Where Did Free Thinker Come From

Not the metaphysical question but: "Where did the page FreeThinker? come from on Wiki in the first quarter of 2000?" In what technical discussion did free thinking arise? Clicking on the title of the page leads nowhere.

As I understand it, it started as a SeeAlso from ProofsThatGodIsRequired?, which came in turn from ProofsThatGodDoesTooExist, which was started at the same time as ProofsThatGodDoesNotExist by PeterMerel.

These pages came from IfTimeIsInfiniteWhereDidMatterComeFromInTheFirstPlace by way of GoWhereYouAreAfraid. I didn't invent the "If Time ..." page, but thought it was too uninformed to let sit there. I don't just invent stuff to cause trouble; I amplify trouble wherever I find it! :-) --PeterMerel

Peter has said that he put these pages up partly because he is interested in how Wiki handles HotPotatoes. I concede having the same interest but feel that we have to be careful of "taking liberties" with the current Wiki community.

My sensitivity to concerns in apologetic or philosophical arenas hasn't stopped me taking part, obviously, where I felt there was an imbalance of sceptical contributions.

Perhaps this page would be a good place for those who'd prefer that such issues are not discussed on Wiki to say so. Or just to point to the technical discussions you'd prefer to talk about. -- RichardDrake

Hah. The mere existence or otherwise of God is nowhere near so hot a potato as whether or not VisualBasic is suitable for human consumption!

I'll say it again: we remain human even when discussing technical matters. My vote is that these issues continue to be discussed on Wiki, for light relief if nothing else.

Seriously: I've got this unformed feeling in my mind that a person's attitude to these wider issues has a definite, and maybe very great, impact on their approach to software development. -- KeithBraithwaite

I'm not sure that one influences the other (well, to be more definite I'm fairly sure). I think it more likely that both are affected by a further thing(s) - identity(ies) unknown. However, it isn't a straight-line effect. I don't think (but have no evidence other than lack of seeing it) that there is any correlation between religious beliefs and approach to s/w development.

But if you take 'wider issues' to be much wider than religious belief or lack of, then I basically agree on the assumption (again, no evidence) that people have only a few really basic drives, and thus any set of attitudes exhibited by one person will likely have a common cause.

People do also show emergent behaviours, which makes analysis more difficult! -- SimonSmith

Well, since I see my name being taken in vain, I guess it behooves me to mount a defence of splurging every little thought across wiki. See HotPotatoes. -- PeterMerel