Intro

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Alright, y'all. This one's gonna be uh doozy. I'm your host, Shadow NB, and let's just hop right into it. I promise you, I'm gonna go into this with as open and empathetic mind as possible, with logic guiding my decision making. I hope you do the same. So let's start with two statements of truth.

History is short

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Okay? Number one, history is really fucking short. I know we covered that in the first episode, but I just want to emphasize humanity has not been here very long at all in context. The microchip era has meant tech has like leapfrogged, they had centuries within our single lifetime. And so it makes history seem very far away a long time ago. But no, it's not really. Not compared to everything else on the planet. Like, besides the stuff we've made, you know, as plastic, you know, everything else on Earth, whether plants, animals, minerals, has been here way, way, way longer. We can all logically agree on that, right? Okay? So that's statement number one. History, that is, you know, brand history, is not that long. Because it's only about humans, and we haven't been around that long. Alright? Keep that in mind.

Science is amazing

SPEAKER_00 1:21

Number two, science is really farging good. It's a beautifully simple thing. Trial, error, record, validation, repeat. But once adopted by the brightest of us, it's a process that has helped humanity again, leapfrog in technology and therefore in health, prosperity, productivity, even happiness to an insane degree. And I'm not just talking computers, homie. I mean everything in civilization health, civilization itself is because of science. Don't believe me, tell me how a civilization, or really any large-scale community at all, exists without agriculture, medicine, or engineering. The answer is it doesn't. At least not for very long. All that stuff is science. So yeah, science is fan fucking tastic. Full stop. If you're anti-scient, you're just anti-human. Science is the only reason we've gotten this far as a species. It's not an ideology, it's not a bleach system, it's the application of math, pattern observations, and it's the same thing that's kept humanity progressing and evolving since we first picked up tools. And to clarify, I'm not talking about the conclusion people draw from science. I'm talking about the act of science. I'm talking about doing science, baby, correctly. And yes, there is a correct way to do science. We call it the scientific method, and it's been the guiding empirical way to acquire validate knowledge since like the 1600s at least. So really, that's statement too. Science is awesome. It's the way we can continue to evolve and prosper as a species. So those are my two

The Logical Conclusion

SPEAKER_00 3:07

statements. Okay, with those two things in mind, I want to assert something. And for this next part, this is gonna sound obvious, but I really want to set a foundation. So we're gonna do this like a logical proof style sort of way, you know, uh slash back to high school and college. Okay, so ponder this. When we marry the incredible process of science to the idea of human history, events recorded by humans, we get the closest thing to objective reality. The idea that the universe we inhabit is notable and consistent for all the inhabitants. We're not all living in our own little pocket dimensions, okay? Gravity works the same way for you as it works for me, and we can test and prove that with experiments and math, aka science. So science proves the wills work the same for everyone. And I could explain that in a mathematical sense, but I'll leave that to Einstein and for your further research. But if the rules, if the laws of physics work the same for everyone, and we inhabit the same universe, that must mean time flows in the same direction for everyone. So the environment is the same, the rules are the same, time works the same, then logically that means the past is the same for everyone. There's no real Mandela effect ever going on. The human mind is not a solid state hard drive, it's a spinning hard drive that's bound to have some corrupted sectors at some point from constant wear and rebooting. And that's all just a metaphor to say memory, human memory, is fallible. But that doesn't mean objective reality is different for people. That just means they may experience that objective reality differently, just depending on how they remember it.

Why Does it Matter?

SPEAKER_00 4:55

And I thought the first question would be, well, what's the difference between experiencing reality different and reality actually being different? Well, the difference is that subjective experience of reality is, sorry to say, functionally useless outside the context of that single person. It can't be consistently replicated or observed externally, nor can it be mathematically proven. So that doesn't imply subjective experience is meaningless. It's real useful in individual cases, but if it can't be supported by science, it can't be assumed to apply to anyone outside of that single person. So with all of that philosophy and proving out of the way, what am I really trying to say? I'm trying to say if science can't prove it, we can't assume it applies to the objective world we all share. That doesn't mean it can't change the future. Science is constantly evolving, but as of the moment, if science can't prove it, we can't assume it applies to the objective world. And civilization, real humanity, has only gotten this far by focusing on what science can prove, things that objectively benefit us all, that we can prove through patterns, experiments, and math.

The Hot Take

SPEAKER_00 6:06

So here is the hot take, the spicy one. Okay? Take everything that we just said above and modern organized religion that makes no goddamn sense. No pun intended. It's something that is entirely based on untestable subjective experiences. We gain close to zero scientific or stored merit from the information purported as fact in religious text, and these are the things that are the centrifuges of most religious dogmas, and yet most followers believe them in a very literal sense. Ideas that have no basis in objective reality, but they shape and form objective reality very heavily, very heavily. Like, why?

a weapon for domination

SPEAKER_00 6:58

It's almost beautiful how absolutely effective religion is when used as a weapon. Like organized religion is like a perfectly designed mechanism to reinforce a power structure, a hierarchy like we talked about last episode, that siege on biological quirks and humanity 1.0. Honestly, uh hot take, it's the closest thing to a mind virus, okay? It attacks the human's basic need for spirituality and purpose and spreads among people, usually by coercion from the host, and then funnels power and influence to a select few individuals. Which individuals, you ask? Well, the ones that are deemed worthy of that power. And who decides who's worthy of that power? Well, the people who are worthy decide who are worthy. What type of circular fucking logic is that? It makes no sense. But organized religions go even further. They embed themselves into everyday society using uncruable subjective claims to legitimize their domination of your life, your family, and your community. So fighting against them means not only opposing the organizer, but it also means fighting a seemingly insurmountable battle against incredibly powerful institutions while having your own support systems around you robbed. Like right from underneath you. And if you think that's dramatic and you don't believe me, just ask your average ex-Catholic or ex-Mormon about how the family or community reacted when they stopped wanting to follow Dosma blindly.

the culprits have their hands in everything

SPEAKER_00 8:26

And the people wielding that weapon of religion, they absolutely know how powerful it is. But they also know how absolutely weak it is in the face of critical thinking and strong alternative. And that's why they make it a point to program their victims during a phase when they're most vulnerable. When you're a child in mental or emotional crisis, or when you're dealing with health issues, that that's basically like Beloide in the water for Zevot. Those are the times when you're desperate for connection, desperate for understanding, compassion, desperate for an identity, for clarity, for a place in the world, for answers about your mortality, and religion will offer all of that to you. And all it will cost is your disconnection from objective reality, the reality we all share. For some people, that's not even a downside, but that's just personal cost. The biggest price is paid by society. Religions cement harmful hierarchies that oppress and marginalize others. Like they consolidate power into the hands of the unaccountable, the untactable, the unchecked through systems that the oppressors themselves control, and that makes them unquestionable. It's very easy to claim divine right when even governments bend to your will. And really think about that. The people in charge of our nuclear weapons are required to divorce themselves from objective reality and pledge their allegiance to a higher, unprovable power. And not even by law, just because of how powerful the hierarchy is. And you can fat check me on this, I promise you it's true. If you're running for any type of office, you're more likely to get elected as an outright white supremacist or a bold transphobe or even a dog killer than has an atheist, which tells you any argument about how religion provides a moral fabric for society can't really be taken seriously.

hypocrisy all the way down

SPEAKER_00 10:26

It's never been about consistent principles or ideals. Organized religion has always been about power, about domination, not altruism, not humanity. Maybe individual people can be about that, and they can be religious and inspire others, but none of that necessitates they continue to funnel power into an oppressive vehicle for money and control. You can be charitable and altruistic and compassionate without sacrificing your objective reality. And that's what the most popular, powerful religions today ask you to do. They're just ancient cults that spiral beyond anyone's control. No logic, full contradiction, sectism, genocide, homophobia. They've been constantly rewritten based on who was in power at the time and continue to do so even today. They've destroyed countless other belief systems on the way to cementing their thinking as the right way of thinking, but they've given no more evidence for any of their claims of power or influence or divine right. Even worse, they reinforce other harmful hierarchies to the mega church priests in private jets while their food bank lines reach record sizes, taking in donations to upgrade their congregation's full live TV production studio so that the message reaches more people. Absolutely insane. It's not only is it like logically insane, but it's also hypocritical to their own dogma. I thought I read in Matthew 6.5 that only hypocrites endeavor for more attention when they pray. And you can tell, like, again, under the slightest scrutiny, there's no logic here. It's just selfish, broken, and mentally ill people taking advantage of everybody else. And we let them, because they made this system that enables them to do so, unquestionable, back before anyone even had the ability to question.

civilization's parasite

SPEAKER_00 12:17

The worst part about all of this is that humanity doesn't actually need organized religion anymore. But it's a parasite that's become a structural component of civilization. And I honestly don't see a future where that ever changes. And like the worst parasite, humanity will die out long before religion does. And that's less to do with demographic and more to how intertwined this power structure is with other one.

the alternative

SPEAKER_00 12:48

If you find yourself in the rare position of being able to offer someone, anyone, an alternative to religion, humanism is that answer. Science, empathy, understanding, compassion, human agency, baby. Let's worship the betterment of all humans. Let's make paradise happen when we're alive. That's the shadow lifestyle. That's

outro

SPEAKER_00 13:12

really all I have to say this time. I hope I gave your mind something to chew on. I know the last few episodes have been a little bit nihilistic and down. So next time we're gonna focus on something way, way cooler. So be sure to check in then. Thank you so much for listening. And until the next com, remember, always stay observant, Shadows. This has been your host, ShadownB, ShadowNB out.