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Sept 17, 2020 5:19:36 GMT 10
Post by Occam's Spork on Sept 17, 2020 5:19:36 GMT 10
Can one accept the limitations of human perception and willingly believe in the possibility of Aliens or extra-dimensional beings,... But dismiss the very idea of God or spirits existing in our realm?
Discuss.
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Sept 17, 2020 8:11:42 GMT 10
Post by pim on Sept 17, 2020 8:11:42 GMT 10
Can one accept the limitations of human perception and willingly believe in the possibility of Aliens or extra-dimensional beings,... But dismiss the very idea of God or spirits existing in our realm? Discuss. There’s a lot to unpack in the question and I’m not sure that I accept its underlying premises: 1. On “believe in the possibility of Aliens or extra-dimensional beings,...“ I’ll pass on extra-dimensional beings since I don’t even know what that means but a belief in the possibility of aliens doesn’t preclude belief in the God of the bible. Strewth I leave myself open to misinterpretation or even misrepresentation here: do I “believe” in aliens? No, not in the way you’re implying. How am I supposed to know if ET Is out there? How far away from Earth are the two Voyager probes? They’re beyond the influence of the solar wind and getting into the Oort cloud. Another 30 000 years of Oort Cloud and they’re into interstellar space. Who knows what human beings will even look like in 30 000 years. On board each Voyager probe is a disc with a message for any notional alien being with self awareness, a culture and a technology that might come across it. Who knows when that might happen. You know what the truly awesome mind-blowing profound possibility is? That those two probes forever wander through the galaxy - and “forever” could be millions of years long after humans have ceased to exist as a species - and there’s nobody out there to stumble upon them and wonder what these artefacts are. I can’t rule out the possibility of ET but by the same token neither can I dismiss the thought that we might be utterly alone. 2. Does any of the above preclude the existence of a transcendent omnipotent Author of everything which also has a personal relationship with each of us? No I don’t believe it does. It’s not binary. I’ll pass on “spirits” because I don’t know about that spooky “spirits” stuff. I’ll file “spirits” away with “extra dimensional beings” in the “huh?” file.
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Sept 17, 2020 23:09:23 GMT 10
Post by fat on Sept 17, 2020 23:09:23 GMT 10
Perhaps I am not so vain as to believe I am of the only species on the only planet created.
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Sept 18, 2020 1:34:40 GMT 10
Post by pim on Sept 18, 2020 1:34:40 GMT 10
It’s not about vanity. If the only argument against the proposition that ET doesn’t exist and we’re alone in the universe is that “well, ET has to be out there, we just haven’t found ET yet”, that’s a pretty poor argument.
I’ve heard a similar argument advanced for the existence of God, that “Well, there just has to be a God, otherwise none of this makes any sense”. An atheist with integrity would simply answer that he embraces the benign indifference of the absurd universe.
The argument in favour of ET that ET has to be out there somewhere otherwise what’s the point of trillions upon squillions of stars and galaxies with zillions of uninhabited planets might be enough for an individual, but it fails as a “knock-it-out-of-the-ballpark” argument that settles the ET question for everyone for evermore.
Similarly the argument that “God exists because She just has to exist and what’s the point of an absurd universe?” is doubtless a clincher argument for lots of people but it fails as the Nobel Prize winning “proof” argument that settles the question so conclusively that atheism is exposed as a foolish delusion.
It’s late ... zzzzzzzz
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Sept 18, 2020 13:59:17 GMT 10
Post by pim on Sept 18, 2020 13:59:17 GMT 10
The Fermi Paradox ...
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