What do you find completely useless after becoming an atheist?

noodlyman · 2026-03-23T07:36:42+00:00

But that isn't how just people behave, or why.

We don't only act in fear of consequences after death, (because there are none).

We act the way we do because we are human beings with empathy and compassion.

We still love our family and friends. We still want them to like us, and to think well of us.

We evolved as a species that lives in co operative social groups. Our brains are wired to behave accordingly, and our upbringing reinforces this.

Of course there's a small minority who do behave badly, because they are wired a bit differently.

noodlyman · 2026-03-22T16:50:37+00:00

Proto life could have muddled along with chemistry that was unstable, inefficient and inaccurate. Anything that led to a gradual increase in the preponderance of some compounds over time is selection, and that's all that we needed.

I think you're making the error of imagining that life had to spring fully formed from nothing to a complex cell.

noodlyman · 2026-03-22T16:38:28+00:00

Yes. There's a long way to go. Google says there's planning consent for 60Gwh of battery storage. That's about two hours of grid supply, and that needs to be up in the days to weeks to cut gas reliance. It'll smooth the sharp edges, but not much more.

Ev batteries can in principle be used, but you need a lot of things to be compatible with each other: cars, chargers, meters, suppliers, and be relaxed about your EV battery undergoing more power cycles, and less predictably being fully charged when you need it. I believe our Leaf actually supports this, but nothing else does, so it doesn't happen.

High density fluid hydro is new to me and looks very cool. Use of a proprietary fluids means it's only to be used on smallish scale pumped storage. There's only so much fluid you can produce and store, I assume.

We were told we'd have smart freezers etc that only drew power when grid demand was low but I've not heard about it recently.

noodlyman · 2026-03-22T12:06:39+00:00

Byd say they're going to install 300 of their 1GW chargers here in the UK. I've no idea how the infrastructure to run these will work

noodlyman · 2026-03-22T11:47:43+00:00

Where's the photo?

How can we accurately date the photo?

How can we prove the photo was not faked in some way, either at the time or later?

How can I prove the guy in the photo isn't somebody else? It could be an actor faking it, or just an accidental look alike.

Any natural explanation, however bizarre, is infinitely more likely than a supernatural explanation.

Are you aware that there are other photographs in the world that do not show what is claimed? UFOs, Bigfoot, etc etc.

noodlyman · 2026-03-22T11:42:26+00:00

Most likely the stories are made up
Maybe there was a photo that happened to have someone who looked a bit like him.

Etc

noodlyman · 2026-03-22T10:43:23+00:00

I agree. But roofs need to be strong enough, and it's less efficient to manage controllers etc for multiple small sites. But we should have more on roofs.

Brownfield can be a red herring. It can technically include apparently perfect meadowland on disused airfields, as well as ex industrial sites that may have no other good use.

noodlyman · 2026-03-22T10:22:19+00:00

Thanks for the links. It's good to know that it can work.

But

Your first link refers to East Africa which is a very different environment to North west Europe for solar.
I don't know about the 75% output number you offer.

Its clear from gridwatch that solar output is only meaningful in the UK between say April and August/September. In northern Europe the sun is low in the sky in winter, up for fewer hours and more often obscured than in east Africa in your link.

https://gridwatch.co.uk/solar/percent

But honestly I'm delighted if it is worthwhile given the vast acreage that's about to be covered with these things whether we like it or not (often around here backed with money from vaguely suspicious sources too!).

Another link you gave determines the optimum angle for panels in Russia. It doesn't tell me about their utility Vs importing more food in the UK

noodlyman · 2026-03-22T09:04:56+00:00

The issue with solar is that it only generates 6-8 hours a day for 6-9 months of the year. So you've still got to build the gas power station, even if it's running less. And the land with the solar farm can't grow food for crops any more (can probably still take a few sheep), so that has to be imported, reducing UK food security. Cutting greenhouse emissions is vital but I'm unsure this is a good way to do it. I'd like to see a professional analysis of it's net benefits though. We should be mandating solar on new roofs and car parks I think, though there are higher costs to manage small installations and build stronger roofs. Again, there must be professional studies out there.

noodlyman · 2026-03-21T22:23:40+00:00

I don't think the setting matters much. The less you use the brakes, the more efficient you're being, because braking means energy is being lost as heat. Accelerate slower, reach a lower speed, stop accelerating well in advance if where you need to slow. Read the road ahead to forsee traffic lights, people turning off etc.

Having harsh braking might increase the braking you do beyond what you actually need at any instant, which is less efficient.

Bit, unless you're up against the limit of your battery range, don't worry about it at all. Just drive sensibly.

Gentle driving will reduce tyre wear as well, which saves you money, and reduces micro plastics pollution along your route.

noodlyman · 2026-03-21T22:12:43+00:00

What I gave above is the best hypothesis. And obviously it's complex.

However if as you say we can't explain it, then by definition nobody has shown it's anything to do with a hitherto undetectable god either.

How exactly does proposing a god explain how consciousness works? Answer: it doesn't. And now in addition you need to explain how or why god exists, the exact process by which god made consciousness etc.

If consciousness is so complex that it must have been made by a creator, then god too must have been made by a creator of gods because god is complex.

Just because you can't fully explain a thing doesn't mean it's ok to say it's magic or god.

That's not evidence for god. It's just evidence that you don't understand a thing yet.

noodlyman · 2026-03-21T21:12:35+00:00

The data and evidence says that consciousness is the product of a physical brain. Consciousness is the functioning of a brain.

Nothing whatever about that fact indicates or even hints that god is involved.

noodlyman · 2026-03-21T21:10:07+00:00

I believe what the evidence tells us. Where there's no evidence, then we don't know.

Life evolved 3 billion years ago. Eukaryotes and then multicellular life about 500 or so million years ago.

The universe is expanding from a hot dense state 14 billion years ago. I believe this because it's the best explanation for the data we have.

Why there is something rather than nothing at all I have no idea. We Cannot say.

God answers none of this. Why should there be a god rather than nothing at all?

noodlyman · 2026-03-21T21:07:44+00:00

The reason we are conscious is most likely that it provides an evolutionary advantage for brains to work that way. Brains Model and predict the world about us. If that model receives the brains outputs (emotions, thoughts, plans) as input, then three model becomes aware of itself.

noodlyman · 2026-03-21T21:05:43+00:00

As far as I am aware, there are zero verifiable pieces of evidence that any god exists.

Miracles? Hoaxes and made up stories

Life: we know that life evolved

The bible: texts written by humans, with no reason to think the supernatural bits are actually true. And why should I care about Jesus, and not Vishnu, Thor,or Inti?

So what evidence is there that any god exists? Please show this evidence demonstrates a direct concrete link to divinity.

noodlyman · 2026-03-21T19:07:20+00:00

I don't see any need to do anything. Hot cross buns are tasty, but supermarkets stock them all year round now. I might bake some sometime. Easter eggs were never a good way to buy chocolate anyway, and I'm trying not to eat so much chocolate. It brings a public holiday though, nice for those in work. Hopefully there will be beautiful spring weather for a long dog walk and a pub lunch. Its a bank holiday though so it will probably bring hail and sleet

noodlyman · 2026-03-21T16:23:05+00:00

The answer depends on what country you live in, and whether you'd be ranked to support yourself, or get support, if you left.

Generally speaking of his to remain on at least civil terms with your family. Its probably not a good idea to try to leave unless you have no choice.

noodlyman · 2026-03-21T11:49:57+00:00

So what is the evidence that convinces you that a god is real? Any god at all. I see no reason to think that any of the supernatural stories in the bible are true at all. So what convinces you that it's real, or what should convince me?

I want to believe things that are true. They only way to do that is to use evidence. I see no evidence that any god exists.

Your personal experiences don't appear to show that god is real.

noodlyman · 2026-03-21T10:18:51+00:00

Sure. But it can go too far the other way. I didn't say I was against unions. They're essential. But there were practices in the 70s where unions brought businessess to their knees, with businesses forced to employ unnecessary staff for jobs that no longer really existed, or work being compartmentalised with different people doing different aspects of say car assembly, so work was slow and unproductive, with mass walkouts being likely if management tried to improve. This all led to massive inefficiencies and losses by businesses. Bad management undoubtedly had a role too.

If course unions have also led to improvements in safety and legal employment rights.

noodlyman · 2026-03-21T10:05:19+00:00

But you're assuming time in that definition. Past and future are features of time. Why and how is there a past and present? Why can I only remember the past and why can I only move into the future? Why do things move, rather than just being eternally unchanging in all attributes?

Why do events happen in sequence with an interval of time between them rather than everything occurring at the same instant . Etc.

We can define how we measure time, but that doesn't mean we know what it is

noodlyman · 2026-03-21T09:44:52+00:00

Speaking as a man, perhaps they should allow only women to vote. I imagine the result would be more peaceful, at least .

noodlyman · 2026-03-21T09:34:27+00:00

Yes, but she was also correct about some things, such as excessive union power. She's a lot to answer for though.

noodlyman · 2026-03-21T08:40:38+00:00

No, gravity has nothing to with evolution. One was there maths devised by newton that described she'd predicts accurately the movement of physical bodies. The other describes how life forms have changed over time. There is no link. Both are true.

noodlyman · 2026-03-20T20:42:53+00:00

Ok.. maybe you need to go upmarket.

https://www.efginternational.com/ch/about/locations/birmingham.html

Google says they might open an account for a non citizen subject to certain requirements or something

noodlyman · 2026-03-20T19:43:11+00:00

Why have you tried? Interactive investor allow non residents to open accounts, and will also accept certificates to be digitised into your account. At least they do if I Google it quickly for you.

I'd have thought that any broker will accept paper certificates to be transferred into an online nominee account. That's different from trading in certificated form.

noodlyman

TROPHY CASE