john may

Unfortunately Jake I am not. There are voluntary courses here and there. North American schools tend to have a much wider variety of elective and non-traditional courses but so few of them are ever mandatory. If I were a politician I would make education in critical thinking one of my highest priorities (especially using critical thinking while…[Read more]

Teaching critical thinking in school would make an enormous difference. I doubt it would solve the number of problems some say it would but it would certainly limit a few serious toxic problems. Disinformation and stupid-think disseminates so quickly young people really need to skills to analyse sources, confront claims, easily spot fallacies and…[Read more]

No unseen I haven’t picked a side. It’s a serious problem you have that you think you have to pick any side with absolute confidence, definitively without doubt. It is a false dichotomy. I choose accepting claims that are accompanied by evidence (attributing a higher probability of it being the case the better the evidence) or if they are…[Read more]

Unseen you are defining omniscience in a fairly novel way I’ve never heard before. Redefining things doesn’t help your case. Nice try.

There is nothing to “not know” if you have access to all information all the time all at once.

No. There is no reason a being could achieve all of those qualities if it is more complex than the simulation itself and has an extremely complex mind. I’m not saying it is likely, however it is nonsense to say it is impossible.

You are also pointing out contradictory qualities which I never mentioned. I was speaking only about omniscience and…[Read more]

Negative god? Does he live in eternal debt and have a minus sign welded to his head?

No I don’t see how omniscience is impossible (as long as it is not accompanied by conflicting qualities). Imagine you are an advanced human (with a stunning enhanced brain capacity) and the ability to create a simulation where you can create a realistic world with artificial intelligence so forward its as intelligent as humans. If you are the…[Read more]

I have decided to carry that idea forwards into everyday thinking to see how my perspective might change

I certainty gained a lot by seeing things more as probabilities than absolutes when absolutes are not necessary or justified. It’s helped a lot with predictions, work and being extremely aware of what Nicolas Taleb called “Black Swan Events”…[Read more]

Oh I see unseen so how can you prove that you aren’t hallucinating or in a simulation or a brain in a vat and in reality something fantastical does exist and you don’t have access to this information. Please explain how you prove that reality is as it seems and you are magically able to say with 100% certainty that things are the way they appear…[Read more]

Am I talking with a Philosopher?

Then no I cannot say with absolute certainty that a purple unicorn is not dancing in my bathroom at this very moment. I am as certain as I need to be.

Am I talking with anyone else?

No. There is no purple unicorn dancing in my bathroom at the moment.

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I would never make a metaphysical absolute…[Read more]

There are numerous Gods who are described with non-contradictory qualities. And there are are no small number of Christians who cherry pick from the Christian tradition and believe in a God that does not have contradictory qualities. So if you are making the claim:

The Christian God as described in the Bible and by catholic theologians, all…

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Ugh unseen I already covered the difference between The God as some Christians describe with Conflicting Qualities and God in general (or at least a similar God without the conflicting qualities). Pay attention to what people say. Details matter. Every word counts. Zheesh

All rational claims of knowledge are based on what we know.

Then the most rational answer, Unseen, is “I don’t know”. It is an extreme intellectual flaw to not be able to saw “I don’t know” or “I cannot be completely certain” or  “God almost certainly doesn’t exist”. Some people are incapable of adding the proviso “almost certainly” because they…[Read more]

No unseen we don’t have access to a complete list of the laws of the universe. We can make as many claims about what we know, we cannot make any claim (negative or positive) about what we don’t know. Doing otherwise is arrogance.

Yes unseen, if you are saying that a God could not have all the qualities Christians say that he does…I agree. It is impossible. He cannot be all Good and all powerful because pointless evil and pointless suffering wouldn’t exist if he had both those qualities. There are many examples. That doesn’t prove that there is no God, or even a similar…[Read more]

I don’t see the logical contradiction.  If the future already exists, as a 4-d spacetime shape, then God would be free to mould it as He wishes, with His full knowledge.

Indeed Unseen is not batting well today. God could exist outside of time and space if he really had these miraculous qualities so I don’t see why he couldn’t conceive of ev…[Read more]

It is the first time i have heard an atheist with a line like a theist.

There is nothing admirable emulating theologians.

These things are not scientifically testable, much less provable.

Indeed. I would say that just as people believing in magic and stating their fantasies are true with any degree of certainty is the result of evolutionary processes gone utterly haywire in the age of reason, so it is to want to claim certainty about that which we cannot…in the age…[Read more]