furthermore that my neighbors are engaged in a conspiracy to lie to outsiders to keep them from knowing about the dragon. But now I am describing a different dragon than before, one that I have constructed very carefully to prevent positive evidence of its nonexistence from being found. While you would have difficulty finding evidence of this dragon's nonexistence, it would be unreasonable for you to conclude that I am probably telling the truth, or even that I have a good chance of telling the truth. The claim I am making for this dragon's existence is so far outside the bounds of normal human experiences that you should be skeptical. Certainly you cannot prove the dragon does not exist, but based on the lack of positive evidence in favor of the dragon along with the unfalsifiable nature of my claim, you would be justified in deciding that you do not believe in my dragon. A much simpler explanation is that I had fabricated the whole story, or perhaps that I am delusional and in need of psychiatric care.



Now, as for this "theory of observational existence" that Natasha has described. It is not nearly as profound as it might first appear. If we are to believe it, we must, as Natasha says, "redefine existence." So the definition for existence becomes that a thing meets condition A: being present in the universe, and condition B: being known about by a conscious agent. Sure, we can redefine this term if we wish. But as we'll see, this is nothing more than some word trickery.



When observational existence states that a thing may exist to one person but not to another, this is because of a difference in whether condition B (knowledge) is satisfied for those two people, but condition A (being) has not changed. So if my cat (which I know about and you don't) exists for me and not for you, that is a statement about you and me, not a statement about my cat. Likewise, when observational existence states that things may come into existence in the past when we discover them, this is again a statement about ourselves, not a statement about time. To claim otherwise is disingenuous. It would be like me saying that the best answer to a Y!A question is subjective depending on what each person thinks, and therefore because I always think my answer is best, I have a 100% Best Answer rating on Y!A. That's a statement just about my own opinion, not about objective truth.



There is another sneaky way people subscribing to this view might try to get around the problem, which is to reject condition A entirely. In other words, a thing exists ONLY if a conscious agent knows about it. But once again, this is nothing more than a definition. In fact, we have defined "existence" to be a synonym of "knowledge," or perhaps more precisely, "belief" (since the only difference between knowing something and believing something is whether that thing is independently true). The fact that we have defined the word existence in this way doesn't change the fact that condition A may or may not be satisfied by any given thing in the universe.



The thing is
In The Image Of DNA
2010-06-05 16:18:28 UTC
I'm very much interested in all these things from contemporary fantasy and sci-fi to in-depth study of myth, legend, and religion.



It was the study of the latter group that lead me to be an atheist.
Eian & my lady Moonlight
2010-06-05 16:17:48 UTC
Well, I am an atheist. I have a very high interest in Greek, Norse, and Egyptian mythology.



I am also a fantasy type gamer. Forget those war games, stuff like Zelda and final fantasy is where its at.
Bender Bending Rodriguez
2010-06-05 16:17:53 UTC
Hey, I love science fiction. I can't get into fantasy, not my cup of tea. However there aren't any myths in science fiction and fantasy, we tend to call them "Sagas"
anonymous
2010-06-05 16:17:42 UTC
This atheist loves all the fantasy, mythology, legend, and SciFi stuff. It all interests me and I find it all fascinating. But I don't believe in any of it.
anonymous
2010-06-05 16:18:47 UTC
I'm Atheists and I find all that interesting, but I've never worshiped and devoted my life to a fictional character.
Bruno
2010-06-05 16:25:35 UTC
My favorite genre to read is fantasy. There is a fine line between reality and fantasy though.
Brianna
2010-06-05 18:33:31 UTC
I'm an atheist, and I love all of those things. I find them very interesting and entertaining.
anonymous
2010-06-05 16:17:22 UTC
Theist's barely know their one sci-fi, while Atheists have hundreds. From Blade Runner to X-men.
interested1208
2010-06-05 16:20:19 UTC
I find them very fascinating, however, it has nothing to do with my atheism..



Use of the imagination is fun, as long as you don't take it seriously...



Only one of the many reasons I'm not a 'believer'...
anonymous
2010-06-05 16:35:03 UTC
Fantasy of course,i have my best sex fantasizing about this big busted well proportioned lady and she is just incredible in bed.May the lord keep on sending us big busted Lady's.
Fo.B
2010-06-05 16:20:15 UTC
i'm quite interested in myth and fantasy otherwise i wouldn't be here would i

-atheist-
,
2010-06-05 16:15:51 UTC
A lot of atheists believe in Aliens, etc.


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