(June 3, 2011 at 5:42 pm)FaithNoMore Wrote:(June 3, 2011 at 5:00 pm)diffidus Wrote: Diffidus:
I would certainly keep an open mind that someone could possibly guess a sequence of 10 numbers.
The probability of guessing that sequence is 10^10, or one in 10 billion. So even if we assigned a different ten digit sequence to every person on the planet earth, there is only a 66% chance that anyone alive would have the same sequence as the one I'm thinking of. In a court of law, they consider a matching DNA sample even at the odds of 1 in a million that the DNA in question could be someone else's besides the accused. If you were on a jury, would you allow someone to go free based on a 1 in a million chance they might be innocent? 1 in a billion? 1 in 10 billion?
diffidus Wrote:Fundamentalism, for me, is a word that applies to someone who knows the answer even when the information to provide the answer is not available. In the case of Christians, they believe that God exists but they base it on pure faith and are not interested in facts. In the case of fundamentalist atheists, they believe that God does not exist and have closed their mind to the possibility even though they may actually be wrong.
I compared you to fundamentalists in the way that they think only their interpretation of the existence of God is the rational one.
Ace Otana Wrote:I think that about covers it.
Anyone want to add to this?
He is also telling us that no matter how infinitely small the probability of a God existing is, we should keep an open mind about it, and are unenlightened if we don't.
Diffidus:
Firstly, on a technical point, the probability of guessing 10 numbers in sequence is not 10^10. It is in fact 10!, which is equal to ~ 1 in 3.6 million. Following the rest of your argument this would mean at least one and likely two people on the planet would guess the correct sequence.
On the second point, it is true that I have said holding an open mind reflects the facts as they are, but I have never said that this means you are unenlightened if you don't. In fact, it is in the nature of an open mind to respect all peoples beliefs where that facts are not fully known.
This does not mean that I will not challenge views when the facts are known. For example, many Christians believe that the age of the earth is ~6500 years old. The evidence from the record of the rocks and carbon dating puts the age of the earth at ~ 4.5 billion years. Although there is some experimental uncertainty in the scientific measurements, it would be nowhere near enough to reconcile the differences. The Christian view is so far off the radar that it cannot possibly be correct. In this case we are able to test a view against empirical measurement and prove it to be fallacious using known experimental techniques.
But there are other types of question that are not accessible to current experimental measurements such: Does telepathy exist, the mystery of consciousness, are there more dimensions to space-time than four, is there a God? I keep an open mind on these type of questions and respect peoples beliefs about them.
