fairytales and crazy people who look "normal"

[miriam_e]

Normally I am very optimistic about the human race. We are amazing creatures. Each generation is smarter than the last and we are becoming a more moral and peaceful species. And then something happens to make me wonder if we have any hope at all.

This morning I was visited by two nice old ladies who drove here to bring the word of the lord to me. They looked normal but by any rational standard they were completely insane -- utterly divorced from reality. They happily held completely contradictory concepts in mind simultaneously without any inkling that something was wrong. I swear they didn't hear a word I said, because of course I would have been an emissary of the devil sent to try their faith.

These complete whack-jobs believed that before the flood people lived to an age of 900 years, that all life in the universe was created just several thousand years ago and the fossils are a cunning lie by god to trick us, that the mythical flood was the result of incredible masses of water, being held up high in the air by magic, dropped at god's command. They believe in the absolute word of the bible and that it holds no errors. They believe that being gay is unnatural despite it being a feature of every species on the planet. That it is alright to enslave other people, that women should be the servants of men, that conducting campaigns of mass murder upon those who believe in a different god is okay, that witches (you should kill them) and ghosts exist, and that you should be good to your neighbor. Stark staring mad!

What is it with some humans and fairytales? The weirder, the crazier, the more harebrained the idea, the stronger the compulsion to believe in it. It makes me incredibly sad that such delusion persists and is so actively cultivated.

Absolute lunacy!

Comments

[annie-lyne.livejournal.com]

Well, if we rephrase the original problem of leprechaun existence to add these extra assumptions, then the problem's answer becomes contingent on these assumptions being true, and if one of these assumptions is false, this collapses the whole problem to being false. We must actually prove all or disprove one of these assumptions however to still return a definitive answer. We can certainly say that a true answer to the leprechaun problem is certainly improbable (and possibly even estimate these probabilities), but we cannot definitively say that is is impossible without actually performing a proof.

When we consider the question of existence of a god, we know there are extra assumptions, but we do not know for sure what these assumptions are! It is certainly true that under some assumptions a god that adheres to those assumptions cannot exist, but those are the only circumstances that we can logically rule out. The presence of extra, unknown assumptions makes the God problem a little more difficult.

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

The point about probabilities or likelihood is not just an inconvenience though. It is central to the issue. There are very few things in the real world that we can be absolutely certain of, but the likelihood of pink flying elephants is so vanishingly small that it may be safely dismissed.

It is the same with the idea of a god.
I have entertained myself by writing a short science fiction story which assumes that a god does exist. It does so in a logical fashion that is consistent with all the known physical laws, but it doesn't change the fact that in reality the possibility of a god existing in that way or any other is so improbable as to be considered as good as impossible for all practical purposes.

[annie-lyne.livejournal.com]

I don't think the analogy is so simple. We are talking about something that is completely external to our own experience and reality, so making deductions about this is not straightforward.

I don't see how the likelihood of the God problem being true is so minimal. It seems to me that it is just as likely that the God Problem is true than it is false.

In fact, I personally am a agnostic theist.

But now we are reaching into the realms of theology I haven't even fully considered myself. I am mulling over the consequences of an idea that involves parallel universes...

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

It is that very point, that it is completely external to our experience and reality, that makes it necessary to dismiss it.

There have been centuries of indoctrination that make people think that they should suspend critical thinking where a god is concerned, but that is a basic mistake. Under all other circumstances saying that something is so, but is unknowable because it is outside the universe just sounds absurd, but people have become accustomed to accepting it when talking about gods. Why? It doesn't make sense.

Here is a simple test: Someone tells you that the universe is supported on the backs of an infinite number of giant tortoises. You would dismiss this as so unlikely that it isn't worth considering. But it is the same as a god, in that although it is wildly improbable, in a philosophical sense it is impossible to absolutely disprove.

[annie-lyne.livejournal.com]

I don't think we should suspend critical thinking in this case. I just don't think we can make judgements so easily.

But you have somewhat made my point, though: in a philosophical sense it is impossible to absolutely disprove.

That is essentially the view I hold :)

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

Ooops. I should have mentioned what the story was, in case you want to read it. It is called Grace and is in 2 forms on my website at:
http://miriam-english.org/stories.html

[annie-lyne.livejournal.com]

Neat story. :)

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

:) Thanks.