Archive for the ‘Introductions’ Category

About Knowledge

zomgitscriss

Sun Aug 09, 2009 12:51 am by zomgitscriss

Hey there .

It’s very late and I’m tired but I said I will have a blog by Sunday and if I don’t deliver I will OCD my brains out over it. I’m awesome like that. So please excuse my possible ramble.

In this blog I will mainly adress the Theists. I heard many of them saying that they KNOW certain things in regards to God and what they say to be “the Creation” . Even in the recent debate between Thunderf00t and Ray Comfort, Ray said a couple of times that (unlike Thunderf00t) he KNOWS what the truth is.

I will try to argue why this claim cannot possibly hold water.

First of all, what does “to know” mean anyway? Can we say that we know anything at all ? I would say we can. For instance, I KNOW that there are more than two people writing on this site. I know this because I can count, I can read, I personally know more than two of them, etc. The point is, I can say I KNOW this because it is in my immediate and direct observation.

I can also say I know that Human and Chimpanzee DNA is about 98.5 percent identical. This is clearly not in my immediate and direct observation but I can still say I KNOW it because I have sufficient data proving it. All facts gathered through observation and experiment point to this conclusion, none of them point against it.

But let’s try another example. Not to long ago, if anyone asked me to define a triangle without mentioning its angles, I would have said that any given 3 points that are not in a straight line form a triangle . And I thought I KNOW that the sum of the interior angles of any triangle is 180 degrees. But I was wrong. This is true if the given triangle is in Euclidian space. But if someone could draw a triangle in the near neighbourhood of a Black Hole with such intense gravity forces, the interior angles of that triangle would NOT add up to 180 degrees. The results are very different depending on how Space bends. So suddenly, even if I was certain I KNOW something, at some point I realized that my so called knowledge was in fact a belief. And I was wrong in my belief because I was ignorant of the data.

I still have certain beliefs. For instance, I believe that Quantum Mechanic could be eventually proven not to contradict Determinism. I don’t believe that the atoms act randomly but rather that at atomic level there might be laws we haven’t discovered yet and variables we cannot calculate. Which, imho, is not to say that the atoms are not subjected to the cause and effect rules. And I believe that (strongly I may say) because EVERYTHING in the observable Universe is subjected to the cause and effect rule. But I am willing to admit that I don’t KNOW that and there is a possibility I might be wrong. And if, at some point, all evidence will lead to the conclusion that atoms can act randomly, I will change my belief. I highly doubt this will happen, what I am trying to say is that I don’t rule out this option because I realize this is something I believe and NOT something I know.

How about God ? When you say you KNOW God is real and He created everything, what do you base it on? On a book with origins and authors very dubious (to say the least). God is not in your immediate and direct observation and there is no collected data to support his existence. He cannot be proven through observation and experiment. So you are left with your book. And how do you know that your book is the Truth ? Because it says so in your book. Can you spot the problem with this ? (hint : it starts with a “c” and it ends with “ircular”)

And you may say now that according to this logic, Atheists cannot say they KNOW there is no God. Which is correct and I don’t know one single Atheist who says so. An Atheist will say he does not BELIVE in a God. The difference between the logic of an Atheist and the logic Theist is that the first doesn’t believe because of lack of evidence while the former believes DESPITE the lack of evidence.

Where I am going with this is that you cannot say that you KNOW your God is real. You only BELIEVE he is real. And if you accept that what you call knowledge is in fact a belief, you will also have to accept the possibility that you might be wrong.

I’m just sayin’

Criss

Discussion (24) • Add Comment Tags: atheism, knowledge, Reason, theism
Posted in Introductions, Philosophy, Reason

Compulsory self-conscious introductory post

rabbitpirate

Fri Aug 07, 2009 2:30 pm by rabbitpirate

A few weeks ago the League sent out a call. They were seeking new bloggers to join them in their fight against the forces of injustice. This was the moment I had been waiting for, a chance to rise phoenix like from the ashes of obscurity, to take my own person style of vigilante skepticism to the forefront of the war against the credulous, nefarious, discriminatory horde. No longer would I have to fight alone, now the League would have my back. And so I answered that call, and yesterday the League invited me to join their ranks, my excitement was boundless.

My excitement ebbed some what when I discovered I had just joined the League of Reason rather than the Justice League of America or the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, but I guess it will do. I will however have to return the spandex bodysuit and red y-fronts that I purchased specially. I’m keeping the cowl however as it’s dead sexy.

Seriously I am unbelievably honoured to have been made a part of this blog. Honoured and incredibly intimidated at the same time. There are some seriously heavy hitters involved in this thing. I love the stuff that these guys, and gals, come up with and I am right now feeling rather out of my depth. I actually think Superman and his friends would be less disconcerting right now. Gulp.

Anyway my first task as a newbie League member is to introduce myself. I am RabbitPirate, so named because pirates are awesome and rabbits are, er, fluffy! Unlike many of the bloggers here I do not come to the League of Reason with a massive Youtube following. In fact if you were to visit my page you would discover I have no subscribers, no views and only one video…which is actually a repost of something someone else made. What I do instead is blog, and try to write books, but mainly blog. I have been blogging for a number of years now about anything and everything that peaks my interest. However recently I have turned my attention away from such important issues as what I did at the weekend and how much my job sucks on to stories relating to science, religion, skepticism and critical thinking. It is these areas where my passion lies.

I live in the UK just outside of the university city of Cambridge. Alas however that is about as close as I have ever come to higher education as I decided instead to jump straight into the fun filled world of IT support, a decision I regret more and more with every passing day. I spent most of the first twenty odd years of my life as a Christian and even considered going into fulltime ministry work. While I no longer hold the beliefs of my youth I would not describe myself as an atheist, partly because I don’t really like labels, after having the label “Christian” tell people everything about me for so long, and partly because I think it would make my Mum cry if I did. That said if I was forced to call myself anything I would probably go with “skeptic”.

When not blogging I like to spend my time reading, writing stories I never actually finish, watching stupidly large amounts of sci-fi on TV, going to the cinema (honestly could I be more of a geek) and arguing with Ray Comfort on his blog…and by arguing I mean he says something stupid, I correct him and he ignores me completely. Meh, it’s a hobby.

Well that’s me, hopefully by the time I get to my first real post I will have thought of something interesting to say as right now I’m drawing a complete blank.

Thanks for your time,

RabbitPirate

Discussion (12) • Add Comment Posted in Introductions

Introducing SchrodingersFinch

SchrodingersFinch

Wed May 20, 2009 3:37 pm by SchrodingersFinch

Greetings members of The League,

I’m SchrodingersFinch, but you can just call me Finch.

I come from a world you may not understand, or more specifically, Finland. Finland is the second greatest place on Earth. In Finland women are beautiful, men alcoholics and evolution a fact. Ironically, Finland is one of the most secular countries in the world but we also have a state church. Everyone who reads the Bible, as I’m sure you all do, should know that 21st century Finnish Evangelical Lutheranism is the one true Christian faith (don’t listen to the Swedish spawn of Satan!).

We Finns are a peculiar lot. We’re shy and don’t talk much, but when we do it’s usually something important. I hope this is also the case with blogging (or at least the latter part), but I can’t promise you anything. Writing a blog is something completely new to me, so please bear with me until I get the hang of it.

I feel honoured to be a part of this blog. As you can see, there are some big names and lots of talent involved. I only hope I can match up. When it comes to writing skills I’m definitely not the best since English isn’t even my first language. But I guarantee I will never confuse the word “their” with “they’re” or “your” with “you’re”.

Here are some relevant facts about me. I’m an atheist (gasp!), but more of the moderate kind. I am, however, strongly against creationism and other such nonsense, although I rarely encounter them in real life. I am also a science geek and proud of it! My main interests are physics and biology, but I also enjoy mathematics, chemistry and all the innumerable varieties that exist. As most of you probably know, I’m a moderator on the League of Reason forums and you can also find me on Youtube. Feel free to PM me if you have anything to say or ask. I usually have time to respond to all of them.

Hopefully I’ll have something more interesting to write about soon. If I had a cool catch phrase like all the big Youtubers this would perhaps be a good place to put it.

SchrodingersFinch

Discussion (2) • Add Comment Tags: atheist, Finland, Introduction, League of Reason
Posted in Introductions

This is JRChadwick.

JRChadwick

Mon May 18, 2009 7:07 am by JRChadwick

When I first came to YouTube, the activities reached no further than that medium. I have been thoroughly impressed by the thousands of us from all over the planet who have come together with purposes reaching farther than I could have ever expected.

I never expected to become a blogger. Especially not one associated with musicians, a lawyer, an Astrophysicist, a Biologist, and a teacher. I do not have any such title. I am a computer major and a math tutor. My educational goals have been delayed by several events I won’t get into, but I still plan to transfer to the University of California Davis under their B.S. degree program of Computer Science and Engineering.

I am not sure exactly what I will blog on. I do have a varied set of interests. I can probably whip out something interesting on health and fitness, cooking, or PC repair. I’ll see what inspires me!

I have given some thought as to the purpose of people like me in this venue. What I mean by people like me, are individuals who lack the education of AronRa, AndromedasWake, Thunder00t, etc. however we still accept real science and work to both promote and defend it from those who wish to undermine it for their own religious and political agenda and send us back into the dark ages. And I really mean that. If the Creationists ever were to win, that is exactly what we would have; another dark age.

Anyway, the point of the “everyman’s” anti-Creationism videos that I think is under valued is that they help refute the “Evil Evolutionist Conspiracy” card. You do not need to be a trained scientist to either debunk Creationism or have a modest understanding of science. I am here to prove that we are not simply putting blind faith in “Evolutionism” because we just hate God… or what ever psychological projection Kirk Cameron, NephilimFree, or theanswersofnwo3 are trying to plug.

Well, that’s it for my first post. I look forward to what this newest venue. I would like to thank AndromedasWake and CosmicSpork for their hard work in making this website a fast success. And I would also like to thank the hundreds of people out there who have put their trust in me. Thank you for reading, once again, my name is JRChadwick.

P.S. Don’t worry, I won’t end every post with that line, I just thought it was a nice reference to my channel!

Discussion (2) • Add Comment Tags: JRChadwick Introduction AndromedasWake CosmicSpork YouTube LOR
Posted in Introductions

Introducing djarm67

djarm67

Fri May 15, 2009 12:58 am by djarm67

A quick scan at the overall membership of the “LOR” (which in my opinion should replace the common usage of “LOL” and would be a worthy activity for us all to work covertly across the internets to accomplish) and it is apparent that I am in the minority to a dramatic degree. That’s correct! I am an Australian.

Us Australians understand all too well how misguided those northern hemisphere folks are with their map making activities. They have even managed to infiltrate the ultimate education system with their unholy doctrine of Northpoleisupism. Yes you read it here first. I can boldly declare that the organisations who have traditionally targeted nautical navigation establishments and small travel book stores in Notting Hill have managed to reach their Holy Grail. Google Earth.

On a less serious note, I am actually quite honoured to be invited to contribute to this blog. It is a bold step by the organisers to invite someone to contribute to their blog where upon reading only a handful of my emails it is apparent that my writing skills are crap. I am encouraged however by the inclusion of someone with even less ability in this area, Theo Warner. If not for the inclusion of him, I might feel somewhat intimidated (lor). Much thankness must go to the “sporks” (cosmic or otherwise) for the amazing work accomplished on the technicalities of this site, e.g. should the light bulb be a bayonet or screw in fitting (P.S. I’m glad he went with the screw in. A wise choice in my opinion). We should also thank our resident Astrologer, Andromeda’s Wake for selecting the correct date to launch the updated version with optimal planetary alignments. I was puzzled for sometime over the constant emails with something about a Venus entering Uranus, but I finally worked it out.

So what role will I play as a blog contributor here at LOR? For those of you that are aware of my YouTube channel “djarm67″, you would no doubt be aware that I am a theist. Shock! So I guess my role here would be primarily to make fun of religions from the inside (lor) Alternatively, I could simply extend my attacks on creationism and its attempts to subvert the educational systems of the world. Who knows, we may even have a few interesting discussions.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy what I contribute. You may not always agree with what I contribute, but that’s OK. Just understand that you have been indoctrinated from a young age into the cult of Northpoleisupism.

Discussion (4) • Add Comment Tags: creationism, theism
Posted in Introductions