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The notion of ‘First cause’, an underlying assumption in Judeo-Christian tradition, purports to explain the origin of the cosmos in terms of ‘Supernatural creation’. The major fallacy inherent in this argument is that it attempts to explain the existence of natural phenomenon using a supernatural means. If someone were to ask me an arbitrary question about the natural world, they might say “How does an airplane take flight?”. I could potentially offer them two contrasting replies. The first one being: “Magic. It is controlled by god. Almighty god directs and controls the airplane’s motion.” The alternate answer is “The thrust from the engines pushing the plane forward exceeds the air resistance pulling it back thus creating a lift force enabling the plane to glide through the air.”
We must ask ourselves, which one of these answers provides a superior practical insight into the question? The first answer isn’t even really an explanation and offers no perspective on understanding aerodynamics, how to design a plane, or how to operate a plane. The latter question gives us a much more tangible foundation of ideas.
It must be said however that few people make the claim that god causes an airplane to glide. Although much broader in context, the question of genesis is fundamentally similar to the question about the airplane. They are both queries about physical reality and natural laws. Although few would dispute the response to the airplane query, many would dispute the natural evolution of the cosmos and would find it difficult to let go of the notion of ‘first cause’. To admit that the universe is not designed would be to admit that god does not exist, and to admit that, for some, would be to strip their belief system, identity, and way of life.
We must ask ourselves, which one of these answers provides a superior practical insight into the question? The first answer isn’t even really an explanation and offers no perspective on understanding aerodynamics, how to design a plane, or how to operate a plane. The latter question gives us a much more tangible foundation of ideas.
It must be said however that few people make the claim that god causes an airplane to glide. Although much broader in context, the question of genesis is fundamentally similar to the question about the airplane. They are both queries about physical reality and natural laws. Although few would dispute the response to the airplane query, many would dispute the natural evolution of the cosmos and would find it difficult to let go of the notion of ‘first cause’. To admit that the universe is not designed would be to admit that god does not exist, and to admit that, for some, would be to strip their belief system, identity, and way of life.
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Re: blurb
Dennet and Dawkins said it best. Complex things arise via evolutionary processes from simpler things. To start with a being complex enough to create our universe is not an explanation; it has zero information content...
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Re: blurb
We should guard against giving weight to the assumption that because phenomena are explainable their meanings are significant.
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Clinton Huxley » 21 Jun 2012 » 14:10:36 GMT
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"It isn't necessary to imagine the world ending in fire or ice.
There are two other possibilities: one is paperwork, and the other is nostalgia."
Frank Zappa
"This is how humanity ends; bickering over the irrelevant."
Clinton Huxley » 21 Jun 2012 » 14:10:36 GMT
Re: blurb
Simple to complex or complex to simple, it depends on perspective.
Re: blurb
If determinism exists does that imply that the future already happened?
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Re: blurb
I never thought this argument carried much wait. I think the underlying assumption, that a deity, in order to create a universe, must be really, really complex itself, is not really supported by anything. Since when do things that create other things have to be more complex than the things they create?JimC wrote:Dennet and Dawkins said it best. Complex things arise via evolutionary processes from simpler things. To start with a being complex enough to create our universe is not an explanation; it has zero information content...
An argument I like better is that the First Cause argument fails of its own basic premise. The First Cause thing is based on the notion that everything that exists has a cause, and that since the universe exists it too must have a cause. That cause is god.
That fails, I think, because if you look at the things in the universe, they DON'T have "a" cause. Like planets, for example. They exist, but they weren't "made" by something. The things we know were "made" are not creations out of whole cloth. A car, for example, is not "created" by humans. It's just assembled from pieces we find laying around. Every atom in a car is just moved from one place to another until they are in the form of a car. Humans didn't "create" the car, except in the same sense that kid molds a play-doh ball into a play-doh car. So, cars and play-doh cars are just one point in a long series of changes in form that all the molecules have gone through.
So, it may be better to say - nothing that exists has a "cause", and therefore the universe doesn't have a cause. All the stuff that is now in the universe was just in a different form, and behaves in the way stuff behaves.
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Re: blurb
That depends on perspective.Pogue wrote:If determinism exists does that imply that the future already happened?
“When I was in college, I took a terrorism class. ... The thing that was interesting in the class was every time the professor said ‘Al Qaeda’ his shoulders went up, But you know, it is that you don’t say ‘America’ with an intensity, you don’t say ‘England’ with the intensity. You don’t say ‘the army’ with the intensity,” she continued. “... But you say these names [Al Qaeda] because you want that word to carry weight. You want it to be something.” - Ilhan Omar
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Re: blurb
Or, vice versa, for that matter. The religious often see great significance in things that apparently cannot be explained.Brian Peacock wrote:We should guard against giving weight to the assumption that because phenomena are explainable their meanings are significant.
“When I was in college, I took a terrorism class. ... The thing that was interesting in the class was every time the professor said ‘Al Qaeda’ his shoulders went up, But you know, it is that you don’t say ‘America’ with an intensity, you don’t say ‘England’ with the intensity. You don’t say ‘the army’ with the intensity,” she continued. “... But you say these names [Al Qaeda] because you want that word to carry weight. You want it to be something.” - Ilhan Omar
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Re: blurb
No.Pogue wrote:If determinism exists does that imply that the future already happened?
And that's the long answer. If you want an even longer one, propose a reason why determinism would imply that the future already happened. I suspect it will involve equivocating inevitability and actuality.
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Re: blurb
The emergent properties of a stochastic universe cannot and should not be confused for error-free fortune telling.
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"It isn't necessary to imagine the world ending in fire or ice.
There are two other possibilities: one is paperwork, and the other is nostalgia."
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"This is how humanity ends; bickering over the irrelevant."
Clinton Huxley » 21 Jun 2012 » 14:10:36 GMT
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"This is how humanity ends; bickering over the irrelevant."
Clinton Huxley » 21 Jun 2012 » 14:10:36 GMT
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Re: blurb
It is arrogant hubris to presume that an explanation is required, and the assertion only has zero information content to the mentally deficient who are unable to see beyond their own limitations and prejudices...which certainly includes both Dennet and Dawkins, who are both severely limited in their intellectual capacity and open-mindedness.JimC wrote:Dennet and Dawkins said it best. Complex things arise via evolutionary processes from simpler things. To start with a being complex enough to create our universe is not an explanation; it has zero information content...
In point of rational fact the assertion that it starts with a being complex enough to create our universe does not contain zero information content, it contains an INFINITE amount of information, which of course is too big and scary for small-minded nitwits like Dennet and Dawkins.
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"All that is required for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." Edmund Burke
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Re: blurb
it contains an INFINITE amount of information, LMFAO YOU FUCKING MORON !
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