Oh no! Blasphemy!

[B. de Corbin]

It seems that asking totally rational questions leads to an investigation about "defamation" in Ireland.

This little thingy caused a bit of an uproars when it was aired on Irish TV:

Fortunately, there was a highly intelligent, thoughtful individual all ready with a response:

(The dude's response to Fry is in the first four minutes, the rest is another dude's response to the first dude. You can watch it if you want, but it's the first dude I'm interested in. I wanted to be reasonable and show both viewpoints)

[thalassa]

Re: Oh no! Blasphemy!

The problem with Russell Brand's idea is (while I don't disagree with it actually) is that "why does this one thing work when it could have gone wrong so many other ways" as an argument for creation completely ignores the fact that maybe those other non-working things do exist (that would be the multi-verse hypothesis right there). Maybe there is a universe of just hydrogen atoms...its just obviously not the one we are in. the thing is, its not a scientific idea. Basing one's beliefs in a creator based on a supposed statistical unlikeliness based on mathematical assumptions when there's a 100% success rate of the thing supposedly created is a bit of a logical fallacy, and is intellectually dishonest no matter how much one wants to believe in it... Nor does it account for the fact that the atheist rejection of a conceptualization of god based on Judeo-Christian-Islamic monotheism is a very specific response, religiously speaking...and one that I happen to also agree with even though I'm not an atheist.

[B. de Corbin]

Re: Oh no! Blasphemy!

The problem with Russell Brand's idea is (while I don't disagree with it actually) is that "why does this one thing work when it could have gone wrong so many other ways" as an argument for creation completely ignores the fact that maybe those other non-working things do exist (that would be the multi-verse hypothesis right there). Maybe there is a universe of just hydrogen atoms...its just obviously not the one we are in.

Another possibility is that there may be pre-conditions that existed prior to the moment of "creation" of which we are not aware (and probobly never will be, since the conditions existing before creation would be beyond our ability to grasp, just as quantum mechanics is beyond our ability to grasp) that lead to the creation of a particular type of universe with specific parameters.

The bottom line is that a universe that functions as this one does does not lead to the conclusion that this universe was made by god. Too many other alternate hypothesis to consider.

Nor does it account for the fact that the atheist rejection of a conceptualization of god based on Judeo-Christian-Islamic monotheism is a very specific response, religiously speaking...and one that I happen to also agree with even though I'm not an atheist.

Yup. By redefining "God" he failed to respond to Fry. Maybe he's right, maybe he's wrong, but he didn't actually respond to the argument Fry was putting forth. Notice Fry said that, if he discovered that the Greek gods were real, he wouldn't be as disturbed, since nobody calls those deities omniscient, omnipotent, and beneficent.

[Oshii]

Re: Oh no! Blasphemy!

Perhaps life just figured out a way to exist in this universe the way that it did, and in another universe with slightly altered "settings" it developed and adapted differently. Did I just pass the buck?

[Medusa]

Re: Oh no! Blasphemy!

Perhaps we shouldn't be so concerned about how the universe was created when we can't even find the effing turn signal in our cars.