Ask an Atheist!!!

#881

I’m not out to disprove anything. Those that make the claim that something exists (God, middle Earth, Voldemort, my left arm turning into Eccentrica Gallumbits from Eroticon VI) have the burden of proof. Me? I’m not trying to prove anything.

In our universe, there is gravity. Point blank. It does not fail. Ever. Period. To suggest that it could is to fundamentally alter our universe to such an extent that it’s not our universe anymore. That’s been evidenced, time and again, by science, billions of times a second for billions of years over billions of cubic-miles. It is just a part of the universe.

I am not going to even entertain the notion that the universe could suddenly up-end itself.

My point is:

The gods, as defined by man in the various holy books, cannot exist due to the logical conflict inherent in all deities. If you have an entity that you believe to be a deity, then it is up to you to prove it via evidence.

It isn’t up to me to disprove it, just like it isn’t up to me to disprove that my cat will not suddenly begin buying and selling stocks on floor of the NYSE.

#882

daniel, that’s not what we were talking about at all. Yes, the burden of proof is on those who make a claim. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a tiny, tiny chance of something happening, existing, or whatever, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, or despite lack of evidence.

Yes, a god could possibly exist, but there is no evidence for his existence so we don’t believe in him. Same thing for fairies or for gravity failing.

#883

See, that’s where I differ. Right now, we have no concrete definition of “god” at all. So how can something that we don’t even know how to define exist? If you have a deity you think is god, how do you know he is that and not just a super-advanced being?

Watch the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Devil’s Due for what I mean.

#884

Absolutely impossible? Nay. There’s a remote chance we’re living in an advanced simulation, from a reality more complex than our own, and a player decided to act out the western dieties exactly as written. Or, to act them out exactly however else they would be. As horribly unlikely all this is, we can’t rule it out to a 0% chance of being true. (But if you believed it, you’d still be an idiot.)

Elohim and Jehovah could be some wicked screennames.

The only thing that’s absolutely not possible is a clear contradiction, i.e. “the one true god” coexisting with another omnipotence.

#885

I don’t expect anyone to believe as I do or to accept my worldview, but, to me, even 0.000…01% = 0%

I can rule things out. Without evidence for something, I won’t believe it. If I’m wrong, I’m wrong. However, if you really want to say “Anything’s possible” simply because there’s no evidence that it can’t happen, then I think I’ll just leave it there.

#886

000.01%=/=0%

You could have said in the beginning that you were arguing on opinion and personal semantics.

#887

10/3 = 3.33333…
3.33333… * 3 = 9.999999…
10 = 9.99999999…

0.0000000…01% = 0%

Again, if you want to call it opinion or personal semantics, I can’t ague that. To me, if there’s no evidence that something can’t happen and there’s no evidence that it can ever happen, then it won’t. I can bet you all the money on the planet and the worth of all the precious metals on and in the Earth that gravity will not fail tomorrow or any time ever. It’s guaranteed.

If you want to believe that there’s a remote possibility of it happening, then you go right ahead. I can’t.

#888

You’re rejecting the possibilty of something happening (however minute the chances are) purely because it doesn’t sit well with you? Sounds like faith to me.

No. While gravity has been proven as a universal force that has never changed, there is simply no evidence you can present to show that it will NEVER change. Showing that gravity hasn’t budged in the last few billions years shows just that. The only thing it does to help future predictions is lessen the probabilty that it won’t suddenly alter itself.

In essence, what you’re saying is that you can predict the future of something perfectly. This is of course, is impossible.

#889

What you’re saying isn’t very realistic though, I don’t think anyone here is worried about the possibility that gravity might ‘fail’ (whatever that is).
It’s just like saying “I’m standing still”, when infact you’re not (Earth is rotating, the galaxy etc.).

#890

Your comment doesn’t really make much sense, Jeannotvb.

#891

I think the point Daniel is trying to make is that when you are dealing with the likelihood of events so rare that their probability exceeds the point of reason or plausibility, discussing them in terms of ‘what if’ is pointless. What if gravity fails? It won’t. Come on people, can we not at least agree on that to a degree of certainty we can be comfortable with? The debate from the atheist point of view is that it’s about as likely that there is a god watching over humanity. To be fair there is just about as much legitimate evidence that there is ( which is zero at this point ). Religious people argue that there is intangible evidence, but as an atheist, I do not see any.

Let’s not sit and argue about things so unlikely that we have to venture into obscurity just to get the terms correct. What is the point? How does anything so unlikely apply to us in the least?

#892

As if adding this line to every scientific theory does…

“this will always happen but there is a 0.0000000000000000001% chance that…”

Nobody gives a damn whether there’s a possibility gravity will fail, what’s the point.

#893

Oh I’m not saying that we should seriously consider whether universal constants will randomly change, I’m just arguing that you can’t deny that they possibly COULD. Accept it as an insignificant possibility and move on.

#894

Exactly. Of course gravity failing or whatever shouldn’t be considered a real possibility, but that doesn’t mean there’s not an ever so slight chance of it happening. Saying ‘0.0…01% = 0% to me’ is opinion and personal semantics.

#895

He cites the case 10 = 9.99999999…
This is true, being an infinite decimal repetition, but the probabilities for these freak things can still be a finite decimal expansion (and not 1/infinity), so the chances are not equal to 0.

If it were, we could use the same logic to say 9.99 = 10. (Heck, we could say 9 = 10 !!!)

This is fact, not opinion. Just admit no matter how stupidly improbable the reality of it would be, it’s possible. The laws of the universe are only things which we haven’t ever seen been broken.

#896

I don’t believe that it can happen without evidence that it can. I don’t believe without evidence. I don’t believe gravity will fail until I have evidence that it can. Meanwhile, you seem to believe that it can, in the remotest of probabilities, while there’s no evidence for it.

Which is faith? The belief without evidence or the belief with evidence?

You have no evidence of that. I do. I have a mountain of evidence so tall that you can see it from other galaxies. I don’t mean to insult, but it feels like I’m debating a creationist here.

There is a preponderance of the evidence, from historical observations, that gravity is the nature of things. You’re saying, WITHOUT EVIDENCE, that there is a remote possibility that it’ll be different than what the evidence points to.

I’m sorry, but I cannot believe without evidence. What is your evidence that there is a 0.0000…01% probability that it can change?

#897

the fact an admin could decide to change sv_gravity in the remote chance we’re a simulation

otherwise you might be able to get away with blaming quantum uncertainty…

#898

Any evidence of said admin or simulation? (We’re teetering awfully close to the concept of “god” again…or should I now call them the “users”?)

#899

I thought the thread was to ask atheists questions…but with no non-atheist asking any questions, we’ve devolved into in-fighting. :slight_smile: To me, this is now a discussion not of atheism but of disparate viewpoints inherent in a society of humans.

What non-atheists should get out of this thread is:

Atheists can’t agree on shit. We aren’t a unified force. We have no collective ideology. One atheist is different from another. We’re our own people. We have no leader. The only thing that binds us together at all is our mutual lack of belief of deities.

Now, with that said, y’all are morans if you don’t agree with me LOL!!!1!11!!!one!1 :retard:

I’m still quite willing to answer any question posed but it’s clear, under the circumstances, that each atheist is going to have a different viewpoint, opinion, or way of seeing things.

#900

Well, there’s the claim that there is a remote possibility that God might exist (which is what led to the “whole page or so [that] is completely fucking irrelevant and pointless”). I’m not changing my mind because no one has given me a reason to. All I see is special pleading which illustrates, in my mind, a weakness of position.

If you think I’m closed-minded, feel free to do so, and my mind may be closed, but it’s not locked. It’s easily opened.

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