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Current time: March 28, 2024, 8:02 pm

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China does not exist
#21
RE: China does not exist
(March 1, 2010 at 9:05 pm)Watson Wrote: How do you actually know anything exists?

We don't ! The only thing we know is that we exist in some kind of way since we can think and are aware that we're thinking (Thanks DescartesBig Grin).
[Image: pPQu8.png]
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#22
RE: China does not exist
So, what exactly would be the purpose of making up a place called China? That does not seem to be worth anything near the effort it would require.
Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?

"Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys" - P.J. O'Rourke

"Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren't." - Margaret Thatcher

"Nothing succeeds like the appearance of success." - Christopher Lasch

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#23
RE: China does not exist
Quote:and I don't have the capability with my limited resources to do so.(which are not even more limited, ugh...)


The first thing you must do is never, ever, complain again about your limited resources when you apparently have the ability to waste those "resources" on such a pointless fucking thread.
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#24
RE: China does not exist
(March 1, 2010 at 9:04 pm)Tiberius Wrote: Actually it's a fair point. One cannot be a materialist and then demand evidence of a non-material being. This is why I reject materialism...

Though that is not to suggest that they cannot know China exists (even if they are hypocritical and wrong in doing so).

I am a materialist insofar as my beliefs. I would never defend materialism from an intellectual standpoint... but I believe there to be no mystical voodoo duality realm or other mumbo jumbo nonetheless. Smile
(March 1, 2010 at 9:11 pm)AtheistPhil Wrote:
(March 1, 2010 at 9:05 pm)Watson Wrote: How do you actually know anything exists?

We don't ! The only thing we know is that we exist in some kind of way since we can think and are aware that we're thinking (Thanks DescartesBig Grin).

Actually... we know quite a lot.

But our knowing a thing does not posit that it is correct.

Also, we cannot even prove that we are thinking. We may be simple constructs with simple functions that are designed to display what thinking looks like, although no actual thinking process is taking place. Knowledge is but the assumption that we are correct... and assumptions do not correct us make.

Watson Wrote:I never said it was anything new. Nothing is.

I disagree with this.
Please give me a home where cloud buffalo roam
Where the dear and the strangers can play
Where sometimes is heard a discouraging word
But the skies are not stormy all day
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#25
RE: China does not exist
(March 1, 2010 at 8:56 pm)Watson Wrote: ^Fuck! I've been blown away because he totally is! Dammit! Tongue
Oh and Phil, those places don't exist either. They're just made up by people who want to brainwash you into thinking China exists.


Well,yes and no-----.

God actually created reality 30 seconds ago,with all artifacts and our memories.

Prove otherwise.


This waste of time is thought by some to be a form of sophistry,but it isn't;it lacks the sophistication.Angel

Right now, I'd kill for a BLT sammie, with sauce (ketsup)
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#26
RE: China does not exist
(March 1, 2010 at 9:04 pm)Tiberius Wrote: Actually it's a fair point. One cannot be a materialist and then demand evidence of a non-material being. This is why I reject materialism...

Not entirely. If the non-material being is said to interact in the world in a substantial and material way, then we have something to talk about.

If you're talking about non-material and also non-interactive then we really don't have much to talk about anyway.
"The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason." Benjamin Franklin

::Blogs:: Boston Atheism Examiner - Boston Atheists Blog | :Tongueodcast:: Boston Atheists Report
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#27
RE: China does not exist
I could get really materialistic and murder a kebab!

This thread is a joke right??ROFLOL
"The Universe is run by the complex interweaving of three elements: energy, matter, and enlightened self-interest." G'Kar-B5
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#28
RE: China does not exist
I don't think it was intended to be a joke, but it inevitably became one.
"The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason." Benjamin Franklin

::Blogs:: Boston Atheism Examiner - Boston Atheists Blog | :Tongueodcast:: Boston Atheists Report
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#29
RE: China does not exist
(March 2, 2010 at 11:11 am)Eilonnwy Wrote: I don't think it was intended to be a joke, but it inevitably became one.

If it's a question of just what is and is not real; then the utilisation of China as an example is poor. Surely the question is whether or not the 'I' is real or not. And now I think we might be heading into Zen or it's Chinese equivalent Ch'an, or is it both??

China may or may not exist the question is whether you exist enough to witness it??
"The Universe is run by the complex interweaving of three elements: energy, matter, and enlightened self-interest." G'Kar-B5
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#30
RE: China does not exist
The argument goes like this, "If you believe in only things that you can touch and see, how can you believe Australia Exists?" Basically to prop up the idea that a materialist ideology is insufficient in asserting the existence of a country you've never been to. However it's a fallacious argument because you can assert Australia (or in this case, China) exists because we can see maps of Australia, we can call someone in Australia, we can meet people from Australia, etc... The same idea applies to God in the sense that if he is real and exerts some type of influence on the reality we see, we could test it and come to a conclusion, but that's not the case.

As I've said many times before, if God is a transcendant being that does not influence this world, then why worship? If he does, then we should be able to substantially test for it.
"The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason." Benjamin Franklin

::Blogs:: Boston Atheism Examiner - Boston Atheists Blog | :Tongueodcast:: Boston Atheists Report
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