#2 2012-04-30 14:49:20
They could have as easily be discussing the number of angels that can dance on the head of a pin.
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#3 2012-04-30 17:06:04
Dmtdust wrote:
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/5655
It's difficult for even bright people not to be anthropocentric. Oh my - a structured universe of which ~.00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001% (sorry - not enough zeros on my keyboard to represent the vastness of that fraction) is JUST RIGHT (like little bear's porridge) for humid beans to live in. If the laws of the universe were different, we would be something else (if we were at all) positing a creator for similarly inane reasons. As for "artilects," let's face it - they'll be built for military purposes, like most human inventions. Did an artilect initiate our universe as an experiment? Sure, why not. That would explain the callous inhumanity of almost everything.
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#4 2012-04-30 18:57:42
For once I agree with WCL. So what if every calculable element of the universe must be as it is to be stable. And, so what if all these elements must be in balance in our solar system in order to sustain life on earth. Were it otherwise, we wouldn't be here to ponder the question. I like to hark back to Occam's Razor. His Law of Parsimony is the "principle urging one to select among competing hypotheses that which makes the fewest assumptions and thereby offers the simplest explanation of the effect." No need to conjure super intelligent machines or divine powers so long as natural causes explain the phenomenon.
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#5 2012-04-30 22:05:45
phreddy wrote:
They could have as easily be discussing the number of angels that can dance on the head of a pin.
Sixteen.
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#6 2012-05-01 00:52:22
If god didn't exist, it would be necessary to invent it blah blah blah...
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#7 2012-05-01 02:58:23
That's like saying that God created entropy as a proof that he exists.
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#8 2012-05-01 10:30:07
George Orr wrote:
phreddy wrote:
They could have as easily be discussing the number of angels that can dance on the head of a pin.
Sixteen.
You've been talking to Ponder Stibbons again, haven't you?
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