Growing up I was forced into religion and never quite understood the appeal. Typically I’d sneak my Gameboy and zone everything out for some Links Awakening, Metroid and Pokemon Red.
Looking back on it I was a nerdy kid heavily into science and math. The religious concepts often went up against known facts which led me to dismiss the “make believe” at a young age.
Been an atheist most my life after I was old enough to successfully get out of the religious bubble.
With that said…AI bots spewing non-sense is absolutely the best use case. All hail put machine chat bot overlords!
I was that kid too. I’d sneak out of church with my best friend and we’d find a vending machine across the street and buy candy to eat behind the church before sneaking back in.
As an adult, I do see that tradition and ritual are important to people though. And there are some beautiful things in the Book of Common Prayer. I feel like if religion were just about tradition and ritual and mindfulness, those would be valuable. But it’s not. And often in the world, religion is a force for division and suffering.
Absolutely agree, Ive grown to respect the tradition and ritual side for sure. Even my kids, the only side they really know about religion is more on the tradition side. Mainly because that’s what they have been exposed to throughout my larger family.
