RE: Any Theists on AF, I Challenge You to a Debate on the Existence of God
December 29, 2014 at 11:07 am
(This post was last modified: December 29, 2014 at 11:17 am by robvalue.)
Sure, no you can't falsify a supernatural claim either, in general. If I say meta-wind is a necessary component of all real-wind movements, you can't prove me wrong. You can't prove me right either. That's why unfalsifiable claims are useless. You can make as many as you want, about anything. You cannot assign any sort of probability to it being true or false, as we have no experience of it. So the probability of anything to do with a supernatural God is unknown. Having no information does not mean that you know it's as likely as not. You don't even know if it possible it can exist at all.
If I claim I have a supernatural friend who could destroy the universe any time he wanted, and eats the meta-essence out of snooker balls, that's also unfalsifiable. Therefor, it's useless.
I'd like to do a little probability now, I used to be a maths teacher so SHUT UP and pay attention. Good. Wow, that never worked when I was a teacher.
I have a normal six sided die in a cup. I shake it all around nicely, then slam the cup down, with no one being able to see which way the dice has fallen. Including me.
Now I claim that the dice is showing a 6. This could be true, it could be false. No one can know, so they have to make up their own decision based on probability. But there are only two possibilities; it's a six, as I claim, or its not a six. Therefor, it's a 50/50 guess.
No it isn't. Two possibilities do not indicate a 50/50 split. In this case, you use what you know, your evidence, past experience and logic to determine that the probability the claim is true is 1/6. This is a clear cut situation, but it demonstrates the point.
Now, if someone is making a claim about something we don't understand, it's either right or wrong but we have no idea how to measure the probability. So saying it is 50 50 is just a guess. And an unhelpful guess which is almost certainly wrong.
I'm not continuing to debate, I have given up, but I thought that example may be useful.
If I claim I have a supernatural friend who could destroy the universe any time he wanted, and eats the meta-essence out of snooker balls, that's also unfalsifiable. Therefor, it's useless.
I'd like to do a little probability now, I used to be a maths teacher so SHUT UP and pay attention. Good. Wow, that never worked when I was a teacher.
I have a normal six sided die in a cup. I shake it all around nicely, then slam the cup down, with no one being able to see which way the dice has fallen. Including me.
Now I claim that the dice is showing a 6. This could be true, it could be false. No one can know, so they have to make up their own decision based on probability. But there are only two possibilities; it's a six, as I claim, or its not a six. Therefor, it's a 50/50 guess.
No it isn't. Two possibilities do not indicate a 50/50 split. In this case, you use what you know, your evidence, past experience and logic to determine that the probability the claim is true is 1/6. This is a clear cut situation, but it demonstrates the point.
Now, if someone is making a claim about something we don't understand, it's either right or wrong but we have no idea how to measure the probability. So saying it is 50 50 is just a guess. And an unhelpful guess which is almost certainly wrong.
I'm not continuing to debate, I have given up, but I thought that example may be useful.
Feel free to send me a private message.
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Please visit my website here! It's got lots of information about atheism/theism and support for new atheists.
Index of useful threads and discussions
Index of my best videos
Quickstart guide to the forum