The Faith & Religion mega Thread

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Originally Posted by Pastychomper Suppose one civilisation discovered a mechanism by which the universe could have spontaneously arisen, and extrapolated the exact conditions needed. If the civilisation had similar values to ours, then at least some individuals would want to test the theory empirically; so, imagine that some research group manages to coax a small area of vacuum into producing a miniature universe.

And ended up here:

So, numerically at least, there's a good chance that our own universe is artificial in origin.

So you are perfectly on-topic.

It's quite simple, "consciousness" doesn't exist without a parent and infinity does!

P.s: sorry about the

""

I know that troughs a monkey in the wrench. Geniuses!

Edit: one step forward two steps back, evolution.

Originally Posted by jamison20000e Plus to mention; laws change even those of science, nothing's written in stone that can't evolve and\or dissolve.

I know what you mean (I think) but we should be careful not to drift into Wonderland lest "the Queen" yells "Off with their heads!". While it is true that Science deals in odds, and much is relative to an observer, there do exist absolutes upon which we and the Universe depends, even in in simple motion for example.

Relative - Two Observers, A and B, discover they are moving apart, and each assuming they are stationary, sees the other moving in the opposite direction ie: A sees B moving Southward, while B sees A moving Northward and it is impossible to tell who is right other than each is from his own point of view.

Absolute - A cube is constructed in which a steel ball is suspended in the center by six springs, one from each internal face of the cube. The faces are all labeled, say A through F. The cube is accelerated in some direction, it matters not which, and ALL observers, no matter what their location or motion, will agree what that direction was, whether a simple perpendicular or a complex vector, relative to the cube faces.

The Speed of Light, c, is another constant. 1 + 1 = 2 is another because it is a construct, a definition. While the Earth may not be solid to a neutrino, and nothing (or very few things) may be solid at Plank Scale, the bridge you drove over today will not suddenly vanish and reappear on Jupiter, leaving you falling into the river. You can take that to the bank, a somewhat less reliable solid. :P

Originally Posted by dugan Does anyone else think that the last zillion pages of this thread reads like a conversation between bots?

Exactly Dugan!

I have been wondering about how many regulars of this
thread might have unsubscribed because of the latest junk
type conversations! I still remember the time we spent
arguing with ShaanAli and bluegospel. That was fun!

P.S. I do miss SigTerm in this thread

Enorbet yes, yes supposedly a cube can't have nothing in it; unless,,, you free your mind... now and then you can sell book$ (archaic or even E-?!.)

Some Senior Members and Gurus++ get over themselves and\or hate LOL, HAha.

Edit\add: oh-yeah "gods" suck!

Originally Posted by TheIndependentAquarius I have been wondering about how many regulars of this thread might have unsubscribed because of the latest junk type conversations

A few possible reasons for that.

1) The range of states of affairs that can be discussed here is severely limited by this thread's title.
2) For most of the states of affairs allowed for discussion, there's no evidence available in order to justify us in calling them facts.
3) The application of the principle of charity can be very time- and energy-consuming.
4) Therefore, some people become rapidly bored when a discussion is mostly about nothing.
5) Besides, there's no genuine representative of a religion left, in order to feed the discussion itself.

That said, a few indirectly related topics have been addressed lately, in order to try fixing some misconceptions which are common in religious (in a loose sense) environments.

Originally Posted by TheIndependentAquarius P.S. I do miss SigTerm in this thread

Personally, I'm surprised at how many people have said they miss SigTerm (I think you're the third).

A large percentage of his contributions to this thread could be summed up as follows:

http://xkcd.com/774/

I've got to bring up the circumcision thing again ( I don't see it annoyware in the thread so there.) Is that a step forward for evolution, a step back or both; doctors think they are smart but new medical books are written each year to out-date the last and how much is unknown or irrelevant (i.e: nothing;) why is life expectancy dropping again? "Humans."

Empathy is a bitch!

@Phillip LaCroix
Agree with your points; however I think the members of point (5) above are still here, perhaps waiting for an opportunity for genuine conversation.

Originally Posted by dugan Personally, I'm surprised at how many people have said they miss SigTerm (I think you're the third). A large percentage of his contributions to this thread could be summed up as follows: http://xkcd.com/774/

Aren't you among the other two (even remotely)?

And that xkcd comes under web filter violation here
so could you post a screenshot of that comic?

Originally Posted by TheIndependentAquarius Aren't you among the other two (even remotely)?

Not even remotely. As for why, I've sent you an email; I'm not going to publicly attack him when he's not here.

And that xkcd comes under web filter violation here so could you post a screenshot of that comic?

How about a transcript?

"Personally, I find atheists just as annoying as fundamentalist Christians."

"Well, the most important thing is that you've found a way to feel superior to both."

Irreplaceable\replaceable!

Originally Posted by mostlyharmless I think the members of point (5) above are still here, perhaps waiting for an opportunity for genuine conversation.

That's good. This is an open forum, so any member who's waiting for the conversation to change its overall tone can join it at any time and contribute to accelerate the process, according to his or her interests. Of course any comment posted here will be exposed to possible discussion or objections, due to the open nature of the forum itself, and it will not necessarily be treated with the assumption that a given set of unproven statements, claims or dogmas is undoubtedly true. That said, I'm sure that, despite of the restrictions imposed by this thread, there are still interesting topics that can be discussed.

As a side note: I don't think that a stereotyped "Religion vs. Atheism" fight is the way to go.

Originally Posted by oskar ... This could easily grow out of proportion, ...

There and here's where philosophies hit that snag thrown into everything or nothing. We can't not be (yet) so why not sell our books? It's something to do,,, let education\law evolve and prevail!!!abolish slavery plus such! The list of atrocities may just be infinite(sound familiar?)

Perhaps we should learn to look through the minds of one's not given the strength to break tradition although if it comes off as pity that could be bad?