cofty

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Posts by cofty

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  25

  Zoroaster spoke thus

  by Doug Mason in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  the following is from: cosmos, chaos and the world to come (pp.

  222-224), norman cohn.

  yale university press.

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  cofty

  The "Judaism" of the "Old Testament" is not the Judaism of Jesus and his contemporaries

  This is such an important insight. We tend to compress history. It's similar to the way we in the UK talk about the 'Roman period' in Britain, as if the Romans of the 5th century dressed, talked and worshipped the same way as their forebears who arrived in 43 AD.

  The Zoroastrian influence on Judaism is fascinating.

  By extension, the apocalyptic worldview of JWs - and Evangelical Christianity - finds its roots in Persia.
  
  
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  70

  A Growing Problem for Materialists

  by Sea Breeze in

  1. social
  2. current

  the famous double-slit experiment proves that light travels both in individual particles called photons and also as a mathematical probability wave.

  matter itself exhibits this particle-wave duality which allows objects to exist in two different places at the same time, depending on whether of not you are looking (testing) at it.

  scientists have recently been able to get molecules as large as 2000 atoms to exhibit this duality!.

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  cofty

  Sea Breeze - I don't want to distract from TD's point but I also don't want to avoid your direct question.

  Briefly - it is impossible to deny the remote possibility that life on earth was seeded from outside our planet. However I think it is the least likely answer to the origin of life question - second only to 'god-did-it.

  Now please carry on engaging with TD who has pinpointed the fundamental flaw in the argument from 'information'.
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  70

  A Growing Problem for Materialists

  by Sea Breeze in

  1. social
  2. current

  the famous double-slit experiment proves that light travels both in individual particles called photons and also as a mathematical probability wave.

  matter itself exhibits this particle-wave duality which allows objects to exist in two different places at the same time, depending on whether of not you are looking (testing) at it.

  scientists have recently been able to get molecules as large as 2000 atoms to exhibit this duality!.

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  cofty

  I'm still not sure if we're talking about information in the sense of data, which does not require an intelligent mind or in the sense of communication which does. - TD

  Neither is Sea Breeze which is the problem.
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  43

  Remind re: The "Cult" Label

  by Simon in

  1. forum
  2. announcements

  if you accuse people of being stuck in jw mindset or "cult-like" mentality simply because someone has a different view of politics than you, you'll be deleted.. it's insulting and a lazy substitute for having any real argument for a proper debate.. what next ... "you smell" ?.

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  cofty

  Actually Morph plagiarized my post from six years ago. I got a lot of flack for it.

  Another poster suggested calling "Cofty's Law". Morph waited a few years and tried to resurrect it as his own brilliant idea.

  Accusing Ex-JWs of Behaving Like JWs Should be Taboo...

  I am seeing it repeatedly on the forum. I think it is cowardly.

  Sometimes it is appears in the form of accusing others of behaving like JW elders. To add insult to injury, it is frequently used by some who were never JWs.

  Consider what many of us had to go through to get out the cult - what is cost us in terms of family and friends. The intellectual struggles we experienced to get over years of indoctrination. The courage and integrity it took to reject everything we once held dear.

  To label somebody who disagrees with you as acting like a JW is a craven personal attack.

  There are occasions when it is simply a statement of fact - when somebody preaches end-times speculation for example - but to use it as a cheap shot is unacceptable.
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  70

  A Growing Problem for Materialists

  by Sea Breeze in

  1. social
  2. current

  the famous double-slit experiment proves that light travels both in individual particles called photons and also as a mathematical probability wave.

  matter itself exhibits this particle-wave duality which allows objects to exist in two different places at the same time, depending on whether of not you are looking (testing) at it.

  scientists have recently been able to get molecules as large as 2000 atoms to exhibit this duality!.

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  cofty

  I have never denied the existence of what SB refers to as ' information'.

  My objection is that he is conflating two different senses of the word and misrepresenting the views of people who don't ascribe to theism.
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  70

  A Growing Problem for Materialists

  by Sea Breeze in

  1. social
  2. current

  the famous double-slit experiment proves that light travels both in individual particles called photons and also as a mathematical probability wave.

  matter itself exhibits this particle-wave duality which allows objects to exist in two different places at the same time, depending on whether of not you are looking (testing) at it.

  scientists have recently been able to get molecules as large as 2000 atoms to exhibit this duality!.

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  2. 
  3. 
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  cofty

  Maybe we could all agree that none of us know the ultimate answer to the puzzle of why there is something rather than nothing.

  The real difference between us is our commitment to limiting our knowledge-claims to things that can be objectively demonstrated. Theists want to make grandiose epistemological claims about reality, based entirely on 'faith'. But when they lose their nerve they want to pretend their assertions are actually rooted in some esoteric field of theoretical physics that they don't begin to understand.

  The many things that science has still to discover should not be the places where you try to hide god.

  'Information theory' might be a problem for a straw-man who apparently denies the existence of the non-material but it is not a dilemma for the rest of us.
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  70

  A Growing Problem for Materialists

  by Sea Breeze in

  1. social
  2. current

  the famous double-slit experiment proves that light travels both in individual particles called photons and also as a mathematical probability wave.

  matter itself exhibits this particle-wave duality which allows objects to exist in two different places at the same time, depending on whether of not you are looking (testing) at it.

  scientists have recently been able to get molecules as large as 2000 atoms to exhibit this duality!.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
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  cofty

  I have never referred to 'aliens' as a source of life on earth in my entire posting history. Please stop lumping everybody who disagrees with you into the same stereotype.

  I have however described the latest research on abiogenesis many times.

  You have STILL refused to address your basic confusion regarding the nature of 'information'. Your original sin is equivocation.
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  70

  A Growing Problem for Materialists

  by Sea Breeze in

  1. social
  2. current

  the famous double-slit experiment proves that light travels both in individual particles called photons and also as a mathematical probability wave.

  matter itself exhibits this particle-wave duality which allows objects to exist in two different places at the same time, depending on whether of not you are looking (testing) at it.

  scientists have recently been able to get molecules as large as 2000 atoms to exhibit this duality!.

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  cofty

  These sort of arguments for God depend entirely on obfuscation and equivocation.

  What do you mean by god? You can pretend you only mean some unknown source of 'information' but really you are trying to open the door for the god of Jesus who worries about who we sleep with.

  The more difficult it becomes to defend the god of the Bible the more theists want to retreat to the magical world of theoretical physics.
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  70

  A Growing Problem for Materialists

  by Sea Breeze in

  1. social
  2. current

  the famous double-slit experiment proves that light travels both in individual particles called photons and also as a mathematical probability wave.

  matter itself exhibits this particle-wave duality which allows objects to exist in two different places at the same time, depending on whether of not you are looking (testing) at it.

  scientists have recently been able to get molecules as large as 2000 atoms to exhibit this duality!.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  cofty

  Waton - creationists use the word 'information' in a dishonest way. They equivocate, knowingly or otherwise.

  In the technical sense of information no minds or sentient beings are required.

  In one sense DNA contains information but that is nothing but a metaphor. In reality it is just chemicals doing their thing.
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  70

  A Growing Problem for Materialists

  by Sea Breeze in

  1. social
  2. current

  the famous double-slit experiment proves that light travels both in individual particles called photons and also as a mathematical probability wave.

  matter itself exhibits this particle-wave duality which allows objects to exist in two different places at the same time, depending on whether of not you are looking (testing) at it.

  scientists have recently been able to get molecules as large as 2000 atoms to exhibit this duality!.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
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  cofty

  You are ignoring my reply because it gets to the core of your mistake.

  The problem is you are equivocating about the word information.

  In normal usage it involves one mind communicating data to another sentient being.

  Then there is a technical sense if the word that is the subject of information theory.

  You are making a category error. Until you address this you are doubling down in a basic error