Tom

By the way, back to the original post. I also read his book on the historicity of Jesus and his case was indeed quite compelling. I was left with the feeling that there is a reasonable chance a trouble maker named Jesus was crucified but there are no sources that claim he had x and y qualities (especially magical ones). The story evolved years…[Read more]

Yes. Second time voting, haven’t voted since 2008. Can’t wait until this goddamn crap is over with.

Trump is utterly distained and hated by the overwhelming majority of people in Canada, Western-Europe and New Zealand. His very name raises people’s blood pressure and causes lots of rolling eyes.  Remember he has seriously disrupted world trad…[Read more]

It is quite extreme to claim that voting doesn’t have real life consequences. If 1,000 reasonable minded people all think that way and a ballot measure to not impose ridiculous abortion measures, legalise medical marijuana, extend medicare for thousands of people who cannot afford it…all fails by 900 votes, say, in California, then that would be…[Read more]

Votes count in the aggregate. The popular vote does mean something (even if it doesn’t win the electoral college) as it gives an added amount of legitimacy to a president. If people in states like California don’t vote because they are certain their state will go Democrat, that is still a lot of votes that aren’t given that skew the overall…[Read more]

Ivy your claim likely comes from a heavily American-centric view of Atheism and doesn’t represent the rest of the world very well. This is especially the case in East Asia where literally a Billion people do not encounter nor confront the idea of “God” (or only extremely sparingly) and do not take a position on God one way or another. They don’t…[Read more]

If atheists are angry and bitter about religion, it’s usually because they’ve been hurt by it.

Or their rage on how it hurts OTHER PEOPLE and holds them back. Also…the fact that it is all made up bullshit…that generates anger as well.

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]