"People keep talking about Occam's Razor. What is it?" William of Occam formulated a principle which has become known as Occam's Razor. In its original form, it said "Do not multiply entities unnecessarily." That is, if you can explain something without supposing the existence of some entity, then do so. Nowadays when people refer to Occam's Razor, they often express it more generally, for example as "Take the simplest solution". The relevance to atheism is that we can look at two possible explanations for what we see around us: There is an incredibly intricate and complex universe out there, which came into being as a result of natural processes. There is an incredibly intricate and complex universe out there, and there is also a God who created the universe. Clearly this God must be of non-zero complexity. Given that both explanations fit the facts, Occam's Razor might suggest that we should take the simpler of the two -- solution number one. Unfortunately, some argue that there is a third even more simple solution: There isn't an incredibly intricate and complex universe out there. We just imagine that there is. This third option leads us logically towards solipsism, which many people find unacceptable. http://www.infidels.org/news/atheism/arguments.html
AAAAAAAAAArrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh, I can't escape this thread! >>Dude, you obviously have no idea at all how to discuss an issue. Are ya sure? Do you know me (because I don't think we've ever met in RL)? >>The onus is on YOU to provide evidence >>to support such a claim I did. Remember the lecture at Yale Univ. I quoted about using Bayes's Theorem? I'm not going any farther, because if we really get into this, we will be discussing this everyday for weeks, months or even years. For the last time, whatever questions you may have can be answered by the fine people of you local church. >>Good luck though, cos like i've said, there isn't any. Prove it. The lack of evidence is not evidence itself. >>the picture becomes a lot clearer Not really. You're clouding the issue with myths. Guys, this is a trading forum. Let's get back to discussing trading ideas and related issues.
That lecture proves absolutely nothing. the only thing it does is adds fuel to religious kooks like you, who'd happily believe what you already do with or without any rational support. I don't really think asking the 'fine people' at your church is really going to help - what the hell would those morons know?
>>For the last time, whatever questions you may have can be answered by the fine people of you local church. These people are sheep. Sheep don't have answers, they don't reason, their nose just follows the next butt.
Better check up on your Religious history. Try reading "The Darkside of Christian History". Millions have died in the hands of religion. High correlation of bloodshed and religion in this world. Take the holy land for example...one of the most violent places on earth, TODAY. Enough said. axeman
>>daniel_m said: >>religious kooks like you >>what .... would those morons know >>FasterPussycat said: >>These people are sheep Nice. You don't have anything to say so you revert to name-calling. How mature.
http://www.selfknowledge.org/resources/press/nyt_eakin.htm http://mailer.fsu.edu/~cpynes/God_Question.html http://mailer.fsu.edu/~cpynes/God_Question_Answer.html http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/keith_parsons/theistic/3.html
Darkhorse, until now I've always respected and apprecaited the enlightened conversations we've had. But now you sound like a totally different and intolerant person, as well as like a person who has a huge complex. " I don't go for all that pan reconciliation crap, because I know this is a war." Geeeeez, you sound like a terrorist. No reconcilliation huh? This is the definition of religious intolerance. I don't have to give a history and current events lesson for any educated person to recognize what this leads to! I still can't believe this is the same guy who offered some great thoughts on various subjects, including religion, and was so reasonable and rational. Did you develop a tumor since March/April????
Clearly you are unaware that this is pseudo-intellectual nonsense. I stuided philosophy, including multiple logic classes. Also, I know some mathmaticians. These conclusions are based on premises that THEY created (unproven premises). Therefore, while the logical structure may or may not be sound (I won't even waste 1 minute examining it), the truth of the argument is wholly dependent on the truth of the unproven premises! What a joke!!