Modernism may be seen as an attempt to reconstruct the world in the absence of God.

The interlocking power of stupidity below and love of power above paralyzes the efforts of rational men.

With our present industrial technique we can, if we choose, provide a tolerable subsistence for everybody. We could also secure that the world's population should be stationary if we were not prevented by the political influence of churches which prefer war, pestilence, and famine to contraception. The knowledge exists by which universal happiness can be secured; the chief obstacle to its utilization for that purpose is the teaching of religion. Religion prevents our children from having a rational education; religion prevents us from removing fundamental causes of war; religion prevents us from teaching the ethic of scientific co-operation in place of the old fierce doctrines of sin and punishment. It is possible that mankind is on the threshold of a golden age; but, if so, it will be necessary first to slay the dragon that guards the door, and this dragon is religion.

"Man vill bli älskad, i brist därpå beundrad, i brist därpå fruktad, i brist därpå avskydd och föraktad. Man vill ingiva människorna någon slags känsla. Själen ryser för tomrummet och vill kontakt till vad pris som helst." - Hjalmar Söderberg

One characteristic of folk with high AQs can be unusually high pain thresholds. I don't know if the correlation has ever been rigorously quantified; but often noxious stimuli that "neurotypicals" would find unbearable can be stoically endured. Lesswrongers tend to be male, high-AQ / high-IQ. I wonder how this mind-set colours their approach to the urgency - or otherwise - of tackling human and nonhuman animal suffering.

[Note, this isn't intended as a naive plea for a tender-minded, low AQ society. Thus the person who donates her 10 million dollar fortune to her cat is probably more naturally empathetic than the average lesswronger; she is not a more effective altruist. Conversely, a hyper-systematising rationalist who tries to minimise the biology of suffering may not be naturally compassionate at all.]

"Talent is a pursued interest. In other words, anything that you're willing to practice, you can do."

http://imgur.com/gallery/lcEEY