We (for some value of “we”) could do that. But it wouldn’t erase all the past discussions on LW (and OB before that) that have touched on religious topics, and in practice it probably wouldn’t stop LWers discussing religious topics, still less casually assuming things that are incompatible with conventional religious beliefs. (Even if explicitly religious discussion were strictly forbidden somehow, LWers would still be looking for natural causes and simple explanations, treating evolution as an important fact rather than an anti-God conspiracy, etc., etc., etc.) So it wouldn’t do much to make LW readers in oppressively religious regimes safer or happier.
Actually, we could be detected as atheists just by never saying that we “pray for someone’s rationality” or “hope that God will help us create a Friendly AI” etc. Speaking about important topics and never mentioning religion, especially when we speak a lot about morality, is suspicious enough.
It’s just a matter of how much we’re willing to give up for it. If it was decided to be truly worth it, we could use regular expressions to wipe out any post or comment with theism/religion/god/jesus/allah in it.
The question isn’t if it’s possible or not. It’s always possible. The question is “do we want this bad enough to be willing to use regular expressions?”
We (for some value of “we”) could do that. But it wouldn’t erase all the past discussions on LW (and OB before that) that have touched on religious topics, and in practice it probably wouldn’t stop LWers discussing religious topics, still less casually assuming things that are incompatible with conventional religious beliefs. (Even if explicitly religious discussion were strictly forbidden somehow, LWers would still be looking for natural causes and simple explanations, treating evolution as an important fact rather than an anti-God conspiracy, etc., etc., etc.) So it wouldn’t do much to make LW readers in oppressively religious regimes safer or happier.
Actually, we could be detected as atheists just by never saying that we “pray for someone’s rationality” or “hope that God will help us create a Friendly AI” etc. Speaking about important topics and never mentioning religion, especially when we speak a lot about morality, is suspicious enough.
It’s just a matter of how much we’re willing to give up for it. If it was decided to be truly worth it, we could use regular expressions to wipe out any post or comment with theism/religion/god/jesus/allah in it.
The question isn’t if it’s possible or not. It’s always possible. The question is “do we want this bad enough to be willing to use regular expressions?”
Just kidding, I mean censorship.
Even further off-topic: even better regular expressions link.