Atheism

Set's in charge of equine floggery this month. Its Mick History Month.

I hear what you are saying RE: Atheism v Agnosticism. I am only speaking in a functional sense here. If a rating were to be given to individuals from 1 (absolute atheist) to 10 (absolute theist), I believe the truth is that most atheists, would score at 2, not 1. This would certainly make them technically agnostics, but at the other end of the scale, you'd find that theists would score at 9, and not 10. If everyone is technically an agnostic, the terms lose their usefulness. What happens is that people enjoy the feeling of certainty, and when a claim contrary to their own comes along, the expression of certainty becomes exaggerated. Simply put, there is no necessity for a person to score a 1 to be an atheist. That degree of certainty is good enough to base a belief on. Certainly there are theists that feel a lower score of 5 (50%) certainty is good enough to base their belief on. I'd say that atheists score more similarly to each other at the end of the day.

I feel my belief is highly certain and based on good information, that although will never be complete, does converge.

Take a jigsaw puzzle that is a picture of Mickey Mouse. Pull out 10 random pieces. Give the puzzle to a group. They will start assembling the puzzle. As the pieces begin to come together the image starts to become clear. The more complete the puzzle, the more certain the group will be that the picture is mickey mouse. Now, sombody comes along as says that the puzzle is obviously a picture of the Titanic. When people point out that you can see Mickey's ears, his eyes, and even his nose, the guy says that we can't be sure that the picture isn't the Titanic because there are pieces missing. They say that the group is anti-Titanic. The group then says that if another person had came along and said the puzzle was a picture of the space shuttle, they would have said the same thing. The group doesn't need those missing ten pieces to say it is a picture of Mickey Mouse. The group can disagree about what the ten pieces would mean to the overall picture, but that controversy doesn't mean that the group is in disarray over if it actually is Mickey Mouse.

I get that in modern day, Atheism finds itself mostly paired against Christianity in the west. In the past atheism was paired against other popular religions. In the future, it will be paired against new and yet to come religions.



T
K
O

I like the idea of natural burial. I used to like the idea of cremation, but when I think of how much energy those furnaces use, I kind of feel like it could be used better elsewhere, and my uncreated remains would more quickly be reclaimed by nature.

T
K
O

Nice

It's a bit late at night here and I am much longer separated from my bed than I hope you are TK and involved explanations are beyond me but I am compus mentis enough to say that atheism looks to me to be an absolute position. No 2.

On what point do you posit your backsliding?

While i like that graphic--it's funny--that's not Occam's razor. William of Occam wrote (or is alleged to have written): Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem.--Causes are not to be multiplied beyond necessity. Occam's razor is just about the most abused written passage in history.

It is funny. That someome thinks that one might traverse western culture over 2000 years passing at the same speed our lives are passing with a few lines on a visual aid is hilarious. Especially in the over 10s.

Occam's Razor is useless when dealing with women although I don't think it is useless for women when dealing with men.

The reason that youre a lonely old guy with no female companionship in sight is that you havent recognized the various rheostats that control a womans social and psych workings
VIZ:

The point of my remark was that I have reached the point you refer to. I'm way past it actually due to too much female companionship.

I think your estimate of your capacities in this regard was in the way of being a premature ejaculation.

This isn't relevant on an astronomical scale (probably - I read too much Asimov to be certain), but some people release energy that effects the planet for hundreds, thousands of years, or more after they die. Folk like Beethoven, Aristotle, Hitler, and even Jesus (or those who made him up). Each of us have some effect great or small, short or long term.

Somebody here (Nobody, I think) got me seeing this as "spirit". I certainly doubt there's a "soul" but in this sense our "spirit" demonstrably survives our lives.

We could somehow colonize other places in the universe, eventually. Maybe not. Have not tried yet. But, even that would not last forever. Face it. The sky will fall.

So you're saying Chicken Little was just wrong about how soon the event would occur?

Well. It's a religiously scientific fact.

The scale I described was a measure of certainty. A person can have their belief independent of their certainty. An atheist does not require absolute 1 anymore than a Christian would require a 10.

It's not a backslide.

T
K
O

<Occam's Razor is useless when dealing with women although I don't think it is useless for women when dealing with men. >

That's good, Spendy.

It's not Occam's razor we men should worry about. It is Ixion's Wheel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8X_2oYNYz0A
god
by John Lennon

dear god

xtc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk41Gbjljfo

Great track.

Yes, Great Track. Interesting that the whole thing is addressed to an entity which the song purports not to believe in. Kind of paradoxical.