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The Philosophical implications of Multiverse Theory?

Ophiolite

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Do you believe the large print makes your thesis more convincing?
I can help you out there - it doesn't.
 
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DennisTate

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Do you believe the large print makes your thesis more convincing?
I can help you out there - it doesn't.

I bolded the letters because this is the title of another discussion.

Do you believe that maybe, just maybe, former Atheist Howard Storm had a genuine spiritual experience somewhat like II Corinthians 12:2-4?

Thank you for being very honest and terming yourself an Agnostic but I have Agnostic friends who do not rule out the possibility of astonishingly strange psychic phenomena from happening.

Reverend Howard Storm's Near-Death Experience

www.CarbonBias.blogspot.ca/
 
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Ophiolite

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On behalf of those with impaired vision, thank you.
 
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DennisTate

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On behalf of those with impaired vision, thank you.

I recently broke down and got glasses myself..... I am 58 and I suppose that this could be a little safer for other drivers on the highways of Nova Scotia, Canada?!
 
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Ophiolite

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I first studied Near Death Experiences more than five decades ago. Initally, I was strongly inclined to find them credible. When I broadened my reading to include both sides of the argument that inclination rapidly evaporated.

Let me state my case very clearly. I doubt you can understand the depth of my wish that NDEs are real. It would be marvellous on so many levels. I still dip into new accounts from time to time in the hope that there may be something more substantial than wishful thinking and self delusion. Regretably, so far - nothing. But I retain an open mind.

In terms of psychic phenomena in general, the same applies. Yes, I've seen ghosts on two occassions, I've have induced clairvoyant dreams and managed one instance of telekinesis. Yet none of these (except the telekinesis) are more readily explained with prosaic, natural explanations.

I don't merit any thanks for honesty. I am scrupulously honest online, since there is no reason to lie. Just don't trust me in a face to face encounter. And I definitely don't deserve the "very" honest. I am agnostic in terms of Gods. I am an atheist in terms of the Abrahamic god. Unfortunately there is no category on offer that covers that. (Perhaps the staff should consider adding it. There could be a large uptake.)
 
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DennisTate

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I am seriously impressed. I did not find NDE accounts until I read an article on them in Psychology Today around 1989 or 1990.

I admit that I could be wrong but I feel that there has got to be some connection between NDE accounts with some of the high school level English language explanations of String Theory that I have ran into.



Dr. George Ritchie reports being shown four higher invisible dimensions of space - time and he adds the fascinating detail...... that he and Messiah Yeshua - Jesus are invisible...... to all occupants of all invisible dimensions.... until the highest one. This sure seems to fit with String Theory to my thinking. (For the record I have seen some of the mathematics for String Theory and I understood zero of it............... but Stephen Hawking Ph. D. and others have done a great job of explaining some of the explanations for these theories for red necks from the back woods like myself who at least will research the basic ideas on this.)
 
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DennisTate

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DogmaHunter

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Actually I'd say that's a relatively naive viewpoint. The term "Let there be light", and the philosophy of "creation ex nihilo" are both highly instrumental IMO to the popularity of "big bang" theory.

No, they aren't.

Having said that... that's not even philosphy. That's just religion. And even just one very specific religion.
 
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FrumiousBandersnatch

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... I feel that there has got to be some connection between NDE accounts with some of the high school level English language explanations of String Theory that I have ran into.
Feelings & intuitions tend to be unreliable outside of your field of expertise (Critical Thinking 101).

If you read the text you quoted on String Theory, you'll see Klein himself suggests an extra dimension would be "impossible to detect because it is closed (circular) and rolled up to a very small circumference" (actually, orders of magnitude smaller than the smallest sub-atomic particle). Also, these are spatial dimensions, orthogonal to the three we're familiar with, not some kind of comic-book or Twilight Zone 'alternate dimension' universes.

So, no. Whatever Ritchie dreamed up (and I suspect 'dreamed' is the correct adjective), it had nothing to do with the extra dimensions of String Theory.
 
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DennisTate

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Good point .. .but because I was highly motivated to study near death experience accounts rather obsessively since 1990, (they got me disfellowshipped from two Christian churches that taught Soul Sleep), I have became something of an unofficial expert on the topic.

I did not want to get kicked out of my old church over questions that I had not researched rather extensively.
 
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DennisTate

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No, they aren't.

Having said that... that's not even philosphy. That's just religion. And even just one very specific religion.

Are you certain?

I have read Stephen Hawking's Universe and chapter 13, entitled The Anthropic Principle, has a section on an Atheistic version of the Cyclic Model of the Universe that sure sounds a lot like what near death experiencer and former Atheist Mellen Benedict reported being shown during his brush with death.

near-death.com/reincarnation/experiences/mellen-thomas-benedict.html#a05

 
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FrumiousBandersnatch

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Yeah, I've spent probably too much time on that stuff too; people really want to believe.

I did not want to get kicked out of my old church over questions that I had not researched rather extensively.
That doesn't sound very Christian...
 
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FrumiousBandersnatch

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Sounds like a trip, or disruption to the brain area concerned with self-boundaries and perception - and most people with any interest in the universe (or religious beliefs) will have heard ideas of cyclic universes. I used to hear a lot of 'far out' trip stories of this kind.
 
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DennisTate

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Yeah, I've spent probably too much time on that stuff too; people really want to believe.

That doesn't sound very Christian...

I have to admit that I do have some anger issues......
that I am still working on but...................
.......... I might still be backsliding from time to time.........?

(Some possible evidence for this can be found in post #207)?!
 
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FrumiousBandersnatch

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I have to admit that I do have some anger issues......
that I am still working on but...................
.......... I might still be backsliding from time to time.........?

(Some possible evidence for this can be found in post #207)?!
If their response to people having 'issues' is to kick them out, it's no surprise their numbers are in decline.
 
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DogmaHunter

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Are you certain?

Yes. The "let there be light" is kind of a give way, being a direct quote from the religious scripture itself.......


I had pie for breakfast.

That was an equally relevant statement.
 
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Johnny4ChristJesus

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This is funny

This is why people like hawking are laughed at. It was hysterical when hawking was seriously trying to explain something coming out of nothing. The entire audience was just laughing at him. And, yet, he couldn't understand why.

You can't separate science from logic and logic is itself philosophy. Science isn't just collecting data. Scientists collect data for a reason. When scientists hypothesize based on collected data, they are using logic (in theory at least). I understand logic is a foreign concept to hawking and other evolutionists and big bangers who think that such a big bang can spontaneously happen without reason. But, real scientists value logic. Eliminating logic eliminates real science.
 
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Michael

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No, they aren't.

Of course they are. They whole idea of a 'big bang' was put forth by a Catholic Priest and it was given the Pope's seal of approval. That certainly made it philosophically easier for Christians to embrace the idea.

Having said that... that's not even philosphy. That's just religion. And even just one very specific religion.

Ya, the dominant one of the time in the west. Considering the metaphysical nature of the big bang theory, it's akin to any 'religion' as well. It's certainly a faith based belief system without a shred of empirical laboratory evidence to support it.
 
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DogmaHunter

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You can't separate science from logic and logic is itself philosophy.

Logic is actually empirical.
Before Einstein, it wasn't considered "logical" that time is relative instead of absolute.
Before quantum mechanics, it wasn't considered "logical" that particles can show up in two places at ones.

The point is that we don't know what is "logical" in advance.
Logic is derived from reality, not imposed on it.

Certain philosophers don't seem to be aware of that.


Ow goody.... another biology denier who likes to talk about "real scientists".
Uhu.

Eliminating logic eliminates real science.

Nobody is suggesting to "eliminate logic".
 
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DogmaHunter

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Of course they are.

Except that they are not.

They whole idea of a 'big bang' was put forth by a Catholic Priest

And he formulated his idea based on data observations from the real world, not by reading his bible. Because as you so conveniently left out of that statement, the dude was also a cosmologist at the university of Leuven, Belgium.

and it was given the Pope's seal of approval

And when the pope tried to use the big bang idea to make a religious point about creation, George LeMaitre, that catholic priest that came up with it, wrote him a letter asking him to please stop drawing connections between religion and science and that it was generally a bad idea to try and validate the bible through his scientific work.

That certainly made it philosophically easier for Christians to embrace the idea.

Perhaps. But for the wrong reasons.
"it is compatible with what I already believe" is not a good reason.


It is not. As that "catholic priest" would also tell you.
 
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