Lee Moller's Blog, page 14

It’s a Trick: God, The Con and Fake News

The God Con is all about the parallels between religion and the con. As I discuss in the book, many of the techniques of magic and deception are used to promote both.

In his book Breaking the Spell, Daniel Dennett describes religion’s version of this “trick”:
If someone raises concerns or issues about your religion, then that someone is likely Satan. In fact, the more sincere, reasonable, open-minded, and friendly that someone appears to be, the more likely they are, in fact, Satan.

This is mind-bogglingly stupid—a trick that would make a five year old scratch his head—but it works. It has kept religion alive for thousands of years. This technique can be used to defend any and all kinds of beliefs and ideas, All you need is an adversary to your belief. The “con game” version of this is if that someone is trying to tell you Bernie Madoff is a crook, he is probably a cop. If you are a Communist, beware the evil FBI agent passing himself off as your friend… and so on. Scientology uses this ploy extensively.

A modern day version of this is Donald Trump. If you challenge him on anything, you are a member of, or a dupe of, “fake news”. Unlike Satan, “fake news” is real, and a lot of it comes out of the Donald’s mouth. Other examples of fake news are infomercials, political ads and advertisements disguised as actual reporting.

Donald Trump has a lot in common with Bernie Madoff and just about every religious leader on the planet. He is a fake and a con artist. The sad thing is that this transparent trick still seems to be working. 

​Labels and Language

“Language can bewitch us. If a word exists, we tend to assume that there must be something in reality to which it refers. Labels are meant to be slapped onto things, right?”

This quote comes from a recent article in the Skeptical Inquirer (September 2017) by Maarten Boudry about logical fallacies:

I discuss both logical fallacies and language in my book The God Con.

Organized religion uses this human predilection with respect to labels all the time. Priests, flocks, saints, sinners, redemption, heaven, hell, judgment day, communion, etc all refer to stuff the churches simply made up. But the labels they receive beguile their concocted-for-a-reason purpose. That reason is to deceive.

Boudry makes some excellent observations about logical fallacies and the skeptic’s knee jerk reaction upon detecting them. He suggests, correctly, that many “real” logical fallacies are either very rare in the real world, or they tell us very little. There are literally hundreds of such fallacies, but I only discuss the ones I see popping up regularly cocktail party discussions, such as the argument from ignorance (this is the “you don’t know it isn’t true” argument).

Black Holes and Time Warps; Kip Thorne; 1994; W. W. Norton and Co; 528 pgs, appendices, index

I have read this book at least twice now. Kip Thorne was a student of Archibald Wheeler, who I once saw give a lecture at UBC. If you were to name the top five physicists in relativity and astrophysics, both would make the list, along with Einstein and Hawking.

The book is reasonably approachable. Only basic math is involved… no tensors anywhere. It focuses on big questions, like what happens to the biggest objects in the universe (stars) when they die. For our star, the end is a white dwarf, a very dense, ever cooling dead pile of matter. For a larger star, the force of gravity is such that even the enormous counter pressures that electrons can put out are not enough to stop further collapse, resulting in a star-sized "atom" of neutrons only. For even larger stars, even tightly packed neutrons cannot stop the continued collapse and a black hole results.

Black holes are strange, to say the least. Much to strange for me to even try to describe in a few sentences. To exit a heavy star, particles have to "spiral out" in warped space. The spiral gets tighter and tighter, and the distance one has to travel longer and longer,  as the mass goes up, getting ever closer to an actual circle. The event horizon of a black hole is essentially when the spiral goes circular, giving no way out of the black hole at all. Effectively, the black hole has torn itself out of our space.

And then Hawking came along a showed that black can radiate. All very strange.

The book shows how, one painful step after another, the great minds of physics have created our current picture of the universe.   The good news is that it is way more interesting than the "God had a wet dream 6,000 years ago" picture that many would have us believe.

The final chapter discusses the possibilities of science fiction worm holes and such.   

The Battle of the River Plate; Dudley Pope; McBooks Press; 212 pgs 1956; appendices, index

Another book on the war. THE war. Most people have never heard of this battle, much less read the book or watched the excellent movie of the same title.

Prior to the start of the war, The pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee (pronounced "shpay")slipped out into the Atlantic.  Shortly thereafter, the war began and the Spee went into action. It sunk nine ships before it ran into the British who had been hunting it.

In early December, 1939, the British ships Ajax, Achilles (named for heroes of the Iliad) and Exeter (named for a town in England) duked it out with the Spee. The Spee had 6 11-inch guns. The largest guns it faced were mere 8 and 6 inch. The Spee all but sank the Exeter, the largest British ship, and then it withdrew to Montevideo.  

There are two big mysteries associated with the battle: why did the Spee bug off, and why did it not fight its way out of the harbor.

The three British ships did damage the Spee more than they thought, but it still could have sunk the Exeter  if it chose to do so, and perhaps the other two. Captain Langsdorff did not see it that way and slipped away from the battle. It could have fought its way out of the harbor with ease, but a masterful diplomatic bluff convinced Langsdorff that the Ark Royal (Britain's main aircraft carrier) and other ships had joined the blockade set up by the remaining Ajax, Achilles and the recently arrived Cumberland.

Instead of fighting its way out, the Spee famously sailed out of the harbor and scuttled itself. It is still visible at low tide in Montevide0. Lansdorff did the same to himself a few days later.

For buffs like me, it was very interesting reading about the mechanics of loading, aiming and firing of naval guns while the ship is being maneuvered.

The book was hard to follow due to the overlapping stories. The perspective jumps from the Spee to the British ships, recovering the same events, which I found confusing. 

Religion vs The Con

These are things religion (e.g.: Scientology, Catholics) and The Con (eg: Bernie Madoff) have in common:
They both make empty promises which they never keep;They both keep their marks ignorant, ideally for life;They both have a hierarchy of shills selling their wares (priests, stock brokers);Neither pays taxes;Neither should be legal.

Agincourt; Juliet Barker; 2005; Little Brown Book Group; 386 pgs, notes, index

This is a fairly long book, but it is possible to slide through parts with long lists of name and such. Agincourt took place in October, 1415. It is fascinating that we know so much about those times, and at the same time, so little. The general impression of most Agincourt stories is that English archers won the day. As always, the truth is more complex.

In the 1400s, the code of chivalry was the unwritten law.  As an example, chivalry had rules for how to treat a captive, based on their rank, and how much you could charge as a ransom. The code of chivalry seemed to be one step down from god's law. Both sides prayed for gods favor, and it was assumed that the winner of the battle got it. Chivalry had a code for kings. E.g.: They could avoid placing their troops in peril by challenging the other guy to single combat. The loser would, by the code, be put to death.

The feudal system had many odd quirks. We are used to the idea of battalions, division, corps, squads etc as the breakdown of armies. In the feudal world, the  hierarchy was king, lord, and men-at-arms (aka knights). To be a knight, you had to have x number of horses, pages, bowmen, fletchers, etc. Each knight brought the works with him.

The battle was fought in France near the town of Azincourt (sic). Many factors influenced the battle, including geography, the nature and number of troops, and the deployment of the same. It is possible that the latter was the prime difference in the battle. Henry V was close to his men, ala the famous Shakespeare play. (BTW: "Havoc" was the general army call for "loot the joint", giving us the phrase "Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war.")

The French lords were all about glory, place-in-battle and the favor of the king. They did not cooperate like the English did. And that was probably what turned the battle for Henry.

The French king Charles VI was nuts and was not there. Only his emissaries.

It was an interesting look at a time so different from hours. Wind the clock forward or back 100 years from 1415 and you would hardly notice the difference. 100 years ago, The USA had few paved roads, only a small number of cars; the airplane was a cool toy; and the telephone and electric light were coming.  Our world changes at lightning speed compared to theirs.

It is striking how complete religious beliefs dominated everyone's actions. Soldier's actually believed that they would have god's favor if they died in battle, making it much easier to convince them to actually do so. Such is the nature of "faith".

Finally, the following is a fun quote (slightly modified) from  the book which I used in my talk to the BC Humanists about The God Con in August:

"Mondeville (an agent of the French king) recommended that doctors should use magical cures, not because they worked, but because if they do work, the surgeon will be credited with a marvelous piece of work, while if they do not work, he will not be accused of missing some vital step. He advised surgeons to always charge for medicine because the more expensive the cure the more confidence the patient will have in it. He also suggested that surgeons use big words, and if necessary, make up words, to impress their patients."




      

Islamophobia: Talking With Humanists

​I did a chat to flog my book and my thesis (God is a con job) to the BC Humanists. I think It went fairly well. It seemed to be reasonably well received. I fear I did not manage my time as well as I could, nor did I get to closing arguments in a clearer sort of way. But that is normal post-talk regrets.
I was asked one question that, at first, I did not understand. Basically, it was “What do you think of people who call others ‘Islamaphobes’.”
First, a phobia is an irrational fear of something. If a fear is rational, it is not a phobia. If someone has a real phobia, they should see a shrink.
In my book, I discuss just how many Muslims could be called Islamists. It is a lot. And religious fundamentalists (aka: nut-bars) of every stripe are well known to do extreme things. The number of terrorist attacks in the last two decades is certainly large enough to cause concern for any sane person.
Second, another question that needs to be answered is how bad the risk really is. Once we know that there is a risk, we should also evaluate how that risk relates to other risks we take on every day. We do not lose a lot of sleep over fundamentalist Christians attacking civilians. They tend to attack single targets, like abortion doctors. But Islamists are indiscriminant and attack civilians as a matter of course.
If you meet an Islamist, you definitely have a reason to be concerned, and so the “Islamaphobe” label is wrong. In fact, I would go further and say that many Muslims and Muslim supporters use the phrase to simply shut up their critics. Don’t let them.
Muslims cannot cherry-pick their religion any more than Christians can. And yet most of them do. The Koran is not nice to infidels. If a Muslims rejects these aspects of Islam, then I suggest that:  a) They are not true Muslims; and b) they can probably be trusted to not try to lop your head off over the smallest religious slight.
Another attendee asked me about the Unitarian church. Frankly, I do not get these guys. If you have a religion, then you are duty bound to spread the word (see The God Con for a discussion of this). Thus, I do not get how people who have religion would want to simply socialize with people of a different religious stripe. The “church”  seems to want to have their cake and eat it too. The social aspects of the Unitarian church are laudable and should be provided by other state-sanctioned means such as community centers and such. 

Cons from the Past

Mondeville recommended that doctors should use magical cures, not because they worked, but because if they do work, the surgeon will be credited with a marvelous piece of work, while if they do not work, he will not be accused of missing some vital step. He advised surgeons to always charge for medicine because the more expensive the cure the more confidence the patient will have in it. He also suggested that surgeons use big words, and if necessary, make up words, to impress their patients. 

This modified text is taken from Juliet Barker's book on Agincourt. Mondeville was an agent of the dauphin of France in 1417.

The Elements of Moral Philosophy; James Rachels; 2020

I read this on Dale's recommendation. It is essentially a 1st year university  text book. At 183 pages, it is not long. But like many text books, fairly dense. Dull as it may sound, I quite enjoyed it. The challenge: develop morality from reason alone.

Some impressions: Philosophers of yore were not that smart. Of course, they are a product of their times, which were steeped in religion. They seemed to be seeking a simple algorithm that could be used to test any action or idea's morality. (A fool's errand, IMHO.) This lead to absolute statements about morality (e.g.: lying is always bad) that are not helpful, but do simplify the problem.

I was amused to see the Prisoner's Dilemma featuring quite prominently. I have always been amazed at just how much this simple game can reveal about morality and behavior.

I have used economic terms like Pareto efficiency (which is close to Utilitarianism) and utility functions when talking philosophy. Utility functions are very abstract. In general, one can only make meta statements about them, but they are instructive. For people, a utility function is just a measure of what that person wants or values. Moral philosophy seems to rest heavily on the idea we are all the same, and in many contexts, we are. Utility functions suggest the opposite.

In the penultimate paragraph of the of the book, curiously, the author describes an employment  situation where he uses the word "fair", as in "this is not fair for person x". This is the only time I noticed that word being used. This fairness idea seemed to fly in the face of a general meritocracy. I was reminded of when I worked at a  mine when I was 16.  Wielding a shovel was a big part of the job. I thought it unfair that a girl got paid what I got paid for shoveling even though, as essentially a rented mule, I was worth twice what she was. It would seem that Rachels would say this is perfectly "fair" and the alternative unfair. Hmmm.

I assume his next book will end the suspense and just tell me which moral scheme is best.

The Vatican Exposed; Paul Williams; 2003; Prometheus Books

​What a read! All dull dry facts that I could not put down. I have despised the RCC for years, if for no other reason, that they institutionalized pedophilia.
The RCC is a business that has found the perfect situation: They hide behind religion and the Sovereignty of Statehood.
The RCC was broke in the early 1900s. They cut a deal with Mussolini and suddenly they were rich. They cut a deal with the Nazis and suddenly they were rich as Creases.

They were in bed with Franco.
They were in bed with Mussolini.
They were in bed with Hitler. I think that is the dictator trifecta!
They were in bed with the Mafia.

Once linked with the mod, suddenly there chief critics (judges, cops, publishers) turned up dead. And in the meantime, one Pope came along that would change it all… and they moderated him.
One Pope insisted that all Cardinals answer the phone when he called ON THEIR KNEES.
They are out 1 billion in defending itself from buggery costs (in 2003) and will it probably cost them 10 billion when it is done.
Monstrous.