Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
Atheist Penelope
psion:
--- Quote from: rb4havoc on 15 Dec 2008, 15:41 ---Yeah, but then the spontaneity would have had to occur over and over again, hundreds of millions of times, and wouldn't truly be random, but rather a pattern :wink:
--- End quote ---
There are never random occurrences. Only patterns. It's in the math.
Usopp:
--- Quote ---Yeah, but then the spontaneity would have had to occur over and over again, hundreds of millions of times, and wouldn't truly be random, but rather a pattern
--- End quote ---
The point is, the odds say it'll happen eventually, and the only ones who get to question it are the ones who the odds favor. 10000 coin flips resulting in heads in a row is highly unlikely, but the odds say it'll happen.
sofiabailote:
--- Quote from: Jeans on 15 Dec 2008, 10:36 ---If I believe am invisible space monkey that grants immortality is in my bedroom closet then I am in my full right to believe so. Crazy? Sure! But to me, it's just as crazy not to believe in the monkey. To me, the monkey is a very real thing. Why shouldn't I be allowed to believe in the monkey? Just because you don't believe in it doesn't mean I don't.
--- End quote ---
but then, when you die, what happens to the monkey? :wink:
Jeff7:
--- Quote from: psion on 15 Dec 2008, 16:55 ---
--- Quote from: rb4havoc on 15 Dec 2008, 15:41 ---Yeah, but then the spontaneity would have had to occur over and over again, hundreds of millions of times, and wouldn't truly be random, but rather a pattern :wink:
--- End quote ---
There are never random occurrences. Only patterns. It's in the math.
--- End quote ---
Once you get down to the quantum level though, predictability pretty much breaks down.
--- Quote from: rb4havoc on 15 Dec 2008, 13:21 ---I honestly think that from either standpoint, from atheism or religion, it's give or take from both faith and logic. Our world being habitable and then humans coming into existence are prime examples of it. From a logical point of view, the probability of either happening in mathematical terms is impossible, so help from an outside source to guide the creation process would logically make more sense than just a random bang and random primordial oozes mixing together to make a planet and human life, respectively. To me, it just seems like there's more faith involved in the latter than the former :laugh:
--- End quote ---
Invariably, Occam's Razor comes up. Possibilities:
- A finite universe, with a finite quantity of matter and energy, and a finite, but large, number of possibilities.
- An infinitely powerful, infinitely complex deity.
Finite complexity would seem more likely.
And there's always the question of, who created the creator? By the same reasoning of creating a complex Universe, a more complex creator would need to exist. And from there, it's just turtles all the way down.
If <deity> is exempt from the laws of spacetime, why not exempt the Big Bang singularity from it as well? Stephen Hawking said that asking "what came before the Big Bang" is like asking "What's south of the south pole?" As best as we can figure, space, energy, and time erupted from the Big Bang singularity. There was a "before," but not in any terms we can quantify, because we exist within space and time. What is there when space and time don't exist? I can merely quantify it as "something," but I can not be any more specific.
There's also the Anthropic Principle: If the Universe wasn't hospitable to any sentient life forms, then there wouldn't be anyone around to ask, "Why does the Universe hate life?"
Though indeed, 99.99999.......% of the volume of the Universe is inhospitable to us, and portions of it are utterly hostile. One of those good burps of gamma radiation that are occasionally spotted here and there could quite severely damage life on Earth - since gamma rays are just another wavelength of light, our only warning would come when sensors detected a really bright flash of gamma rays, coupled with the shedding of a large portion of the ozone layer, and possibly more of the atmosphere, depending on how powerful the blast is.
Heck, even our charming home planet has plenty of environments that would kill us pretty darn quickly.
"I believe in the Invisible Pink Unicorn. I logically know it is invisible because I cannot see it, and I know it is pink because I have faith."
JacobSnickers:
Check out this David Wong article on the subject. It does a really good job of describing how similar all belief systems are, and he really does make some interesting points. Definitely good reading.
"Ten Things Christians and Atheists Can (and must) Agree On"
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