I think you are atheist, because you wanted to be atheists.
What a profoundly ignorant thing to say.
You haven’t read _any_ of the deconversion stories that’ve been posted on this blog, have you?
Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trollssays
I think you are atheist, because you wanted to be atheists.
Fixed that for you. You don’t think, you just feel and intuit wrongly.
I’m an atheist because there is no evidence for a deity, just like everybody mentioned earlier, but you conveniently forgot. You haven’t presented any evidence for a deity, just hallucinations and delusions. Where is the equivalent of an eternally burning bush?
Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trollssays
Scifi-Shiloh, the liar and bullshitter.
I am an agnostic
Exactly what Shiloh claimed, while its arguments, like yours, weren’t honest inquiry, and had a strong odor of presupposition for their imaginary creator, just like yours. You know the conclusion you want, so you form sophistry to get there, rather than asking the right question. The right question isn’t whether you can argue the perceived need for a creator, but rather what conclusive physical evidence is there for said creator that isn’t already explained by science? And the evidence, or rather lack thereof, gives the answer. Your creator isn’t necessary.
You haven’t read _any_ of the deconversion stories that’ve been posted on this blog, have you?
Some of them. Which one is yours?
John Moralessays
Sigh.
rajkumar, your bombastic pretentious ignorance has been amply demonstrated.
I think you are atheist, because you wanted to be atheists. Science is just your advertising billboard.
We’ve established that what you think is not worth the electronic ink.
(Why so anathematise intellectual honesty?)
theophontes 777says
@ Strewth
I may not have been clear:
Just above the comment box at the bottom of the page it says “Leave a Reply … Allowed tags” . The first one in the list [a href=”” title=””] is the one you can copy and past to leave a link. You must close with [/a] after. (I must use square brackets to comment or else it will be treated as code. You will use the angular brackets as shown in “Allowed Tags”.
For example I would write: [a href=”https://theophontes.wordpress.com/2012/03/03/jesus-on-a-stick/” title=”Jesus on a stick.”] Click here.[/a]
If I now replace the square brackets [ with sharp < : Click here. The server will convert to the correct code. You can mouse over to see the contents too.
@ chigau
I, too, have the feeling that I am chopped liver.
@ rajkumar
By the way, when I called you ‘dear’, that was a projection too. But you liked it then, didn’t you?
No, more like condescending. And troll-like. You really don’t get anything at all, do you?
Of course, you don’t. I think you are atheist, because you wanted to be atheists.
Just because you base your reasoning purely on what feels good to you, doesn’t mean that everybody does.
Projection. It will fuck with your head if you don’t watch out for it.
In point of fact, most people do reach their conclusions first and try to fit evidence to the conclusion post facto. However, it is possible to test those conclusions, and whether the evidence fits them, and whether there’s other evidence that might contradict the conclusions.
You scorn these methods. Therefore you are likely to be wrong. Indeed, you’ve been very little but extraordinarily wrong about every topic you’ve brought up so far, from time dilation to the null hypothesis to Freud.
The available evidence supports my hypothesis that you do not care about whether your beliefs are true, you protestations notwithstanding. People who care about truth make an effort to identify what can falsify their claims and investigate them.
That’s science. It’s more than a billboard, it’s a process.
Here is another projection for you: It is you people who are afraid of being wrong. If I am wrong, I lose nothing. I am not a theist, or an atheist. If God exists, fine. If God doesn’t exist, that’s fine too. But if God exists, you lose your atheism. This is why you try to protect it, and you do so by hijacking scientific terms, by giving atheism a scientific touch.
'Tis Himselfsays
rajkumar #500
Like you know everything science has to say on this? Of course, you don’t.
You’re now using the God of the Gaps fallacy. “As an optical physicist you can’t know anything more than the bare basics of microbiology, so you don’t know if god is hiding in transcriptase.”
I think you are atheist, because you wanted to be atheists. Science is just your advertising billboard.
There may be a few atheists who “want” to be atheists for whatever reasons. But most of us are atheists because that’s where the evidence, or lack thereof, led us.
John Moralessays
rajkumar:
I am not a theist, or an atheist.
Then you are in denial.
If you are not a theist, perforce you are an atheist.
(Atheist is ¬theist)
If I am wrong, I lose nothing.
Brash of you (to put it mildly) to imagine that lack of congruence between reality and your perception loses you nothing.
Here is another projection for you: It is you people who are afraid of being wrong. If I am wrong, I lose nothing. I am not a theist, or an atheist.
Really? Because it seems to me like refusing to commit to one side or the other of a clearly binary proposition is a classic example of “hedging one’s bets”–which is what people who are afraid of being wrong do. I don’t mind being wrong. I think about the possibility that I’m wrong fairly often. If some positive evidence for some deity or another, I think that would be very interesting. If it were Yahweh, I might be scared, because who needs a cosmic genocidal asshole running around one’s planet? But scared of being wrong? Nope. Once again, you are wrong.
If God exists, fine. If God doesn’t exist, that’s fine too.
I used to think that way. Then I took the next step of examining the evidence. Now I still feel that way, except that I think that the probability that god/gods exist is very, very low.
But if God exists, you lose your atheism.
It would be no big loss. It’s just a label that identifies me as someone who embraces skepticism and rationality, and came to a conclusion that is at odds with the beliefs of the majority in my society. If religion weren’t a thing, I wouldn’t need to bother with the label.
This is why you try to protect it, and you do so by hijacking scientific terms, by giving atheism a scientific touch.
I’d ask you to give examples of how I’m hijacking scientific terms, but I already know you’re a lying, trolling piece of solopsistic trash, so I shan’t bother. Just know that you’re still wrong.
theophontes 777says
@ rajkumar
But if God exists, you lose your atheism.
In principle yes (at least if we are honest). In practice no. This is because there is currently no proof at all that such a supernatural deity exists. Zip! Nada! Nothing!
All a goddist need do is bring credible evidence to the table. Or, as Nerd has pointed out, bring us that burning bush.
And we don’t even need to get all scientific and disprove the god hypothesis (being unfalsifiable, this would be a bit awkward), we need merely show how (whichever) god came into existence. This we do know. They were all – each and every one of them – made up by people.
Fine. I have no problems with that. I have already said, your beliefs are your own. You live your own life. If you are happy and content, then there is nothing more that you need.
I don’t think Raj knows what “projection” means. Funny, he was the one spouting off about psychology… When he began his last comment by saying, “Here is another projection for you,” it turned out to be the absolute truth. But Raj is not given to truth-telling, so I’m guessing it was unintentional, and born of ignorance. And laziness.
'Tis Himselfsays
It is you people who are afraid of being wrong.
Most of us say that if you can show we’re wrong then we’ll admit it. Of course you goddists have been trying to show atheists wrong for millennia without success. As time goes on, the possible evidence for gods gets less and less, but that doesn’t stop you goddists from pretending it exists.
I am not a theist, or an atheist.
You certainly do an excellent imitation of a goddist. On the Dawkins Scale you probably rate about a 2.
But if God exists, you lose your atheism.
Did you figure that out all by yourself or did your mommy help you?
This is why you try to protect it, and you do so by hijacking scientific terms, by giving atheism a scientific touch.
Now I understand why you reject science. You don’t understand it and you’re afraid if you investigate it too much you’ll find your gods (and no, asshole, I don’t believe you when you say you’re not a theist) don’t exist. Your projection of your fears to others is quite pathetic.
It’s really weird to think of actually wanting to be an atheist, any more than wanting there to be unicorns or wanting santa claus to come and deliver presents each year. It’s not really a question of want, but what position best explains the evidence.
It’s funny that people try to put whatever psychological factors they can on atheists, because at the end of the day, atheists are vindicated by such reasoning – if God was anything other than a fiction, then one could show atheists as being fools without needing to try to psychologise it. Atheists are more than willing to point out why they don’t believe, so if those arguments and evidences are unaccounted for then it doesn’t matter what “just so” story you can make up about someone’s psychology. It doesn’t matter, and frankly is a matter of intellectual cowardice.
You live your own life. If you are happy and content, then there is nothing more that you need.
Actually, there is something else I need before I can be perfectly content. I need people like you to realize that truth matters and it’s not okay to lie.
Whether or not this is true, it’s quite irrelevant unless you can show that the case atheists are putting forward is wrong. Spending so much time trying to deconstruct the psychology of an atheist is a waste of time so long as the arguments are neglected.
Are atheists afraid of being wrong? Perhaps some are. But the question is, are they wrong?
Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trollssays
But if God exists, you lose your atheism.
Given the evidence, I, like PZ, Dawkins, and most of the gun atheists would acknowledge the evidence. Where is that evidence again? It isn’t found in gaps in knowledge, or in hallucinations and delusions. It is not imagufactured evidence which is all you have shown and talked about. It is solid, physical, can be studied by one and all, and no question about the fact that divine will is upon that object. Something equivalent to an eternally burning bush. Until then, your blither-blather of mental masturbation is utter and total fuckwittery, and you are WRONG.
Actually, there is something else I need before I can be perfectly content. I need people like you to realize that truth matters and it’s not okay to lie.
Then, I am afraid, you are asking for the impossible. You cannot change the way other people think, and you cannot change the way they live their lives. You have your freedoms, others have their freedoms.
Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trollssays
Did rajkumar sink so low as to attempt a form of Pascal’s wager on us?
John Moralessays
Nerd, sorta kinda flailed at it, perhaps.
(Not all that coherent, it)
Ariaflame, BSc, BF, PhDsays
I think some pharyngulites have evidence to the contrary.
Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trollssays
Yawn, still nothing but inane and fruitless mental wanking from rajkumar. Evidence is required to make speculation fruitful and productive. I see no evidence from rajkumar.
theophontes 777says
@ All
[levels of atheism]
There is a slow (far too slow for most of us) decline in religious belief around the world. There are some exceptions, such as Israel, Russia, Phillipines and Poland. Though slow, the change is accumulating. It would be nice to think there will be a critical mass one day and we can all move beyond religion and all the hate and ignorance it aspires to .
You see, it is not so difficult to link to credible reports about the matters that we are discussing. Oh, hang on… in your case it is, because you talk shit.
Will you stop your freakish masturbation and present some evidence, because so for pretty much everything you’ve said is just fractally wrong from whatever perspective one takes.
Also, you seem to think that your weird brand of ‘agnosticism’ somehow makes your position more valid. Well guess what… Nope, wrong again. All you’ve done is create an arrogant position that permits you to feel superior to both theists and atheists.
You’re an idiot, Rajkumar.
Then, I am afraid, you are asking for the impossible. You cannot change the way other people think, and you cannot change the way they live their lives.
Because you would like to believe this? Are you scared of what we are saying here? That we challenge the grip you ego has on your intellect?
A sign of intelligence is the ability to change one’s thinking when one is proven wrong. What may be true for you is certainly not true of people on this thread. Or of people in general.
You have your freedoms, others have their freedoms.
Then you are taking your freedoms for granted. The last 2000 years have seen people being robbed of their freedoms. In large part by others who feel that their imaginary deity endorses their sick behaviour. But if you think it is all about Raj, just say so. We shall keep arguing and and fighting for our cause because it is possible to reverse the oppressive influences of religious ignorance and authoritarianism. (I am fascinated if you can explain your flippant views to mormon child brides or women in rural Pakistan. Or any other people who are subjugated by perverse religions.)
theophontes 777says
Lonely “r” seeks partner. For friendship and more. Likes music, horseriding and long walks on the beach…
(fify: you your)
theophontes 777says
@ John Morales
If you don’t mind I’ll riff a little on our two linkies. It appears (from the report I linked to) that as people get older they tend towards religiousity. IIRC, the Aussies call this “cramming for the finals”.
So to paraphrase one of the Huxley quotes:
*ahem*
“…half an hour before closing time, … somaalmighty jeebus had raised a quite impenetrable wall between the actual universe and their minds.”
Matt Penfoldsays
Then, I am afraid, you are asking for the impossible. You cannot change the way other people think, and you cannot change the way they live their lives. You have your freedoms, others have their freedoms.
This is done all the time.
It is how advertising works. It is why being gay is increasingly accepted in many parts of the world. It is why women are no longer subjected to the same level of discrimination common, even in my lifetime, in many parts of the world.
If you say such idiotic things as this, are you surprised when you treat you like an idiot ?
@rajkumar, you have misread me. I don’t know if it was deliberate, subconscious or accidental, but you have misread me.
Otherwise you would not ask if God could not be both immaterial and supernatural simultaneously when I proposed exactly that.
Apart from that, you have missed the point of Occam’s razor.
There is nothing in our observation and study of abnormal sensory experience that has been unexpected enough to require more explanatory power than ‘the brain did it’ hypothesis provides.
I mean you are suggesting a god the presence and actions of which are indistinguishable from there being no god at all.
If I am mistaken and you are not suggesting that your hypothetical god’s presence is indeterminable from the simple undirected, inanimate function of the universe, than the onus is on you – the one proposing the hypothesis – to lay out where you see the anomalies that differ from our existing god-free models that you suggest are attributable to god(s).
Now earlier you did suggest that certain altered states of perception might be those anomalies, but the rest of us have done a fairly good job of presenting you evidence that those can all be adequately explained within the current, accepted, god-free model.
Essentially, the ball is currently in your court to provide us a reason to believe the current god-free model is inadequate to explain what is observed of the world, and of minds. Otherwise we have neither reason nor motivation to abandon an explanatory model which works.
Theists may be afraid of death, but whether or not that is true, it doesn’t change one bit whether or not God exists – just theier ability to recognise a case. If you just undercut a theist’s argument by saying they are afraid of death, it’s doing nothing to address the case for God. It’s the very definition of an ad hominem attack.
KGsays
You cannot change the way other people think, and you cannot change the way they live their lives. – rajkumar
I haven’t benn following his blitherings. Is this the stupidest thing rajkumar has yet said? If he believes it, what is he trying to accomplish here?
theophontes 777says
@ Kel
If you just undercut a theist’s argument by saying they are afraid of death, it’s doing nothing to address the case for God. It’s the very definition of an ad hominem attack.
(I am not sure who this is addressed to.)
Fear of death would explain why they are more likely to seek out comforting, non-rational explanations for how things fit together.
It goes some way to explaining where the motivation came to invent the god-concept in the first place. Or why people feel impelled towards believing in such god/s.
I fail to see how you can say this would be an ad hominem. Fear is the very foundry in which gods where manufactured. It is important to recognise this in building a case against gods.
(I am aware that some gods did evolve into mythical entities that were worshipped for reasons other than fear. But it is important to map out the entire process of god formation. And this certainly requires the acknowledgement of fear of death. Also in the case of contemporary people turning to ready-made gods.)
Rajkumar; it’s in addition to my previous posts today.
It goes some way to explaining where the motivation came to invent the god-concept in the first place. Or why people feel impelled towards believing in such god/s.
Agreed.
I fail to see how you can say this would be an ad hominem.
Two reasons.
Firstly, it’s a non sequitur to the argument at hand. How do you know that fear is the main reason they as individuals hold it? If someone puts forward the cosmological argument, claiming they just believe it because of fear is going after the person and leaving the argument completely unaddressed. They may be engaging in motivated reasoning, but that doesn’t say anything about the validity of the cosmological argument. Unless one means to imply that the cosmological argument is only compelling to those who fear death, in which case the argumentative burden is still on showing the flaws of the cosmological argument.
Second, those general patterns are just that. How any individual believes isn’t necessarily encompassed by these rules. It could be that believer X doesn’t have a fear of death at all, but simply cannot see how the universe could come about without something willing it to exist. You could go on and on about how much they fear death, and not only would it not address their argument but you would be mistaken in doing so.
Imagine the inverse case, that people claim that atheism is about the desire to be immoral or that atheism stems from a bad relationship with one’s father. Now one can debate whether or not those are actually true, or to what extent they were true. But surely you can appreciate that a fundamentalist saying that atheists are just looking to sin against God isn’t so much wrong as it is a non sequitur. Being told that you think that you’re God yourself, or that you blame God for all the horrible things in your life, these aren’t arguments against the atheist position even if there may be some truth in some of these assertions. Even if there’s any merit to any of the claims at all, it still doesn’t take away from the rational case for atheism.
David Marjanovićsays
Here is another projection for you: It is you people who are afraid of being wrong. If I am wrong, I lose nothing. I am not a theist, or an atheist. If God exists, fine. If God doesn’t exist, that’s fine too. But if God exists, you lose your atheism. This is why you try to protect it, and you do so by hijacking scientific terms, by giving atheism a scientific touch.
It’s the other way around.
I, for one, am a scientist. As far as I know, all falsifiable god hypotheses have been falsified, and unfalsifiable hypotheses are simply not worth entertaining. Atheism isn’t a thing that I acquired and could lose, it’s merely the fact that I’m unable to believe without evidence.
There is a slow (far too slow for most of us) decline in religious belief around the world. There are some exceptions, such as Israel, Russia, Phillipines and Poland.
No, Poland is not an exception in my experience, secularization is just delayed there. Israel… the ultra-orthodox procreate a lot, so maybe that offsets the bleaching of the faith. Belief in Russia was already fairly low to begin with, as God first failed to smite the godless usurpers for 70 years and then replaced them by the mammon-worshipping Mafia.
David Marjanovićsays
Seriously, Freud? The guy that made stuff up about psychology, and was obsessed with connecting everything humans did with sex?
That was because his repressed patients were obsessed with sex and had ended up associating everything with sex. Their life was fucking hell.
How do you know he was wrong? What method do you use to distinguish where Freud was correct, and where Freud was wrong?
Thanks, that clarifies it for me. (I trust this gets through to Raj when he wakes up.)
@ David Marjanović
Aside: All my Polish buddies at varsity were hedonistic atheists of the highest order.
But on the other hand, the report (see my #29) does seem to indicate – in keeping with your comment:
In the case of Poland, it appears that its strong Catholicism trumps the secularizing influence of Socialism. There is also evidence that religious competition and/or religious conflict may stimulate higher belief. Belief is high In Israel which of course has a sharp conflict betweenJudaism and Islam
Poland is a mixed bag but should come off my list. (The broad trend is lessening belief even if secularisation is not up to speed.)
theophontes 777says
@ David Marjanović
TROLIIIIS!!! POŽEMYJE!!
TRR-ROLIS POŽEMYJE!
Ta was let in to TZT on purpose. (It did seem like a good idea at the time...)
IndyM, pikčiurnasays
Nuostabu, David, tikrai nuostabu… :)
Sastrasays
Rajkumar wrote:
I think you are atheists because you wanted to be atheists. Science is just your advertising billboard.
We are atheists because we are willing to consider the question of whether God exists or not as honestly, objectively, and rigorously as possible. This entails using science — it’s not simply a decorative addition for effect. It’s the method.
Please keep in mind the fact that many versions of God are either very esoteric, very interesting, or very gratifying. If true, people with a curious scientific bent — such as ourselves — would be fascinated and thrilled with such an exciting new discovery and dimension to reality. Our focus would not just be on our personal satisfaction, but on the impact this would make for the advanced understanding of humanity.
And yet we doubt even this. Truly, it can’t be for the reason you suggest — that we just “want” to be atheists in order to be contrary or cool or something — not when we are the group most interested in pushing the boundaries of what we, as human beings, are capable of learning about the nature of the universe we have found ourselves in. Rather, our lack of belief is the direct result of the cautious and humble method we have chosen to use on an issue we are taking seriously — rather than personally, as an expression of our subjective hopes, desires, and untestable speculations.
Watch out for those untestable speculations, by the way. That is what Ockam’s Razor is used on. It doesn’t shave possibilities from the universe: it cuts back our tendency to get so far ahead of ourselves that’s there’s just no way of checking back on reality. .. and discovering that we’ve made an error.
We have to be able to change our minds. Otherwise, we create at least one infallible God — and it’s us.
Ogvorbis: Insert Appropriate Appelation Heresays
So we have:
rajkumar, the type specimen for Trollodon mystici rajkumar
yec123, a specimen of Trollodon fundogelici shiloh
DanielHaven, another specimen of Trollodon funodgelici shiloh
How long do we have to wait for these species to become extinct?
theophontes 777says
@ Sastra
If FTB do not offer you a blog of your own, then I would like to read you the following declaration in My Capacity of Its Highness Teh Self-appointed Benevolent Dictator for Life:
*ahem*
The Committee of the 37th Pleniary Commission of the 7th Convocation for the 3rd Five-Year Plan of the Peoples’ Comintern of the Ministry of Peace of the Pharyngulite Peoples’ Republic of Southern The Endless Thread, heretothereinafter referred to as The Zombie Thread, has noted with admiration your posts on TZT. You are hereby granted Honourary Citizenship in Perpetuity.
'Tis Himselfsays
David Marjanović #46
That was because his repressed patients were obsessed with sex and had ended up associating everything with sex. Their life was fucking hell.
I see what you did there.
theophontes 777says
I see what you did there.
All is seen. All is recorded. (Though policy dictates that We must be quick to punish and slow to reward.)
Yes, he was. I never said Darwin was not a genius.,
You should. Having read biographies of him I’ve seen nothing to suggest that Darwin was a genius or had unusually gifted intellect.
What he did have was patience, honesty and perception.
His discovery wasn’t due to a gift of greater intelligence than others; it was due to hard work, obsessive collecting and cataloging (ie data collection) and being perceptive and open minded. It was not a Eureka moment, he filled journals with notes and thoughts trying to make sense of his data. He collected a lot of data, saw something interesting in it and had the patience to keep at it until he figured it out.
In short, he had something better than genius, he had science.
You cannot change the way other people think, and you cannot change the way they live their lives.
If the goal is just to change how someone thinks with no other specifics than a swift blow to the side of the head can do just that.
theophontes 777says
a swift blow to the side of the head can do just that.
Rajkumar is concerned about a specifically religious experience. This would require a blow to the left side of the head.
A. Rsays
Did I just hear a shotgun being loaded? PZ must be getting ready to double tap this thread.
Ogvorbis: Insert Appropriate Appelation Heresays
Did I just hear a shotgun being loaded? PZ must be getting ready to double tap this thread.
Cool thing is, with the 500 comment rollover in effect, he can just ignore this seething pile of Trollodon droppings and let it keep rolling in perpetuity or forever, whichever comes second.
(I trust this gets through to Raj when he wakes up.)
If it’s anything like the time I tried to explain algorithms to him, he’ll dismiss it as assertions, call everyone here dogmatic, and then say he’s doing the best he can.
Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trollssays
Did I just hear a shotgun being loaded? PZ must be getting ready to double tap this thread.
I’d settle for a double tap on rajkumar, Yec123, DanielHaven, and scifi. Dumbshits extraordinaire one and all.
A. Rsays
Nerd: Yeah, yec123 got the banhammer a day or so ago, and DH666 seems to be in one of his inactive periods.
Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trollssays
Yeah, yec123 got the banhammer a day or so ago,
Dang, I missed the announcement. I’m trying like hell to keep up. *grumbles and goes looking*
Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trollssays
Found last known by me sighting, no banhammer announcement (speaking truth thread), but definitely in the dungeon. Good enough.
Nerd, what happened? The banhammer never falls on an idiot like you is a living proof that there is something seriously wrong with blog, right? OK I know. You have special links with PZ Myers. He listens to you, acts on your suggestions a lot, somehow. I have seen this happening before, and it can happen again. But who cares. It is you buffoons who lose.
Are you going to admit you were in error about bottom-up design yet?
No. Though I am going to admit that I tried my best to explain to you how it was a useless concept to discuss there. You don’t know where to draw the start line and where to draw the finish line when you talk about evolution.
Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trollssays
Are you going to admit you were in error about bottom-up design yet?
Rajkumar is gentically incapable as being as honest as any scientist is in their profession. Him admitting error? A certain location will be reliably be determined it has frozen over first.
Kel: I have explained to you many times already in that thread. The universe is not a human, but we humans quite often try to understand the **whole universe** from a human standpoint. It can work sometimes, and it does, but sooner or later we are going to face a thick brick wall. An example is when we try to figure out the pre big bang conditions. It is not possible, unless we have evolved to the point where we can imagine existence without time and space. At the moment, we can’t. So, it is a useless attempt.
You don’t know where to draw the start line and where to draw the finish line when you talk about evolution.
Evolution is not the only algorithm in existence, it was an illustration of the abstract principle. If you understood the abstract principle, you would see why your criticism of how I handle evolution is misguided. The problem is that you’re not thinking in the abstract, you’re not engaging with how processes can create outcomes. If you would, you’d see why it didn’t matter one bit to my argument whether or not we know everything about evolution. Your response missed the mark.
As an aside, where did I get it wrong when I talked about evolution?
I have explained to you many times already in that thread. The universe is not a human, but we humans quite often try to understand the **whole universe** from a human standpoint.
And that has *what* to do with the power of algorithmic processes?
But I have to go now, for good this time. I will save PZ the hassle of lowering his infamous banhammer. Can’t say it wasn’t fun, because it was. I hope you could see it this way too….:)
To give a friendly suggestion before I leave: The world outside this blog is not as stupid as you people may think it is. So if you have this blog, and you claim you are the champions of free speech and tolerance, then prove it… Do so not by threatening people with banhammers and bans and calling them trolls when you are out of arguments, but by doing just the opposite….:)
See ya
Bye
John Moralessays
rajkumar:
An example is when we try to figure out the pre big bang conditions. It is not possible, unless we have evolved to the point where we can imagine existence without time and space.
<snicker>
(Circular supposition is circular and incoherent.)
Algorithmic processes are put into use by various engineering disciplines. They work! And it doesn’t matter one bit whether or not we can understand pre-Big Bang conditions or whether or not we have a perfect view of evolution to know how such processes work. That’s the problem, you’re fatalistic agnosticism about ultimate knowledge is irrelevant to the real knowledge we can. We may never know whether or not life exists on other planets, but what does that say about knowing whether life exists on this one?
Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trollssays
Yawn, rajkumar presented any real evidence yet (to the regulars, no is the null hypothesis)? I’m killfiling the fool for the night, unless I feel the need to sharpen my titanium fang.
John Moralessays
rajkumar:
But I have to go now, for good this time. I will save PZ the hassle of lowering his infamous banhammer.
Your schtick has been apparent for days; you can’t possibly imagine anyone believes you.
A. Rsays
Oh, would this be flounce #10000000, or #10000001?
Ogvorbis: Insert Appropriate Appelation Heresays
The universe is not a human, but we humans quite often try to understand the **whole universe** from a human standpoint.
How else are supposed to understand it? After all, most of us here are human.
calling them trolls when you are out of arguments,
Bullshit. We’ve been calling you a troll for a very long time. We still have arguments. You’re the one who keeps redefining words, denying what you have written, and flat our refusing to supply even one iota of actual evidence for you ‘god is consciousness/intelligence/the universe/drugs’.
See ya
Bye
The odds are currently at 7 to 1 that he fails to stick the flounce. You bet seven, you can win one. Any takers?
chigau (バフーン)says
Are we buffoons losing because rajkumar has left us?
A. Rsays
chigau: Of course not… Because he hasn’t left us. {waves} HI RAJ!
In other matters, theophontes needs to come up with a new way to light his hetacombs. I think the CL20 is causing behavioral changes in raj.
Well, we can at least say Rajkumar is consistent. You could almost set your watch by the periods between when he says he is leaving and never coming back… and when he comes back.
Is anyone else getting the impression that he keeps coming back because we’re the only people in the world who will talk to him?
chigau (バフーン)says
A. R
Yeah. You’re probably right.
HI RAJ!
I am really falling behind on the TZT weapons array.
Have we managed to incorporate rotting porcupine essence into anything yet?
ibyeasays
Rajkumar
An example is when we try to figure out the pre big bang conditions. It is not possible, unless we have evolved to the point where we can imagine existence without time and space. At the moment, we can’t. So, it is a useless attempt.
You know the kind of people I detest? People like you who have given up without trying or giving other people the chance to figure things out. It is such a lazy form of thinking. No wonder you are such an idiot. You have given up on learning. I mean, imagine if people would have given up back then about finding the composition of a star, and scientists would have listened to their advise. OH WAIT, SUCH PEOPLE EXISTED!
Any research that is irreducible to actual visual observation is necessarily excluded in regards to the stars,… we can never by any means investigate their chemical composition…
-Auguste Comte-
Thankfully, many scientists didn’t listen to his advise. And hopefully, no one starts following your advise.
Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trollssays
Well, we can at least say Rajkumar is consistent. You could almost set your watch by the periods between when he says he is leaving and never coming back… and when he comes back.
*holds up sealed envelope a la Carnac the Maganificent* “who will provide no conclusive physical evidence for their claims at anytime”?
As you said, it is consistent…
ibyeasays
BTW, the above quote from Comte is not complete. But I read the full quote, and it doesn’t look like I am twisting his meanings.
ibyeasays
@rajkumar
And one more thing. If scientists would have stopped figuring things out because we can’t imagine things that are outside our normal experience, they would have never figured out the quantum nature of subatomic particles. So stop trying to tell us what we can and can’t know because you have no idea the kind of bizarre and unimaginable things we actually do know.
A. Rsays
chigau: TZT weapons R&D is Classified Secret, Porcupine related R&D is Classified Top Secret.
(looks at A.R. Hides the warfarin coated echidna behind the couch)
chigau (バフーン)says
… you have no idea the kind of bizarre and unimaginable things we actually do know.
cue scary organ music
A. Rsays
Strewth: I am concerned.
A. Rsays
Chigau:I find much organ music to be scary, too much association with church.
chigau (バフーン)says
A. R
You have no idea what else is behind Strewth’s couch.
ibyeasays
@chigau
^_^
chigau (バフーン)says
A. R re 91 re 87
You must be kidding!
I’m 57 and so are my eyes.
I can’t see that!
chigau (バフーン)says
OMG!?!‽‽‽?
Where is everybody?
Y’all gave a party? and didn’t invite me?
and I did a pork roast, I woulda brought some.
theophontes 777says
@ chigau
FIFY OMG!?!‽‽‽? OMT!?!‽‽‽?
I am concerned about our resident house-pet D666. It has been gone for days. What if it gets ridden over by a banhammer? Perhaps we should post fliers? Or light a fiery hecatomb to the Goddess Abeona…?
theophontes 777says
Now even its H has gone missing. I have a bad feeling.
A. Rsays
theophontes: The TZT Department of Troll Oversight and Management(DTOM) is currently working on a way to bring DH666 back to the thread.
chigau (バフーン)says
I want an additional acronym.
(do not DO NOT ever forget that I am 2IC {{[(ok?)]}})
[{I don’t want more duties, I just want more titles.}]
chigau (バフーン)says
I think I should do the dishes before I go to bed.
theophontes 777says
@ AR
You don’t think we should be posting reward notices in other threads?
@ chigau
Of course, of course. I have instructed the Plenary Committee to commission a long panegyric in your praise. Here is the introduction to the first draft:
*ahem*
Salutations Oh Great chigau, Queen of TZT and Ruler of all that is sacred and Godly.
… needs a bit more praise thrown in. But I think they are onto something.
theophontes 777says
Dishes can be left in sink. Carpe Snoozum!
A. Rsays
theophontes: Oh, we can post rewards, but how are we going to pay them out?
Ogvorbis: Insert Appropriate Appelation Heresays
Oh, we can post rewards, but how are we going to pay them out?
You have USB ports, right?
And you could also hand out, as rewards, free passes to Pharyngula.
PZ left a post telling yec123 that he could only post in the zombie from now on and yec left a post starting “Just one last post…”
I think all the evidence was purged but there might be traces if you look for it. I think it was the “Atheists are Satanists who burn churches therefore it’s okay to protest an atheist convention” thread.
Whoops, sorry it was the “reasoning is so much unlike retching that God must exist” thread.
kemist, Dark Lord of the Sithsays
But I have to go now, for good this time. I will save PZ the hassle of lowering his infamous banhammer. Can’t say it wasn’t fun, because it was. I hope you could see it this way too….:)
We like troll-stumping here. You must have noticed that the threads which fill up fastest are the ones where there are trolls. The most adverse reaction most people here have experienced while arguing with you is excessive eye rolling and facepalming.
To give a friendly suggestion before I leave: The world outside this blog is not as stupid as you people may think it is.
Indeed not. I suspect it is even more stupid than we can ever imagine. If there’s one thing that I have given up on, it’s to find out just how stupid people can be.
So if you have this blog, and you claim you are the champions of free speech and tolerance, then prove it… Do so not by threatening people with banhammers and bans and calling them trolls when you are out of arguments, but by doing just the opposite….:)
1) Nobody is forced to come here. Nobody will follow you when you leave.
That you keep coming back indicates that you quite like it. Like I explained to a certain xian ghoul earlier, we provide a public service here – we help would-be martyrs to satisfy their persecution complex without experiencing any actual persecution.
2) It seems to me it was you who was out of arguments. You kept engaging people on tone and psychological motivations, which are not arguments but unsubtle, and frankly boring, ad-hominems.
Nerd, what happened? The banhammer never falls on an idiot like you is a living proof that there is something seriously wrong with blog, right? OK I know. You have special links with PZ Myers. He listens to you, acts on your suggestions a lot, somehow. I have seen this happening before, and it can happen again. But who cares. It is you buffoons who lose.
Snicker. Good to see that your sense of agency is hypersensative in multiple instances.
Here’s a thought, try mastering the BASICS of philosophy, like ontology and epistemology and basic logical syllogisms before you try to figure out TEH UNIVERSE
It seems to me it was you who was out of arguments. You kept engaging people on tone and psychological motivations, which are not arguments but unsubtle, and frankly boring, ad-hominems.
You forgot flat out denial and accusing people of being liars.
chigau (バフーン)says
Salutations Oh Great chigau, Queen of TZT and Ruler of all that is sacred and Godly.
gorram!
That is NOT what I had in mind.
At all.
'Tis Himselfsays
Great chigau, whose tread shakes the Earth and whose belches are thunder in the hills!
rajkumar says
Snoof
Try again. Please.
Snoof says
What a profoundly ignorant thing to say.
You haven’t read _any_ of the deconversion stories that’ve been posted on this blog, have you?
Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says
Fixed that for you. You don’t think, you just feel and intuit wrongly.
I’m an atheist because there is no evidence for a deity, just like everybody mentioned earlier, but you conveniently forgot. You haven’t presented any evidence for a deity, just hallucinations and delusions. Where is the equivalent of an eternally burning bush?
Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says
Scifi-Shiloh, the liar and bullshitter.
Exactly what Shiloh claimed, while its arguments, like yours, weren’t honest inquiry, and had a strong odor of presupposition for their imaginary creator, just like yours. You know the conclusion you want, so you form sophistry to get there, rather than asking the right question. The right question isn’t whether you can argue the perceived need for a creator, but rather what conclusive physical evidence is there for said creator that isn’t already explained by science? And the evidence, or rather lack thereof, gives the answer. Your creator isn’t necessary.
rajkumar says
John Morales says
Sigh.
rajkumar, your bombastic pretentious ignorance has been amply demonstrated.
We’ve established that what you think is not worth the electronic ink.
(Why so anathematise intellectual honesty?)
theophontes 777 says
@ Strewth
I may not have been clear:
Just above the comment box at the bottom of the page it says “Leave a Reply … Allowed tags” . The first one in the list [a href=”” title=””] is the one you can copy and past to leave a link. You must close with [/a] after. (I must use square brackets to comment or else it will be treated as code. You will use the angular brackets as shown in “Allowed Tags”.
For example I would write: [a href=”https://theophontes.wordpress.com/2012/03/03/jesus-on-a-stick/” title=”Jesus on a stick.”] Click here.[/a]
If I now replace the square brackets [ with sharp < : Click here. The server will convert to the correct code. You can mouse over to see the contents too.
@ chigau
I, too, have the feeling that I am chopped liver.
@ rajkumar
No, more like condescending. And troll-like. You really don’t get anything at all, do you?
SallyStrange: bottom-feeding, work-shy peasant says
Just because you base your reasoning purely on what feels good to you, doesn’t mean that everybody does.
Projection. It will fuck with your head if you don’t watch out for it.
In point of fact, most people do reach their conclusions first and try to fit evidence to the conclusion post facto. However, it is possible to test those conclusions, and whether the evidence fits them, and whether there’s other evidence that might contradict the conclusions.
You scorn these methods. Therefore you are likely to be wrong. Indeed, you’ve been very little but extraordinarily wrong about every topic you’ve brought up so far, from time dilation to the null hypothesis to Freud.
The available evidence supports my hypothesis that you do not care about whether your beliefs are true, you protestations notwithstanding. People who care about truth make an effort to identify what can falsify their claims and investigate them.
That’s science. It’s more than a billboard, it’s a process.
Though it does make a mighty fine billboard too.
SallyStrange: bottom-feeding, work-shy peasant says
Oh yeah, and by the way? Being condescending towards someone only works if you are actually smarter than the person you’re trying to condescend to.
Good luck with that.
rajkumar says
SallyStrange: bottom-feeding, work-shy peasant
Here is another projection for you: It is you people who are afraid of being wrong. If I am wrong, I lose nothing. I am not a theist, or an atheist. If God exists, fine. If God doesn’t exist, that’s fine too. But if God exists, you lose your atheism. This is why you try to protect it, and you do so by hijacking scientific terms, by giving atheism a scientific touch.
'Tis Himself says
rajkumar #500
You’re now using the God of the Gaps fallacy. “As an optical physicist you can’t know anything more than the bare basics of microbiology, so you don’t know if god is hiding in transcriptase.”
There may be a few atheists who “want” to be atheists for whatever reasons. But most of us are atheists because that’s where the evidence, or lack thereof, led us.
John Morales says
rajkumar:
Then you are in denial.
If you are not a theist, perforce you are an atheist.
(Atheist is ¬theist)
Brash of you (to put it mildly) to imagine that lack of congruence between reality and your perception loses you nothing.
SallyStrange: bottom-feeding, work-shy peasant says
Really? Because it seems to me like refusing to commit to one side or the other of a clearly binary proposition is a classic example of “hedging one’s bets”–which is what people who are afraid of being wrong do. I don’t mind being wrong. I think about the possibility that I’m wrong fairly often. If some positive evidence for some deity or another, I think that would be very interesting. If it were Yahweh, I might be scared, because who needs a cosmic genocidal asshole running around one’s planet? But scared of being wrong? Nope. Once again, you are wrong.
I used to think that way. Then I took the next step of examining the evidence. Now I still feel that way, except that I think that the probability that god/gods exist is very, very low.
It would be no big loss. It’s just a label that identifies me as someone who embraces skepticism and rationality, and came to a conclusion that is at odds with the beliefs of the majority in my society. If religion weren’t a thing, I wouldn’t need to bother with the label.
I’d ask you to give examples of how I’m hijacking scientific terms, but I already know you’re a lying, trolling piece of solopsistic trash, so I shan’t bother. Just know that you’re still wrong.
theophontes 777 says
@ rajkumar
In principle yes (at least if we are honest). In practice no. This is because there is currently no proof at all that such a supernatural deity exists. Zip! Nada! Nothing!
All a goddist need do is bring credible evidence to the table. Or, as Nerd has pointed out, bring us that burning bush.
And we don’t even need to get all scientific and disprove the god hypothesis (being unfalsifiable, this would be a bit awkward), we need merely show how (whichever) god came into existence. This we do know. They were all – each and every one of them – made up by people.
rajkumar says
Sally
Fine. I have no problems with that. I have already said, your beliefs are your own. You live your own life. If you are happy and content, then there is nothing more that you need.
SallyStrange: bottom-feeding, work-shy peasant says
I don’t think Raj knows what “projection” means. Funny, he was the one spouting off about psychology… When he began his last comment by saying, “Here is another projection for you,” it turned out to be the absolute truth. But Raj is not given to truth-telling, so I’m guessing it was unintentional, and born of ignorance. And laziness.
'Tis Himself says
Most of us say that if you can show we’re wrong then we’ll admit it. Of course you goddists have been trying to show atheists wrong for millennia without success. As time goes on, the possible evidence for gods gets less and less, but that doesn’t stop you goddists from pretending it exists.
Kel says
It’s really weird to think of actually wanting to be an atheist, any more than wanting there to be unicorns or wanting santa claus to come and deliver presents each year. It’s not really a question of want, but what position best explains the evidence.
It’s funny that people try to put whatever psychological factors they can on atheists, because at the end of the day, atheists are vindicated by such reasoning – if God was anything other than a fiction, then one could show atheists as being fools without needing to try to psychologise it. Atheists are more than willing to point out why they don’t believe, so if those arguments and evidences are unaccounted for then it doesn’t matter what “just so” story you can make up about someone’s psychology. It doesn’t matter, and frankly is a matter of intellectual cowardice.
SallyStrange: bottom-feeding, work-shy peasant says
Actually, there is something else I need before I can be perfectly content. I need people like you to realize that truth matters and it’s not okay to lie.
Kel says
Whether or not this is true, it’s quite irrelevant unless you can show that the case atheists are putting forward is wrong. Spending so much time trying to deconstruct the psychology of an atheist is a waste of time so long as the arguments are neglected.
Are atheists afraid of being wrong? Perhaps some are. But the question is, are they wrong?
Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says
Given the evidence, I, like PZ, Dawkins, and most of the gun atheists would acknowledge the evidence. Where is that evidence again? It isn’t found in gaps in knowledge, or in hallucinations and delusions. It is not imagufactured evidence which is all you have shown and talked about. It is solid, physical, can be studied by one and all, and no question about the fact that divine will is upon that object. Something equivalent to an eternally burning bush. Until then, your blither-blather of mental masturbation is utter and total fuckwittery, and you are WRONG.
SallyStrange: bottom-feeding, work-shy peasant says
…I never expected to live a life of contentment, of course.
John Morales says
[meta + OT]
rajkumar says
Then, I am afraid, you are asking for the impossible. You cannot change the way other people think, and you cannot change the way they live their lives. You have your freedoms, others have their freedoms.
Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says
Did rajkumar sink so low as to attempt a form of Pascal’s wager on us?
John Morales says
Nerd, sorta kinda flailed at it, perhaps.
(Not all that coherent, it)
Ariaflame, BSc, BF, PhD says
I think some pharyngulites have evidence to the contrary.
Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says
Yawn, still nothing but inane and fruitless mental wanking from rajkumar. Evidence is required to make speculation fruitful and productive. I see no evidence from rajkumar.
theophontes 777 says
@ All
There is a slow (far too slow for most of us) decline in religious belief around the world. There are some exceptions, such as Israel, Russia, Phillipines and Poland. Though slow, the change is accumulating. It would be nice to think there will be a critical mass one day and we can all move beyond religion and all the hate and ignorance it aspires to .
Link: Beliefs about god report, University of Chicago.
@ Rajkumar
You see, it is not so difficult to link to credible reports about the matters that we are discussing. Oh, hang on… in your case it is, because you talk shit.
pentatomid says
Rajkumar,
Will you stop your freakish masturbation and present some evidence, because so for pretty much everything you’ve said is just fractally wrong from whatever perspective one takes.
Also, you seem to think that your weird brand of ‘agnosticism’ somehow makes your position more valid. Well guess what… Nope, wrong again. All you’ve done is create an arrogant position that permits you to feel superior to both theists and atheists.
You’re an idiot, Rajkumar.
rajkumar says
And you are a genius…
OK. I have to go now.
Good night.
theophontes 777 says
@ rajkumar
Because you would like to believe this? Are you scared of what we are saying here? That we challenge the grip you ego has on your intellect?
A sign of intelligence is the ability to change one’s thinking when one is proven wrong. What may be true for you is certainly not true of people on this thread. Or of people in general.
Then you are taking your freedoms for granted. The last 2000 years have seen people being robbed of their freedoms. In large part by others who feel that their imaginary deity endorses their sick behaviour. But if you think it is all about Raj, just say so. We shall keep arguing and and fighting for our cause because it is possible to reverse the oppressive influences of religious ignorance and authoritarianism. (I am fascinated if you can explain your flippant views to mormon child brides or women in rural Pakistan. Or any other people who are subjugated by perverse religions.)
theophontes 777 says
(fify:
youyour)theophontes 777 says
@ John Morales
If you don’t mind I’ll riff a little on our two linkies. It appears (from the report I linked to) that as people get older they tend towards religiousity. IIRC, the Aussies call this “cramming for the finals”.
So to paraphrase one of the Huxley quotes:
*ahem*
“…half an hour before closing time, …
somahad raised a quite impenetrable wall between the actual universe and their minds.”Matt Penfold says
This is done all the time.
It is how advertising works. It is why being gay is increasingly accepted in many parts of the world. It is why women are no longer subjected to the same level of discrimination common, even in my lifetime, in many parts of the world.
If you say such idiotic things as this, are you surprised when you treat you like an idiot ?
pentatomid says
Why thank you, Raj, old sport.
Strewth says
Kel says
Theists may be afraid of death, but whether or not that is true, it doesn’t change one bit whether or not God exists – just theier ability to recognise a case. If you just undercut a theist’s argument by saying they are afraid of death, it’s doing nothing to address the case for God. It’s the very definition of an ad hominem attack.
KG says
I haven’t benn following his blitherings. Is this the stupidest thing rajkumar has yet said? If he believes it, what is he trying to accomplish here?
theophontes 777 says
@ Kel
(I am not sure who this is addressed to.)
Fear of death would explain why they are more likely to seek out comforting, non-rational explanations for how things fit together.
It goes some way to explaining where the motivation came to invent the god-concept in the first place. Or why people feel impelled towards believing in such god/s.
I fail to see how you can say this would be an ad hominem. Fear is the very foundry in which gods where manufactured. It is important to recognise this in building a case against gods.
(I am aware that some gods did evolve into mythical entities that were worshipped for reasons other than fear. But it is important to map out the entire process of god formation. And this certainly requires the acknowledgement of fear of death. Also in the case of contemporary people turning to ready-made gods.)
myeck waters says
You may well think that. However, you’re an idiot, and what you think has no bearing on reality.
theophontes 777 says
@ KG
Lordy No! He wants to have his cake and eat it, in every point he has brought up.
vaiyt says
Rajkumar knows more than everyone about everything, even themselves.
Kel says
Rajkumar; it’s in addition to my previous posts today.
Agreed.
Two reasons.
Firstly, it’s a non sequitur to the argument at hand. How do you know that fear is the main reason they as individuals hold it? If someone puts forward the cosmological argument, claiming they just believe it because of fear is going after the person and leaving the argument completely unaddressed. They may be engaging in motivated reasoning, but that doesn’t say anything about the validity of the cosmological argument. Unless one means to imply that the cosmological argument is only compelling to those who fear death, in which case the argumentative burden is still on showing the flaws of the cosmological argument.
Second, those general patterns are just that. How any individual believes isn’t necessarily encompassed by these rules. It could be that believer X doesn’t have a fear of death at all, but simply cannot see how the universe could come about without something willing it to exist. You could go on and on about how much they fear death, and not only would it not address their argument but you would be mistaken in doing so.
Imagine the inverse case, that people claim that atheism is about the desire to be immoral or that atheism stems from a bad relationship with one’s father. Now one can debate whether or not those are actually true, or to what extent they were true. But surely you can appreciate that a fundamentalist saying that atheists are just looking to sin against God isn’t so much wrong as it is a non sequitur. Being told that you think that you’re God yourself, or that you blame God for all the horrible things in your life, these aren’t arguments against the atheist position even if there may be some truth in some of these assertions. Even if there’s any merit to any of the claims at all, it still doesn’t take away from the rational case for atheism.
David Marjanović says
It’s the other way around.
I, for one, am a scientist. As far as I know, all falsifiable god hypotheses have been falsified, and unfalsifiable hypotheses are simply not worth entertaining. Atheism isn’t a thing that I acquired and could lose, it’s merely the fact that I’m unable to believe without evidence.
No, Poland is not an exception in my experience, secularization is just delayed there. Israel… the ultra-orthodox procreate a lot, so maybe that offsets the bleaching of the faith. Belief in Russia was already fairly low to begin with, as God first failed to smite the godless usurpers for 70 years and then replaced them by the mammon-worshipping Mafia.
David Marjanović says
That was because his repressed patients were obsessed with sex and had ended up associating everything with sex. Their life was fucking hell.
what is this I don’t even
You’re trolling.
TROLIIIIS!!! POŽEMYJE!!
TRR-ROLIS POŽEMYJE!
theophontes 777 says
@ Kel
Thanks, that clarifies it for me. (I trust this gets through to Raj when he wakes up.)
@ David Marjanović
Aside: All my Polish buddies at varsity were hedonistic atheists of the highest order.
But on the other hand, the report (see my #29) does seem to indicate – in keeping with your comment:
Poland is a mixed bag but should come off my list. (The broad trend is lessening belief even if secularisation is not up to speed.)
theophontes 777 says
@ David Marjanović
Ta was let in to TZT on purpose. (It did seem like a good idea at the time...)
IndyM, pikčiurna says
Nuostabu, David, tikrai nuostabu… :)
Sastra says
Rajkumar wrote:
We are atheists because we are willing to consider the question of whether God exists or not as honestly, objectively, and rigorously as possible. This entails using science — it’s not simply a decorative addition for effect. It’s the method.
Please keep in mind the fact that many versions of God are either very esoteric, very interesting, or very gratifying. If true, people with a curious scientific bent — such as ourselves — would be fascinated and thrilled with such an exciting new discovery and dimension to reality. Our focus would not just be on our personal satisfaction, but on the impact this would make for the advanced understanding of humanity.
And yet we doubt even this. Truly, it can’t be for the reason you suggest — that we just “want” to be atheists in order to be contrary or cool or something — not when we are the group most interested in pushing the boundaries of what we, as human beings, are capable of learning about the nature of the universe we have found ourselves in. Rather, our lack of belief is the direct result of the cautious and humble method we have chosen to use on an issue we are taking seriously — rather than personally, as an expression of our subjective hopes, desires, and untestable speculations.
Watch out for those untestable speculations, by the way. That is what Ockam’s Razor is used on. It doesn’t shave possibilities from the universe: it cuts back our tendency to get so far ahead of ourselves that’s there’s just no way of checking back on reality. .. and discovering that we’ve made an error.
We have to be able to change our minds. Otherwise, we create at least one infallible God — and it’s us.
Ogvorbis: Insert Appropriate Appelation Here says
So we have:
rajkumar, the type specimen for Trollodon mystici rajkumar
yec123, a specimen of Trollodon fundogelici shiloh
DanielHaven, another specimen of Trollodon funodgelici shiloh
How long do we have to wait for these species to become extinct?
theophontes 777 says
@ Sastra
If FTB do not offer you a blog of your own, then I would like to read you the following declaration in My Capacity of Its Highness Teh Self-appointed Benevolent Dictator for Life:
*ahem*
The Committee of the 37th Pleniary Commission of the 7th Convocation for the 3rd Five-Year Plan of the Peoples’ Comintern of the Ministry of Peace of the Pharyngulite Peoples’ Republic of Southern The Endless Thread, heretothereinafter referred to as The Zombie Thread, has noted with admiration your posts on TZT. You are hereby granted Honourary Citizenship in Perpetuity.
'Tis Himself says
David Marjanović #46
I see what you did there.
theophontes 777 says
All is seen. All is recorded. (Though policy dictates that We must be quick to punish and slow to reward.)
Ing: I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream So I Comment Instead says
You should. Having read biographies of him I’ve seen nothing to suggest that Darwin was a genius or had unusually gifted intellect.
What he did have was patience, honesty and perception.
His discovery wasn’t due to a gift of greater intelligence than others; it was due to hard work, obsessive collecting and cataloging (ie data collection) and being perceptive and open minded. It was not a Eureka moment, he filled journals with notes and thoughts trying to make sense of his data. He collected a lot of data, saw something interesting in it and had the patience to keep at it until he figured it out.
In short, he had something better than genius, he had science.
Ing: I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream So I Comment Instead says
If the goal is just to change how someone thinks with no other specifics than a swift blow to the side of the head can do just that.
theophontes 777 says
Rajkumar is concerned about a specifically religious experience. This would require a blow to the left side of the head.
A. R says
Did I just hear a shotgun being loaded? PZ must be getting ready to double tap this thread.
Ogvorbis: Insert Appropriate Appelation Here says
Cool thing is, with the 500 comment rollover in effect, he can just ignore this seething pile of Trollodon droppings and let it keep rolling in perpetuity or forever, whichever comes second.
Kel says
If it’s anything like the time I tried to explain algorithms to him, he’ll dismiss it as assertions, call everyone here dogmatic, and then say he’s doing the best he can.
Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says
I’d settle for a double tap on rajkumar, Yec123, DanielHaven, and scifi. Dumbshits extraordinaire one and all.
A. R says
Nerd: Yeah, yec123 got the banhammer a day or so ago, and DH666 seems to be in one of his inactive periods.
Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says
Dang, I missed the announcement. I’m trying like hell to keep up. *grumbles and goes looking*
Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says
Found last known by me sighting, no banhammer announcement (speaking truth thread), but definitely in the dungeon. Good enough.
rajkumar says
Nerd, what happened? The banhammer never falls on an idiot like you is a living proof that there is something seriously wrong with blog, right? OK I know. You have special links with PZ Myers. He listens to you, acts on your suggestions a lot, somehow. I have seen this happening before, and it can happen again. But who cares. It is you buffoons who lose.
Kel says
Are you going to admit you were in error about bottom-up design yet?
rajkumar says
No. Though I am going to admit that I tried my best to explain to you how it was a useless concept to discuss there. You don’t know where to draw the start line and where to draw the finish line when you talk about evolution.
Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says
Rajkumar is gentically incapable as being as honest as any scientist is in their profession. Him admitting error? A certain location will be reliably be determined it has frozen over first.
rajkumar says
Kel: I have explained to you many times already in that thread. The universe is not a human, but we humans quite often try to understand the **whole universe** from a human standpoint. It can work sometimes, and it does, but sooner or later we are going to face a thick brick wall. An example is when we try to figure out the pre big bang conditions. It is not possible, unless we have evolved to the point where we can imagine existence without time and space. At the moment, we can’t. So, it is a useless attempt.
Kel says
Evolution is not the only algorithm in existence, it was an illustration of the abstract principle. If you understood the abstract principle, you would see why your criticism of how I handle evolution is misguided. The problem is that you’re not thinking in the abstract, you’re not engaging with how processes can create outcomes. If you would, you’d see why it didn’t matter one bit to my argument whether or not we know everything about evolution. Your response missed the mark.
As an aside, where did I get it wrong when I talked about evolution?
Kel says
And that has *what* to do with the power of algorithmic processes?
rajkumar says
But I have to go now, for good this time. I will save PZ the hassle of lowering his infamous banhammer. Can’t say it wasn’t fun, because it was. I hope you could see it this way too….:)
To give a friendly suggestion before I leave: The world outside this blog is not as stupid as you people may think it is. So if you have this blog, and you claim you are the champions of free speech and tolerance, then prove it… Do so not by threatening people with banhammers and bans and calling them trolls when you are out of arguments, but by doing just the opposite….:)
See ya
Bye
John Morales says
rajkumar:
<snicker>
(Circular supposition is circular and incoherent.)
Kel says
Algorithmic processes are put into use by various engineering disciplines. They work! And it doesn’t matter one bit whether or not we can understand pre-Big Bang conditions or whether or not we have a perfect view of evolution to know how such processes work. That’s the problem, you’re fatalistic agnosticism about ultimate knowledge is irrelevant to the real knowledge we can. We may never know whether or not life exists on other planets, but what does that say about knowing whether life exists on this one?
Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says
Yawn, rajkumar presented any real evidence yet (to the regulars, no is the null hypothesis)? I’m killfiling the fool for the night, unless I feel the need to sharpen my titanium fang.
John Morales says
rajkumar:
Your schtick has been apparent for days; you can’t possibly imagine anyone believes you.
A. R says
Oh, would this be flounce #10000000, or #10000001?
Ogvorbis: Insert Appropriate Appelation Here says
How else are supposed to understand it? After all, most of us here are human.
Bullshit. We’ve been calling you a troll for a very long time. We still have arguments. You’re the one who keeps redefining words, denying what you have written, and flat our refusing to supply even one iota of actual evidence for you ‘god is consciousness/intelligence/the universe/drugs’.
The odds are currently at 7 to 1 that he fails to stick the flounce. You bet seven, you can win one. Any takers?
chigau (バフーン) says
Are we buffoons losing because rajkumar has left us?
A. R says
chigau: Of course not… Because he hasn’t left us. {waves} HI RAJ!
In other matters, theophontes needs to come up with a new way to light his hetacombs. I think the CL20 is causing behavioral changes in raj.
Strewth says
Well, we can at least say Rajkumar is consistent. You could almost set your watch by the periods between when he says he is leaving and never coming back… and when he comes back.
Is anyone else getting the impression that he keeps coming back because we’re the only people in the world who will talk to him?
chigau (バフーン) says
A. R
Yeah. You’re probably right.
HI RAJ!
I am really falling behind on the TZT weapons array.
Have we managed to incorporate rotting porcupine essence into anything yet?
ibyea says
Rajkumar
You know the kind of people I detest? People like you who have given up without trying or giving other people the chance to figure things out. It is such a lazy form of thinking. No wonder you are such an idiot. You have given up on learning. I mean, imagine if people would have given up back then about finding the composition of a star, and scientists would have listened to their advise. OH WAIT, SUCH PEOPLE EXISTED!
Thankfully, many scientists didn’t listen to his advise. And hopefully, no one starts following your advise.
Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says
*holds up sealed envelope a la Carnac the Maganificent* “who will provide no conclusive physical evidence for their claims at anytime”?
As you said, it is consistent…
ibyea says
BTW, the above quote from Comte is not complete. But I read the full quote, and it doesn’t look like I am twisting his meanings.
ibyea says
@rajkumar
And one more thing. If scientists would have stopped figuring things out because we can’t imagine things that are outside our normal experience, they would have never figured out the quantum nature of subatomic particles. So stop trying to tell us what we can and can’t know because you have no idea the kind of bizarre and unimaginable things we actually do know.
A. R says
chigau: TZT weapons R&D is Classified Secret, Porcupine related R&D is Classified Top Secret.
Strewth says
(looks at A.R. Hides the warfarin coated echidna behind the couch)
chigau (バフーン) says
cue scary organ music
A. R says
Strewth: I am concerned.
A. R says
Chigau:I find much organ music to be scary, too much association with church.
chigau (バフーン) says
A. R
You have no idea what else is behind Strewth’s couch.
ibyea says
@chigau
^_^
chigau (バフーン) says
A. R re 91 re 87
You must be kidding!
I’m 57 and so are my eyes.
I can’t see that!
chigau (バフーン) says
OMG!?!‽‽‽?
Where is everybody?
Y’all gave a party? and didn’t invite me?
and I did a pork roast, I woulda brought some.
theophontes 777 says
@ chigau
FIFY
OMG!?!‽‽‽? OMT!?!‽‽‽?I am concerned about our resident house-pet D666. It has been gone for days. What if it gets ridden over by a banhammer? Perhaps we should post fliers? Or light a fiery hecatomb to the Goddess Abeona…?
theophontes 777 says
Now even its H has gone missing. I have a bad feeling.
A. R says
theophontes: The TZT Department of Troll Oversight and Management(DTOM) is currently working on a way to bring DH666 back to the thread.
chigau (バフーン) says
I want an additional acronym.
(do not DO NOT ever forget that I am 2IC {{[(ok?)]}})
[{I don’t want more duties, I just want more titles.}]
chigau (バフーン) says
I think I should do the dishes before I go to bed.
theophontes 777 says
@ AR
You don’t think we should be posting reward notices in other threads?
@ chigau
Of course, of course. I have instructed the Plenary Committee to commission a long panegyric in your praise. Here is the introduction to the first draft:
*ahem*
… needs a bit more praise thrown in. But I think they are onto something.
theophontes 777 says
Dishes can be left in sink. Carpe Snoozum!
A. R says
theophontes: Oh, we can post rewards, but how are we going to pay them out?
Ogvorbis: Insert Appropriate Appelation Here says
You have USB ports, right?
And you could also hand out, as rewards, free passes to Pharyngula.
christinelaing says
PZ left a post telling yec123 that he could only post in the zombie from now on and yec left a post starting “Just one last post…”
I think all the evidence was purged but there might be traces if you look for it. I think it was the “Atheists are Satanists who burn churches therefore it’s okay to protest an atheist convention” thread.
christinelaing says
Whoops, sorry it was the “reasoning is so much unlike retching that God must exist” thread.
kemist, Dark Lord of the Sith says
We like troll-stumping here. You must have noticed that the threads which fill up fastest are the ones where there are trolls. The most adverse reaction most people here have experienced while arguing with you is excessive eye rolling and facepalming.
Indeed not. I suspect it is even more stupid than we can ever imagine. If there’s one thing that I have given up on, it’s to find out just how stupid people can be.
1) Nobody is forced to come here. Nobody will follow you when you leave.
That you keep coming back indicates that you quite like it. Like I explained to a certain xian ghoul earlier, we provide a public service here – we help would-be martyrs to satisfy their persecution complex without experiencing any actual persecution.
2) It seems to me it was you who was out of arguments. You kept engaging people on tone and psychological motivations, which are not arguments but unsubtle, and frankly boring, ad-hominems.
Ing: I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream So I Comment Instead says
Snicker. Good to see that your sense of agency is hypersensative in multiple instances.
Here’s a thought, try mastering the BASICS of philosophy, like ontology and epistemology and basic logical syllogisms before you try to figure out TEH UNIVERSE
Ing: I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream So I Comment Instead says
You forgot flat out denial and accusing people of being liars.
chigau (バフーン) says
gorram!
That is NOT what I had in mind.
At all.
'Tis Himself says
Great chigau, whose tread shakes the Earth and whose belches are thunder in the hills!
Ing: I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream So I Comment Instead says
I can’t remember if Future Dezien Porco the “Citizen of the World” troll?
PZ Myers says
HE IS RISEN!