(December 24, 2010 at 5:27 pm)padraic Wrote: Raynd said twice that one is never asked to prove negative.That is untrue,and happens in science all the time.The concept is called 'falsification'. In asserting 'there is no God" Raynd makes a positive claim and attracts the burden of proof. IE She has the obligation to falsify the existence of Gods.
Falsification is not in any way proving a negative, it is declaring events that are incompatible with the model being espoused. If data comes to light that indicates the model is not consistent with reality then you can say the model has been falsified.
For her to 'falsify' the existence of Gods would require that she discover data that is incompatible with the hypothesis - That is never going to happen because God is immensely vague, any data you uncover can be incorporated into the model ad-hoc, just like evolution is evidence of 'how creative' god is.
Rand has the obligation to necessitate the non-existence of God, that is somewhat different to falsifying the claim.
Apart from that I agree
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