Yet another religious cult raided

[kandrathe]

And you seem to have only a basic (and outdated) understanding of the concept of species survival. If the 'dominating gene' in a species reduces the overall probability of all the genes of that species to survive (including itself), then it is failure. And a whole bunch of research in genetics and game theory keeps pointing more and more to the value of co-operation in survival. ... I'd recommend The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins as a starting point. That'll catch you up to thirty years ago;)

Yes, I've read them. I'm familiar with the cooperation theories for survival. I was again contrasting Science and Philosophy.

How about on Theory of Games and Economic Behavior by John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern? Yeah, it's a lot harder to understand than "God says so." But at least it is rational, and you don't need to accept a god who wagers with the devil over how a guy named Job will react to getting unfairly #$%&ed over.

I'm not sure its palatable for the masses. I used to spend my time convincing people they didn't need their crutches, like religion, only to watch them soundly face plant. I'm convinced now that people need something simple to believe in to make their lives fulfilling. People need a comprehensive life philosophy.

Yeah, Job kinda gets it all back in the end, but I've always felt sorry for his wives and kids that died because the god of the Bible is a bastard.

Job is an interesting story, but I'm not much of a literalist when it comes to some of the old, old tales in the Bible. Its one of the oldest Hebrew stories which is meant to explain how the righteous behave when bad things happen to good people. I doubt it was meant to show that an uncaring God wagers with the devil, but more of how the three friends of Job react and the advice they offer to him. I look at it more as a parable used for posing the question of how we react to misfortune, and in underscoring the mystery of God.