Interesting take. For me, mind-body dualism conjures up anything but nihilism. It suggests to me the excitement of the possibility that not everything can be described in materialist terms, though that may be incorrect. There are tons of arguments both for and against. But it's damn cool to ponder that perhaps consciousness exists outside that pink organ in the vault of our skull.

Why does mind-body dualism make life meaningless?

Could growing up in a household of constant alcohol-fuelled arguing that teeters on the edge of violence, between two parents, constitute as child abuse? Surely witnessing that can have long lasting impacts on a child.

I don't think this kind of religious persecution existed in the times when these scientists were rising to prominence, and I don't think they were motivated to profess a belief in God out of fear but instead were drawn to things in their studies that, to them, seemed like evidence of intelligent design.

Do you think it's possible, then, that the things that aren't verifiable like the other dimensions or universes, or a God/higher intelligence/consciousness have been deliberately designed for us not to be able to analyse? If the universe shows sense of creative and intelligent design, then perhaps the designer made certain things off-limits?

The 1998 film Pi depicts a mathematician who starts seeing patterns (as well as synchronicities) in the cosmos, and evidence of very fine-tuned mathematics. Synchronicity itself is a mystery that science will probably never really be able to grasp.

Great quote.

It seems most scientists back then had no trouble believing in God. They weren't cynical or sneerful at religion.

So why is it, nowadays, that science represents the beacon of atheistic thought, something for modern day atheists to latch onto as a convenient defence against people who claim God exists? "There is no God, because science!" Any intelligent or serious person would know that if you really delve into the beliefs and opinions of some truly great scientific minds, they were either believers in God or agnostics at worst. Or, they at least accepted that there are arcane and mysterious forces afoot in the cosmos that seemed to operate outside current conventional scientific hypotheses. The concept of synchronicity comes to mind. Dark matter may be another example.

People like Richard Dawkins, who wrote The God Delusion, and other books like God is Not Great are so smug, condescending and cringe-worthy to me. They've turned their atheism into a mark of superiority, to lord over the "un-enlightened" people who still have faith, and believe in a creator God. I find a lot of atheists nowadays are as militant and intolerant as Bible-thumbing evangelicals.

Sorry, just thought I'd have a whinge.

> So I argue this is a disaster waiting to happen.

It does sound dystopian. But can you elaborate on this?

I wholeheartedly agree.

Please, just ELI5!

> Someone needs to invent a new religion. The ones we have today are boring.

You've never read scripture, clearly.

I agree. The headline pontificates way too much. The mark of good writing is to convey something complex in a relatively simple way, not to make grand verbose statements that mislead people.

The world is looking more and more like some portentous sci-fi novel every day.