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A question for atheists
 

offline fleetmouse from Horny for Truth on 2005-06-07 13:24 [#01625591]
Points: 18042 Status: Lurker | Followup to epohs: #01625564



You will be known as the man who scored 300 in the mertens
atheist thread fiasco of 2005. Women will fall at your feet!


 

offline epohs from )C: on 2005-06-07 13:26 [#01625595]
Points: 17620 Status: Lurker



Excellent.


Attached picture

 

offline Drunken Mastah from OPPERKLASSESVIN!!! (Norway) on 2005-06-07 13:30 [#01625603]
Points: 35867 Status: Lurker | Followup to fleetmouse: #01625541 | Show recordbag



you keep using words like superstition, myth, story and
stuff like that to describe your opponents views.. I think
you should tone the rhetorics down a bit more... things like
that have nothing to do in a civilized discussion. don't
reply to this, just continue, but you should try to choose
words that doesn't degrade the opponents views. (attempt to)
disprove don't [shit all over] (I don't know how to
translate that) your opponents views...


 

offline Drunken Mastah from OPPERKLASSESVIN!!! (Norway) on 2005-06-07 13:33 [#01625607]
Points: 35867 Status: Lurker | Followup to Drunken Mastah: #01625603 | Show recordbag



and those argument from ignorance things: remove the
beam/log in your own eye before removing the thorn in
someone elses.

First of all, that's a pretty strong positive statement.
How
could you prove such a thing?




 

offline fleetmouse from Horny for Truth on 2005-06-07 13:40 [#01625626]
Points: 18042 Status: Lurker | Followup to Drunken Mastah: #01625607



The term "argument from ignorance" has a very specific
meaning - it's not just an insult. "Arguments of this
form assume that since something has not been proven false,
it is therefore true."


You do that CONSTANTLY. You think there are supernatural
forces working in parallel with medicines and aerodynamics
because I can't prove that there aren't.

Using that flawed method, you can prove that ANYTHING is
true. That's why it's called a FALLACY.


 

offline Walnut from Somewhere in (Bosnia and Herzegovina) on 2005-06-07 13:45 [#01625636]
Points: 152 Status: Regular



Yeah.... but the theory of universal expansion is based on
that. In fact a hell of a lot of space theory is - like
comets. They say Hayley's comet came again but they had no
way to prove it was the same one. So perhaps proving from
ignorance is the best way to make progress. Speculate now,
prove later.


 

offline fleetmouse from Horny for Truth on 2005-06-07 14:02 [#01625648]
Points: 18042 Status: Lurker | Followup to Walnut: #01625636



But expansion wasn't hypothesized until Hubble noticed the
red shift of distant light sources. There's a difference
betwen speculation based on observation and plain old
pulling things out of your ass.


 

offline Walnut from Somewhere in (Bosnia and Herzegovina) on 2005-06-07 14:07 [#01625656]
Points: 152 Status: Regular



no. but you see expansion only applies to the visible
universe. If you can prove that every star we can see from
any point on the earth his moving away by red shift, that
doesn't necessarily mean it doesn't come up to a finite
point at which it stops. It's just the simplest hypothesis
that has been accepted, not necessarily the right one.

But yeah, I do get that stuff pulled out of the ass might be
shit. ;)


 

offline epohs from )C: on 2005-06-07 14:16 [#01625673]
Points: 17620 Status: Lurker



Would someone just post some substantial evidence that a
deity exists and end this debate already?


 

offline fleetmouse from Horny for Truth on 2005-06-07 14:17 [#01625674]
Points: 18042 Status: Lurker | Followup to Walnut: #01625656



that doesn't necessarily mean it doesn't come up to a
finite point at which it stops.


I wouldn't know, I'm not a cosmologist. But as far as I know
no cosmologist has ever said it definitely comes to a stop
because we can't prove that it doesn't. That would be an
example of an argument from ignorance.


 

offline fleetmouse from Horny for Truth on 2005-06-07 14:20 [#01625680]
Points: 18042 Status: Lurker | Followup to fleetmouse: #01625674



I mean, ONLY because we can't prove that it doesn't. There
may be positive evidence that it does, I wouldn't know.


 

offline Walnut from Somewhere in (Bosnia and Herzegovina) on 2005-06-07 14:21 [#01625683]
Points: 152 Status: Regular



lol. I'm not either. Ignore me.

Proof that God exists... hmm. I think the whole point of
religion is faith, and that you are rewarded up above so to
speak despite not having found evidence to support it other
than circumstantial stuff. So... no. the debate goes on.


 

offline Drunken Mastah from OPPERKLASSESVIN!!! (Norway) on 2005-06-07 15:04 [#01625734]
Points: 35867 Status: Lurker | Followup to fleetmouse: #01625626 | Show recordbag



read on, dear sir.

from your own link:

Conversely, such an argument may assume that since
something has not been proven true, it is therefore false.
[...] As Davis writes, "Lack of proof is not proof."


You do that CONSTANTLY. Using that flawed method, you can
prove that ANYTHING is false. That's why it's called a
FALLACY.

you also used the word supernatural again.. I haven't
mentioned anything supernatural yet in this conversation.
You're just, once again, using a evlauative-descriptive word
to "shit on" your opponents view.


 

offline fleetmouse from Horny for Truth on 2005-06-07 15:19 [#01625750]
Points: 18042 Status: Lurker | Followup to Drunken Mastah: #01625734



Not at all. Where have I claimed to prove that the soul does
not exist? I'm only making the case that the soul is an
unnecessary factor in explaining the phenomenon of the mind,
so far as I can tell.

It is most gratifying to see you learning the functional
meaning of fallacies though. I have a feeling you're the
type who studies definitions and can regurgitate them on
exams without actually grasping their implications. (that's
not an ad hominem - I'm not using it to win an argument or
gain "points" - just making a personal observation)


 

offline Mertens from Motor City (United States) on 2005-06-07 15:27 [#01625758]
Points: 2064 Status: Lurker | Followup to fleetmouse: #01625541



"Does cognitive science say that mathematical models for
thought are impossible?"

Maybe not impossible but certainly inconcievable. How do you
suppose we create a mathmatical model for the act of
creating mathmatical models?

"Second of all, a model doesn't have to be 100% isomorphic
in order to be valid."

That's not the issue. I'm saying that the models are only
valid for the behavior of matter in the system and not for
the experience it relates to.

"Thirdly, the lack of a current "perfect" naturalistic
explanation does not mean that the supernatural explanation

is true - that's both an argument from ignorance and a
false dilemma."

In other words, absence of evidence is not evidence of
absence. I agree. But it COULD BE. It is a real possibility
that a natrualistic(mathmatical) explanation for
conciousness and intelligence simply does not exist. If one
is found in the future, then I guess I'll owe you a pint. I
wouldn't bet on it though.

BTW Let me try to clarify that 'nasty mess of vagueness and
non-sequiturs.'

Any form of matter can be used to represent and communicate
logic(math) or thought(language) or any other type of
specified complex information. However the matter itself
does not generate that information, it only expresses it.
The origin of the thought represented by these words have
nothing to do with the actual letters or pixels you see on
the screen. This same thought can be expressed in any other
language and any other form of matter. I think the brain
works the same way in expressing the mind.



 

offline fleetmouse from Horny for Truth on 2005-06-07 15:28 [#01625760]
Points: 18042 Status: Lurker | Followup to Drunken Mastah: #01625734



we don't positively know why airplanes fly.. basically,
what
I'm saying is that there might as well be some godly force
holding the planes up while disguising himself as wind or
while what he's doing only can be observed as pressure
differences, and that one never should rule out the
possibilities...


If that's not a load of supernatural / superstitious
codswallop that cries out for brutal mockery and shitting-on
I don't know what is.


 

offline Drunken Mastah from OPPERKLASSESVIN!!! (Norway) on 2005-06-07 15:40 [#01625773]
Points: 35867 Status: Lurker | Followup to fleetmouse: #01625750 | Show recordbag



Where have I claimed to prove that the soul does
not exist?

I do study definitions, but I do not simply regurgitate what
I've learned at exams.. your personal observation is wrong,
but what more could one expect, as you have only had one
discussion to make this observation. One would think you'd
follow more "scientific" methods of observation before
making an observation.

you seem to be pretty good at regurgitating stuff yourself,
btw... your profile would be a good testament to that...


 

offline Drunken Mastah from OPPERKLASSESVIN!!! (Norway) on 2005-06-07 15:44 [#01625780]
Points: 35867 Status: Lurker | Followup to fleetmouse: #01625760 | Show recordbag



I did not say I believe that, I used it as an example.. a
very exaggerated one, but still... it isn't supernatural /
superstitious codswallop, it is a hypothesis. You
seem to have a hard time distinguishing the two.


 

offline fleetmouse from Horny for Truth on 2005-06-07 15:47 [#01625784]
Points: 18042 Status: Lurker | Followup to Drunken Mastah: #01625780



It's a ludicrous supernatural / superstitious hypothesis
shat out of the ass of a guy who'd rather win an argument
than arrive at a better understanding of the world.


 

offline Walnut from Somewhere in (Bosnia and Herzegovina) on 2005-06-07 15:52 [#01625792]
Points: 152 Status: Regular



"If that's not a load of supernatural / superstitious
codswallop that cries out for brutal mockery and shitting-on

I don't know what is. "

- and they laughed when the earth was suggested to be
round.

Yes, for all we know science is merely regression from
superstition in that we are attempting to explain the
inexplicable and sooner or later we all reach one final
conclusion: god. It doesn't matter if the winds are godly
forces or the product of them, it's still a valid
explanation.



 

offline Drunken Mastah from OPPERKLASSESVIN!!! (Norway) on 2005-06-07 15:58 [#01625800]
Points: 35867 Status: Lurker | Followup to fleetmouse: #01625784 | Show recordbag



I have my understanding of the world, and I don't see why
your would be "better." The hypothesis is not one I would
make, but I could imagine someone making it, and the way to
convince (erh.. I don't know how to translate correctly
here.. convince / persuade. We have two corresponding words
for that in norwegian, but I can't remember which is which..
anyway, I mean the one that has to do with bringing forth
arguments, not the one that has to do with just repeating
something until someone accepts it or whatever.. I hope you
get it, anyway...) someone would not be to call their views
"superstition." I'm done discussing the soul now, btw.. we
wouldn't even be able to agree to disagree. I'm just
nitpicking at your argumentation and rhetorics now.


 


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