If you or science can prove that god/gods do not exist, there are book publishing deals waiting to make you quite rich. Very smart people have thought about this for a long time. There is no way to prove it.
We don't know if there is an 'outside' to the observable universe (there almost certainly is, but we're not quite there yet scientifically). Of course, to some definition, that larger thing in which 'our' universe exists could be called the universe, but among scientists is more typically known as the multiverse for purposes of differentiation.
An entity which most religious believers would accept as god might exist in the multiverse, we don't know. Most skeptics would of course not accept such an entity as God, even if that entity created 'our' universe.
And of course you can get out more energy than you put in, else the universe does not exist.
People have come back from the dead from both heart and brain death. You have to draw the death line surprisingly far out to make sure that no one comes back from it.
Well, not often, depending on your definition of 'dead'. Of course if you define dead as the point at which bodies stop rising, you have a nice logical circle.
People can't walk on top of water without cheating. No one can ascend to the heavens without cheating by using technology.
Again, define anything they do as cheating, and it becomes a nice logical circle.
Omniscience isn't possible given the speed of "c". The same goes for omnipresence and omnipotence.
Assuming god plays by that rule, and exists inside of the known universe
Omnipotence also violates the second law of thermodynamics.
Again, what's the point of being omnipotent if you have to obey the physical laws of the universe?
There is no way to prove god exists or doesn't. It's just not a testable hypothesis.
Assuming that there are no random processes in the physical universe, which isn't known. Does a radioactive atom have an internal state that defines when it will decay, or does that decay simply happen randomly? We really don't know.
I didn't say I cut in lines. I said it was necessary for me to act uncivilly to prevent other people's cutting from keeping me in the store indefinitely.
I wish that were true, however, we've now reached the point where I could not buy food for my family if I was not willing to act without civility, because I would never exit the supermarket, having waited in line eternally for people to stop cutting in front of me. And I'm only slightly exaggerating. It would literally cost me hours at the supermarket to do this (I would have to wait for a line to be empty to not have people trying to cut in front of me).
The votes are presumably being changed to McCain because that is the preferred candidate of voting machine manufacturers. If in fact votes were being changed the other way that would also be a problem. Confidence in the voting system is more important to the democracy in the long term than who wins a particular vote.
Blacklisted? Seriously, on what blacklist. I would love to be able to know who has been blacklisted by a previous employer. I interview tons of people, and have never come across a blacklist.
I'm not sure what world you live in, civility vanished decades before I was born. My guess is that the population crossed a critical threshold where civility became unsustainable. Now life is all look out for #1.
Define does not believe it's a real diagnosis? Because to my understanding, what they don't believe is that they are understanding the phenomenon, not that the phenomenon doesn't exist, and that to call it 'diagnosed' is therefore misleading. Clearly the phenomenon exists, as patients report it. Patients are suffering, doctors just don't know WTF to do about it, or what the cause is. This causes them embarrassment, and for some doctors a desire to deny that the patients are suffering, but that doesn't mean the patients aren't suffering.
Sure do, and I've done game design too, including on a AAA title, but I've not gotten to design on an MMO. Still, the solution to this is utterly straightforward.
That's like suggesting that you can't have fun playing wow if you don't make level 70 with maxed out items. If that's the case, then again, it's the WOW designers who suck, not a fundamental problem.
That's exactly my point (that you claim I'm missing) though. You need to design your game so that there CAN be exceptional achievements. Things that can only be done once. An evolving story line that remembers the actions of those rare players who achieve greatness. Actions and powers given out only to a tiny fraction of the players.
Then the challenge is to inspire hope in players that it could be them, and to make the game fun enough just to play to keep around those who never get such an achievement. This stuff is not hard to do as a game designer, it's just risky, and it has to be done with great care so that the core of your game remains great fun.
The game designers are just dumb if they can't figure out how to make being the hero work in an MMO. You have the in-game characters talk about the feats of the great players. You build game story over time based on what the hero players do. You make it seem plausible that by devoting yourself to playing the game you could be one of those people. You make it fun even if you don't reach that level. This is not rocket science.
Unfortunately, no one listens to the LORD, particularly not the organized religions, which have done much of the most egregious evil through the ages. Even now, in a more enlightened age, I just saw dozens of 'church going' folks out doing the devil's work supporting california prop 8. No, I'm afraid god is no help with this problem either.
Slashdot Mirror
If you or science can prove that god/gods do not exist, there are book publishing deals waiting to make you quite rich. Very smart people have thought about this for a long time. There is no way to prove it.
We don't know if there is an 'outside' to the observable universe (there almost certainly is, but we're not quite there yet scientifically). Of course, to some definition, that larger thing in which 'our' universe exists could be called the universe, but among scientists is more typically known as the multiverse for purposes of differentiation.
An entity which most religious believers would accept as god might exist in the multiverse, we don't know. Most skeptics would of course not accept such an entity as God, even if that entity created 'our' universe.
And of course you can get out more energy than you put in, else the universe does not exist.
People have come back from the dead from both heart and brain death. You have to draw the death line surprisingly far out to make sure that no one comes back from it.
Dead bodies don't rise from the dead.
Well, not often, depending on your definition of 'dead'. Of course if you define dead as the point at which bodies stop rising, you have a nice logical circle.
People can't walk on top of water without cheating.
No one can ascend to the heavens without cheating by using technology.
Again, define anything they do as cheating, and it becomes a nice logical circle.
Omniscience isn't possible given the speed of "c".
The same goes for omnipresence and omnipotence.
Assuming god plays by that rule, and exists inside of the known universe
Omnipotence also violates the second law of thermodynamics.
Again, what's the point of being omnipotent if you have to obey the physical laws of the universe?
There is no way to prove god exists or doesn't. It's just not a testable hypothesis.
You can't even prove causality there, since its not repeatable.
Well, he's god, so he can unatomize the scientists and repeat the experiment to your heart's content.
Assuming that there are no random processes in the physical universe, which isn't known. Does a radioactive atom have an internal state that defines when it will decay, or does that decay simply happen randomly? We really don't know.
There's no actual way to prove solipsism wrong. If that were possible, it would have been done by now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solipsism
If evil is the absence of god, it can exist only where he doesn't, disproving omnipresence.
I think the last 8 years are evidence for both positions, sadly.
I didn't say I cut in lines. I said it was necessary for me to act uncivilly to prevent other people's cutting from keeping me in the store indefinitely.
I wish that were true, however, we've now reached the point where I could not buy food for my family if I was not willing to act without civility, because I would never exit the supermarket, having waited in line eternally for people to stop cutting in front of me. And I'm only slightly exaggerating. It would literally cost me hours at the supermarket to do this (I would have to wait for a line to be empty to not have people trying to cut in front of me).
The votes are presumably being changed to McCain because that is the preferred candidate of voting machine manufacturers. If in fact votes were being changed the other way that would also be a problem. Confidence in the voting system is more important to the democracy in the long term than who wins a particular vote.
Yes, they helped to build a giant weapon designed to kill innocent people, they deserved what they got.
Blacklisted? Seriously, on what blacklist. I would love to be able to know who has been blacklisted by a previous employer. I interview tons of people, and have never come across a blacklist.
I'm not sure what world you live in, civility vanished decades before I was born. My guess is that the population crossed a critical threshold where civility became unsustainable. Now life is all look out for #1.
But they do have a treatment, placebo, which has a well documented efficacy across hundreds of trials, for virtually every illness known to man.
Define does not believe it's a real diagnosis? Because to my understanding, what they don't believe is that they are understanding the phenomenon, not that the phenomenon doesn't exist, and that to call it 'diagnosed' is therefore misleading. Clearly the phenomenon exists, as patients report it. Patients are suffering, doctors just don't know WTF to do about it, or what the cause is. This causes them embarrassment, and for some doctors a desire to deny that the patients are suffering, but that doesn't mean the patients aren't suffering.
Sure do, and I've done game design too, including on a AAA title, but I've not gotten to design on an MMO. Still, the solution to this is utterly straightforward.
That's like suggesting that you can't have fun playing wow if you don't make level 70 with maxed out items. If that's the case, then again, it's the WOW designers who suck, not a fundamental problem.
Conveniently ignoring the remainder of my post, which addressed exactly that.
That was the rest of my post?
That's exactly my point (that you claim I'm missing) though. You need to design your game so that there CAN be exceptional achievements. Things that can only be done once. An evolving story line that remembers the actions of those rare players who achieve greatness. Actions and powers given out only to a tiny fraction of the players.
Then the challenge is to inspire hope in players that it could be them, and to make the game fun enough just to play to keep around those who never get such an achievement. This stuff is not hard to do as a game designer, it's just risky, and it has to be done with great care so that the core of your game remains great fun.
The game designers are just dumb if they can't figure out how to make being the hero work in an MMO. You have the in-game characters talk about the feats of the great players. You build game story over time based on what the hero players do. You make it seem plausible that by devoting yourself to playing the game you could be one of those people. You make it fun even if you don't reach that level. This is not rocket science.
all media is suspect, anywhere. you go through life with a good bullshit meter, or you don't go through life at all.
Or you go through life anyway, and vote republican.
Perhaps we should just consider Wikipedia a reasonable aggregation of information. Some true, some false.
They love to make themselves look good with stuff like this. They'll get the FBI hopping. Caller ID spoofing is fraud, and it's prosecutable.
Unfortunately, no one listens to the LORD, particularly not the organized religions, which have done much of the most egregious evil through the ages. Even now, in a more enlightened age, I just saw dozens of 'church going' folks out doing the devil's work supporting california prop 8. No, I'm afraid god is no help with this problem either.