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Comment by 47282847 | Hacker News Reader

> All those hypothetical stories we build in our heads about what might happen after we die are just wasted time

My observation is that whatever story people believe will happen after their death will deeply influence their current life in this reality, so I disagree that it is “just wasted time“. For most, it’s not simply a mind exercise but defines their values and existence.

It’s arrogance and ignorance of the “West“ to assume everyone wants to “live a long life“. You very distinctively have other priorities if you believe in reincarnation and karma. Belief in rebirth strengthens dynasties and collectivism in very real ways, the belief in no afterlife or one that is not influenced by your current behavior strengthens individualism.

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> the belief in no afterlife or one that is not influenced by your current behavior strengthens individualism.

This is just another way of saying that you don't think people (meaning you) would be moral without the threat of a bad outcome (hell, bad karma, reincarnation into suffering, etc).

Most avowed atheists would tell you that the finality of death is precisely why we have a responsibility to each other, because there's no one up above coming to fix our problems or right our wrongs. That humanity has to *be* better to become better.

Being religious doesn't intrinsically make one more or less collectivist or individualist, it all depends on the philosophy of the religion (or non-religion).

I am both an atheist and a strong proponent of individualism without disagreeing with your comments on how this naturally comes with responsibility, more than many spiritual constructs do where you can pass some of your responsibility to a third party such as fate or God or karma. Collectivism is a shared brain, individualism is a hivemind.

To not believe in an afterlife is also a belief. We cannot know. The truth is we don’t know.

> We cannot know

You are an agnostic, not an atheist.

I am a strict atheist, but we cannot know. I faithfully believe that, finding no proof whatsoever, and the existence of a metaphysical/spiritual world coexisting with ours incredibly unlikely without some evidence, there is no god.

But, just like my faith in the supremacy of the speed of light, that's just my opinion, man... based on the combined knowledge of the human race and thousands or millions of experiments.

That's pretty much the definition of "agnostic". The gnostics literally claim to know and the agnostics say "Nope. Do not. In fact, we can't."

Agnostics can play the odds and base their actions on what they find more plausible precisely _because_ they haven't pre-committed to a specific answer.

I believe in the nonexistence of God, which in my understanding makes me an atheist, and at the same time I do not claim to know about the existence or nonexistence of an afterlife. There may well be one without necessarily including a God.

> Being religious doesn't intrinsically make one more or less collectivist or individualist, it all depends on the philosophy of the religion (or non-religion).

I like to distinguish between religion and spirituality, where religion is the organized form where you are either a member or not. Religion requires certain beliefs which are externally prescribed, so in joining a religion I hand over authority to somebody else than myself when it comes to values and rules. This in my eyes makes it inherently more collectivist than individualist.

https://isha.sadhguru.org/en/wisdom/article/spirituality-vs-...

I am in complete agreement. People literally carry out suicide bombings based on their belief system about the afterlife.

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