Proof of Immortality, VII

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- OK. But that is damned small. Unimaginably small. I don't think that you're disagreeing with me about the size of your likelihood given the non-religious hypothesis. I think that you're really talking about the sharpshooter fallacy.

Or exactly 1. Pure determinism from the instant of the Big Bang.
 
But that is damned small. Unimaginably small.

You don't know that, but in any case so what?

I don't think that you're disagreeing with me about the size of your likelihood given the non-religious hypothesis.

I'm disagreeing. All you've proven is that dividing one number by a very much larger number produces a very small number. You haven't shown that these numbers actually mean the concepts you purport that they do, and therefore that the small quotient constitutes a probability that matters in the context of that concept. The number you have computed isn't a meaningful likelihood. It's just a quotient of two numbers.

I think that you're really talking about the sharpshooter fallacy.

The Texas sharpshooter fallacy is exactly about wrongly assigning post hoc meaning to an event that purports to have occurred with a very small probability, only because it has occurred with alleged improbability. You don't seem to grasp this, which is why we assume you refuse to describe the Texas sharpshooter fallacy in your own terms and explain why it's a fallacy. Instead you seem to expect your critics to let you commit it and agree that you have thereby succeeded in your proof.
 
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Or exactly 1. Pure determinism from the instant of the Big Bang.

This was Loss Leader's favorite rebuttal. Jabba's model doesn't consider a clockwork universe. And while we may have beliefs about that either way, we don't have -- and can't presently get -- data that refutes the possibility our universe is not entirely deterministic. Jabba's "unimaginably small" number is based on the assumption of a chaotic universe. A chaos model works, but is not known to be correct.
 
This was Loss Leader's favorite rebuttal. Jabba's model doesn't consider a clockwork universe. And while we may have beliefs about that either way, we don't have -- and can't presently get -- data that refutes the possibility our universe is not entirely deterministic. Jabba's "unimaginably small" number is based on the assumption of a chaotic universe. A chaos model works, but is not known to be correct.

Even if it's correct, my understanding is that it averages out way before it gets to the macroscopic scale, so for all intents and purposes the universe is entirely deterministic, making the odds of ANY event 1.
 
Even if it's correct, my understanding is that it averages out way before it gets to the macroscopic scale, so for all intents and purposes the universe is entirely deterministic, making the odds of ANY event 1.

Indeed, and Jabba has wholly avoided talking about different models of determinism as it affects his model. His model is predicated only one conceptualization of it. I've encouraged Jabba several times to undertake a study of chaos theory. Unfortunately that field is one of the many he feels he either knows enough of already, or doesn't need to know in order to be the genius he is in his own mind.
 
Even if it's correct, my understanding is that it averages out way before it gets to the macroscopic scale, so for all intents and purposes the universe is entirely deterministic, making the odds of ANY event 1.

In fact, we could then draw a Bayesian inference.

(1) The probability of any event in a deterministic universe is 1, so P(E|D)=1.
(2) The probability of any event in a non-deterministic universe is unimaginably small; I estimate it at 10-1000 at best, so P(E|~D)<10-1000.
(3) We cannot tell whether the universe we live in is deterministic or non-deterministic, therefore we can assign an initial estimate of 0.5 for the probability that the universe is deterministic. P(D)=P(~D)=0.5.
(4) According to Bayes' Theorem, P(D|E)=P(E|D)P(D)/P(E)
(5) We can estimate the probability of any event as the average of its probability in a deterministic and a non-deterministic universe, which gives the result that the probability of any event is (0.5+5x10-1001), insignificantly different from 0.5.
(6) Substituting into Bayes' Theorem, we find that P(D|E), the probability that we live in a deterministic universe given that any event has actually taken place, is (1x0.5/0.5) = 1.
(7) Therefore, the fact that any event has taken place demonstrates that we live in a deterministic universe.

And please don't criticise me for posting that. As you can see, I didn't have any choice.

Dave
 
Dave,
- Here again, I was trying to communicate a concept that I didn't need to.


Here I think we see a more subtle variation on the “you agree that ...” gambit. This statement assumes previous agreement to a point where, as always, there was no agreement.

+1 for subtlety, -10 for dishonesty.
 
And please don't criticise me for posting that. As you can see, I didn't have any choice.

No, you really didn't have a choice. Someone has to show how it's possible to correctly describe the process of making a model and then go on to make one that's completely inapplicable, meaningless, and nonprobative.
 
- OK. But that is damned small.
Just like the odds of any particular snowflake.

Unimaginably small.
As it is with any mountain.

I don't think that you're disagreeing with me about the size of your likelihood given the non-religious hypothesis.
I don't think you're disagreeing with me about the size of a snowflake's likelihood.

I think that you're really talking about the sharpshooter fallacy.
Which, I think you agree, is what you're employing.

Give me the definition of the Texas Sharpshooter fallacy in your own words again for the first time so that everyone will know that you DO understand it. As it stands, it seems that you simply are unable to comprehend what it means.
 
I am fascinated by lichens lately. The dark disks in this photo (20X mag) are areas where the lichen will release spores. (this is the fungal part of the lichen). The spores then have to settle somewhere and get lucky enough to meet the right cynobacteria or algae (depending on the species) to be able to form a lichen again. This is not the only way lichen can spread, but it is the most risky. None the less, lichens do reproduce in this manner.


The odds, the odds against this happening, are like, cosmic huge man, it must be like essentially zero....so like, lichens are immortal.

Sorry for the off topic, but this thread is useless for anything else.
 

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lichens are immortal.

Jabba's standard answer is that lichens, mountains, cars, and snowflakes don't have souls whereas humans do, therefore analogies between humans and other objects aren't apt, even under materialism. Oh, but that's not by any means a circular argument, begging the question, or special pleading. He said so himself.
 
This was Loss Leader's favorite rebuttal. Jabba's model doesn't consider a clockwork universe. And while we may have beliefs about that either way, we don't have -- and can't presently get -- data that refutes the possibility our universe is not entirely deterministic. Jabba's "unimaginably small" number is based on the assumption of a chaotic universe. A chaos model works, but is not known to be correct.

My apologies for the repetition, then. I haven't followed along with this voluminous thread, and every time I try to catch up I get distracted by the thought-provoking criticisms and sidebar discussions.

FWIW, the regular posters in this thread must find it frustrating, but the lurkers are treated to some fascinating posts. Thanks to all.
 
Jabba's standard answer is that lichens, mountains, cars, and snowflakes don't have souls whereas humans do, therefore analogies between humans and other objects aren't apt, even under materialism. Oh, but that's not by any means a circular argument, begging the question, or special pleading. He said so himself.

For sure. the difference is humans are radios tuned into the soul pool. Or humans have a special emergent property that is somehow different than any other emergent property in the universe in such a way that.....well....ummm........
 
My apologies for the repetition, then.

Don't apologize. Jabba's feet need to be held to the fire, and it doesn't matter who brings up what objection if the objection is valid. All the objections have been brought up many times before, so there's no shame in pointing out that Jabba still hasn't answered some particular one.

More importantly, Jabba desperately wants to make it seem like he's winning this debate, even when he's losing it. He'll happily declare that he's unable to convince anyone he's right, but that this is the problem of his critics and audience. He'll declare that they somehow aren't on his level of thought, or that they're too hopelessly biased to agree outwardly with him. As he has with his other topics, he just needs to make it look like he would have won if only his critics hadn't been so mean and unfair to him. But when reasonable newcomers breathe new life into reasonable objections, it's harder for Jabba to argue that it's just his same old critics employing their same old tricks. It points out that these are real issues that real people have with his proof, and he needs to address them if he wants his proof to be taken seriously.
 
Dave,
- Whether physical or not, the sense of self involves the emergent property of awareness. It is a particular awareness that I've been referring to as "my existence." The non-religious model accepts the existence of awareness in you and me, but does not attribute awareness to Mount Rainier, grains of sand, or snowflakes.

How do you know that the 'awareness' is the same and not changing constantly?
 
- Even so, the non-religious model accepts that your particular awareness never existed before, will never exist again and never had to exist in the first place. Given that model, the likelihood of the current existence of your particular awareness is unimaginably small.

So is the existence of Mt Tahoma
 
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