tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615941543485589009.post5811773598072197726..comments2024-02-19T12:05:47.873+00:00Comments on Something Surprising: Order from chaosPlasma Engineerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02891736950166421184noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615941543485589009.post-22070372814305137482013-03-04T10:00:04.842+00:002013-03-04T10:00:04.842+00:00No, order does not come from nothing. We have a ne...No, order does not come from nothing. We have a nearby star to fuel as much order as we need on this planet. For now. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615941543485589009.post-90819611602292224992012-09-23T12:25:01.961+01:002012-09-23T12:25:01.961+01:00I love the way personal incredulity based on caref...I love the way personal incredulity based on carefully maintained ignorance is used to support any evidence-free superstition, and how those who use it have no hesitation in declaring all the other identical claims for other gods too preposterous to be taken seriously.<br />Rosa Rubicondiorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06063268216781988588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615941543485589009.post-18810357451222011692011-07-08T05:27:38.049+01:002011-07-08T05:27:38.049+01:00Regarding "invisible spirits", I'd l...Regarding "invisible spirits", I'd like to promote a passage from Carl Sagan's wonderful book The Demon-Haunted World". This is from p.160, chapter called "The Dragon in My Garage":<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />A fire-breathing dragon lives in my garage.' <br /><br />Suppose (I'm following a group therapy approach by the psychologist Richard Franklin) I seriously make such an assertion to you. Surely you'd want to check it out, see for yourself. There have<br />been innumerable stories of dragons over the centuries, but no real evidence. What an opportunity!<br /><br />'Show me,' you say. I lead you to my garage. You look inside and see a ladder, empty paint cans, an old tricycle - but no dragon.<br /><br />'Where's the dragon?' you ask.<br /><br />'Oh, she's right here,' I reply, waving vaguely. <br /><br />'I neglected to mention that she's an invisible dragon.'<br /><br />You propose spreading flour on the floor of the garage to capture the dragon's footprints.<br /><br />'Good idea,' I say, 'but this dragon floats in the air.'<br /><br />Then you'll use an infrared sensor to detect the invisible fire.<br /><br />'Good idea, but the invisible fire is also heatless.'<br /><br />You'll spray-paint the dragon and make her visible.<br /><br />'Good idea, except she's an incorporeal dragon and the paint won't stick.'<br /><br />An so on. I counter every physical test you propose with a special explanation of why it won't work. Now, what's the difference between an invisible, incorporeal, floating dragon who spits heatless fire and no dragon at all? <br /><br />If there's no way to disprove my contention, no conceivable experiment that would count against it, what does it mean to say that my dragon exists? Your inability to invalidate my hypothesis is not at all the same thing as proving it true. <br /><br />Claims that cannot be tested, assertions immune to disproof are veridically worthless, whatever<br />value they may have in inspiring us or in exciting our sense of wonder. What I'm asking you to do comes down to believing, in the absence of evidence, on my say-so.Luke Scientiaehttp://lukesci.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.com