Free will. I want to believe I can do as I please and am making decisions that could go either way. But I think it more likely that time is just unwinding, every action a result of some previous actions, all the way back to the big bang and it's impossible to step out of this stream.
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That rational and empirical evidence would cause people to reconsider their intuitive perspectives and lead into constructive conversation.
Most people at their core are good people
I don't remember where I read this quote originally and I can only paraphrase it, but observing people living in a capitalist society and concluding that human nature is self-centeredness and greed is equivalent to observing workers in a factory that is poisoning their lungs and concluding that human nature is to cough.
That's a nice quote, thank you. I looked into it. It's by Andrew Collier:
To look at people in capitalist society and conclude that human nature is egoism, is like looking at people in a factory where pollution is destroying their lungs and saying that it is human nature to cough.
Damn, ya beat me. I'm not good people to so I know from first hand experience.
Karma - there are way too many shitty people who just continue to be shitty because nothing ever comes back to bite them. Meanwhile, people who actually try to help are kicked around the most.
That's not the point of karma. And thoughts count, so what you wish for others comes back.
Showing people irrefutable proof of something will change their minds.
The notion that "facts matter".
I've spent my entire life believing that facts don't care about feelings. That scientific truth doesn't require your belief in it in order to be true. That at the end of the day, reasoning will beat emotion...
By far the most dis-heartening thing about the last few years (to me) has been accepting the idea they "facts" are "whatever is shouted the loudest".
It, more than anything else, makes me feel helpless. If the enemy isn't even playing with the same fact-sheet... How do you even begin to fight that?
I recommend reading False Witnesses and following it up with Masses, Elites, and Rebels: The Theory of "Brainwashing." People license themselves to believe what's convenient, not what's true.
That our benevolent alien overlords are gonna show up aaaaaany minute now...
A thing beyond our understanding on this world, I wish that thoses humans on top of the world would understand at least once that they can't control everything, and that the world stays full of wonder.
I would have said also yΕkais, but i actually believe in them so it doesn't count i suppose.
Religion, mythology and probably anything mystical. It's very easy why people believe in them, they're so alluring and genuinely wish they had truth to them. Unfortunately the only truth to be found is ancient wisdom, and even that can be very iffy sometimes.
you may be interested in mysticism then.
I've always held that the true purpose of religion is to create atheists, and not in the modern edge lord I reject your god way.
Trickle-down economics.
Thanks Reagan.
U.S. democracy
The revolutionary potential of the American people.
The world will recognize the good deeds you do
Reincarnation - Iβd like to believe Iβve met others before, maybe even many times. It would explain some stuff like why youβre irrationally drawn or repelled by certain people.
The average person having empathy
That people are inherently good. This not being the case is reinforced near daily by people's behaviors.
I found a wallet on the ground by a truck outside a store recently that had a lot of cash in it. I looked at the license and while I was heading in to see if they could call the owner I saw the guy rushing back out of the store looking panicked. I gave him his wallet back and he acted like I was the one that took it from him. If I was gonna steal from you I'd have cleaned it out and tossed it asshole. Then later when I mentioned that id found a wallet and returned my coworkers were all giving me shit for not just stealing his money. Not one person out of 8 had any opinion other than just steal it. I already don't have a great opinion of people but that really reinforced my opinion.
That Democracy can be an effective check on Capitalism. Liberalism is my favorite fairy tale. If all the propaganda I was fed as a kid in the 90s was actually true, I'd be in paradise.
Hanlon's razor. It's pretty clear some people can be stupid and malicious simultaneously, or will even feign stupidity to hide malice.
An afterlife. Might be nice.
Magic
The world was ruled by the Illuminati and they were compassionate about it. Because what we are ruled by is a bunch of assholes.
Ghosts. My 18 year old cat passed end of last year and she was one of my best friends. I just wish that instead of me knowing that the shades of her I see are actively produced by my mind (i notice me doing them) that she'd really spook around me, that i could just embrace the little shade and show her that i still love her. Well now I'm crying at work
diskworld. I specially like the city watch
That life is fair.
Heaven. Or just the idea that some part of the consciousness outlives the body. I really hate that this is all I get, there's so much I'll never get to do just because my parents decided when I was too young to decide for myself.
@ParlaMint Afterlife.
Death is boring and awful. I don't want it. Nobody really wants it. If you think you do, a) get help and b) you really don't.
I'll admit, my disbelief in afterlife really doesn't make me fear death because while it's boring, it's only boring for everyone else. For the person dead it's nothing. Boring is a sensation, and death has none of that either. It's neither good nor bad, just nothing.
The 'common' part of 'common sense'
Voltaire said common sense is not so common
God
I definitely donβt want to believe in God, because if there were one then that would mean a sadistic narcissistic monster is at the helm of all of this. I prefer an indifferent universe.
Oh, I would want to believe in a god that isnβt based on the Bible and doesnβt demand worship
Un Dios mΓ‘s humano
A more humane god
β MΓ€go de Oz - La Cantata del Diablo