Enkrod

That is extremely cool and I don’t doubt your expertise in the slightest. Was only commenting about that anoxic conditions alone wouldn’t necessarily preserve the bog mummies, but that the acidic conditions and tannins are likely more important.

Well the human gut is anoxic too, so that shouldn’t be a problem for the gut-bacteria in that log and in the bog mummies. I think it way more likely that the sphagnan and the other tannins in peat-bog-water conserved this as well as the bog bodies.

Meh, our esoterics are basically religious anarchists or spiritual hippies. They still fall into all the trapping of religion without the “organized” part of “organized religion”.

Baboons gang up on leopards all the time, our genetic line has been ganging up on threads since we weren’t even apes but monkeys. It’s the age old tradition of forming a mob and curbstomping everything that brought us to the top of the food chain.

Not necessarily. And I don’t think you meant it like this could be read.

You can absolutely be pro something but recognize the downsides of it. You can be pro vaxxination, but be critical of how the government handles rollout, you can be pro EV but still remain convinced that the resources needed for batteries are (at the moment) produced using child labor and causing environmental destruction. Constructive critique is valid and necessary.

People don’t need to be fanboys, sitting on the fence is completely okay in regards to many topics.

What I think you meant to criticise (please correct me if I’m wrong) is that lots of invalid critique and unreasonable opposition hides behind a thin veneer of “I’m actually in favor of {x}” and yes, we’re all sick of it.

You want a drink with all that straw, man?

People react differently, sure, some will call out to some higher power even if they don’t believe, if these call-outs are part of their vocabulary. I certainly say “oh god” a lot, even though I’m a very vocal anti-theist and strong atheist. But they do not necessarily beg a higher power to safe them because they actually believe, but because in distress reaching for help is human instinct and our theism infused culture conditions us towards “god” in such situations.

I’m not proud of it, but in distress I did call to god for help. But hey, I was 11 years old and just had my fingers crushed to paste, I was in shock and not thinking and at no point did I actually expect help.

None of that is belief, as soon as peoole regain their senses, they discard it. Just like wounded soldiers on a battlefield don’t actually expect their mothers to show up and safe them, yet still call out to them.

Belief needs conviction and irrational panic behavior tells us nothing about conviction but a lot about ingrained childhood experience and familial as well as societal indoctrination.