Thread

1. freecodeio · 1791060525 · focus · HN ↗

   I don't know what's the deal with high tech and religion lately. First thiel and his antichrist bullshit, now anthropic and the pope? What's going on? Can someone who's more in enlighten me?

   1. joecot · 1791077860 · focus · HN ↗

      Isaac Newton wrote more about the occult and alchemy than he did about physics. Pythagoras most likely learned the secrets of triangles from Egyptian mystery cults, and formed his own cult afterward. The Nazis simultaneously pursued war advantage via improved technology and a deep delve into the occult.

      The separation between the scientific and the mystical world is a very modern concept, and not everyone buys in, especially when they go down a rabbit hole. Science and philosophy have ridden in the same cart for a long time, long enough that America's oldest scientific organization is called the American Philosophical Society, because its name predates the word "Science" and the idea of that separation.

      1. enoint · 1791108008 · focus · HN ↗

         Newtons writings were not categorized, so quantitatively I think “occult” is only the part where he ponders the chronology and lost wisdom of ancient civilizations. I don’t think investigations into obscured qualities of matter (like alchemy) would be very interesting to occultists.

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.