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Author Topic: Atheists  (Read 404064 times)

Bauglir

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Re: Atheists
« Reply #5220 on: October 14, 2010, 06:22:16 pm »

I would also be okay with an ever-expanding plane for a planet instead of a sphere.

Why not an ever-expanding sphere?  Have your cake and eat it, too!

Eh, I'm giving God a bit of a break not having to redesign physics so that Gravity is unrelated to mass, and also it'd be easier on us not having to worry about the constantly-changing curvature of the earth. I assume stuff would be added to the outer edge rather than expanding from a central point, obviously.

I declare this thread to be about how you'd structure the cosmos now.
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In the days when Sussman was a novice, Minsky once came to him as he sat hacking at the PDP-6.
“What are you doing?”, asked Minsky. “I am training a randomly wired neural net to play Tic-Tac-Toe” Sussman replied. “Why is the net wired randomly?”, asked Minsky. “I do not want it to have any preconceptions of how to play”, Sussman said.
Minsky then shut his eyes. “Why do you close your eyes?”, Sussman asked his teacher.
“So that the room will be empty.”
At that moment, Sussman was enlightened.

Shade-o

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Re: Atheists
« Reply #5221 on: October 14, 2010, 06:27:28 pm »

The gravity of an expanding sphere could be countered by having a shell over it, which would have enough mass to offset the sphere.
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Earthquake Damage

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Re: Atheists
« Reply #5222 on: October 14, 2010, 06:31:48 pm »

The gravity of an expanding sphere could be countered by having a shell over it, which would have enough mass to offset the sphere.

The shell would have no effect, actually.
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Micro102

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Re: Atheists
« Reply #5223 on: October 14, 2010, 06:37:42 pm »

All believers please explain this.

God, if you want religion to exist, edit this post to say so.
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Shade-o

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Re: Atheists
« Reply #5224 on: October 14, 2010, 07:01:56 pm »

How many of us posters are atheist? All this irreverence is making it... fuzzy...
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Apparently having a redundant creature entry causes the game to say, "Oh, look, it's crazy world now. Nothing makes sense! Alligators live in houses!"

ECrownofFire

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Re: Atheists
« Reply #5225 on: October 14, 2010, 07:35:10 pm »

How many of us posters are atheist? All this irreverence is making it... fuzzy...
There really should be a poll in the main post for things like this.
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The Doctor

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Re: Atheists
« Reply #5226 on: October 14, 2010, 07:38:43 pm »

Unfortunately the OP hasn't been online since may of 2009.
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Areyar

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Re: Atheists
« Reply #5227 on: October 14, 2010, 07:49:51 pm »

I find it puzzling/annoying that at any time there is a topic about atheism, it is actually about religion. :(
THERE ARE NO GODS!

Let's talk scientific realism vs anti-realism instead, I'd like to belong to the un-scientific crowd for once. :p
(I am unable to accept/grasp anti-realistic theories...)
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Micro102

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Re: Atheists
« Reply #5228 on: October 14, 2010, 07:49:58 pm »

Someone make a poll in a new thread! I think it should be Siquo and it should include "I have quit religion after reading this"
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Andir

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Re: Atheists
« Reply #5229 on: October 14, 2010, 07:55:33 pm »

Someone make a poll in a new thread! I think it should be Siquo and it should include "I have quit religion after reading this"
Ugh, the only new thread I'd like to see is one that sums up what is in this one so this one can be closed and hope people will at least try to stay on discussion or expand on ideas we've already discussed.  It would be one massive first post though.
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"Having faith" that the bridge will not fall, implies that the bridge itself isn't that trustworthy. It's not that different from "I pray that the bridge will hold my weight."

Sergius

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Re: Atheists
« Reply #5230 on: October 14, 2010, 08:10:11 pm »

The gravity of an expanding sphere could be countered by having a shell over it, which would have enough mass to offset the sphere.

The shell would have no effect, actually.

Actually the center of the sphere would be the center of gravity. In fact, if the planet and the shell weren't connected, the center would be the average-ish of the centers of both masses, meaning MORE gravity pulling us down.

Just look at Pluto's orbit. Charon doesn't so much orbit Pluto as they both orbit their common centre of gravity.

EDIT: Oh wait, yeah, a shell would basically pull us against all directions which would cancel each other out, or something.

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/mechanics/sphshell2.html
« Last Edit: October 14, 2010, 08:14:11 pm by Sergius »
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Shades

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Re: Atheists
« Reply #5231 on: October 15, 2010, 02:35:11 am »

Maybe he just has a remarkable fondness for parasitic worms?
I think you've hit the nail on the head there, clearly god's true creatures are the parasitic worms and we are just convenient food for them. This implies that god is probably worm shaped too...

Ugh, the only new thread I'd like to see is one that sums up what is in this one so this one can be closed and hope people will at least try to stay on discussion or expand on ideas we've already discussed.  It would be one massive first post though.

Well volunteered there :) Can't wait to see your new thread along these lines.

EDIT: Oh wait, yeah, a shell would basically pull us against all directions which would cancel each other out, or something.

You were right both times in a strange way :) gravity goes towards the mass so in the case of being inside a shell (but not in the center) there is still more mass pulling you down towards the centre rather than up towards the shell. But the force is less than it would for the total shell mass.
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Siquo

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Re: Atheists
« Reply #5232 on: October 15, 2010, 07:54:43 am »

An expanding sphere is even more troublesome than just gravity: I'd have to bike to work a bit longer every day, as everything moves apart (as the universe is doing, but I don't think any alien commutes between galaxies. Or at least, I sincerely hope they don't). Or is it growing from one point, a sort of "navel"? That would mean only curvature changes, and that there's a "centre of the world" on the other side, somewhere. Also, sattelites become hugely impractical.

Micro: I'm not adhering to any religion, that I know of. Too bad we can't poll mid-thread, indeed. This is also too great to let go to waste, and I don't have the strength to summarise the entire thread in a few posts...

Areyar: Good idea.
I think I'm realistically agnostic, tending towards instrumentalism, regarding science. As with God, you can't prove or disprove both realism and anti-realism, so it's just a matter of faith, I guess.

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This one thread is mine. MIIIIINE!!! And it will remain a happy, friendly, encouraging place, whether you lot like it or not. 
will rena,eme sique to sique sxds-- siquo if sucessufil
(cant spel siqou a. every speling looks wroing (hate this))

Starver

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Re: Atheists
« Reply #5233 on: October 15, 2010, 08:24:09 am »

ISTR a short story (or, if longer, it my memories only reference short segments of it) where a team of global surveyors have just completed their "life's work" by totally mapping the entire world... and then the universe rebels by making the world larger.  Heralded by planes falling out of the sky (it's no longer 2000 miles from A to B, it's 4000, and they don't have enough fuel to get that far, etc) and a lot of people going missing (suddenly finding themselves in previously unknown areas).

The mapping team are happy, though, because they'd more or less made themselves redundant, and now there's a whole lot more "there" to map out and fit into their heretofore complete atlas.

(Pretty low on the Moh Scale Of SF Hardness, it must be admitted.)


Another story I recall had intelligent bacteria (experiments in extreme selective pressures on getting through a bacteria-scale maze, etc, producing colonies exhibiting something significantly brighter intelligence than some people could handle, so the experimenting professor injects them into himself rather than destroy them, resulting in a "grey goo" scenario as they absorb and take over half the planet) used an (apparent, and obviously scientifically arguable) ability to observe the exact nature absolutely everything occurring within their 'hemibiospheric' biomass to invoke some sort of clause in Heisenburg's Uncertainty Principle and shove them completely out of this reality and onto... who knows where... More or less leaving the surviving/unassimilated population of the planet (who had been completely failing to tackle this particular biomenace) in peace.  Not quite the same thing, unless you assume that the bacteria created more "where" for uncertain particles to be lost in, but it also comes to mind.


(Sorry, can't remember the authors/titles.  Probably both short stories in compilations, anyway.)
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eerr

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Re: Atheists
« Reply #5234 on: October 17, 2010, 12:43:17 am »

The "expanding sphere" is everything we could possibly know about , given that light has arrived on the planet from that spot.

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