Ricky Gervais

[Ed-M]

Sternwallow wrote

WTF???

How is a video "not available in your country"???

Did the producers want to restrict its distribution, some bureaucrat or some government crap??

I get that message often. Even here in the United States.

[Qlidnaque]

Noodle wrote

Gervais was also in a movie called "The Invention of Lying." The deal is no one has ever lied before, so we see what kind of hi-jinks ensue when one guy (Gervais) learns how to lie.

An important piece of the plot is that because no one has ever lied, there's no religion and Gervais ends up inventing one. I rather enjoyed the movie, probably because I wasn't expecting it to make such an offensive (to some) implication.

Anyway, it's certainly worth a look. Even though it's actually a romantic comedy with Jennifer Garner as the love interest, it has its moments.

It wasn't my all time favorite movie or anything, but I did certainly enjoy watching it

[Qlidnaque]

Broga wrote

I note the suggestion that atheists approaching death must have little joy and nothing to look forward to. Seems that for the religious only heaven exists and hell is, so to speak, well and truly on the back burner.

Even if that was true, I'd rather live a happy 75 years and a less enjoyable 5 years near the end rather than living 75 years in misery and another semi-enjoyable 5 years before death.

[anthonyjfuchs]

I still don't get why death being "the end" should make me fear it. I mean, I don't want to drown or burn to death or be tied-and-quartered, but that's more a fear of pain than a fear of death. Actually, if I were drowning or burning or being pulled apart by Palominos, I think I'd wish for death in those moments of agony.

I suppose I get that a Christian could in theory look forward to death ten times more if they actually believed that they'd be reunited with their loved ones and their super-fantastical BFF Jesus, though in my experience, Christians don't look forward to death any more than the rest of us. It just makes no sense that I should fear death any more than a Christian as a result of my realization that it's a period instead of a comma.

I'll have to ask a Christian. I'll just throw this stapler: surely I'll hit one.

[Qlidnaque]

I think fearing death has some evolutionary origin to it. But I agree with you anthony, logically, there's nothing to fear about death, we're just going back to what we came from.

[nkb]

I don't fear death, but I'd rather not die, until I'm good and ready. There are so many people I like being with, so many things I like doing, that I enjoy waking up every day.

If I ever get to the point where I don't enjoy life anymore, yeah, bring it on.

[MajorTomWaits99]

You start with nothing you go back to nothing.

Oh Life of Brian.

[Sternwallow]

Qlidnaque wrote

I think fearing death has some evolutionary origin to it. But I agree with you anthony, logically, there's nothing to fear about death, we're just going back to what we came from.

There is a big difference between fearing death and fighting to stay alive. All animals fight to stay alive but only humans (seem to) be able to recognize their mortality. That realization makes an afterlife possible but it is unknown and is therefore a source of evolved and very valuable animal fear.

Atheism denies that there is an afterlife and that denial may be partly motivated by the elimination of fear of an unknown personal future.

A completely objective atheism would easily allow the possibility of an afterlife, would recognize that it is now completely unknown and that scientific inquiry thrives on investigating the unknown, learning about it until it is no longer unknown and then reveling in the new unknown ideas that it spawns.

[Qlidnaque]

nkb wrote

I don't fear death, but I'd rather not die, until I'm good and ready. There are so many people I like being with, so many things I like doing, that I enjoy waking up every day.

If I ever get to the point where I don't enjoy life anymore, yeah, bring it on.

ya, I agree with that, I don't mind dying, but I'd rather die after I have had a thorough, positive and fun experience of life.

[Sternwallow]

Qlidnaque wrote

ya, I agree with that, I don't mind dying, but I'd rather die after I have had a thorough, positive and fun experience of life.

That is interesting and I agree but, after you die, none of those fun experiences will exist for you. There will be no more you around to regret or appreciate anything that ever happened to you.

[Qlidnaque]

Sternwallow wrote

That is interesting and I agree but, after you die, none of those fun experiences will exist for you. There will be no more you around to regret or appreciate anything that ever happened to you.

I know i know, your spot on with that point. I'm just succumbing to my biological human desires to live long, which entails rationalizing life as an interesting and fun experience and to want to be in it for as long as i can.

[Ellanoor]

Smellyoldgit wrote

Using Tor Vidalia, I've been able to bypass the whole whole "not available in your country" thing, and have the BBC Player work for me in the US. I haven't use it in a long while, but I recall that it allowed you to choose which country you wanted to be from and then use their browser to get to the BBC site. I followed some of the steps in this guide, just fiddled around until I got it to work.

[Sternwallow]

Qlidnaque wrote

I know i know, your spot on with that point. I'm just succumbing to my biological human desires to live long, which entails rationalizing life as an interesting and fun experience and to want to be in it for as long as i can.

Yup, me too.

[Qlidnaque]

Ellanoor wrote

Using Tor Vidalia, I've been able to bypass the whole whole "not available in your country" thing, and have the BBC Player work for me in the US. I haven't use it in a long while, but I recall that it allowed you to choose which country you wanted to be from and then use their browser to get to the BBC site. I followed some of the steps in this guide, just fiddled around until I got it to work.

never knew I could bypass that. I'll use your advice when I need to bypass it in the future.

[lostsheep]

Sternwallow wrote

That is interesting and I agree but, after you die, none of those fun experiences will exist for you. There will be no more you around to regret or appreciate anything that ever happened to you.

This kind of thinking keeps me up at night sometimes.