Freemasonry AS religion?

[Manwell]

You've identified at least one of the elephants in the church Mas. Religion is often more about looking virtuous than actually being so, at least with the more popular ones. The ones that don't demand too much of "followers".

 

[usar123]

Interesting ! A lot of Scripture references in our work never took to heart about the Religion aspect !

 

[Elexir]

We're in agreement Elexir! It is impossible to take every single factor into account every time, but that doesn't mean it's not impossible to discount most factors using simple deduction - especially by perceiving the "bigger picture" first, before drilling down into the detail. Of course, unless you have taken every single factor into account on at least a few occasions, there's no reason to "know" that that shortcut would work.

I have no idea how the discussion regarding AI is proceeding, but I'd imagine there's no doubt it will eventually be perceived as beneficial. "Follow the money" is another shortcut that works...

Yes and the factors that you disregard should be and are published as well as the weaknesses of the study/thing that has developed in the actual paper. This means that someone else can use that as a starting point for another study. That is the whole basis of the scientific/academic discussion as things eventually move on and change due to the internal discussion. An example of a interesting discussion is in regards to whether the term gnosticism should be used or if the another term should be used.

You are mistaking two different discussion as well as the complexity. The current stance is actually more along the lines of "it depends", there are some things that AIs could be useful for and other instances where it's not. Again several separate discussions can be held in a subject and it's altogether a high chance that some researchers will see different problems and publish them.