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Logical fallacies and concept of a soul
#11
RE: Logical fallacies and concept of a soul
I was disappointed there was no mention of the Appeal to Emotion fallacy.
I used to tell a lot of religious jokes. Not any more, I'm a registered sects offender.
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...the least christian thing a person can do is to become a christian. ~Chuck
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NO MA'AM
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#12
RE: Logical fallacies and concept of a soul
(June 23, 2010 at 8:47 am)Dotard Wrote: I was disappointed there was no mention of the Appeal to Emotion fallacy.

There was. Wishful thinking is a subset of Appeal to Emotion, so is appeal to ridicule. I mentioned both. Tongue
"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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#13
RE: Logical fallacies and concept of a soul
There seems to me something slightly circular about his reasoning here: 'No matter how skillfully you may try to recreate a human being, vision, sensory systems, information storage and retrieval, vastly complex processing that I think is largely under calculated– you still don’t end up with something that essentially is the “self” or “soul”. There is no unique thing out side of all these interacting systems, that suddenly comes into being.'

He assumes that there is a thing independent of the mental characteristics which make up a human, but many philosophers believe the self is essentially a composite of attributes like those he lists. Thus, he presupposes his conclusion. Many philosophers would also argue that a sufficiently advanced computer might be a 'being'. How he can assume that an advanced piece of technology wouldn't have the same sensation of a self as we do, I'm not sure.

Another problem with his argument is that some of what he says is blatantly factually incorrect (as well as his claim that God exists) e.g. 'As most scientist have concluded, it is extremely likely that there is some kind of super intelligent force behind nature and all of existence.' As a commenter pointed out, scientists are overwhelmingly non-believers. Furthermore, even if this were true, it is a considerable leap from a deist god to a dualist view of reality.

Overall, a good article, Eilonnwy. Although you probably needn't have wasted your time demolishing such an utterly banal and ill-thought out piece of poorly written rhetoric.
'We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart.' H.L. Mencken

'False religion' is the ultimate tautology.

'It is just like man's vanity and impertinence to call an animal dumb because it is dumb to his dull perceptions.' Mark Twain

'I care not much for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it.' Abraham Lincoln
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#14
RE: Logical fallacies and concept of a soul
I can just imagine playing a really advanced first person shooter with enemies that have really advanced AI and they suddenly get a concept of self and start pleading for their life, or trying to get high within the program. Better yet they start growing outside the bounds of their programming and manifest as random pop-ups while I am surfing for porn.
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#15
RE: Logical fallacies and concept of a soul
(June 24, 2010 at 3:27 pm)Rhizomorph13 Wrote: I can just imagine playing a really advanced first person shooter with enemies that have really advanced AI and they suddenly get a concept of self and start pleading for their life, or trying to get high within the program. Better yet they start growing outside the bounds of their programming and manifest as random pop-ups while I am surfing for porn.

That would probably make gaming a much more disturbing experience, especially if the enemies said, 'Please... no... I have a wife and kids... and a gerbil called Nibbles!'
'We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart.' H.L. Mencken

'False religion' is the ultimate tautology.

'It is just like man's vanity and impertinence to call an animal dumb because it is dumb to his dull perceptions.' Mark Twain

'I care not much for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it.' Abraham Lincoln
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#16
RE: Logical fallacies and concept of a soul
Or a Guinea pig named Nila.....Tongue
Intelligence is the only true moral guide...
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