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07-19-2020, 04:04 AM
Russell's Teapot
(07-19-2020, 01:36 AM)Dancefortwo Wrote: I like using an Invisible Donut orbiting Jupiter instead of a Teapot. I like tea but donuts are pretty good tasting.
Jupiter has a system of torus (ie, donut) rings orbiting it, all of which are invisible to the human eye here on Earth.
"To surrender to ignorance and call it God has always been premature, and it remains premature today." - Isaac Asimov
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07-19-2020, 09:21 PM
Russell's Teapot
.......... and therefore, god is Chinese.
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07-20-2020, 01:37 AM
Russell's Teapot
It's quite simple.
Knock knock!
Who's there?
The Mormons!
FUCKOFF!
Okay then ...
Works every time.
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07-20-2020, 05:22 PM
Russell's Teapot
Russell's teapot, in its fullest form, is perhaps most useful in showing why falsifiability is so important. It's particularly useful when theists think a lack of falsifiability is a strength rather than a weakness. In some cases, the point may be made a bit more clearly by bringing it back down to Earth, so to speak. My attempt to do so is with the rigged chess match scenario that I describe in another thread.
Quote: Imagine that we're observing a chess match between two players named Rick and Bill. Let's say that the game was actually rigged in Bill's favor, so that no possible sequence of moves could ever result in a loss for Bill. Never mind the logistics. Just assume for the sake of argument that it can be done. When Rick eventually loses, as he inevitably must in such a rigged match, what can we conclude about the comparative aptitude of the two players? The answer: absolutely nothing. It's entirely possible that Rick was the better player whose superior skill was masked by Bill's cheating. It's also possible that Bill was the better player who would've won with or without any foul play. We can't know or even make any reasonably confident guesses one way or the other.
The only sacred truth in science is that there are no sacred truths. - Carl Sagan
Ἡ μόνη ἱερᾱ̀ ἀληθείᾱ ἐν τῇ φυσικῇ φιλοσοφίᾳ ἐστὶν ἡ ἱερῶν ἀληθειῶν σπάνις. - Κᾱ́ρολος Σήγανος