Dr Who (part 3)- the Probability of Impossibili...
14 Dec '06 21:09the saga continues......
Man “... but this idea of something like God being eternal ...that's impossible! “
Dr Who (chuckles to himself)” Well ...yes I suppose it is in one sense....(continues chuckling)”
Man “ Why are you giggling?”
Dr Who “ Well you sound SO sure...I mean have you really thought it through?”
Man “ I have thought it through ...something with a beginning (or end for that matter) ..that's impossible!”
Dr Who” I think I need to introduce you to the Probability of Impossibility theory. “
Man “ ...eh?”
Dr Who “ Ok , let's look at some logical explanations for the existence of life and everything. Explanation 1 – I might say that everything has to have a cause or a reason to exist . This means that whatever caused the universe to exist must also have a reason or cause to exist”
Man “ ....so what?....”
Dr Who “ Well if you follow this logic then very soon you find yourself having to keep finding a cause for whatever cause you think you have found ...as soon as you find a cause you have to find another cause..or at least believe in a cause...”
Man “ ...I've heard of this...it's like you end up with a never ending series of dominoes in a line but you have to keep adding one on the end because no domino can fall with out there being one behind it...and you can't have a beginning domino because it needs to have a reason or cause to be there...”
Dr Who “ It 's called infinite regress ..but to me it sounds very very similar to eternity... Now for Explanation 2 – This one is a bit similar but says that there is one eternal domino that does not have a cause or reason to be there because it's always been there. This domino doesn't need a cause because it is eternal and has no beginning . No one put the domino there because there never was a time when it wasn't there. What's more it can fall over all by itself. This is called the Uncaused Cause...but you would know it in your local church as being called God”
Man ” ...yes I've heard of him....(chuckles)”
Dr Who “ I thought you might have done....So where were we? Ah yes... Explanation 3 - This explanation says that life just came out of nothing for no reason at all .”
Man “ ..but isn't that like God ?”
Dr Who “ No because number 3 is like saying that there was a “time” (if one could call it that) when there were no dominos at all and then the domino(universe) appeared and fell over and started the whole show , whereas in number 2 there was always a domino there , the domino (or God) didn't appear because there never was time when there was nothing”
Man” I see....fancy a game of dominoes?
Dr Who “ (LOL) It would be a long game eh?.......on to Explanation number 4..”
Man” There's another one ?....”
Dr Who “ Well sort of ...it's really a variation on number 2 but instead of there being an eternal domino that creates the universe ,the universe itself is eternal. This idea means that the universe has always been pulsing or exploding/imploding forever and ever without beginning for eternity”
Man” So what does all this prove? And why did you laugh at me?”
Dr Who” Well don't you see ? Whichever explanation you think of it all sounds very bizarre and impossible. Either you have an eternal domino or a domino appearing out of nothing for no reason at all , or an eternal universe or an infinite line of dominoes stretching back into eternity”
Man” My head's spinning.....”
Dr Who “ ...and so it should...you see it's ALL impossible...when you think about it logic as we know it starts to fold in on itself if you take it things to the ultimate conclusion...it doesn't make sense using out normal logic.....so when you say 'eternity is impossible' I laugh because I wonder if you actually think there might be a logical explanation in it's place!!.I wonder what you mean by the word 'impossible'. You see it's quite probable that whatever the explanation is it's going to sound impossible anyway and we will never fully understand it even if we had ten trillion eons and a billion supercomputers. This is what I call the Probability of Impossibility because there is little point in complaining that things like eternity sound “impossible” if you are resigned to this fate anyway”
Man” ..so this is what is known as mysticism down at my church “
Dr Who “ Precisely...it's the realisation of the Probability of Impossibility and Atheists hate it because they see it as a kop out .”
Man” ...Why?”
Dr Who “ ...I guess they are still hanging on to the idea that somehow if we knew everything there was to know then we would be able to rationally understand it in our minds....but if you think it through logically ...it's not very likely ...the logic just crashes in on itself...however they accuse theists of being 'irrational' without embracing the Probability of Impossibility “
Man “ So that's why they see this idea of God knowing what Columbus' will do but him also being free impossible....it's because they think eternity is impossible...”
Dr Who “ ....and it IS if you think only inside the box of time...but I think eternity is quite likely ...certainly more likely than a magical universe appearing out of sweet FA for no reason..”
Man “... but this idea of something like God being eternal ...that's impossible! “
Dr Who (chuckles to himself)” Well ...yes I suppose it is in one sense....(continues chuckling)”
Man “ Why are you giggling?”
Dr Who “ Well you sound SO sure...I mean have you really thought it through?”
Man “ I have thought it through ...something with a beginning (or end for that matter) ..that's impossible!”
Dr Who” I think I need to introduce you to the Probability of Impossibility theory. “
Man “ ...eh?”
Dr Who “ Ok , let's look at some logical explanations for the existence of life and everything. Explanation 1 – I might say that everything has to have a cause or a reason to exist . This means that whatever caused the universe to exist must also have a reason or cause to exist”
Man “ ....so what?....”
Dr Who “ Well if you follow this logic then very soon you find yourself having to keep finding a cause for whatever cause you think you have found ...as soon as you find a cause you have to find another cause..or at least believe in a cause...”
Man “ ...I've heard of this...it's like you end up with a never ending series of dominoes in a line but you have to keep adding one on the end because no domino can fall with out there being one behind it...and you can't have a beginning domino because it needs to have a reason or cause to be there...”
Dr Who “ It 's called infinite regress ..but to me it sounds very very similar to eternity... Now for Explanation 2 – This one is a bit similar but says that there is one eternal domino that does not have a cause or reason to be there because it's always been there. This domino doesn't need a cause because it is eternal and has no beginning . No one put the domino there because there never was a time when it wasn't there. What's more it can fall over all by itself. This is called the Uncaused Cause...but you would know it in your local church as being called God”
Man ” ...yes I've heard of him....(chuckles)”
Dr Who “ I thought you might have done....So where were we? Ah yes... Explanation 3 - This explanation says that life just came out of nothing for no reason at all .”
Man “ ..but isn't that like God ?”
Dr Who “ No because number 3 is like saying that there was a “time” (if one could call it that) when there were no dominos at all and then the domino(universe) appeared and fell over and started the whole show , whereas in number 2 there was always a domino there , the domino (or God) didn't appear because there never was time when there was nothing”
Man” I see....fancy a game of dominoes?
Dr Who “ (LOL) It would be a long game eh?.......on to Explanation number 4..”
Man” There's another one ?....”
Dr Who “ Well sort of ...it's really a variation on number 2 but instead of there being an eternal domino that creates the universe ,the universe itself is eternal. This idea means that the universe has always been pulsing or exploding/imploding forever and ever without beginning for eternity”
Man” So what does all this prove? And why did you laugh at me?”
Dr Who” Well don't you see ? Whichever explanation you think of it all sounds very bizarre and impossible. Either you have an eternal domino or a domino appearing out of nothing for no reason at all , or an eternal universe or an infinite line of dominoes stretching back into eternity”
Man” My head's spinning.....”
Dr Who “ ...and so it should...you see it's ALL impossible...when you think about it logic as we know it starts to fold in on itself if you take it things to the ultimate conclusion...it doesn't make sense using out normal logic.....so when you say 'eternity is impossible' I laugh because I wonder if you actually think there might be a logical explanation in it's place!!.I wonder what you mean by the word 'impossible'. You see it's quite probable that whatever the explanation is it's going to sound impossible anyway and we will never fully understand it even if we had ten trillion eons and a billion supercomputers. This is what I call the Probability of Impossibility because there is little point in complaining that things like eternity sound “impossible” if you are resigned to this fate anyway”
Man” ..so this is what is known as mysticism down at my church “
Dr Who “ Precisely...it's the realisation of the Probability of Impossibility and Atheists hate it because they see it as a kop out .”
Man” ...Why?”
Dr Who “ ...I guess they are still hanging on to the idea that somehow if we knew everything there was to know then we would be able to rationally understand it in our minds....but if you think it through logically ...it's not very likely ...the logic just crashes in on itself...however they accuse theists of being 'irrational' without embracing the Probability of Impossibility “
Man “ So that's why they see this idea of God knowing what Columbus' will do but him also being free impossible....it's because they think eternity is impossible...”
Dr Who “ ....and it IS if you think only inside the box of time...but I think eternity is quite likely ...certainly more likely than a magical universe appearing out of sweet FA for no reason..”
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