In the 80’s Thomas K Landauer conducted a study—and factoring a 70 year life span, how much you learn versus how much you forget versus what one is able to recall, it turns out individually we don’t know very much.
The averaged human has a seemingly unlimited capacity to absorb knowledge, take in their surroundings and memorize bits of interest, but so much we are remembering eventually gets pushed off the end of the tape. And the information we are scanning turns into mere bullet points—fuzzy highlights of the unordinary we encounter any particular day. Our radar typically remembers the anomalies, not the familiar of the daily drive.
What someone was wearing or the details of a boring drive is not recorded sufficiently to know it. We scan for danger—and a typical day goes by without recollection. What day was that anyway? I use to do some fairly high level math—now I can’t understand my own notes. It went away when I left its utility.
The typical belief does not have enough facts to support it. It isn’t just religion either, but flat earthers, round earthers, scientists, politics, etc. This is why the world is enamored in belief—we can’t remember enough to know much of anything. Most belief is habit in the safety of routine. And yes, interpretation is full of conjecture as well.
Turns out at the climax of life the average person knows about 1 gigabyte +\- of information.
That isn’t much. It’s less than a low-end USB thumb drive. You know about $10 worth of digital memory. What we do have in our favor though is our ability to collaborate and share. This is where we get the power to do anything we collectively put our efforts to.
That is what forces us to tolerate each other. Watching the “Alone” series it dawned on me how working and living alone, the foremost experts in the field basically had a competition to see who would starve to death last. Nobody thrived. It takes a village of skill sets and beliefs to thrive.
Remember that post I did about the inverse square law of physics? It was one of my all-time favorites, yet I don’t remember much of what it said. I do remember Dave in the comments. Dissipated Energy
Buckminster Fuller impacted my life. I just didn’t know it at the time. Some short lessons — I AM NOW CLOSE TO 88 and I am confident that the only thing important about me is that I am an average healthy human. I am also a living case history of a thoroughly documented, half-century, search-and-research project designed to discover what, if anything, an unknown, moneyless individual, with a dependent wife and newborn child, might be able to do effectively on behalf of all humanity that could not be accomplished by great nations, great religions or private enterprise, no matter how rich or powerfully armed”.
the disparity between feelings and fact are a unique christian problem, where truth rarely comes into play in their belief system, as this Box of bible facts illustrates.
I could tell you how many times we’ve heard this week that atheists have faith too, but I’d have to re-sift through a mile of apologetic comments to make a count. Contrary to what continues to be parroted, most of science is based on reproducible fact that is no longer theory. Although some of the more advanced ideas are currently in developing phases, most science is provable on a daily basis. Water boils at 212f or 100c at sea level. Every time. Objects fall at 9.8 m/s squared. Every time with wind resistance calculated for mass. If I jump off the 325 foot bridge by my house I will fall 4.49 seconds and travel 81.4 MPH at impact releasing 77,616 joules, since I weigh 75 kilos. Every time. If I want to have my buddy in Norway cast a bronze statue, I can send the alloy formula to him based on a variety of aluminium bronzes of differing compositions and he will make the exact alloy I could make here in Washington. All lab testable for density and purity. Human life requires a tightly controlled pH level in the blood of about 7.4 and during illnesses we can regulate it pretty well with interventions. We also know how the body maintains this homeostasis in great detail. I could go on, but the point is almost everything in our lives today is explainable by science. Pretty good odds someone is getting it mostly right. Except one point. So now it’s your turn. Let’s show some proof on prayer and some proof it works. Ready…..go! If that’s too hard pick another topic. Revelation, faith healing, authenticate your creation story, find some evidence of the Exodus. Ok …go again. Just one. Why is it so hard for religiosos to admit prayer doesn’t work? They all know it doesn’t work! (Except when casting tornados into adjacent neighborhoods) Also, as a side note, religion is also testable for density
I’m a little upset with 
“Investigations into the beginnings of religion have accumulated steadily throughout the past half century. It is only by great efforts of censorship, by sectarian education of an elaborately protected sort, and the like, that ignorance about them is maintained.”
I’ve heard this one before, but I just want to know who gets to determine what I can comprehend? I think we’re ready now. Go ahead. Explain it.
Mom died a few years back, and at 80 years old my dad remarried. His new wife is a very devout Mormon and her testimony is so powerful. She said, “I just know what I know. I don’t know why, but I just know this church is the true church, and when I know something I just know it”. Let me tell you something else this big, bright, child of god knows because she learned it at church. She knows that “gay men are closet arsonists”. That’s right. Arsonists! “They may not always start fires, but they want to, and that’s why they’re called “flamers”. LDS 
I have laid low these past few years since my deconversion. My mind works like a good stew, and then it’s ready to go. I generally take my time with things, especially after being controlled by those I thought I could trust for so long. Essentially duped by the duped. Funny now, but wow! Having just finished a couple of good 
So without giving too much away, here is one point I have milled in my mind to a chiseled point. Every element from hydrogen to uranium, every molecule and atom, every cell and creature is in a naturally constant state of anxiety. Each one is desperately trying to stay together, to hang on for another day. It is this drive and desire that pushes to new boundaries. Defenses continue to mount and stretch the elements ability to cope and survive. To grow. To evolve. Every bit if matter has this inherent drive to hang on. Hope is the card that religion plays. And they play it well. Hope for eternal life after death. Hope to continue on. Hope things get better. But hope is something we already have. It is in us already. So why do we need to buy it? Fear. Abrahamic religions attach fear to something that is natural and unavoidable. Then they offer the solution. Meanwhile everything in this state of panic is dying and death, struggle and change, and anxiety. Pure, perfect evil if you would. And when you are done with this struggle for existence you die. Miserably decomposing and holding on till another day, but the final outcome is without question. When we observe this creation it is fair to assume the mind and disposition of this perfect creator. If there is a god and this is his doing, then he is enjoying the suffering and delights himself in the misery of all of the elements. Including man. I choose not to believe in deities. The evidence is compelling that no good god would have done this. He is either incompetent or he is malicious. There is much, much more to be taken from Mr. Zande in these two books, and I highly recommend these for every avid learner that wants to challenge what he thinks he knows. It is a fresh look that flies in the face of “god is good”, and has compelling evidence and good supportive reasoning and science. But the conclusions will be left to you.
(Jesus is Coming) According to a coworker of mine, almost every local, national, or world event is opening another seal, or relates to 1 of 4 horseman or a prophetic fulfillment. I believe him a lot because of the TBN podcasts he listens to all the time. And I mean all the time. So he really knows. He’s actually super smart, and he wrote a letter to president Obama, and now Trump. Still waiting to hear back but his warning about the coming apocalypse needs to be heard by the higher ups. Why does he do this? Two reasons. God spoke to him. The train blared its horn right when he said amen to a prayer he was offering. That was a sign. And 2, he’s worried about us. He’s not worried for himself because he is going to he taken up. Miss the whole thing. But really, what a nice guy.
TheCommonAtheist 