Thy Plague Doctor

Unseen you aren’t making an argument, you are just moaning that it is unfair to introduce fantastical or unknown possibilities to certainty of negation. Using “sane” or “rational” makes no difference. You could be being decieved. You could be a bloody simulation on someones computer and there actually is a hayena you are blocked from seeing. These…[Read more]

Re: the half picture ..am I missing something?

What did our ancient ancestors actually witness, before the word ‘god’ even existed?

So much stuff wouldn’t have made sense and would be pretty terrifying. Without a broader picture of climate…a freak hurricane or natural disaster or Vulcano going off (with no clear repetition or seemingly random) simply couldn’t have been a meaningless eve…[Read more]

Think of it in terms of the oft-heard “You can’t prove a negative.” Can’t I prove that there’s no hyena on my couch?

Unseen, please you have a masters in philosophy. You cannot have forgotten metaphysics 101. The only thing you prove is that there is or is not a hyena on the couch based on your frame of reference, your particular view, what you…[Read more]

I do think that evidence is a whole picture, and sometimes a bit of it can be missing.

Yes. Luckily humans can and always do fill in those blanks with their imagination and a dose of reason here and there. Luckily that has led to a lot of discoveries and progress. It also created the endless horrors of religion that still involve ruthless…[Read more]

extraordinary evidence

Simon, I think unseen’s pedantic side is rubbing off on you. By extraordinary evidence, I’m pretty sure Strega means strong reliable evidence. As in: “it’s written down in an old book” isn’t going to cut it if the claim is “a unicorn will grant anyone three wishes”. If the claim was “This book was written by me Mr. X” then…[Read more]

“The absence of evidence is not necessarily evidence of absence….”

It’s an extremely important point when it comes to existential reality (metaphysical realism). Just because no evidence cannot be found doesn’t mean that something somehow exists in a way that hasn’t revealed itself yet or is inaccessible to you. That means certainty is, as far a…[Read more]

Simon, are you playing with words or making a point?. If it’s the latter, please try again

Ivy wrote: “The absence of evidence is not necessarily evidence of absence….”

Of course. I could tell you my car is a Chevy but without a photo or sight of it by multiple unconnected sources, you’d simply believe or not believe me, as you chose. You might seek other methods of affirmation, but without any evidence, the statement is simply m…[Read more]

God bless your pedantic side Unseen

I am way too anti-social to be bunked-up like that, even in my youth.

To be honest there wasn’t any time for thinking about the realities of sharing a room with three other guys (we are talking four beds, a closet and a sink with almost all your things stored under your bed). When you work in London you work hard (and the over time) plus the…[Read more]

Ahhh those times dossing or squatting in London 🙂

My first year in London I lived in a house where there were 40 of us (35 Australians). We were three or four to a room. And we paid 360 pounds per person each a month for the privilege (which was a lot 20 years ago) but the only way you could possibly afford to live in the centre. It was, without…[Read more]

the universe [simply] happened

This is pretty much the default explanation. And it isn’t an incredible claim. It’s the most succinct. And there is nothing inherantly irrational about it. But then the human brain is built with every mechanism possible to resist this and fight it through bad reasoning as well as deeply, passionately and emotionally.

Then we will have to wait a very long time to confirm anything.

Good ole Peaches

Without doubt there is no faith, there is just belief….and any person that doesn’t doubt doesn’t think. Faith and doubt are two sides of the same coin.

More anti-knowledge post-modernism. You have a real hangup on the difference between evidence and rationally based claims vs. intuitively based ones. As though there is no difference. Obvious…[Read more]