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Another apt religion metaphor: a deist insists there must be a god and an atheist insists there must not be. Neither position has any information or falsifiable

Another apt religion metaphor: a deist insists there must be a god and an atheist insists there must not be. Neither position has any information or falsifiable claim. An agnostic admits ignorance until observations can be made.

BrandoElFollito 6y ago
It is just that there are no observations that would suggest any deity. Scientific ones that is, because we are talking rationality. So anything else than atheism is purely faith-based. Until the moment it does not incommodate me ona personal level (by teaching "equivalent theories" in schools, or forcing me to wear thisor that) I am fine with that.
- yters 6y ago
  What do you think about intelligent design sort arguments? It is hard to understand how random variation and natural selection can produce the equivalent of a biological operating system. I have also a fair amount of experience with evolutionary algorithms, and they add to my perplexity as to how random variation and natural selection are sufficient mechanisms to produce the genome, let alone how the whole system would get started in the first place. This does seem to be a pretty good piece of scientific evidence for the intrusion of something entirely unlike any physical process we know of, and capable of feats only analogous to what human intelligence can produce. This seems to me a quite persuasive scientific argument for something deity-ish.
XorNot 6y ago
Presumably the agnostic is then worshipping Christianity, Islam and Judaism, as well as the entire Hindu pantheon, various African gods, the Rainbow Serpent... Claims for the defense of agnosticism always seem to be bizarrely certain about which god they can't be sure doesn't exist.
dwaltrip 6y ago
In practice, Deism is indistinguishable from atheism. Both claim that the laws of nature explain all observable phenomena.
DNied 6y ago
>an atheist insists there must not be. Wrong... Only so-called "strong atheism" is active belief in gods' non-existence. Regular (unqualified) atheism is lack of belief in gods' existence.
- diggernet 6y ago
  There is a word for "lack of belief"... Agnostic.

BrandoElFollito 6y ago

It is just that there are no observations that would suggest any deity. Scientific ones that is, because we are talking rationality. So anything else than atheism is purely faith-based. Until the moment it does not incommodate me ona personal level (by teaching "equivalent theories" in schools, or forcing me to wear thisor that) I am fine with that.

yters 6y ago
What do you think about intelligent design sort arguments? It is hard to understand how random variation and natural selection can produce the equivalent of a biological operating system. I have also a fair amount of experience with evolutionary algorithms, and they add to my perplexity as to how random variation and natural selection are sufficient mechanisms to produce the genome, let alone how the whole system would get started in the first place. This does seem to be a pretty good piece of scientific evidence for the intrusion of something entirely unlike any physical process we know of, and capable of feats only analogous to what human intelligence can produce. This seems to me a quite persuasive scientific argument for something deity-ish.

XorNot 6y ago

Presumably the agnostic is then worshipping Christianity, Islam and Judaism, as well as the entire Hindu pantheon, various African gods, the Rainbow Serpent... Claims for the defense of agnosticism always seem to be bizarrely certain about which god they can't be sure doesn't exist.

dwaltrip 6y ago

In practice, Deism is indistinguishable from atheism. Both claim that the laws of nature explain all observable phenomena.

DNied 6y ago

>an atheist insists there must not be. Wrong... Only so-called "strong atheism" is active belief in gods' non-existence. Regular (unqualified) atheism is lack of belief in gods' existence.

diggernet 6y ago
There is a word for "lack of belief"... Agnostic.