Biases are inherent; religion seems necessary

Patty Griffin - Making Pies

Expanding on "We All Have Our Blindspots"

I assume you don't think different humans have different values based on their skin tone. Most readers probably also agree the sequence of ACTG nucleotides doesn't determine whether a lifeform deserves moral consideration. (As far as I know, no one has yet topped Bentham: “The question is not, Can they reason?, nor Can they talk? but, Can they suffer? Why should the law refuse its protection to any sensitive being?”)

Recently, I was listening to two people discussing whether we are alone in the universe. One said, "If we are, we have an obligation to spread life throughout the galaxy." The other replied, "Yes, life is good. I prefer a tree to a rock."

Why?

It wasn't until I was writing Losing My Religions that I realized that everyone I've ever met, read, or heard about has a set of unquestioned and unfalsifiable beliefs; IOW, a religion. 

The most obvious is a subset of people who don't eat animal products and speak of "Veganism" in purely religious terms (as discussed in the chapter "The End of Veganism"). 

Many (most?) Effective Altruists are similar. They assume "the sum of utility in the universe" is something that actually exists and is meaningful ("Against Longermism: My expected value is bigger than yours"). Far worse, they unquestioningly assume humans are good and the continuation of our species is inherently good and the overriding goal ("I welcome our robot overlords").

And, of course, some think they are the only rational person in the world.

Obviously, it isn't just people close to me intellectually or philosophically. Many on the right have made hatred / owning the libs their religion (and, of course, Tangerine Palpatine is their Savior). 

Breaking free of my disdain for the "ignorant" and "irrational" has been a real challenge for me. The main way I dealt with all the bullying I talk about in the first few chapters of Losing was to look down on my tormentors, so my visceral reaction to rednecks and religion is quite deeply ingrained.

But I certainly have my own unquestioned beliefs. I don't know what they are -- that is why they're called blindspots. If I had to guess, I'd say it is my worship of individual rights. I can imagine arguments in favor of throwing homosexuals off roofs, and people still rationalize enslaving people based on the skin's melanin content. But I simply can't imagine ever being swayed to believe either.

As far as all evidence indicates, an individual's conscious, subjective experience is the only thing we can be sure exists. And thus my belief is that a conscious individual is the fundamental unit of ethics. 

Oh - and that Anne is the greatest collection of matter and energy to ever exist.

PS: Your family is your first cult.

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