PartSkeptic’s Thread for Predictions and Other Matters of Interest

[abaddon]

I looked at your profile and the threads you started. This was an early one.

What if evolution is (the) intelligent (designer)?

I am impressed by your grasp of concepts and your ability to step back and remove emotion.

Then you should at the very least attempt such a separation yourself.

Why do you steadfastly refuse to do so?

My answer to you would have been that while evolution DID the intelligent design it also DID give God (if he exists) plausible deniability of his existence.

Why would your god need "plausible deniability"? To what end and purpose?

One has to take the next step and ask how the laws of physics ALLOWED the emergent process of evolution to keep heading toward the emergent property of intelligent life.

That is not how emergence works, that was never how emergence ever worked. Have you the foggiest clue what emergence actually is?

The other question to be posed is "Were the key events that changed direction in a significant and better path (such as the extinction of the dinosaurs) just random unplanned events?"

And that is not how evolution works either.

I do not want to derail this thread. I just wanted to comment on what I think of your thought processes. How old are you and what is your profession in life? If that is not a state secret.

Irrelevant. If it turned out he/she was tenured professor of biology, you would still dismiss anything he/she might say regardless of any demonstrated subject matter expertise and cling to your crankery like the security blanket it is for you.

How do I know this? Because that is exactly how you treated me.

It is how you treat everyone.

 

[turingtest]

I can tell you that I have done extensive research, and also have extensive personal experience in a number of areas. I could support my statements in an unbiased argument but it would be very lengthy and most people would just get upset and walk away saying they are disgusted.

The disgust would be because they would be frustrated by the sheer mass of evidence from prominent historians and from sources that are verifiable but not made common knowledge. People would walk away when their subconscious warns them they are about to lose the debate. And the opposition I will face will be opinion and populist emotive memes - such as "holier-then-thou" statements.

It is not holier than thou. It is a matter of more educated and knowledgeable that thou. You would not want to change your long held beliefs because you too would then be holding an unpopular viewpoint. It took a lot of learning and a lot of time to recognize what was true. One also has to grasp complex social concepts and look at the big picture where the truth is shown by a lot of individual facts.

I consider myself neither conservative nor liberal. I can see and understand the different sides of such positions. But often both sides are using emotion and not fact. It is a hard process to drill down to get clarity.

"I've done the research, I'm better informed than you!"- every CTist and bigot ever. See, here's the thing- I don't care how much you think you know, the idea that the Holocaust was, in any measure, somehow justifiable on grounds of history or any other, is just reprehensible bigotry. At least man up and own it without squawking about how people who don't share the idea are somehow the ones with shortcomings, either not well-informed enough or too PC. I know you'd like to think that wearing a tweed jacket with patches on the elbows is enough to cover the bigotry, but I live in a place where it's wife-beater shirts and torn jeans, and it's the same damn thing, just not as fussily pretentious.

 

[Lukraak_Sisser]

How can I not admit I am wrong if the facts say so? Another little correction. My time frame was 5 years and not 3. Pixel proposed 3 to 5 IIRC.

Let us say that I am wrong about the size of the die-off and it takes 20 years because society has changed its behavior in order to downsize and limit population. And that saves the planet. (That is what I am to believe God wants. I am not privy to any details as I keep saying.) Would you then admit that the plan by God (who may only exist in my imagination ) has been met, and that I was partly right? Even if it was just a good guess and not God?

Sure, no problem. I doubt you will though, even now the population of earth is growing. And it's clear we know what to do against this disease. Once the vaccine is there it will just be another thing the elderly will need to protect against with an occasional shot.
And the world will go on and change as if you or I do not matter.
The difference being I do not believe myself to be a holy prophet of course.

 

[abaddon]

Sure, no problem. I doubt you will though, even now the population of earth is growing. And it's clear we know what to do against this disease. Once the vaccine is there it will just be another thing the elderly will need to protect against with an occasional shot.
And the world will go on and change as if you or I do not matter.
The difference being I do not believe myself to be a holy prophet of course.

Well that is interesting.

Despite PS claiming that some god wants to wipe out a huge chunk of people, and despite the current pandemic, the human population continues to grow apace.

It would seem that PartSkeptics claimed deity is strangely inept.

So why is it that the claimed deity seems utterly useless? Unable to do much of anything?

I am certain that PartSkeptic will have a cogent explanation for that.

 

[BStrong]

snipped

What people here have not done is suggest ways society could better itself. That is the next part of what I have to figure out (with Gods help ).

Stop believing in fairy tales.

You mean believing that the voice in your head is the voice of god? It's a manifestation of your illness, not the voice of am imaginary deity.

 

[abaddon]

Stop believing in fairy tales.

You mean believing that the voice in your head is the voice of god? It's a manifestation of your illness, not the voice of am imaginary deity.

You WILL NOT convince PS that he is not in receipt of direct messages from whatever god.

PS has already convinced himself that he is.

There is no way to change that level of faith in the spooky bloke in the sky.

 

[Hans]

Well that is interesting.

Despite PS claiming that some god wants to wipe out a huge chunk of people, and despite the current pandemic, the human population continues to grow apace.

It would seem that PartSkeptics claimed deity is strangely inept.

So why is it that the claimed deity seems utterly useless? Unable to do much of anything?

I am certain that PartSkeptic will have a cogent explanation for that.

Yeah said supreme being could theoretically snap it metaphysical fingers and all the people he didn't like should just disappear but for some reason these gods like to appear to have their actions to be natural happenings....Go figure.

 

[PartSkeptic]

I have been hypothesizing a link between Covid-19 and 2G, 3G & 4G EMFs. The spread of the virus is unusual in that it is affecting some regions more than others. Here is another bit of information. Blood clotting due to damage to the lining of blood vessels. EMFs have been show to damage the lining of blood vessels forming the blood brain barrier.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...blood-clots-harming-organs-from-brain-to-toes
...Viruses including HIV, dengue and Ebola are all known to make blood cells prone to clumping. The pro-clotting effect may be even more pronounced in patients with the coronavirus. “There’s something about this virus that’s exaggerated that to the nth degree,” said Levy, who is also medical director of the medical intensive care unit at Rhode Island Hospital. “We’re seeing clotting in a way in this illness that we have not seen in the past.”
...Separate studies from France and the Netherlands found that as many as 30% of severely ill Covid-19 patients suffered a so-called pulmonary embolism -- a potentially deadly blockage in one of the arteries of the lungs. These often occur when bits of blood clots from veins deep in the legs travel to the lungs. By comparison, the prevalence of pulmonary embolism was 1.3% in critically ill patients without Covid-19, one study found.Coagulation may occur because of damage to cells lining blood vessels that results from both the viral infection and the immune system’s inflammation-causing response, said Jean Connors, a Harvard Medical School hematologist.
...“The outcome isn’t affected if you’re treated appropriately,” she said. But “it’s possible that people are dying from undiagnosed pulmonary emboli.”
...Clots may form in other parts of the body, potentially damaging vital organs including the heart, kidneys, liver, bowel, and other tissues.

 

[PartSkeptic]

(snip)?

That is not how emergence works, that was never how emergence ever worked. Have you the foggiest clue what emergence actually is?

(snip)

So explain it to me as if I was a 6 year old.

 

[PartSkeptic]

(snip) the idea that the Holocaust was, in any measure, somehow justifiable on grounds of history or any other, is just reprehensible bigotry. (snip)

I never said that the Holocaust was justifiable.

What I did say is that the Holocaust it is explainable in terms of historical events and interactions of various groups of people in the pre-WW2 years. It is not a simply a matter of Hitler being the most evil person on Earth. And I have said that popular history and movies (even most documentaries) do not deal properly with those pre-war years. Do you know anything about those times? I doubt it.

You have just verified my claim that debating you would result in straw-man arguments accompanied by emotive vitriol.

 

[PartSkeptic]

Yeah said supreme being could theoretically snap it metaphysical fingers and all the people he didn't like should just disappear but for some reason these gods like to appear to have their actions to be natural happenings....Go figure.

Yes, you should try to figure it out because it is a necessary part of explaining God's possible existence.

The answer is plausible deniability. God does not wish there to be proof of his existence. It will interfere with people thinking they have free will.

 

[PartSkeptic]

(snip)I know you'd like to think that wearing a tweed jacket with patches on the elbows is enough to cover the bigotry, but I live in a place where it's wife-beater shirts and torn jeans, and it's the same damn thing, just not as fussily pretentious.

I am an engineer and researcher. I consider myself middle-class and down to earth. I am the son of a carpenter. Nevertheless, I am capable of extensive research and analysis which is greatly facilitated by the internet. And if one knows how to use it, and dig past some of the barriers that are put up where people try to discredit valid sites then one can learn.

Have you stopped beating your wife yet? Just wear the T-shirt. Sorry - but you stepped into that one.

 

[RedStapler]

God does not wish there to be proof of his existence.

If your "predictions" are true, you are directly interfering with gods wishes...interesting.

 

[turingtest]

I never said that the Holocaust was justifiable.

What I did say is that the Holocaust it is explainable in terms of historical events and interactions of various groups of people in the pre-WW2 years. It is not a simply a matter of Hitler being the most evil person on Earth. And I have said that popular history and movies (even most documentaries) do not deal properly with those pre-war years. Do you know anything about those times? I doubt it.

You have just verified my claim that debating you would result in straw-man arguments accompanied by emotive vitriol.

Right, right- totally explainable, if you think that (let's see)- Jews just "keep paying the price for their elitism," and it's "when there are excesses that unbalance society that there are revolts and pogroms." Gosh- is it possible that maybe the Jews weren't "just innocent bystanders"?

And you really need to stop assuming that I don't know anything about those times- you don't know anything about me or my family, and just my disagreement with you on the history is no reason to doubt that I know it.

One final note- yes, disgust is an emotion. And sometimes the emotion is warranted and the vitriol is earned.

 

[turingtest]

I am an engineer and researcher. I consider myself middle-class and down to earth. I am the son of a carpenter. Nevertheless, I am capable of extensive research and analysis which is greatly facilitated by the internet. And if one knows how to use it, and dig past some of the barriers that are put up where people try to discredit valid sites then one can learn.

An engineer who doesn't get metaphor- imagine that.

Have you stopped beating your wife yet? Just wear the T-shirt. Sorry - but you stepped into that one.

Or humor either, apparently.

 

[abaddon]

So explain it to me as if I was a 6 year old.

OK, then.

You know what a chessboard is, right?

Imagine a very big chess chess board say 1 million by 1 million squares.

You can start with all black squares or all white squares or any variation in between of black and white squares.

Onto this grid you place a simple ant. This ant follows some very simple rules.

1. Move one square forward.
2. If the square it lands on is black, change it to white and turn to the left.
3. If the square it lands on is white, change it to black and turn to the right.
4. Repeat forever.

What pattern of black and white squares will the ant make, in your opinion?

This is, by the way, not any sort of thought experiment. One can actually do this in the real world.

 

[abaddon]

I have been hypothesizing a link between Covid-19 and 2G, 3G & 4G EMFs. The spread of the virus is unusual in that it is affecting some regions more than others. Here is another bit of information. Blood clotting due to damage to the lining of blood vessels. EMFs have been show to damage the lining of blood vessels forming the blood brain barrier.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...blood-clots-harming-organs-from-brain-to-toes
...Viruses including HIV, dengue and Ebola are all known to make blood cells prone to clumping. The pro-clotting effect may be even more pronounced in patients with the coronavirus. “There’s something about this virus that’s exaggerated that to the nth degree,” said Levy, who is also medical director of the medical intensive care unit at Rhode Island Hospital. “We’re seeing clotting in a way in this illness that we have not seen in the past.”
...Separate studies from France and the Netherlands found that as many as 30% of severely ill Covid-19 patients suffered a so-called pulmonary embolism -- a potentially deadly blockage in one of the arteries of the lungs. These often occur when bits of blood clots from veins deep in the legs travel to the lungs. By comparison, the prevalence of pulmonary embolism was 1.3% in critically ill patients without Covid-19, one study found.Coagulation may occur because of damage to cells lining blood vessels that results from both the viral infection and the immune system’s inflammation-causing response, said Jean Connors, a Harvard Medical School hematologist.
...“The outcome isn’t affected if you’re treated appropriately,” she said. But “it’s possible that people are dying from undiagnosed pulmonary emboli.”
...Clots may form in other parts of the body, potentially damaging vital organs including the heart, kidneys, liver, bowel, and other tissues.

How dishonest are you willing to be? That article makes NO MENTION WHATSOEVER of EMF. None. Nada. Rien du tout.

The link from the clotting issue to EMF is merely something you made up out of whole cloth.

 

[Cosmic Yak]

God tells me he is going to fix the overpopulation problem with a pandemic. Then it seems he gives me clues so that I can try to figure out what, when and how.

Is it not enough that a pandemic will do two things? Solve over-population (and hence a lot of associated problems) and also change society for the better.

So what we need, then, is someone who will reduce the world's population by millions, whilst at the same time reminding those pesky Jews that they are too uppity.
Can you think of anyone who might step up to do god's work?

Oh, wait....

I never said that the Holocaust was justifiable.

What I did say is that the Holocaust it is explainable in terms of historical events and interactions of various groups of people in the pre-WW2 years. It is not a simply a matter of Hitler being the most evil person on Earth.

Hitler, by your own arguments, was doing god's work, and doing it on a massive scale.
In your eyes, how can he have been evil?

 

[bruto]

OK, then.

You know what a chessboard is, right?

Imagine a very big chess chess board say 1 million by 1 million squares.

You can start with all black squares or all white squares or any variation in between of black and white squares.

Onto this grid you place a simple ant. This ant follows some very simple rules.

1. Move one square forward.
2. If the square it lands on is black, change it to white and turn to the left.
3. If the square it lands on is white, change it to black and turn to the right.
4. Repeat forever.

What pattern of black and white squares will the ant make, in your opinion?

This is, by the way, not any sort of thought experiment. One can actually do this in the real world.

Many years ago I had a little computer program which included several smaller programs illustrating some of those basic principles, and one of them was a now-famous program called BOIDS. It was quite interesting to see how quickly the small set of rules would result in the apparently intelligent behavior of flocking.

 

[varwoche]

I did not bring it up. It was brought up in the context of what hand God had in prior disasters. And Holocaust is a Jewish disaster. Never mind the countless millions that have died in other disasters. The question Jews ask themselves is where was God and why did God allow it to happen. The questions of good and evil are explored. Any atheist would ask what were the circumstances leading up to the Holocaust, and whether the Jews just innocent bystanders.

We have been over this antisemitism topic before. Give it a rest. You just want to add another derogatory description to someone you disagree with. That is an unethical debating tactic.

Blame shift fail. The more you dig, the worse it gets. The concepts you're foisting here are flat out demented.