Religion II

[Actor]

Originally Posted by boxcar

Must really suck to be so uncertain about everything in life...

"Religion consists in a set of things which the average man thinks he believes, and wishes he was certain." - Mark Twain

"It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so." - Mark Twain

[boxcar]

Originally Posted by Actor

"Religion consists in a set of things which the average man thinks he believes, and wishes he was certain." - Mark Twain

"It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so." - Mark Twain

Yes, the worldly wise love to revel in and exalt their ignorance. But one must wonder if Twain himself was certain about what he wrote?

But meanwhile...wouldn't you trust a doctor's opinion to tell if you are a being or not?

[Actor]

Originally Posted by boxcar

Must really suck to be so uncertain about everything in life...

Uncertainty is an inescapable part of life. Anyone who says differently is either deluded or selling something. You cannot be certain that you will be alive tomorrow, whether North Korea will nuke us, whether we will nuke North Korea, whether the stock market will crash, whether the horse you bet on will win. Etc., etc., etc.

The insurance industry is based on this fact.

[Actor]

Originally Posted by boxcar

But meanwhile...wouldn't you trust a doctor's opinion to tell if you are a being or not?

Are you a being? Everything I know about you would be consistent with you being a computer simulation.

[dnlgfnk]

Originally Posted by Actor

"Religion consists in a set of things which the average man thinks he believes, and wishes he was certain." - Mark Twain

"It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so." - Mark Twain

May I intercede in your match race with Boxcar to note how amusing this is?

He gets flack for introducing Hugh Ross in support of the Anthropic Principle, and I agree with you. Ross overstates it's usefulness for theists. Then we get pages of dispute about appeals to authority, wherein you irrelevantly cite Twain, who can be dismissed for the same reasons as Ross.

[dnlgfnk]

Originally Posted by Actor

Are you a being? Everything I know about you would be consistent with you being a computer simulation.

John Searle would disagree.

[boxcar]

Originally Posted by Actor

Uncertainty is an inescapable part of life. Anyone who says differently is either deluded or selling something. You cannot be certain that you will be alive tomorrow, whether North Korea will nuke us, whether we will nuke North Korea, whether the stock market will crash, whether the horse you bet on will win. Etc., etc., etc.

The insurance industry is based on this fact.

Are you certain you were born? Are you certain you will die? Are you certain there is no such thing as absolute truth?

But the insurance companies still make money off all that uncertainty. Funny how that works, heh?

[Actor]

Originally Posted by boxcar

Are you certain you were born?

I have no recollection of the event.

Originally Posted by boxcar

Are you certain you will die?

Not 100%. but I consider it quite likely and have made plans according.

Originally Posted by boxcar

Are you certain there is no such thing as absolute truth?

Not 100% obviously. So what?

Originally Posted by boxcar

But the insurance companies still make money off all that uncertainty. Funny how that works, heh?

My point exactly.

[Actor]

Originally Posted by dnlgfnk

May I intercede in your match race with Boxcar to note how amusing this is?

Please do. I find it amusing myself.

Originally Posted by dnlgfnk

He gets flack for introducing Hugh Ross in support of the Anthropic Principle, and I agree with you. Ross overstates it's usefulness for theists. Then we get pages of dispute about appeals to authority, wherein you irrelevantly cite Twain, who can be dismissed for the same reasons as Ross.

Not quite. Twain was a humorist and was cited for his humor.

[Actor]

[quote=dnlgfnk;2252017]I have no idea who John Searle is.

[dnlgfnk]

Originally Posted by Actor

Please do. I find it amusing myself.

Not quite. Twain was a humorist and was cited for his humor.

In reading your past performances, you weren't betting on Twain's humor, but piggybacking on his condescension. We have a humorist and an astrophysicist sent up to bat as philosophers of religion. Or just substitute "Twain" for "Einstein" and "humorist" for "physics" in the following...

http://www.skepdic.com/authorty.html

[dnlgfnk]

[quote=Actor;2252055]

Originally Posted by dnlgfnk

I have no idea who John Searle is.

He proposed the "Chinese Room Argument" vs. computationalism (i.e., "Roger" starring as Boxcar).

[Actor]

Originally Posted by dnlgfnk

In reading your past performances, you weren't betting on Twain's humor, but piggybacking on his condescension. We have a humorist and an astrophysicist sent up to bat as philosophers of religion. Or just substitute "Twain" for "Einstein" and "humorist" for "physics" in the following...

http://www.skepdic.com/authorty.html

So appealing to Ross is irrelevant because (1)as an astrophysicist he is not an authority on religion and/or (2)the subject is controversial.

[boxcar]

Originally Posted by Actor

So appealing to Ross is irrelevant because (1)as an astrophysicist he is not an authority on religion and/or (2)the subject is controversial.

I thought no scientists were authorities in anything? Oh wait, my bad...that only pertains to the experts who sit on peer review committees.

[Actor]

Originally Posted by dnlgfnk

He proposed the "Chinese Room Argument" vs. computationalism (i.e., "Roger" starring as Boxcar).

I have never heard of the "Chinese Room Argument".