Uncommon Descent Serving The Intelligent Design Community

Darwinian Debating Device #11: “The Straw Man”

Share
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Flipboard
Print
Email

The Straw Man tactic is especially reprehensible, because it is fundamentally dishonest. Wikipedia describes the tactic as follows

A straw man is a common type of argument and is an informal fallacy based on the misrepresentation of an opponent’s argument. To be successful, a straw man argument requires that the audience be ignorant or uninformed of the original argument. The so-called typical “attacking a straw man” argument creates the illusion of having completely refuted or defeated an opponent’s proposition by covertly replacing it with a different proposition (i.e., “stand up a straw man”) and then to refute or defeat that false argument (“knock down a straw man”) instead of the original proposition

In this post we took down a straw man argument by a self-described “biochemist.” Note how he misrepresents ID theory and knocks over his misrepresentation instead of the real thing.

I want to thank okfanriffic for participating here at UD, not because he has advanced the ID/Materialist debate one iota, but because his behavior is a classic example of a social pathology I have observed many times over the years and gives me an opportunity to comment on it.

Okfanriffic describes himself as a “biochemist.” I am willing to take him at his word. I assume one does not become a biochemist without a firm grounding in science in general and biology in particular. Great! Here’s someone who can challenge us I thought. Sadly, I was mistaken. Far from presenting the least challenge, okfanriffic’s posts have never risen above the “ID is religion in disguise” red herring, and he did not even advance that trope very well. His level of debate never rises above the condescending, mocking and sloganeering/talking point level, as these examples demonstrate:

all science is doing is uncovering how your god did its magic

If it is successful we will understand biochemistry at a fundamental level. If it isn’t then it is evidence for your gods

there is no thunder god and yahweh didn’t put the rainbow in the sky nor is it a bridge to valhalla

Either we are here because of natural processes or because of magic

you are all super special and yahweh/allah/krishna etc loves you

your god loves you and that is all that matters or do you have something to say on the chemical basis of life?

nothing you ####wits say supports belief in magic. is there anyone out there who thinks that “then the lord god formed a man from the dust of the ground” etc Is that the origin of life?

So is it magic or nature.? If it is magic which magician is it? Allah, brahma or jahweh (or maybe odin pr lugh?)

did a god form man from dust or can life be explained by natural processes? is anyone out there brave enough to defend the biblical account of creation

so what is it? natural processes or god magic?

i’m still waiting for someone to admit their belief in magic. . . . come on guys did your god form us from dust or is it chemistry and evolution?

Anybody willing to admit their belief in magic? Go on guys, defend the biblical story

you love jesus and you don’t want to live in a universe where you can’t go to heaven and see grandma and grandpa

Sigh. Okfanriffic, you might as well have said “neener neener neener you poopyheads!” The level of maturity is about the same. I expected more from a “biochemist.” Commentator Barb mirrored my own feelings when she wrote:

Here I was hoping you’d actually drop some science on me and show me where evolution comes into play. But instead you hide back under your bridge. Disappointing, really. I expected better from you.

This is all so disappointing, because all okfanriffic has to do to utterly destroy the ID movement in one fell swoop is demonstrate (or point us to someone who has demonstrated) how unguided natural forces could have generated the information systems and irreducibly complex nano-structures inside every cell. Go ahead OK — drop that science bomb on us. Put us out of our misguided blinkered misery.

Presumably, as a biochemist he, of all people, would know how to make (or point to) such a demonstration if it existed. You would think he would drop a science bomb on us, but you’d be wrong. All he seems capable of is mocking, scoffing and condescending. He apparently fails to realize that he is actually strengthening the ID case. It just occurred to me that perhaps he is a fundamentalist Christian shilling as a Darwinist in order to bring dispute on it.

Be that as it may, I will address his three most fundamental errors.

A. False Dichotomy/Straw Man 1

Okfanriffic’s first false dichotomy is represented by the following: “did a god form man from dust or can life be explained by natural processes? is anyone out there brave enough to defend the biblical account of creation.”

It should be obvious to anyone with the least grounding in ID theory that ID as such does not address scripture, much less attempt to defend a particular interpretation of Genesis. Accordingly, one of two things appears to be true: (1) okfanriffic does not have the least grounding in ID theory, and his false dichotomy is the result of ignorance; (2) okfanriffic does have a grounding in ID theory, and he had mendaciously misrepresented the theory and erected a straw man in its stead.

Nether (1) nor (2) reflects well on okfanriffic.

B. False Dichotomy/Straw Man 2

Over and over like a mantra (which often, as in this case, seems to substitute for critical thought) okfanriffic asks: “Which is it, God magic or natural forces?” Let me demonstrate how even okfanriffic should admit this is a false dichotomy through several statements he should agree with.

1. Materialists believe that unguided natural forces can account for the origin of life (OOL).

2. Therefore, no designer was necessary to initiate the information systems and irreducibly complex nano-structures inside every cell.

3. Life can be reduced to chemistry and physics.

4. No intelligent guidance, much less a miracle, is necessary to explain life.

5. In principle, sufficiently advanced technology can replicate the creation of life.

6. If sufficiently advanced technology were to replicate the creation of life, it would not involve God or magic.

Now if okfanriffic agrees with these six statements, it follows as a matter of simple logic that his “God/magic or natural forces” dichotomy – the underlying premise of which is that those are the only two choices – is a false dichotomy. There is a least one more choice – advanced technology. So his allusion to “magic” is exposed as a strawman caricature of ID.

C. Category Error

In his scornful mocking okfanriffic mentions the following: thunder god, Yahweh, allah, Krishna, brahma, odin, prlugh

He has made a glaring category error by lumping the God of the three great monotheistic faiths in with other “gods.” As David Bentley Hart explains in The Experience of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss

according to the classical metaphysical traditions of both the East and West, God is the unconditioned cause of reality – of absolutely everything that is – from the beginning to the end of time. Understood in this way, one can’t even say that God “exists” in the sense that my car or Mount Everest or electrons exist. God is what grounds the existence of every contingent thing, making it possible, sustaining it through time, unifying it, giving it actuality. God is the condition of the possibility of anything existing at all.

Properly understood, the God of the monotheistic faiths is not like the gods in the Greek, Norse or Indian pantheons – contingent creatures all. He is pure being that is the source of all being. To lump him in with Odin demonstrates that you understand neither God nor Odin. Let me leave you with some advice okfanriffic. Before you comment in a subject area you should make some effort to understand it; otherwise you run a great risk of looking like a buffoon (a risk that has, sadly, fallen in on you in the comments quoted above). All I’m asking you to do okfanriffic is read a book. Your displays of ignorance and bigotry are embarrassing.

Comments
Sorry, my blockquote didn't work.Cabal
October 17, 2014
October
10
Oct
17
17
2014
02:18 PM
2
02
18
PM
PDT
Gobsmacking I know. But there ya go. AVS’s formula for life: Take one measure of lifeless matter; add lots and lots of energy from the sun, and, voilà, life. It’s just that easy. Don’t bother him by asking him for any of those pesky details. It’s as easy as making sun tea. I beg to differ. IMHO, what's suggested are just a hint at the prerequisites for abiogenesis. With the right "ingredients", the luxury of millions of years of time and environmental diversity and all the things going on both on and in the vicinity of the planet, there is an almost limitless amount of things that could happen, about which we can only guess. But the verdict is not yet out, there is, AFAIK, nothing yet on the scientific agenda that says a natural origins of life is impossible. We know all the necessary ingredients have been available, what remains is to discover how it could have happened. A designer would have been faced with the same problems and would have to find similar solutions, unless he did it by magic. But that's not what ID is about, is it? BTW, I've read books on the subject and the are chock full of details, much of stuf well above my head. But it sure looks like they know what they are talking about. I have a book by Iris Fry laying around here somewhere, I suppose it still is available in print or used on the marked. Try Amazon. Listening to the horse's mouth sometimes gets you more than mer guesswork.Cabal
October 17, 2014
October
10
Oct
17
17
2014
02:17 PM
2
02
17
PM
PDT
I think the thing that bothers me more than the unconvincing materialistic arguments in support of Darwinism is the attempt by many atheist to create doubt in the minds of believers and bully those who have found hope and strength in the spiritual. When I was a child there was much abuse in my family. My father is an agnostic who believes in purposeless unguided evolution. I was not brought up believing in God and had not a shred of hope about why I even existed. I bought into the theory of evolution as taught by my dad and others. But, when I discovered that there was a higher power who cared for me and loved me, I experienced, hope, peace and joy for the first time in my life. I mattered because I mattered to God. I am aware that people have done horrible things in the name of religion and I understand why some people get angry at God. I believe that resentment toward God has more to do with the thinking that goes on in the mind of an atheist than anything else (more than "science"). That was my father's experience. I love my dad and he has shown me love, but I always felt alone in this world until I experienced the supernatural love of God (my Lord, Jesus Christ). But, what I do not understand is why atheist go out of their way to prey upon anyone who has found hope in an intimate creator God who cares deeply for his creation. I have a friend who even planned on killing himself until he found out that he does matter in this world. He found hope and unconditional love in his Father, God - The very thing that all men and woman long for. A God who promises to carry the weight of our burdens and neediness when no one else will. I had one Darwinist say to me, "well, mindless and unguided evolution may be depressing, but it is true". Thank God, that He has left His signature within his creation to remind us everyday that there is hope and that we are not alone int his world!!!ringo
October 17, 2014
October
10
Oct
17
17
2014
12:54 PM
12
12
54
PM
PDT
Querius @25: I love the idea. I imagine a Star Trek-like show where our intrepid explorers stumble upon a primitive culture that deeply (and irrationally) worships a materialistic OOL scenario for something obviously designed (say, an alien ship that crash landed on their planet millennia before). Could be a fun episode to show many of the wildly irrational ideas and improbably scenarios underlying a materialistic OOL mindset.Eric Anderson
March 31, 2014
March
03
Mar
31
31
2014
08:23 PM
8
08
23
PM
PDT
Ahh yes. Our friend, Benito Elzinga. You may not know this, but Mike has been on the front, saving the world from creationists for 50 years. Just imagine what would have happended to us if he hadn't done his part.Upright BiPed
March 31, 2014
March
03
Mar
31
31
2014
02:34 PM
2
02
34
PM
PDT
Upright Biped asks: Now what? Geez UB, Mike Elzinga told ya- condensing. All the differing charges started doing their thing- repelling some and bringing others together. From there replicators appeared. And once that happened living organisms were inevitable. Sheesh. ;)Joe
March 31, 2014
March
03
Mar
31
31
2014
01:13 PM
1
01
13
PM
PDT
What now? Well, they would look for the next step, perhaps another compound that could be shown is not impossible and therefore "musta" happened. All you need to do is show two or three of these steps, and then you can extrapolate the next billion billion of them to form the first self-reproducing, self-sustaining life as we know it. Of course, that the same logic could be used to rationalize the natural origin of a bicycle doesn't seem to bother them. It would be fun to create an OOL mythology involving hot volcanic pools, iron ore, cracks in crystalline joints forming natural molds into which the molten metal could flow. Of course, the process would stop at the point of internal metabolism and self replication, but the bicycle is profoundly simpler than a living cell, so there must have been some naturally occurring bicycles formed at the same time as the first cells! If they haven't been discovered yet, it's because most of the original rock on the planet is inaccessible. ;-) -QQuerius
March 31, 2014
March
03
Mar
31
31
2014
01:12 PM
1
01
12
PM
PDT
Given stones materialistic processes can't build Stonehenge(s). I bet the macromolecules capable of replication and evolution are more complex than Stonehenge.Joe
March 31, 2014
March
03
Mar
31
31
2014
01:09 PM
1
01
09
PM
PDT
I agree with Eric and KF. I was once debating a materialist much like AVS, and he kept hitting me with how it had been shown that this particular compound could come into existence, or that particular compound could be found ... in a prebiotic environment, or on the head of a comet, or available at a deep thermal vent, etc. So I granted every single compound he was so breathlessly excited to argue "could be found" in order to jump start life. Then I asked much the same question Eric does - What now?Upright BiPed
March 31, 2014
March
03
Mar
31
31
2014
12:45 PM
12
12
45
PM
PDT
Nicely stated all. Here's my perspective:
In short, OKF, with all due respect to what you may know of Biochemistry, you are here quite plainly publicly exhibiting ill informed sophomoric dismissiveness based on want of basic familiarity with what I would teach in a first class or two in digital electronics or intro to computers, much less info theory.
The issue with OKF and AVS is not one of knowledge or interpretation, although AVS seems to have much more than OKF. The issue is the apparent petrification of their thought processes. They cannot seem to use reason and intellectual flexibility to evaluate new information. This is not meant to be disrespectful, but in a research or academic environment where the rate of discovery seems to be accelerating, all they offer is a sort of bureaucratic rigidity that's antithetical to scientific progress. It's a pity, and something that they could remedy if they wanted to. The arrogant, vituperative, and dismissive attitude is another, more spiritual matter that reflects poorly on anyone regardless of their beliefs. -QQuerius
March 31, 2014
March
03
Mar
31
31
2014
11:50 AM
11
11
50
AM
PDT
'All in all, there is a very compelling case that man indeed has a transcendent component to his makeup that is very real and is not part of his material makeup.' That's a more important distinction than perhaps you intended, BA, since you've been explaining for a good while now, how all matter has a transcendant component - those non-local photons!Axel
March 31, 2014
March
03
Mar
31
31
2014
10:36 AM
10
10
36
AM
PDT
I like KF's challenge @14. Here's the one I've offered on more than one occasion, in case AVS comes back calling or wants to engage substantively on OOL, rather than just trolling. Note that AVS has referred vaguely to but one aspect (energy), without taking into account any other requirements (and this is by no means a comprehensive list). ----- I’m willing to grant you all the amino acids you want. I’ll even give them all to you in a non-racemic mixture. You want them all left-handed? No problem. I’ll also grant you the exact relative mixture of the specific amino acids you want (what percentage do you want of glycine, alanine, arganine, etc.?). I’ll further give you just the right concentration to encourage optimum reaction. I’m also willing to give you the most benign and hospitable environment you can possibly imagine for your fledgling structures to form (take your pick of the popular ideas: volcanic vents, hydrothermal pools, mud globules, tide pools, deep sea hydrothermal vents, cometary clouds in space . . . whichever environment you want). I’ll even throw in whatever type of energy source you want in true Goldilocks fashion: just the right amount to facilitate the chemical reactions; not too much to destroy the nascent formations. I’ll further spot you that all these critical conditions occur in the same location spatially. And at the same time temporally. Shoot, as a massive bonus I’ll even step in to prevent contaminating cross reactions. I’ll also miraculously make your fledgling chemical structures immune from their natural rate of breakdown so you can keep them around as long as you want. Every single one of the foregoing items represents a huge challenge and a significant open question to the formation of life, but I’m willing to grant them all. Now, with all these concessions, what do you think the next step is? Go ahead, what is your theory about how life forms?Eric Anderson
March 31, 2014
March
03
Mar
31
31
2014
10:13 AM
10
10
13
AM
PDT
As well, as with any observer accelerating to the speed of light, it is found that for any ‘hypothetical’ observer falling to the event horizon of a black hole, that time, as we understand it, will come to a complete stop for them. This is because the accelerative force of gravity at black holes is so intense that not even light can escape its grip:
Space-Time of a Black hole – video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0VOn9r4dq8
But of particular interest to the ‘eternal framework’ found for General Relativity at black holes;… It is interesting to note that entropic decay (Randomness/Chaos), which is the primary reason why things grow old and eventually die in this universe, is found to be greatest at black holes. Thus the ‘eternity of time’ at black holes can rightly be described as ‘eternities of decay and/or eternities of destruction’.
Roger Penrose – How Special Was The Big Bang? “But why was the big bang so precisely organized, whereas the big crunch (or the singularities in black holes) would be expected to be totally chaotic? It would appear that this question can be phrased in terms of the behaviour of the WEYL part of the space-time curvature at space-time singularities. What we appear to find is that there is a constraint WEYL = 0 (or something very like this) at initial space-time singularities-but not at final singularities-and this seems to be what confines the Creator’s choice to this very tiny region of phase space.” "Einstein's equation predicts that, as the astronaut reaches the singularity (of the black-hole), the tidal forces grow infinitely strong, and their chaotic oscillations become infinitely rapid. The astronaut dies and the atoms which his body is made become infinitely and chaotically distorted and mixed-and then, at the moment when everything becomes infinite (the tidal strengths, the oscillation frequencies, the distortions, and the mixing), spacetime ceases to exist." Kip S. Thorne - "Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein's Outrageous Legacy" pg. 476
i.e. Black Holes are found to be ‘timeless’ singularities of destruction and disorder rather than singularities of creation and order such as the extreme order we see at the creation event of the Big Bang. Needless to say, the implications of this ‘eternity of destruction’ should be fairly disturbing for those of us who are of a ‘spiritually minded’ persuasion! Moreover, Gravity, despite intense effort by many brilliant minds,,,,
Bohemian Gravity – Rob Sheldon – September 19, 2013 Excerpt: (the video) has gone viral–the one man a cappella production of “Bohemian Gravity”.,,,, ,,,there’s a large contingent of physicists who believe that string theory is the heroin of theoretical physics. It has absorbed not just millions of dollars, but hundreds if not thousands of grad student lifetimes without delivering what it promised–a unified theory of the universe and life. It is hard, in fact, to find a single contribution from string theory despite 25 years of intense effort by thousands of the very brightest and best minds our society can find. http://rbsp.info/PROCRUSTES/bohemian-gravity/
,,,despite all this effort, Gravity still refuses to be unified with Quantum Mechanics (which should not be all that surprising given Godel's incompleteness theorem). In light of this dilemma that the two very different eternities present to us spiritually minded people, and the fact that Gravity is, in so far as we can tell, completely incompatible with Quantum Mechanics, it is interesting to point out a subtle nuance on the Shroud of Turin. Namely that Gravity was overcome in the resurrection event of Christ:
A Quantum Hologram of Christ’s Resurrection? by Chuck Missler Excerpt: “You can read the science of the Shroud, such as total lack of gravity, lack of entropy (without gravitational collapse), no time, no space—it conforms to no known law of physics.” The phenomenon of the image brings us to a true event horizon, a moment when all of the laws of physics change drastically. Dame Piczek created a one-fourth size sculpture of the man in the Shroud. When viewed from the side, it appears as if the man is suspended in mid air (see graphic, below), indicating that the image defies previously accepted science. The phenomenon of the image brings us to a true event horizon, a moment when all of the laws of physics change drastically. http://www.khouse.org/articles/2008/847 THE EVENT HORIZON (Space-Time Singularity) OF THE SHROUD OF TURIN. – Isabel Piczek – Particle Physicist Excerpt: We have stated before that the images on the Shroud firmly indicate the total absence of Gravity. Yet they also firmly indicate the presence of the Event Horizon. These two seemingly contradict each other and they necessitate the past presence of something more powerful than Gravity that had the capacity to solve the above paradox. http://shroud3d.com/findings/isabel-piczek-image-formation Particle Radiation from the Body – July 2012 – M. Antonacci, A. C. Lind Excerpt: The Shroud’s frontal and dorsal body images are encoded with the same amount of intensity, independent of any pressure or weight from the body. The bottom part of the cloth (containing the dorsal image) would have born all the weight of the man’s supine body, yet the dorsal image is not encoded with a greater amount of intensity than the frontal image. Radiation coming from the body would not only explain this feature, but also the left/right and light/dark reversals found on the cloth’s frontal and dorsal body images. http://www.academicjournals.org/sre/PDF/pdf2012/30JulSpeIss/Antonacci.pdf
Moreover, as would be expected if Gravity and Quantum Mechanics were truly unified in the resurrection event of Jesus Christ, the image on the Shroud of Turin was formed by a quantum process not by a classical process:
The absorbed energy in the Shroud body image formation appears as contributed by discrete values - Giovanni Fazio, Giuseppe Mandaglio - 2008 Excerpt: This result means that the optical density distribution,, can not be attributed at the absorbed energy described in the framework of the classical physics model. It is, in fact, necessary to hypothesize a absorption by discrete values of the energy where the 'quantum' is equal to the one necessary to yellow one fibril. http://cab.unime.it/journals/index.php/AAPP/article/view/C1A0802004/271 Scientists say Turin Shroud is supernatural – December 2011 Excerpt: After years of work trying to replicate the colouring on the shroud, a similar image has been created by the scientists. However, they only managed the effect by scorching equivalent linen material with high-intensity ultra violet lasers, undermining the arguments of other research, they say, which claims the Turin Shroud is a medieval hoax. Such technology, say researchers from the National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (Enea), was far beyond the capability of medieval forgers, whom most experts have credited with making the famous relic. “The results show that a short and intense burst of UV directional radiation can colour a linen cloth so as to reproduce many of the peculiar characteristics of the body image on the Shroud of Turin,” they said. And in case there was any doubt about the preternatural degree of energy needed to make such distinct marks, the Enea report spells it out: “This degree of power cannot be reproduced by any normal UV source built to date.” http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/scientists-say-turin-shroud-is-supernatural-6279512.html “In mathematics there are two ways to go to infinity. One is to grow large without measure. The other is to form a fraction in which the denominator goes to zero. The Cross is a path of humility in which the infinite God becomes finite and then contracts to zero, only to resurrect and thereby unite a finite humanity within a newfound infinity.” William Dembski PhD. Mathematics - The End Of Christianity – Finding a Good God in an Evil World – Pg.31 The Center Of The Universe Is Life – General Relativity, Quantum Mechanics, Entropy and The Shroud Of Turin – video http://vimeo.com/34084462
Verse and Music:
Colossians 1:15-20 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Kari Jobe - Revelation Song – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FObjd5wrgZ8
bornagain77
March 31, 2014
March
03
Mar
31
31
2014
07:45 AM
7
07
45
AM
PDT
And of course then there are the millions of reported cases of Near Death Experiences:
Near-Death Experiences: Putting a Darwinist's Evidentiary Standards to the Test - Dr. Michael Egnor - October 15, 2012 Excerpt: Indeed, about 20 percent of NDE's are corroborated, which means that there are independent ways of checking about the veracity of the experience. The patients knew of things that they could not have known except by extraordinary perception -- such as describing details of surgery that they watched while their heart was stopped, etc. Additionally, many NDE's have a vividness and a sense of intense reality that one does not generally encounter in dreams or hallucinations.,,, The most "parsimonious" explanation -- the simplest scientific explanation -- is that the (Near Death) experience was real. Tens of millions of people have had such experiences. That is tens of millions of more times than we have observed the origin of species (or origin of life), which is never.,,, The materialist reaction, in short, is unscientific and close-minded. NDE's show fellows like Coyne at their sneering unscientific irrational worst. Somebody finds a crushed fragment of a fossil and it's earth-shaking evidence. Tens of million of people have life-changing spiritual experiences and it's all a big yawn. Note: Dr. Egnor is professor and vice-chairman of neurosurgery at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. http://www.evolutionnews.org/2012/10/near_death_expe_1065301.html "A recent analysis of several hundred cases showed that 48% of near-death experiencers reported seeing their physical bodies from a different visual perspective. Many of them also reported witnessing events going on in the vicinity of their body, such as the attempts of medical personnel to resuscitate them (Kelly et al., 2007)." Kelly, E. W., Greyson, B., & Kelly, E. F. (2007). Unusual experiences near death and related phenomena. In E. F. Kelly, E. W. Kelly, A. Crabtree, A. Gauld, M. Grosso, & B. Greyson, Irreducible mind (pp. 367-421). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. Michaela's Amazing Near Death Experience - video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTcHWz6UMZ8
There is now even 'scientific' evidence for a transcendent component to man that is not reducible to a material basis:
Does Quantum Biology Support A Quantum Soul? – Stuart Hameroff - video (notes in description) http://vimeo.com/29895068
All in all, there is a very compelling case that man indeed has a transcendent component to his makeup that is very real and is not part of his material makeup. A 'spiritual' component to himself that certainly will not 'go away' simply by making fun of it and ridiculing it as many atheists seem to think it will. But to drive the seriousness of this 'spiritual' situation home, and to hopefully get some 'scientific atheists' to stop trying to ignore this very important aspect of their lives, it is important to note that modern science has revealed two very different eternities to us. In Theism, particularly Christian Theism, it is held there are two ultimate destinies for our eternal souls. Heaven or Hell! And in physics we find two very different ‘eternities’ just as Theism has held for millenia. One eternity in physics is found ‘if’ a hypothetical observer were to accelerate to the speed of light. In this scenario time, as we understand it, would come to a complete stop for the hypothetical observer. To grasp the whole ‘time coming to a complete stop at the speed of light’ concept a little more easily, imagine moving away from the face of a clock at the speed of light. Would not the hands on the clock stay stationary as you moved away from the face of the clock at the speed of light? Moving away from the face of a clock at the speed of light happens to be the same ‘thought experiment’ that gave Einstein his breakthrough insight into e=mc2.
Albert Einstein – Special Relativity – Insight Into Eternity – ‘thought experiment’ video http://www.metacafe.com/w/6545941/ “I’ve just developed a new theory of eternity.” Albert Einstein – The Einstein Factor – Reader’s Digest – 2005
Some may think that time, as we understand it, coming to a complete stop at the speed of light is pure science fiction, but, as incredible as it sounds, Einstein’s infamous thought experiment has many lines of evidence now supporting it.
Velocity time dilation tests http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_dilation#Velocity_time_dilation_tests “The laws of relativity have changed timeless existence from a theological claim to a physical reality. Light, you see, is outside of time, a fact of nature proven in thousands of experiments at hundreds of universities. I don’t pretend to know how tomorrow can exist simultaneously with today and yesterday. But at the speed of light they actually and rigorously do. Time does not pass.” Richard Swenson – More Than Meets The Eye, Chpt. 12
This following confirmation of time dilation is my favorite since they have actually caught time dilation on film (of note: light travels approximately 1 foot in a nanosecond (billionth of a second) whilst the camera used in the experiment takes a trillion pictures a second):
Amazing — light filmed at 1,000,000,000,000 Frames/Second! – video (so fast that at 9:00 Minute mark of video you can briefly see the time dilation effect of relativity caught on film!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_9vd4HWlVA
This higher dimension, ‘eternal’, inference for the time framework of light is also warranted, by logic, because light is not ‘frozen within time’, i.e. light appears to move to us in our temporal framework of time, yet it is shown that time, as we understand it, does not pass for light. The only way this is possible is if light is indeed of a higher dimensional value of time than our temporal time is otherwise it would simply be ‘frozen in time’. Another line of evidence that supports the inference that ‘tomorrow can exist simultaneously with today and yesterday’, at the ‘eternal’ speed of light, is visualizing what would happen if a hypothetical observer were to approach the speed of light. Please note, at the 3:22 minute mark of the following video, when the 3-Dimensional world ‘folds and collapses’ into a tunnel shape as a ‘hypothetical’ observer moves towards the ‘higher dimension’ of the speed of light, (Of note: This following video was made by two Australian University Physics Professors with a supercomputer.).
Approaching The Speed Of Light – Optical Effects – video http://www.metacafe.com/watch/5733303/
Moreover, we have ‘observational’ evidence that corroborates what our physics is telling us in that people who have had deep Judeo-Christian Near Death Experiences (NDEs) report both ‘eternity’ and traveling through the tunnel to a higher dimension:
‘Earthly time has no meaning in the spirit realm. There is no concept of before or after. Everything – past, present, future – exists simultaneously.’ – Kimberly Clark Sharp – NDE Experiencer “I started to move toward the light. The way I moved, the physics, was completely different than it is here on Earth. It was something I had never felt before and never felt since. It was a whole different sensation of motion. I obviously wasn’t walking or skipping or crawling. I was not floating. I was flowing. I was flowing toward the light. I was accelerating and I knew I was accelerating, but then again, I didn’t really feel the acceleration. I just knew I was accelerating toward the light. Again, the physics was different – the physics of motion of time, space, travel. It was completely different in that tunnel, than it is here on Earth. I came out into the light and when I came out into the light, I realized that I was in heaven.” Barbara Springer – Near Death Experience – The Tunnel – video https://vimeo.com/79072924
Moreover, as with special relativity, in General Relativity we find that temporal time slows down the further down in a gravitational well a person is:
Gravitational time dilation tests http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_dilation#Gravitational_time_dilation_tests
bornagain77
March 31, 2014
March
03
Mar
31
31
2014
07:43 AM
7
07
43
AM
PDT
Unfortunately, Okfanriffic's making fun of the spiritual side of life is all too common among atheists. Although not nearly as overt as Okfanriffic's comments that Mr. Arrington highlighted in the OP, many atheists I have encountered have just about the same attitude as Okfanriffic expressed so bluntly. Perhaps they think if they just make fun of the spiritual side of life that it will go away?!? Is this irrational reaction born out of fear of the unknown or some other cause? Perhaps a bad encounter with a religious type? I don't exactly know what it is that drives such irrational and immature reactions from atheists, but I do know, after much study, that this is not a game! i.e. There truly is a 'spiritual side of life' that needs to be taken seriously. Very Seriously! Ignoring it and making fun of it certainly will not make it go away as atheists pretend that it will. Perhaps, the easiest way to get the reality of this 'spiritual side of life' across to the 'scientific atheist' is to show him that he himself could not practice science unless he had a spiritual nature that is transcendent of his material nature:
"Nothing in evolution can account for the soul of man. The difference between man and the other animals is unbridgeable. Mathematics is alone sufficient to prove in man the possession of a faculty unexistent in other creatures. Then you have music and the artistic faculty. No, the soul was a separate creation." Alfred Russell Wallace, New Thoughts on Evolution, 1910 Sam Harris's Free Will: The Medial Pre-Frontal Cortex Did It - Martin Cothran - November 9, 2012 Excerpt: There is something ironic about the position of thinkers like Harris on issues like this: they claim that their position is the result of the irresistible necessity of logic (in fact, they pride themselves on their logic). Their belief is the consequent, in a ground/consequent relation between their evidence and their conclusion. But their very stated position is that any mental state -- including their position on this issue -- is the effect of a physical, not logical cause. By their own logic, it isn't logic that demands their assent to the claim that free will is an illusion, but the prior chemical state of their brains. The only condition under which we could possibly find their argument convincing is if they are not true. The claim that free will is an illusion requires the possibility that minds have the freedom to assent to a logical argument, a freedom denied by the claim itself. It is an assent that must, in order to remain logical and not physiological, presume a perspective outside the physical order. http://www.evolutionnews.org/2012/11/sam_harriss_fre066221.html Mathematics is the language with which God has written the universe. Galileo Galilei An Interview with David Berlinski - Jonathan Witt Berlinski: There is no argument against religion that is not also an argument against mathematics. Mathematicians are capable of grasping a world of objects that lies beyond space and time …. Interviewer:… Come again(?) … Berlinski: No need to come again: I got to where I was going the first time. The number four, after all, did not come into existence at a particular time, and it is not going to go out of existence at another time. It is neither here nor there. Nonetheless we are in some sense able to grasp the number by a faculty of our minds. Mathematical intuition is utterly mysterious. So for that matter is the fact that mathematical objects such as a Lie Group or a differentiable manifold have the power to interact with elementary particles or accelerating forces. But these are precisely the claims that theologians have always made as well – that human beings are capable by an exercise of their devotional abilities to come to some understanding of the deity; and the deity, although beyond space and time, is capable of interacting with material objects. http://tofspot.blogspot.com/2013/10/found-upon-web-and-reprinted-here.html
Science, indeed rational thought itself, is dependent on a perspective outside the material order! This is certainly VERY strong evidence that man has within himself a 'mind/soul' that is not the same thing as his temporal material body. In keeping with this line of thought, here are six properties of the mind that are not properties of the brain. Thus, in keeping with the law of identity, the mind is not same thing as the brain:
The Mind and Materialist Superstition - Six "conditions of mind" that are irreconcilable with materialism: Michael Egnor, professor of neurosurgery at SUNY, Stony Brook Excerpt: Intentionality,,, Qualia,,, Persistence of Self-Identity,,, Restricted Access,,, Incorrigibility,,, Free Will,,, http://www.evolutionnews.org/2008/11/the_mind_and_materialist_super.html Six reasons why you should believe in non-physical minds - podcast and summary (Law of Identity: 6 properties of mind that are not identical to properties of the brain, thus the mind is not the brain) http://winteryknight.wordpress.com/2014/01/30/six-reasons-why-you-should-believe-in-non-physical-minds/
Alvin Plantinga has a humorous way of getting this point across
Alvin Plantinga and the Modal Argument (for the existence of the soul) - video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOTn_wRwDE0
Though not nearly as 'logical' as the preceding proof for the existence of the mind/soul, the following video is none-the-less very effective for highlighting the reality of 'the spiritual side of life'. Although the girl in the video was written off as hopelessly retarded by almost everyone who saw her except by her loving father who somehow knew that his little girl was trapped inside that dysfunctional body, reveals that there was/is indeed a gentle intelligence, a “me”, a “soul’, within the girl that was/is unable to express herself properly to others because of her neurological disorder.
Severely Handicapped Girl Suddenly Expresses Intelligence At Age 11 – very moving video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNZVV4Ciccg Carly’s Café – Experience Autism Through Carly’s Eyes – video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmDGvquzn2k
Almost as moving are the cases of hemispherectomy where, due to incurable epileptic conditions, half of the brain is removed from a child:
Strange but True: When Half a Brain Is Better than a Whole One - May 2007 Excerpt: Most Hopkins hemispherectomy patients are five to 10 years old. Neurosurgeons have performed the operation on children as young as three months old. Astonishingly, memory and personality develop normally. ,,, Another study found that children that underwent hemispherectomies often improved academically once their seizures stopped. "One was champion bowler of her class, one was chess champion of his state, and others are in college doing very nicely," Freeman says. Of course, the operation has its downside: "You can walk, run—some dance or skip—but you lose use of the hand opposite of the hemisphere that was removed. You have little function in that arm and vision on that side is lost," Freeman says. Remarkably, few other impacts are seen. ,,, http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=strange-but-true-when-half-brain-better-than-whole Removing Half of Brain Improves Young Epileptics' Lives: Excerpt: "We are awed by the apparent retention of memory and by the retention of the child's personality and sense of humor,'' Dr. Eileen P. G. Vining; In further comment from the neuro-surgeons in the John Hopkins study: "Despite removal of one hemisphere, the intellect of all but one of the children seems either unchanged or improved. Intellect was only affected in the one child who had remained in a coma, vigil-like state, attributable to peri-operative complications." - per NY Times Miracle Of Mind-Brain Recovery Following Hemispherectomies - Dr. Ben Carson - video http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3994585/
bornagain77
March 31, 2014
March
03
Mar
31
31
2014
07:42 AM
7
07
42
AM
PDT
We can thank AVS for being a clueless moron and for not not understanding science. He is a classic example of bloviation, cowardicr and ignorance only seen in evolutionists.Joe
March 31, 2014
March
03
Mar
31
31
2014
05:23 AM
5
05
23
AM
PDT
Re OKF, 83 prev:
claude shannon defines information but it is still subjective
Let's start with a light switch in a circuit. (Cf. my basic intro to computers here, part of an under development intro to computing course.) It can be observed to have two states, leading to the conclusion that its info storage capacity is 1 binary digit, one bit for short. Chain eight of these or equivalent two-state elements, and the number of possible states is now 2 * 2 * . . .* 2 = 2^8, hence using Shannon's basic log metric, eight bits. This stores the quantity of info in one line of a typical memory register, and is often used to store one ASCII character (which strictly uses seven bits, but a parity check leads to eight). In short, it can be fairly easily shown that info carrying capacity is objective, observable and measurable, indeed this is foundational to the ICT era we are now embarked upon. As for the difference between functionally specific, complex info and that which fails to function, there are many ways to show that such is observable and/or measurable too. As a simple exercise, create a blank Word 97, .doc, document. Inspect it with a suitable application, and at whim change or delete a character or few at random. Close same, leaving its .doc format alone. Try to re-open as a Word file, almost certainly a change in that seemingly emptily repetitious string of characters will cause functional failure. And so forth. In short, OKF, with all due respect to what you may know of Biochemistry, you are here quite plainly publicly exhibiting ill informed sophomoric dismissiveness based on want of basic familiarity with what I would teach in a first class or two in digital electronics or intro to computers, much less info theory. This is not advisable. I suggest you get a copy of Taub and Schilling on Principles of Communication Systems, or F R Connor's wonderful series of short works on T/comms topics [which I so fondly recall enjoying learning from], or the like. I need not go into the blatant contempt and bigotry targetting Christians, save to point here on in context, to see a 101 level grounding on what it is that is so viscerally despised. KFkairosfocus
March 30, 2014
March
03
Mar
30
30
2014
11:47 PM
11
11
47
PM
PDT
OKF & AVS: The fundamental challenge remains: show, based on empirical observation, the blind watchmaker forces -- chance plus mechanical necessity -- origin of functionally specific complex organisation and/or associated information (FSCO/I). OKF, let's specifically focus on the biochem nodes and arcs framework involved in metabolic activity in the cell, e.g. cf. here. The empirically backed account of its spontaneous origin is _______, achieved by ___________, and it is widely acknowledged to be sound because ________ . AVS, let's specifically focus on the origin of a metabolising, von Neumann self-replicating living cell, e.g. cf. the outline I raise here in context. The empirically backed account of its spontaneous origin is _______, achieved by ___________, and it is widely acknowledged to be sound because ________ . Likewise AVS, in light of considerations outlined here and onwards, just how does open system thermodynamics in a warm little pond or the like enable and empirically ground -- as in, passing the vera causa test of showing actual capability on credible current observations -- the claim that:
with a massive and constant source of energy, the early Earth was continually being pushed to a more ordered state, making the eventual formation of what we call life not only likely, but inevitable
KFkairosfocus
March 30, 2014
March
03
Mar
30
30
2014
11:06 PM
11
11
06
PM
PDT
OK, thanks Barry. I guess I was more interested in how you were using the word than what Wikipedia thinks it is. You said you were using it for irony so I guess that means you were not really serious.tjguy
March 30, 2014
March
03
Mar
30
30
2014
10:09 PM
10
10
09
PM
PDT
tjguy writes:
Barry, what is your definition of a “fundamentalist” Christian? People throw around this word a lot and I’m interested to know how you would actually define this word. So, since you used it, what exactly do you mean by it? And why is it that you particularly think a FUNDAMENTALIST Christian, as opposed to any other person/Christian might possibly be behind this?
Fair questions all, TJ. Astoundingly, given its oft-noted leftist bias, Wikipedia has a fairly decent article describing North American Christian Fundamentalism. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamentalist_Christianity I don’t necessarily agree with everything in the article, but it hits the high points fairly well. Why did I use it in this context? Based on what he has written on these pages, I would surmise that okfanriffic hates theists in general, Christians in particular, and fundamentalists especially, because their worldview is diametrical to his. So I was going for irony when I suggested he might be one.Barry Arrington
March 30, 2014
March
03
Mar
30
30
2014
08:38 PM
8
08
38
PM
PDT
It just occurred to me that perhaps he is a fundamentalist Christian shilling as a Darwinist in order to bring dispute on it.
Barry, what is your definition of a "fundamentalist" Christian? People throw around this word a lot and I'm interested to know how you would actually define this word. So, since you used it, what exactly do you mean by it? And why is it that you particularly think a FUNDAMENTALIST Christian, as opposed to any other person/Christian might possibly be behind this? Thanks.tjguy
March 30, 2014
March
03
Mar
30
30
2014
08:00 PM
8
08
00
PM
PDT
Barry @8: I see. Take the failed "open system" argument and then push it to its most outrageous and logical extrapolation. OOL solved! ROFLMAO!Eric Anderson
March 30, 2014
March
03
Mar
30
30
2014
07:57 PM
7
07
57
PM
PDT
I think a repost of Dr. Sewell's new video is fitting, seeing as how much pain he has endured from atheists for refusing to back down from the 'common sense law of physics': New video based on Granville Sewell's 2013 Biocomplexity paper Evolution and Entropy - Granville Sewell - video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMHzFoOcdFAbornagain77
March 30, 2014
March
03
Mar
30
30
2014
07:46 PM
7
07
46
PM
PDT
Eric @ 6: "presumably you aren’t really suggesting that the 'generation of life was inevitable'?" No, that is exactly what AVS is suggesting. In the prior post AVS said:
The basis of my entire argument is that with a massive and constant source of energy, the early Earth was continually being pushed to a more ordered state, making the eventual formation of what we call life not only likely, but inevitable.
Gobsmacking I know. But there ya go. AVS's formula for life: Take one measure of lifeless matter; add lots and lots of energy from the sun, and, voilà, life. It's just that easy. Don't bother him by asking him for any of those pesky details. It's as easy as making sun tea. Barry Arrington
March 30, 2014
March
03
Mar
30
30
2014
07:34 PM
7
07
34
PM
PDT
AVS @2:
Thank you Joe and BA, not for advancing any intelligent conversations one iota, but for solidifying my conception of UD and the idea it supports as a complete joke. Your behavior is a classic example of the ignorance and misunderstanding I have observed many times over the years. Its unfortunate that people actually believe the stuff you post, but oh well, the world needs ditch-diggers too I guess. Sayonara guys, it’s been fun.
LOL. Your opinion matters because of what again? PS. Please, don't say goodbye. We know you can't resist the pleasure of throwing feces over the fence.Mapou
March 30, 2014
March
03
Mar
30
30
2014
07:18 PM
7
07
18
PM
PDT
AVS:
. . .I was simply referring to the decrease in entropy as the first steps toward the generation of life. And this, as I said was driven by the constant energy input by the sun. Earth provided the right conditions and the sun provided the energy, the decrease in entropy that is the generation of life was inevitable.
Hmmm . . . This sounds a lot like the old "open system" red herring. Also, presumably you aren't really suggesting that the "generation of life was inevitable"?Eric Anderson
March 30, 2014
March
03
Mar
30
30
2014
06:40 PM
6
06
40
PM
PDT
Reductionist Paradox for biochemist: 1.) Actions of the mind (i.e. - psychology, reason, philosophy, analysis, cognition, etc.) are explained by biology 2.) Biology is explained by chemistry 3.) Chemistry is explained by physics 4.) Physics is explained by its constituent laws and particles 5.) Laws and particles are explained by actions of the mind 6.) repeat 1-5 There is no fundamental basic, as even our hopeful reductionism, whether employed by Randian Objectivists or Naturalists, runs circles unresolved. It is a vexing annoyance, but real. Labeling the mind as illusory does not untie this knot. In fact, no matter how many times I run through this, it seems that intelligence must be the most basic fundamental in the universe, not matter. The mischaracterization of "naturalist versus mystic" must be replaced by "panbosonist versus intelligentist."jw777
March 30, 2014
March
03
Mar
30
30
2014
06:22 PM
6
06
22
PM
PDT
Wow, BA, I knew you'd humor me with a response. You're not even coming out of left field with that one though, you're coming out of the parking lot and going in the opposite direction. I didn't attribute a decrease in entropy as "the creator of life on Earth," I was simply referring to the decrease in entropy as the first steps toward the generation of life. And this, as I said was driven by the constant energy input by the sun. Earth provided the right conditions and the sun provided the energy, the decrease in entropy that is the generation of life was inevitable. Just another of example of you completely misunderstanding, misrepresenting, or completely missing the point. Oh well, back to the real world for me, toodaloo.AVS
March 30, 2014
March
03
Mar
30
30
2014
05:16 PM
5
05
16
PM
PDT
It is interesting that atheists/materialists, such as AVS, would appeal to a 'decrease in entropy' as the creator of all life on Earth since a 'decrease in entropy' is, by far, the most finely tuned of initial conditions of the universe that gives overwhelming evidence for God:
The Physics of the Small and Large: What is the Bridge Between Them? Roger Penrose Excerpt: “The time-asymmetry is fundamentally connected to with the Second Law of Thermodynamics: indeed, the extraordinarily special nature (to a greater precision than about 1 in 10^10^123, in terms of phase-space volume) can be identified as the “source” of the Second Law (Entropy).” "The 'accuracy of the Creator's aim' would have had to be in 10^10^123" Hawking, S. and Penrose, R., The Nature of Space and Time, Princeton, Princeton University Press (1996), 34, 35.
This number is simply gargantuan beyond comprehension. If this number were written out in its entirety, 1 with 10^123 zeros to the right, it could not be written on a piece of paper the size of the entire visible universe, even if a number were written down on each sub-atomic particle in the entire universe, since the universe only has 10^80 sub-atomic particles in it. Contemplating what is possible with such a gargantuan 1 in 10^10^123 possibility, we find that it is immensely more likely that a brain would 'spontaneously fluctuate into existence' than it is that we have parents and exist in an orderly universe with a 13.7 billion-year history.
BRUCE GORDON: Hawking's irrational arguments - October 2010 Excerpt: For instance, we find multiverse cosmologists debating the "Boltzmann Brain" problem: In the most "reasonable" models for a multiverse, it is immeasurably more likely that our consciousness is associated with a brain that has spontaneously fluctuated into existence in the quantum vacuum than it is that we have parents and exist in an orderly universe with a 13.7 billion-year history. This is absurd. The multiverse hypothesis is therefore falsified because it renders false what we know to be true about ourselves. Clearly, embracing the multiverse idea entails a nihilistic irrationality that destroys the very possibility of science. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/oct/1/hawking-irrational-arguments/ The Absurdity of Inflation, String Theory and The Multiverse - Dr. Bruce Gordon - video http://vimeo.com/34468027 Multiverse and the Design Argument - William Lane Craig Excerpt: Roger Penrose of Oxford University has calculated that the odds of our universe’s low entropy condition obtaining by chance alone are on the order of 1 in 10^10(123), an inconceivable number. If our universe were but one member of a multiverse of randomly ordered worlds, then it is vastly more probable that we should be observing a much smaller universe. For example, the odds of our solar system’s being formed instantly by the random collision of particles is about 1 in 10^10(60), a vast number, but inconceivably smaller than 1 in 10^10(123). (Penrose calls it “utter chicken feed” by comparison [The Road to Reality (Knopf, 2005), pp. 762-5]). Or again, if our universe is but one member of a multiverse, then we ought to be observing highly extraordinary events, like horses’ popping into and out of existence by random collisions, or perpetual motion machines, since these are vastly more probable than all of nature’s constants and quantities’ falling by chance into the virtually infinitesimal life-permitting range. Observable universes like those strange worlds are simply much more plenteous in the ensemble of universes than worlds like ours and, therefore, ought to be observed by us if the universe were but a random member of a multiverse of worlds. Since we do not have such observations, that fact strongly disconfirms the multiverse hypothesis. On naturalism, at least, it is therefore highly probable that there is no multiverse. — Penrose puts it bluntly “these world ensemble hypothesis are worse than useless in explaining the anthropic fine-tuning of the universe”. http://www.reasonablefaith.org/multiverse-and-the-design-argument
Thus, when atheists/materialists appeal to a 'decrease in entropy' to explain the origin of life, they are unwittingly appealing to something that is one of the most powerful evidences for the existence of God. OOPS :) It is also very interesting to note that Ludwig Boltzmann, an atheist, when he linked entropy and probability, did not, as Max Planck, a Christian Theist, points out in the following link, think to look for a constant for entropy:
The Austrian physicist Ludwig Boltzmann first linked entropy and probability in 1877. However, the equation as shown, involving a specific constant, was first written down by Max Planck, the father of quantum mechanics in 1900. In his 1918 Nobel Prize lecture, Planck said: “This constant is often referred to as Boltzmann’s constant, although, to my knowledge, Boltzmann himself never introduced it – a peculiar state of affairs, which can be explained by the fact that Boltzmann, as appears from his occasional utterances, never gave thought to the possibility of carrying out an exact measurement of the constant.” http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/B/Boltzmann_equation.html
I hold that the primary reason why Boltzmann, an atheist, never thought to carry out, or even propose, a precise measurement for the constant on entropy is that he, as an atheist, had thought he had arrived at the ultimate ‘random’ explanation for how everything in the universe operates and originated when he had link probability with entropy. i.e. In linking entropy with probability, Boltzmann, again an atheist, thought he had explained everything that happens in the universe to a ‘random’ chance basis. To him, as an atheist, I hold that it would simply be unfathomable for him to conceive that the ‘random chance’ (probabilistic) events of entropy in the universe should ever be constrained by a constant that would limit their effects. Whereas on the contrary, to a Christian Theist, such as Planck, it is expected that even these seemingly random entropic events of the universe should be bounded by a constant. In fact modern science was born out of such thinking:
‘Men became scientific because they expected Law in Nature, and they expected Law in Nature because they believed in a Legislator. In most modern scientists this belief has died: it will be interesting to see how long their confidence in uniformity survives it. Two significant developments have already appeared—the hypothesis of a lawless sub-nature, and the surrender of the claim that science is true.’ Lewis, C.S., Miracles: a preliminary study, Collins, London, p. 110, 1947.
Verse and Music:
Romans 8:20-21 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. Phillips, Craig & Dean – When The Stars Burn Down – Worship Video with lyrics http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPuxnQ_vZqY
Supplemental notes: That consciousness did not ‘emerge’ from the entropic forces of the universe is perhaps most easily demonstrated by the ‘Quantum Zeno effect:
Quantum Zeno effect Excerpt: The quantum Zeno effect is,,, an unstable particle, if observed continuously, will never decay. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_Zeno_effect
i.e. Why in blue blazes should conscious observation put a freeze on entropic decay, unless consciousness was/is more foundational to reality than entropy is? And seeing that entropy is VERY foundational to explaining events within space-time, I think the implications are fairly obvious that consciousness precedes the 1 in 10^10^123 entropy of the universe!
Two very different eternities revealed by physics https://uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/nyt-columnist-asks-is-intelligent-design-theory-a-form-of-parallel-universes-theory/#comment-490689 "Einstein's equation predicts that, as the astronaut reaches the singularity (of the black-hole), the tidal forces grow infinitely strong, and their chaotic oscillations become infinitely rapid. The astronaut dies and the atoms which his body is made become infinitely and chaotically distorted and mixed-and then, at the moment when everything becomes infinite (the tidal strengths, the oscillation frequencies, the distortions, and the mixing), spacetime ceases to exist." Kip S. Thorne - "Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein's Outrageous Legacy" pg. 476
bornagain77
March 30, 2014
March
03
Mar
30
30
2014
04:11 PM
4
04
11
PM
PDT
Thank you Joe and BA, not for advancing any intelligent conversations one iota, but for solidifying my conception of UD and the idea it supports as a complete joke. Your behavior is a classic example of the ignorance and misunderstanding I have observed many times over the years. Its unfortunate that people actually believe the stuff you post, but oh well, the world needs ditch-diggers too I guess. Sayonara guys, it's been fun. <3AVS
March 30, 2014
March
03
Mar
30
30
2014
03:55 PM
3
03
55
PM
PDT
1 2

Leave a Reply