No, speaking about philosophy that probably cannot be confirmed with our
current knowledge.
Cosmologists have a proof with respect to locality that does open the door
to a God.
Kinda like the double slit vs the pilot wave, the more you know the more
you discover that you don’t know. Margarine vs butter...
Just as I cannot prove the positive, yet, nobody can prove that God does
not exist or that what makes us who we are does not survive death. You
cannot prove a negative in complex cases.
Something caused Steve Jobs’ last words to be: “Oh Wow, Oh Wow, Oh Wow”.
From: Jeremy
Sent: Saturday, April 29, 2017 10:17 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT Pissed off PhD
I just think it is funny that you are speaking about religion as if it can
be confirmed with the scientific method.
On Sat, Apr 29, 2017 at 9:40 AM, Chuck McCown <[email protected]> wrote:
I told him that a shrewd person hedges their bets. I sure do not want
to
step into a possible new existence with a God pissed off at me. Costs
nothing and the potential upside is huge. Better than buying a lottery
ticket.
From: Jaime Solorza
Sent: Saturday, April 29, 2017 9:36 AM
To: Animal Farm
Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT Pissed off PhD
shoot him this one...."I know there ain't no heaven. but I PRAY there is
no HELL."
Jaime Solorza
Wireless Systems Architect
915-861-1390
On Sat, Apr 29, 2017 at 9:32 AM, Chuck McCown <[email protected]> wrote:
This professor and I have been going for 24 hours now. He quickly
dropped to taunts like “have your dead son do something” or pray to god to
cure all amputees. Odd crap like that.
He guy is 62 year old and throws in a “you lose” and “reality check”
with every posting. I am trying to asking for definitions of things he
says like reality, truth, integrity etc. He does not want to do anything
but say how dishonest I am and how repugnant, dishonest, and disgusting
all religions are and to make unkind comments about my “dead son”.
It is kinda fun playing defense on an increasingly vitriolic thread.
I really got him wound up. Must be sad in his reality.
From: Gino A. Villarini
Sent: Saturday, April 29, 2017 6:20 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT Pissed off PhD
I have always had this notion that what we understand as our universe
a
quark of someone else universe…
From: Af <[email protected]> on behalf of
"[email protected]"
<[email protected]> Reply-To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
Date: Saturday, April 29, 2017 at 7:01 AM
To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT Pissed off PhD
I had an astronomy professor in college and we got to the part where
we
talked about the theories on how the universe was created. Obviously the
one that has the most "compelling concrete evidence" is the big bang
theory. So we are told that the universe started with hydrogen and
helium..... then something happened..... (we still have no clue what
happened in that first billionth of a second) and then everything was
created.
The bible tells us in the beginning there was God and darkness....
then
something happened.... and then there was light.
So my professor pointed out that both science and religion both start
with a premise that something existed out of nothing and that then
something else happened and here we are. So they could both be right and
they could both be wrong. Science doesn't tell us where the helium and
hydrogen came from and religion doesn't tell us where God came from.
Sort of link someone saying, "How do you become a millionaire?" And
you
respond, "Well, first get 1 million dollars."
Gino A. Villarini
President
Metro Office Park #18 Suite 304 Guaynabo, Puerto Rico 00968
On Fri, Apr 28, 2017 at 3:00 PM, <[email protected]> wrote:
No, debate and the scientific method is OK.
From: Josh Reynolds
Sent: Friday, April 28, 2017 12:51 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT Pissed off PhD
So we've cut out politics, but religion is ok?
- Josh
On Apr 28, 2017 1:42 PM, <[email protected]> wrote:
This guy wrote an op ed piece in the Salt Lake Tribune today
criticizing a doctor for claiming that divine intervention saved his
wife's
life, and the doctor had the temerity to make this announcement on earth
day. So Mr. PhD had to take him to task in the news paper.
I looked up the guys email address and sent him the note (at the
bottom of the thread). Not sure if I will get any further replies but I
did have some fun this morning...
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected]
Sent: Friday, April 28, 2017 12:35 PM
To: Gregory Arthur Clark
Subject: Re: Letter in the tribune
So odd and unexpected.
A truth seeker that resorts insulting someone that disagrees and
then slams the door?
Is that part of the scientific method?
Personally, I prefer my pet theories to be disproved so I can
continue the search.
(BTW, countless anecdotal beyond the veil stories that reveal
previously unknown information. But it seems your search for truth in
that
direction is clearly halted. )
See you in 150 years mate!
-----Original Message----- From: Gregory Arthur Clark
Sent: Friday, April 28, 2017 12:28 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: Letter in the tribune
Replies below.
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, April 28, 2017 12:04 PM
To: Gregory Arthur Clark <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Letter in the tribune
Hmmm, I note some emotion there.
Odd indeed that you are so worked up when if you parse what I
wrote, I was not conveying any information about my beliefs in anything.
Nor was I defending at all what Daniels said. I don't.
Odd that you seem to immediately judge me as a dishonest person.
---------------
GC: Curious that you object to my inferences while making so many
of your own. Your irrelevant ad-homs are telling and typical.
========
Just simply pointing out that it is difficult to prove that
something does not exist.
You seem to want to debate. I do know stats and null hypothesis
analysis, I am educated. I am an engineer.
----
GC: Some educated people still tout nonsense. Your opening
proving-a-negative trope explicitly wrt religion reflects
ignorance, trolling, or both. Lose-lose-lose.
==========
Just teasing a bit. You seem to want to reject even the
possibility that some form of us will exist in 150 years such that we can
communicate with each other.
----
GC: As Hitch says, that which can be asserted without evidence can
be dismissed without evidence. But it's worse than that. Psychics are
frauds, as are all who claim to relay or receive messages from beyond the
veil. There is compelling concrete evidence that, when put to the test,
consciousness does not exist without brain function.
• Clark, G.A. “Science doesn’t support life after death claims.”
Guest commentary. Standard-Examiner, October 22, 2014 (on-line); October
24
(print).
Those who return from beyond the veil never tell us anything they
couldn’t have said without going anywhere at all. There is no demonstrable
awareness after brain shutdown. That’s what this scientific study actually
shows--despite trumpeted claims otherwise by the popular press.
http://www.standard.net/Guest-Commentary/2014/10/26/Science-doesn-t-support
-life-after-death-claims.html
=============================
I don't reject that idea at all, I hope for it.
GC: Your inabilities are clearly stated and understood. But not
respected.
==============
If it doesn't happen I will never know. But if it does, expect a
visit!
Cheers,
Chuck
-----Original Message-----
From: Gregory Arthur Clark
Sent: Friday, April 28, 2017 11:56 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: Letter in the tribune
Thanks for your input, Chuck. My replies are interdigitated
below.
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, April 28, 2017 10:46 AM
To: Gregory Arthur Clark <[email protected]>
Subject: Letter in the tribune
Dr. Clark,
“Because when it comes to the real world, science works. Religion
doesn’t.”
You can prove a negative? Just because you have not yet found the
knobs that control how religion works, does not mean they do not exist.
----
GC: From a pure epistemological standpoint, science and empirical
evidence and inductive logic can't "prove" anything, positive or negative,
with 100% certainty. So what? Science deals with probabilities. That's
why
scientific journals indicate the probabilities associated with rejecting
the null hypothesis.
What science can do is to disconfirm hypotheses beyond a
reasonable
doubt. Absence of evidence is indeed evidence of absence -- if the
evidence
should be there, but repeatedly and reproducibly is not. Science often
*does* reject negatives. So do we as people. We reject the hypothesis
that
saying "abracadabra" cures all cancers, immediately. We reject the
hypothesis that Godzilla just devoured all of Salt Lake City. We can
reject the God hypothesis with much the same certainty as we reject the
God
hypothesis.
Stop making dishonest, special-pleading exceptions for God.
=============
I think you would agree that the placebo effect is a real thing.
So in the case where religion triggers the placebo effect religion
arguably
does work. ---
GC: Don't move the goal posts. Of course thinking and prayer and
all sorts of mental activities can affect *the person doing them*. But
it's
self-evident and explicit that my op-ed refers to intercessory prayer
regarding the *external physical world.* Praying to God has the same
effect on the external physical world as praying to horse manure: None.
==========
Not trying to be a troll, I am serious. I think that there is
some
chance that we do live in “the matrix” or perhaps our universe is
contained
in a small charm dangling from the collar of a cat.
Will make you a wager, in 150 years if some of my ideas are
correct, I will look you up and you will owe me the equivalent of a cosmic
cup of coffee. Deal?
---
GC: I call your bluff. Why wait?
Pray, now, that God will heal all adult human amputees by
re-growing their missing limbs. It's in the power of an omnipotent God to
do so. And yet you know and I know and Professor Daniels knows and
essentially *every* sane adult knows that you will fail.
Stop making excuses for God. God "answers" prayers the same way
that horse manure "answers" prayers: Not at all.
Religion is ridiculous, repugnant, and deeply dishonest. Stop
lying to yourself. And to others.
========
Over and out,
Greg
============
Warm Regards,
Chuck McCown
