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Current time: April 23, 2024, 10:44 pm

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Is absolute 'nothing' really possible and/or coherent?
#41
RE: Is absolute 'nothing' really possible and/or coherent?
Agnosticism is not necessarily the view it is unknowable. It is the view it is unknown and for me according to the evidence we have it is pointless to believe in a God.
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#42
RE: Is absolute 'nothing' really possible and/or coherent?
Well, depending entirely on what it would take for you to be "sure" about something, you may have to wait a hell of long time before you get a definitive answer on that one. Sometimes, we create a long list of excuses for the things we doubt but cherish greatly (for whatever reason). Are you certain that you're trying to investigate this god claiming business, as opposed to simply stalling in the face of your own doubts on the matter (again, for whatever reason)?

I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
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#43
RE: Is absolute 'nothing' really possible and/or coherent?
(April 21, 2012 at 7:54 pm)Rhythm Wrote: Well, depending entirely on what it would take for you to be "sure" about something, you may have to wait a hell of long time before you get a definitive answer on that one. Sometimes, we create a long list of excuses for the things we doubt but cherish greatly (for whatever reason). Are you certain that you're trying to investigate this god claiming business, as opposed to simply stalling in the face of doubt?

I'd like to imagine that I'm trying to investigate it rather than stalling. I've only been a non-Christian for 3 weeks. I'd hardly think that's long enough for somebody to completely come out of a worldview they've been in and defended for their whole life. Could we continue this in my deconversion thread if you like? Half of my threads I've created have gone completely off topic today. Undecided Thanks.
My ignore list




"The lord doesn't work in mysterious ways, but in ways that are indistinguishable from his nonexistence."
-- George Yorgo Veenhuyzen quoted by John W. Loftus in The End of Christianity (p. 103).
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#44
RE: Is absolute 'nothing' really possible and/or coherent?
Heheh, np.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
Reply
#45
RE: Is absolute 'nothing' really possible and/or coherent?
(April 21, 2012 at 2:36 am)Phil Wrote:
(April 20, 2012 at 8:17 pm)Norfolk And Chance Wrote: The Universe = nothing. According to Stephen Hawking anyway - there is the same amount of anti matter in the universe as matter, therefore the mass of the universe is nothing. So actually everything is nothing.

It also gets around the xtian "how can something come from nothing" argument, because everything is nothing anyway!

Quite the brain bender.

You got a citation for this? If there wasn't a small asymmetry between antimatter and matter, there would be no "stuff" and the universe would be empty.

I haven't got a citation, but he said it on TV, and the link for the programme was posted on here, on a thread.

You are currently experiencing a lucky and very brief window of awareness, sandwiched in between two periods of timeless and utter nothingness. So why not make the most of it, and stop wasting your life away trying to convince other people that there is something else? The reality is obvious.

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#46
RE: Is absolute 'nothing' really possible and/or coherent?
(April 22, 2012 at 9:52 am)Norfolk And Chance Wrote:
(April 21, 2012 at 2:36 am)Phil Wrote:
(April 20, 2012 at 8:17 pm)Norfolk And Chance Wrote: The Universe = nothing. According to Stephen Hawking anyway - there is the same amount of anti matter in the universe as matter, therefore the mass of the universe is nothing. So actually everything is nothing.

It also gets around the xtian "how can something come from nothing" argument, because everything is nothing anyway!

Quite the brain bender.

You got a citation for this? If there wasn't a small asymmetry between antimatter and matter, there would be no "stuff" and the universe would be empty.

I haven't got a citation, but he said it on TV, and the link for the programme was posted on here, on a thread.

Nope. I am aware of Hawking saying there was an excess of 1 out of 1oo million for matter. I would believe you if you said he made that other statement during a stroke. What you might have heard him say is that the big bang should have produced both equally but considering there is obviously matter in the universe, he never said what you claim.
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#47
RE: Is absolute 'nothing' really possible and/or coherent?
He said there was an equal amount of anti matter to matter. That's what he said. He might have even said an exactly equal amount of anti matter to matter, thus 0.
You are currently experiencing a lucky and very brief window of awareness, sandwiched in between two periods of timeless and utter nothingness. So why not make the most of it, and stop wasting your life away trying to convince other people that there is something else? The reality is obvious.

Reply
#48
RE: Is absolute 'nothing' really possible and/or coherent?
(April 22, 2012 at 10:23 am)Norfolk And Chance Wrote: He said there was an equal amount of anti matter to matter. That's what he said. He might have even said an exactly equal amount of anti matter to matter, thus 0.

Not just Stephen Hawking either...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ImvlS8PL...H8ufOavkVg
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence - Carl Sagan

Mankind's intelligence walks hand in hand with it's stupidity.

Being an atheist says nothing about your overall intelligence, it just means you don't believe in god. Atheists can be as bright as any scientist and as stupid as any creationist.

You never really know just how stupid someone is, until you've argued with them.
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#49
RE: Is absolute 'nothing' really possible and/or coherent?
(April 22, 2012 at 10:23 am)Norfolk And Chance Wrote: He said there was an equal amount of anti matter to matter. That's what he said. He might have even said an exactly equal amount of anti matter to matter, thus 0.

If that were true, we wouldn't be here.
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#50
RE: Is absolute 'nothing' really possible and/or coherent?
My mistake - I've found the clip and he said an equal amount of negative energy to energy, thus the universe adds up to 0.

http://atheistforums.org/thread-11754.html

Click the link and it's explained from 25.20 to 30.00
You are currently experiencing a lucky and very brief window of awareness, sandwiched in between two periods of timeless and utter nothingness. So why not make the most of it, and stop wasting your life away trying to convince other people that there is something else? The reality is obvious.

Reply



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