People have been arguing about religion for hundreds if not thousands of years. Maybe there has been progress and maybe there hasn’t but I’m not sure why you would think EA is particularly well positioned to make any progress on either truth-finding or on convincing anyone of the truth. The sort of “fair trial” you propose sounds extremely alienating to religious people. Many religious people do not believe, for example, that religion should be subjected to rational debate and scientific inquiry. To them, it would be a little bit like a parent making a pro and con list about whether their particular baby is worthy of love based on the baby’s particular characteristics. It wouldn’t come across as giving the baby a “fair chance”, it would just come across as gross. Most adults have given the matter some significant thought and come to a conclusion that works for them. I’m not religious myself but I’m glad that EA is working on building common ground with people across different religions (ea for Christians/Jew/Muslims/etc). This seems like it would burn those bridges to no good end.
Lot of good points that I’m glad I get the opportunity to address.
“People have been arguing about religion for hundreds if not thousands of years.”
People have also been trying to perfect the field of medicine for thousands of years and have relatively recently made great strides. Of course physical sciences aren’t analogous to religious apologetics, but some innovations (e.g. increased literacy, unprecedented communication tech like email, internet access, instant translations, etc.) may really also accelerate progress now more than ever. As I said in the essay, I don’t know if those advancements will be enough but I think it’s well worth trying to find out.
“why you would think EA is particularly well positioned”
EA may be most motivated to figure out HOW to do the most good (and avoid suboptimal opportunities). And I don’t know anyone else that might be willing and open minded enough to take on this challenge.
“The sort of “fair trial” you propose sounds extremely alienating to religious people”
Yup, which is why I’m not really pitching my proposal to them. I also feel no need to make this research public or affiliated with the larger EA community or try to convert people who are already attached to a particular ideology or religion. Hope that addresses this concern:
“I’m not religious myself but I’m glad that EA is working on building common ground with people across different religions… This seems like it would burn those bridges to no good end.”
“to no good end” seems presemptous for the reasons I explained in the Importance section but if that’s lacking plz lmk. And either way thanks a lot for your thought provoking comment
People have been arguing about religion for hundreds if not thousands of years. Maybe there has been progress and maybe there hasn’t but I’m not sure why you would think EA is particularly well positioned to make any progress on either truth-finding or on convincing anyone of the truth. The sort of “fair trial” you propose sounds extremely alienating to religious people. Many religious people do not believe, for example, that religion should be subjected to rational debate and scientific inquiry. To them, it would be a little bit like a parent making a pro and con list about whether their particular baby is worthy of love based on the baby’s particular characteristics. It wouldn’t come across as giving the baby a “fair chance”, it would just come across as gross. Most adults have given the matter some significant thought and come to a conclusion that works for them. I’m not religious myself but I’m glad that EA is working on building common ground with people across different religions (ea for Christians/Jew/Muslims/etc). This seems like it would burn those bridges to no good end.
Lot of good points that I’m glad I get the opportunity to address.
People have also been trying to perfect the field of medicine for thousands of years and have relatively recently made great strides. Of course physical sciences aren’t analogous to religious apologetics, but some innovations (e.g. increased literacy, unprecedented communication tech like email, internet access, instant translations, etc.) may really also accelerate progress now more than ever. As I said in the essay, I don’t know if those advancements will be enough but I think it’s well worth trying to find out.
EA may be most motivated to figure out HOW to do the most good (and avoid suboptimal opportunities). And I don’t know anyone else that might be willing and open minded enough to take on this challenge.
Yup, which is why I’m not really pitching my proposal to them. I also feel no need to make this research public or affiliated with the larger EA community or try to convert people who are already attached to a particular ideology or religion. Hope that addresses this concern:
“to no good end” seems presemptous for the reasons I explained in the Importance section but if that’s lacking plz lmk. And either way thanks a lot for your thought provoking comment