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At 11/9/11 11:13 AM, pupot wrote: Owing money is not negative money.

Uh, yes, yes it is.

And abstract isn't particaulrly valid in so called scientific methods, as you say. If ti was, then in the abstract God exists, therefore is equivilant to science.

None of this makes a lick of sense, science itself is an abstract construct. Methodology and thought are abstract. They are not physical.

You're going a long way to defend your bullshit ideas about how numbers work and that infinity is just "a number that grows really fast".

Most people on Newgrounds are most likely Democratic Atheists. If you're looking for someone to counteract your argument, you won't find a whole lot of people to disagree with you here.

Since religion tends to cater toward the belief that God doesn't meddle directly with our affairs in order to maintain their credibility when nothing is visibly happening, of course a theocracy won't work because people just lie their sorry asses off. And as Hitler said, all you have to do to control people is make the lie big, make it simple, and repeat it enough times for people to believe it.

At 11/11/11 02:05 AM, Kwing wrote:

Most people on Newgrounds are most likely Democratic Atheists. If you're looking for someone to counteract your argument, you won't find a whole lot of people to disagree with you here.

There's plenty of people in the Politics forum who openly voice their religious affiliations, as well as plenty of people here who argue from a more conservative position, or at the very least economically conservative positions. This website attracts people with Dragonball Z hentai and cock jokes, I sincerely doubt it's as homogenous of a userbase as you might think.

Since religion tends to cater toward the belief that God doesn't meddle directly with our affairs in order to maintain their credibility when nothing is visibly happening, of course a theocracy won't work because people just lie their sorry asses off. And as Hitler said, all you have to do to control people is make the lie big, make it simple, and repeat it enough times for people to believe it.

No, theocracies tend to function (sweet lady jesus, we're finally back on the original topic), though I use the word loosely, when certain rules are enforced. For instance a zero tolerance policy for heresy and a no exceptions death penaly for voiced dissent that attempts to draw the conclusion "perhaps our leader is not in fact a direct conduit to our God/Gods, and doesn't actually control the weather". Hell, it works fine for North Korea, and it also worked on a lesser level for Hitler. Hitler exploited theocracy to some extent by allying himself with the Catholic Church and digging himself in nice and deep into the religious practices of many Europeans, as he was seen as a figure that was under the wizard magic protection of the pope himself, and therefore, surely God must also be on his side.

I mean this definitely starts to break down once your populace has enough means to undermine your authority by doing things like basic google searches about the rest of the world or discovering old VHS tapes of Bill Nye. The DPRK seems to mostly avoid this problem however by convincing people that everyone in the world just hates Kim Jong Il because they're jealous of how rad the lives of North Koreans are, and that they are truly blessed and have better lives than everyone else in the world. Essentially the government just manufactures this lens that their citizens see the rest of the world through, twisting everything that they experience to fit a narrative that the powers that be find acceptable. This lecture by B.R Meyers regarding the DPRK method of propaganda and theocratic control sheds some fascinating information on the topic, if you have the time. The episode of Vice Guide to Travel where they go to North Korea is also worth a watch.