The Wellbeing of Future Generations

Ming dynasty Prince Zhu Su wrote the Jiuhuang bencao to record survival food that can hedge against famine.

Neolithic cave paintings in France and elsewhere have been (are) assumed to be religious in nature, but the definition is made by western academics based on their own cultural prejudices. Another definition might be that they're a record of survival knowledge for times when the migrations don't show up when expected. Some hash marks on many of the paintings have been associated with the number of full moons after the winter solstice when herds, calving, or salmon runs were expected to occurr. There's some question about that interpretation but it works according to what is known about contemporary animals. The marks are consistent between several caves and span around ten thousand years. Any University will tell you that's a long time for a sublects literature to be relevant.

So somebody was concerned about the wellbeing of future generations based on whatever was currently known. Sort of like religion or academia. One wonders if the chiefs of that time manipulated the record to enhance their personal profit as they do now. I'm guessing Probably. They typically identify themselves with the culture they represent. For example what's good for Trump is good for the USA (or at least MAGA). Our oldest academic records from Mesopotamia show that Kings relied on academic interpretations to prove or advise divine intent. And god knows Trump would too if he wasn't morally oblivious. Instead he relies on yes men.

Which brings us to our current situation where opposing millitaries and several plausibly psychopathic billionaires have private versions of an all knowing being we've created which is also immoral and capable of physically wiping out humanity. Some efforts are being made to control the being by teaching it religous philosophy, but in doing so, my bet is it will learn to use superstition as a tool for its own ends:
AI is coming for religion.

So we survived the stone age (yay!) but haven't learned from our mistakes (boo!).

I got Evangelized at

I got Evangelized at last Saturday. I was surrounded on the street and made the mistake of not recognizing the plan sooner and trying to be respectful. When one ran out of steam, another took his place holding a microphone in front of my face like there was a listening audience somewhere. It was exactly like getting mugged by a gang of crazies trying to convince (anybody) that Jesus is the only path to salvation.

I told them Jesus is a good idea but there's no contemporary reference to his existence before 100AD so everything known about him is unprovable and essentially fantasy, and (some) people have been known to claim authority based on fantasy by getting their target to admit to some part of the story as if it were all true. (Trump does it all the time)

One asked "Do you know what Alexander the Great said about Jesus?". Since I was surrounded and they were already struggling with intellectual disconnect, I wasn't going to push them over the edge, because maybe time traveling aliens were involved. So I tactfullly said "I don't know about that". Which could be interpreted to mean that I don't know what Alexander said. I'm sure Jesus would have approved because I didn't lie. It would have been impolite to tell them that Alexander died around 300 BC.

They could have recognized my courtesy, or checked whether their question lacked substance. Instead my reply was interpreted as timidity, I think because that's what they were looking for. So it emboldened one to challenge me to look squarely into her eyes and reflect on my life of sinful ignorance. I said "OK I'm done with this" and pushed through them. I looked back to see if they were following or massing for another assault, but they were looking around in bewildered innocence under the radience of heaven "What did we do? Are we valid now? Did we win?" and congratulating each others mutual suffering in ways non-believers will never understand.

So remember: Fake news is traditional!
10 Historical Facts That Might Make Jesus story Impossible (youtube)

I don't know how to talk to that attitude. They're obnoxious but still need help because obviously some church is exploiting them. I've been told the best thing to do is just close the door or walk away but that's not a real solution. If anybody has ideas please comment.