Maybe they were raised that way. But take Einstein for example, he was surrounded by many atheists. We have to assume he was man enough to make a decision of his own.
Do I admire them? Not for their outspoken christian belief. I don´t. I might admire their moral if it follows christian values that I agree with. I don´t know if they did follow such values though.
I don´t appeal to authority since there is no thesis I argue for.
How is this topic relevant to the rationalist community? Well, how is AI research directly connected to rationality? I didn´t know there were taboos here. Since I don´t think many people even know these guys believed in a god whatsoever, I find it useful to let people know it. It might be noteable that even though they had to be very rational in some aspects in order to achieve what they did, they were still raised/otherwise convinced to believe in a god.
Maybe they were raised that way. But take Einstein for example, he was surrounded by many atheists. We have to assume he was man enough to make a decision of his own.
Do I admire them? Not for their outspoken christian belief. I don´t. I might admire their moral if it follows christian values that I agree with. I don´t know if they did follow such values though.
I don´t appeal to authority since there is no thesis I argue for.
How is this topic relevant to the rationalist community? Well, how is AI research directly connected to rationality? I didn´t know there were taboos here. Since I don´t think many people even know these guys believed in a god whatsoever, I find it useful to let people know it. It might be noteable that even though they had to be very rational in some aspects in order to achieve what they did, they were still raised/otherwise convinced to believe in a god.
Let’s write down two columns.
One will be titled, “Newton’s great ideas,” and the other will be titled, “Newton’s inexcusable folly.”
Gravitation, color theory, cubic equations, and calculus belong in the first column.
The philosopher’s stone, sacred geometry, end-of-the-world predictions, and the color indigo belong in the second column.
If you have any good argument why his belief in God doesn’t belong in the second column with the rest of the nonsense, please show it.
Why do you think so? Especially if “many people” is about the well educated LW community.