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Topic: Evidence for a Designer...
SkyHook5652's photo
Tue 11/03/09 11:51 PM
Edited by SkyHook5652 on Wed 11/04/09 12:48 AM
Abra said
So the very concept of an emergent property is nothing more than totally meaningless abstract semantic gobbledlygook made-up by humans.
Well I don't know if I would go quite that far. But it is true that it is totally abstract and made-up by humans. :smile:

SkyHook5652's photo
Wed 11/04/09 12:13 AM
Abracadbra wrote:

All I gave is 'evidence' for design.


All I saw was evidence which did not necessitate the conclusion of a designer. From my point of view the evidence presented thus far required that because we seem to see order, there must be a design, and therefore where there is a design, there must also be a designer.

I have clearly shown on several occasions where order does not equate to design, and vice-versa.
Ok, so you’ve shown it. So what? I’ve clearly shown on several occasions that order does equate to design, and vice-versa. But again, so what?

If I can’t see what you’ve shown, and you can’t see what I’ve shown, and we’ve both shown it on several occasions, then why keep beating the same dead horse.

If you’re actually trying to convince someone of something, then why keep saying, over and over, that you’ve already shown it? Or are you expecting that doing the same thing over and over will somehow have a different result?

no photo
Wed 11/04/09 12:34 AM
Edited by JaneStar1 on Wed 11/04/09 12:41 AM
Though I may not necessarily agree with every claim of her's, nevertheless, I do agree with JB's claim -- that the mainkind has already dispesed all over the universe -- consideriing the fact of our current civilization (from the neanderthal times to the present) is the 6th civilization on the planet -- according to some scientists!

SkyHook5652's photo
Wed 11/04/09 12:45 AM
Edited by SkyHook5652 on Wed 11/04/09 01:06 AM
No, I am not. In my opinion I have sufficient evidence and proof. The only reason you don't think so is because you will only accept "meeting them in person" as your proof. Even if that could be arranged, I am betting that you would not believe them anyway.
Personal experience is not evidence. How do you know you're not experiencing a delusion? I wouldn't take meeting the designer of the Universe as evidence of his/her/its existence, either. How do I know it really happened? Our senses are not immutable and concrete. Schizophrenics believe a number of things, but do you believe one when he tells you God made him drown his children? Think about it.

Before you leap to conclusions, no, I'm not implying that you're crazy. Just that you, like everyone else, are human.
Oh but personal experience is evidence. From a first person perspective, it is the only evidence there can possibly be. And the OP request specifically stated the first person perspective . "I want..."

Now the definition you gave included the phrase “ground for belief”. And if you understand how dictionaries work, you will know that phrase is intended to mean exactly the same thing as the next phrase - “proof”, and the previous phrase – “that which tends to prove or disprove something”, and the word being defined – “evidence”. So right off the bat you're working with both subjective ("belief") and an indeterminate ("tends") concepts.

Now since the word “for”, in this case, means – “suiting the purposes or needs of”, and the question specifies the target of the action of “showing” to be the OP (i.e. first person), the OP’s request can only be fulfilled by “ground+
/ that suites the personal purposes or needs of the OP’s belief in a designer”.

And that is entirely a first person perspective, i.e. personal experience. There is no second or third person anywhere in that portion of the OP request.

So not only does personal experience constitute evidence in and of itself, but in this case it is a necessary requirement for evidence.

drinker

Abracadabra's photo
Wed 11/04/09 12:46 AM

Abra, I totally get what you are talking about. drinker flowerforyou
Truly.

I make my point and he comes back with a lecture on how nucleosynthesis takes place in stars.

Like as if that even has anything at all to do with what I'm talking about. whoa

I guess these people truly are in denial of the real question. That's all I can figure.
They are not looking outside of the box. (I.E. the universe)
Exactly! That is inherent in the scientific method. It cannot look "outside the box". By it's very definition it must stay in the box.


Really.

Science "observes" and "describes".

That's what it does.

It doesn't even ask the hard questions really.

I once had a professor in physics that made this perfectly clear. He held up a ball and said, "Science doesn't ask, 'Why does this ball exist?', science merely accepts that the ball exists and goes about describing all of its properties, and how it moves. Period. That's what science does. If you want to know why the ball exists, you're taking the wrong course. Philosophy is down the hall and two doors to the right".





creativesoul's photo
Wed 11/04/09 08:05 AM
Abracadabra,

I saw not one sound argument in all that. I will take the time later to expose this fact. Wow, that was so.... so.... something.

huh

Why is the man-made label 'design' any less gobbledygook than 'emergent property'?

laugh

If you are so fond of philosophy... give a syllogism.


Sky,

Regarding what you and I have shown, there is a relationship to be shown between that...


no photo
Wed 11/04/09 08:23 AM
Edited by Jeanniebean on Wed 11/04/09 08:27 AM
Creative asks to be shown evidence of a designer. That is first person as Sky says. He wants to be 'shown.'

The 'design' is 'evidence of the 'designer.'

Aside from that, he would have to meet the designer in person just as Dragoness said she wanted.

They are saying:

"If there is a God, then where is he? I want to see him."

I am saying that if they did meet the designers... they still would be unconvinced. I don't blame them. I would be a skeptic too until I had a believable story to go with it that detailed the entire process.

I look at where our science is headed and I see the designers of future worlds. That is why I believe.

Yes, you can believe that we will soon have the ability to trace our DNA back to our ancestors all the way back... that will tell us HOW to "design" the next race. That can tell us how to re-design the current humans. This is easy to see even for skeptics.

But how will we create worlds?

You have to really open your minds for this one. First of all, these kinds of designs are done in succession by many many layers of designers passing on their knowledge to the the others who come after them. But here is a start in that process:

"Wormholes and/or vortexes." They will be doors that open into other layers of reality. They will allow space travel to other star systems, even other galaxies. We will learn to design life from what is already known. We will seed worlds with material and watch it evolve and even assist its evolution at crucial points. We will become the watchers, as there are watchers watching us.

This is where we are headed. Yes it sounds fantastic and you will not believe this. You will not live to see this... unless of course you want to accept that reincarnation is true. (which I do)

But from where you are, and from what you are looking at, you will never find the proof you seek to be convinced of any of this.

I understand that much.


creativesoul's photo
Wed 11/04/09 08:28 AM
Show me how this universe must be a design.

no photo
Wed 11/04/09 08:32 AM
Edited by Jeanniebean on Wed 11/04/09 08:33 AM

Show me how this universe must be a design.


laugh laugh laugh

Show me how it is not. (You are the design.)



creativesoul's photo
Wed 11/04/09 08:34 AM


The illogical nature of that question has been explained to you already.

no photo
Wed 11/04/09 08:40 AM
Edited by Jeanniebean on Wed 11/04/09 08:40 AM



The illogical nature of that question has been explained to you already.


What question???

I'm sorry. I missed that. laugh laugh laugh

What is your definition of 'design?'


creativesoul's photo
Wed 11/04/09 08:45 AM
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/design

no photo
Wed 11/04/09 09:02 AM


That sounds good to me.

Since I assert and believe that all of this universe exists within a unified field that I call the universal mind, that would follow that all things within that mind constitute 'design.' This design is manifested via thought.

Since you don't agree with that premise and since I cannot 'show' you proof then you can conclude (or not) whatever it is that is left.

Hence our journey ends here.


Abracadabra's photo
Wed 11/04/09 09:33 AM
Edited by Abracadabra on Wed 11/04/09 09:35 AM

Abracadabra,

I saw not one sound argument in all that. I will take the time later to expose this fact. Wow, that was so.... so.... something.


Argument for what? huh

Design? Of course it wasn't. It wasn't intended to be an arugment for design.

All I did in that post was respond to your erroneous claims that Shoku had actually "explained" something.

All science does is describe what's going on. It doesn't explain anything.

That was the only point to that post.

This crap that science "explains" anything is baloney.

Science doesn't even claim to "explain" anything. All science does is describe.

That was the only point to that post. But clearly you didn't even understand that.

Sky mentioned in another thread that if there was a 'suggestion box' for the design of life, he would suggest that there be a better way to communicate with people.

Attempting to communicate with you has been as futile as attempting to communicate with my cat.

You seem to have a one-track-mind that is totally obsessed with "proof" of a designer that you can't even comprehend the concepts that are important to grasp before that question can even be meaningfully considered.

Even Sky has given up on trying to communicate that very idea to you. JB and I "get it", but you don't, obviously.

Science, by the very definition of what it does is not even in a position to consider a question that is outside of its box.

That's not meant as a 'put-down' to science. That's just a fact. The scientific method does not permit it.

All that science is "set-up" to do is to describe the behavior that it sees.

Science isn't in a position to even ask why!

It just describes what already exists in physicality.

It's takes the "nature" of what already exists for granted.

Then it describes how it behaves and calls that a "natural process". laugh

Can you not see the folly in that from a philosophical point of view?

All you're doing is taking the unvierse for granted and saying, "Well it behaves the way it does because that's the way it behaves". whoa

You've got to get "outside of that box" if you're going to be bold enough to ask a question like, "Could there be a designer behind it?"

That very term behind it should be a clue!

The very question demands that we step outside of the box.

The question is meaningless if you try to say within the box of merely observing behavior and saying, "Well that's just the nature of things".

That just refuses to even consider why it had the nature it does.

All you're doing is asking a question, and then flatly refusing to even consider it.

Why even bother asking if you're not even willing to consider it?

That's fruitless.




Abracadabra's photo
Wed 11/04/09 09:41 AM



That sounds good to me.

Since I assert and believe that all of this universe exists within a unified field that I call the universal mind, that would follow that all things within that mind constitute 'design.' This design is manifested via thought.

Since you don't agree with that premise and since I cannot 'show' you proof then you can conclude (or not) whatever it is that is left.

Hence our journey ends here.


Truly.

This is utterly fruitless. This is dead in the water.

The question isn't truly even being considered at all.

All that's being done by Creative is an attempt to argue that it's good enough to just accept the nature of the universe for what it is and not ask why it is the way it is. whoa

If that's his attitude then he's seriously not even remotely interested in seriously entertaining the question of whether or not the unvierse might be by design or not.

He's totally accepted that it just is what it is and no further explanation are required.

That's precisly where we're at after some 32 pages.

He may as well have posted in the OP:

"I don't believe in a designer and I'm not willing to even consider the idea"

That's precisely where he's coming from.

So why doesn't he just accept that this is his own view and quit pretending otherwise? That's what I don't understand.

I can certainly accept that this is his view.

Big deal. whoa


Shoku's photo
Wed 11/04/09 09:52 AM
Abra:
JB wrote in response to Shoku,

It sounds like you are talking about religion and politics here and that you are fighting that battle. Good for you, keep up the good work. But don't mistake me for a politician or a religious fanatic just because I see things from a spiritual point of view.


I agree.

Besides, why misrepresent science just to fight religious battles.
You mean like saying that there are only 100 atoms and that that's some kind of magical number that points to a creator?

Scarecrow arguments, arguments from ignorance, begging the question, appeals to popularity. false dilemmas and analogies, affirming the consequent, and I think I've even seen some complex questions thrown out. If I dug up my old list I could probably name a few that aren't at the fallacy zoo page I've linked.

I totally destroy religious claims using their own doctrines. No need to bring science into it. Pi not equaling three
is something we know from the science of mathematics, rabbits not eating their cud from biology, and so on. Or did you just mean things like the places the Bible contradicts itself?

*and if you're ever torn apart the Tao te Ching I'd be interested in seeing that. I'm not really sure how to start in regards to finding things it says that are definite enough to object to.

Although, in the case of the Bible, there is at least one scientific observation that's worthy of bringing to bear on the false doctrine.

The doctrine claims that mankind is responsible for bringing imperfection and death into the world. Well, science clearly shows us that death and imprefection existed in the world long before mankind ever came onto the scene.
Well logically you can go earlier than that and say it doesn't make any sense for days to be passing before there was a sun for the Earth to be going around and how it makes even less sense for there to be plants before there were any light sources but most people just sidestep that by saying any time it doesn't make sense you're just reading it wrong.

Well, I've actually seen something pretty similar to that in here...

So the authors of the biblical mythology are caught red-handed in an outright lie.
That's one the church focused a lot of energy working to dispel but nowadays it's more the radicals that deny it while regular folk admit a lot of things are just metaphors rather than actual history telling.

That's a valid use of science to show why a mythology is false.
Nearly ancient thinking though. I like the newer stuff.

But trying to use the argument that science doesn't support intelligent design fails. That's an extremely weak argument that doesn't even hold water anyway.
Saying it's weak doesn't make it so. Tell us how it's weak in regard to the things I've said on that subject, please.

Sky:
Now I feel fairly certain that I have evidence that some other’s don’t have, simply because I have experienced things that some other’s haven’t experienced. So it is a little presumptuous to say that evidence doesn’t exist. The most that can be reasonably said is that one hasn’t seen evidence that one considers acceptable.

Additionally, that reference to “elevating” is a bit vague. As far as I have seen, no one has elevated it to anything beyond “belief”.

So are you objecting to others believing as they choose???
If it's "just what I believe" I don't share it with people. Why do you?
Because I like to understand other people and I assume others like to understand me. And sharing information (e.g. beliefs) is one of the best ways I know of to accomplish that. And of course some people are not interested in understanding me. So in some situations, my assumption proves to be false. But in the main, it works.

Why do you not share your beliefs with others?

Remember reading those sentences where I set up the condition that I don't share my beliefs when people weren't asking? Ya, I don't appreciate having that omitted and then being asked questions I had already well enough answered with it.

I understand I jump around a bit but still.
Or have I mixed up the chronology here?


That’s the surest way I know of to create conflict.

There is no conflict until someone objects.

It is the act of objecting that creates conflict.

Now if your whole purpose is to create conflict, then go ahead and object.

Just don’t forget where the source of any resulting conflict lies.
I generally avoid using this subject in arguments but do you think Jewish people shouldn't have objected to Nazi eugenics practices?
The initial objection was not that of the Jews objecting to eugenics, but the Nazi’s objecting to the Jews. That’s where the downward spiral started. From there it became objections to objections.

But that example is all but irrelevant - unless you’re trying to say that the Jews objecting to Nazi eugenics is comparable to one poster in this forum objecting to the statements of another. :laughing:
By the rules you laid out it would be.

But hey, should Nazis not have objected to Jews ruining their lives? Whether that's what was there or not that's certainly what they thought they saw.

If objection is what creates conflict then conflict is not a meaningful stage of interactions to look at.
I wouldn’t say that. It is meaningful when one is trying to trace back to the root of the conflict.
Don't insult my intelligence, you were just claiming it to be the root.

But pretending for a moment that objecting is the important step people should avoid. This thread was started by someone who has made it clear enough that he thinks there is no evidence of an original intelligent designer. Wouldn't this mean that you are in the wrong for having objected to that?
If I objected to him thinking that, and one considers that objection is “wrong”,
And here you do it again. What in the world did you mean when you were talking about objections earlier?
then yes I would be in the wrong.
But I don’t object to him thinking that. biggrin
But by your own opinions and beliefs you seem to have done something you were criticizing others for. Is this not hypocritical?

Abra:
Abra wrote:

There are other philosophies that allow for this universe to be a cosmic dream by a truely wonderous creator. And everything we see in science just allows for the mechanism of that mind to exist.


Shoku wrote:

What mechanism? What is something we could potentially see that would NOT allow for that?


Well, there you go.

By your own admission science can't rule this out. So why claim that happenstance should be the "default" conclusion? Especially when happenstance doesn't even quality as an explanation in face of what is observed.
Because it doesn't include random extra steps.

If you hear scratching noises at night why is "tree branches on the window" default instead of "demons from hell are trying to claw at the fabric between there and my bedroom and I'd better cover the walls in mustard so they can't get through"? It sounds exactly like either of those things and even if you do find branches scratching on the window you can't wind time back to make sure that's what made the sound the first time, in fact maybe some of the demons already made it out of hell and they positioned the branch there to distract you!


Obviously you're in agreement with me and just don't realize it.
Your methods are awful and I have to dig up explanations for what I thought were common sense in order to talk with you. That you ignore most of them is reason enough by itself to put me at odds with you, but thankfully I am excruciatingly patient.

All I'm saying is that we can't say.
And if some years down the road we look outside of the universe and personally watch the events that lead to it's origin and we can explain all of the reasons the universe is as it is in terms easy enough for everyone to understand then what?

I'm not taking the position that here must be a designer.
And I'm not taking the position that there cannot be, just that evidence does not support it.
But I do hold that when we look at all we know, there is more evidence that points to design than there is that points to happenstance.
What we do have is more philosophical arguments for it than against it but that only indicates how popular either stance is as a belief among those that feel strongly about it.

Perhaps not enough to make any solid conclusions. But certainly enough to recognize that happenstance isn't the obvious answer.
Thus far I see only those questions of yours as the basis that naturalistic origins are not the best answer but that's an argument from ignorance fallacy (and I tore through those like a hot knife through butter anyway.)

That's all I'm saying. That's all I've been saying.

It's wrong to teach people that happenstance should be the default conclusion until we have evidence to the contrary.
It's the default in science. As I have said you are free to believe otherwise. It's important to teach people the default though because otherwise all they learn of what other people think is garbage misrepresentations, like calling any origin without a creator god behind it "chance," "luck," or "happenstance."

That is false. And it's especially false to teach this as 'science' when in fact it's not.
Default doesn't mean "100% certified truth." It means "here's the simplest explanation that fits everything we've seen so far," and you know what? My science teacher were very candid about when we'd seen a lot and when we'd only seen a little or nothing at all. Hopefully other people get the same quality teaching.

We do have evidence to the contary. And that evidence is simply the fact that what we actually see does not imply happenstance.
Try again~

So it's wrong to lead people into the 'belief' that science supports a conclusion of happenstance, when in fact, it doesn't.

That's all I'm saying.
Maybe try paying attention to what I'm saying?



no photo
Wed 11/04/09 09:56 AM




That sounds good to me.

Since I assert and believe that all of this universe exists within a unified field that I call the universal mind, that would follow that all things within that mind constitute 'design.' This design is manifested via thought.

Since you don't agree with that premise and since I cannot 'show' you proof then you can conclude (or not) whatever it is that is left.

Hence our journey ends here.


Truly.

This is utterly fruitless. This is dead in the water.

The question isn't truly even being considered at all.

All that's being done by Creative is an attempt to argue that it's good enough to just accept the nature of the universe for what it is and not ask why it is the way it is. whoa

If that's his attitude then he's seriously not even remotely interested in seriously entertaining the question of whether or not the unvierse might be by design or not.

He's totally accepted that it just is what it is and no further explanation are required.

That's precisly where we're at after some 32 pages.

He may as well have posted in the OP:

"I don't believe in a designer and I'm not willing to even consider the idea"

That's precisely where he's coming from.

So why doesn't he just accept that this is his own view and quit pretending otherwise? That's what I don't understand.

I can certainly accept that this is his view.

Big deal. whoa





drinker bigsmile flowerforyou

Abracadabra's photo
Wed 11/04/09 10:11 AM
I have one last thing to say and then I'll quit because this is going nowhere:

If this doesn't get through to people then I can only conclude that they don't have the capacity to even comprehend what I'm saying.

Let's do the car versus universe analogy one more time.

Please pay attention!

You have a car. I ask you if the car has a designer. You say, no, it doesn't need a designer because I can explain precisely how it runs and how everything on the car works.

I point to thing like the crankshaft, connecting rods, pistons, valves, etc., and I ask, "What about these parts? Where did they come from? There must have been a designer who designed these parts.

You say, "No. Those are just 'fundamental particles'. They just exist. They are a "given", we don't need to explain where they came from or whether or not they might have been 'designed'.

Given those 'fundamental particles' as the "nature" of the situation we can explain how the car runs and that's good enough.

Now let's go back to the Universe

You people are explaining how the universe runs. (just like someone would explain how a car runs).

So big deal? I can see how the universe runs myself. That's not the question.

The question is, where did the fundamental particles come from and why are they shaped they way they are?

In the car we had its fundamental "parts", like a crankshaft, pistons, etc.

In the universe we have its fundamental parts, like quarks, leptons and bosons.

So all you people are doing is taking "God's Dirt" (i.e. the quarks, leptons, and bosons) and explaning things in terms of their innate behavior.

They you are claiming that you've actually "explained" something.

But you didn't explain anything!

All you've done is observe how these fundamental particles behave. laugh

I can't believe that you people can't see this.

You're just taking the fundamental particles of the unvierse for granted and pretending that they don't need to be explained.

If you allow me that luxury with car parts, then I could argue that there is no evidence for a designer of cars either because crankshafts, pistons, valves, and spark plugs are taken for granted as already existing.

That's all you people are doing with the universe. You're just taking the quarks, leptons, and bosons, for granted and saying, "We don't need to explain them, they are fundamental".

What? noway

Science hasn't explained anything!

All science has done is describe how unexplained things behave. whoa

I can't believe you people can't see this.

It's crystal clear to me, JB and Sky.

You people are playing with "God's Dirt" and pretending that you know something. laugh

That's silly.

Science has no explanation for "God's Dirt".

no photo
Wed 11/04/09 10:48 AM

All science has done is describe how unexplained things behave.

I can't believe you people can't see this.

It's crystal clear to me, JB and Sky.

You people are playing with "God's Dirt" and pretending that you know something.

That's silly.

Science has no explanation for "God's Dirt


Yep.

And they think WE are delusional or idiots. laugh laugh laugh


drinker drinker

Over and out.smokin

no photo
Wed 11/04/09 11:04 AM
Edited by smiless on Wed 11/04/09 11:08 AM
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman is a entertaining movie of how the author shares his views on "God's dirt or dust" and how everything started.

It is a fantasy movie, but had much controversial debates and negativity amongst Catholic believers at one time. I think even the Catholic heads even indicated that it shouldn't be watched if you are a catholic. Of course this isn't the first time this happened. Harry Potter was another movie that had negative effects on Christian religion. Of course I am not saying all Christians had a problem with it, but nevertheless, it was discouraged by a large population who practice this faith system.

I mainly watched "The Golden Compass" for entertainment and donated money to help polar bears at the time when advertised.

Perhaps someone has watched it and thought about this possibility of design. Even though it is pure fiction it does have one thinking about the many possiblities of what could have started everything as we know it.


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