Determinism, like evangelism. Both promise comfort of freedom from the responsibility of bad behavior. Atheism is not better than Deism in this respect. People are always attracted to charismatic or intellectual speakers that give them that free pass, whether by hard determinism or the blood of Jesus.
NDEs lead to each being responsible for the pain they inflicted. This and karma appear more valid than Harris playing the intellectual card trick to remove the stigma from perversion.
I appreciated Sam Harris many years ago for his willingness to be an outspoken atheist, along with Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. Gotta say I don't have a lot of patience for philosophical argument, and it seems, to me, arguing yourself into a position where determinism is a thing seems…silly.
Anyway, as you point out he is yet another victim of tribalism, like almost everybody else on the planet today. Unfortunately this tendency is evolutionarily hardwired into us, but can be overcome with conscious effort, one hopes.
I was put off by his idiological militant stance over covid, and throwing his IDW compatriots under the bus, like Bret Weinstein, over it, even before this.
Determinism, like evangelism. Both promise comfort of freedom from the responsibility of bad behavior. Atheism is not better than Deism in this respect. People are always attracted to charismatic or intellectual speakers that give them that free pass, whether by hard determinism or the blood of Jesus.
NDEs lead to each being responsible for the pain they inflicted. This and karma appear more valid than Harris playing the intellectual card trick to remove the stigma from perversion.
I appreciated Sam Harris many years ago for his willingness to be an outspoken atheist, along with Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. Gotta say I don't have a lot of patience for philosophical argument, and it seems, to me, arguing yourself into a position where determinism is a thing seems…silly.
Anyway, as you point out he is yet another victim of tribalism, like almost everybody else on the planet today. Unfortunately this tendency is evolutionarily hardwired into us, but can be overcome with conscious effort, one hopes.
I was put off by his idiological militant stance over covid, and throwing his IDW compatriots under the bus, like Bret Weinstein, over it, even before this.