My initial response was to chuckle, but when my analytical capacities kicked in a moment later I was disappointed.
If his initial assumptions was that he was walking into a bar, does that make him atheist in this metaphor? Substitute “walked into a bar” by “believed there is a god”, the thing I assume it is a metaphor of. You will see it makes no sense.
Still, I suppose it might have been better as “A scientist walked into what he thought was a bar, but seeing no bartender, barstools, or drinks, he revised his initial assumption and decided he only walked into a room.”
Think about it this way. You walk into a bar, and you see no bartender. In your mind, you say “anything that is a bar will have a bartender. No bar tender, not a bar.” Of course, the best thing to do before revising your assumptions is to wait for a bar tender. Maybe he/she is in the bathroom.
Similarly, if you claim there is no evidence of god that I’ve seen in my lifetime, you are using the wrong measure. Why should god (if there is one) make itself obvious during the short period that is a human lifetime.
This is almost an “irrationality quote” instead of a rationality quote, but still enlightening.
I was with you up until the “similarly”. After that you start privileging the hypothesis—you should expect a god to make itself obvious during a human lifetime, by any description of a god ever proposed in history.
I’m not sure I see how I”m privileging the hypothesis. Not saying that I’m not, but if you can explain how I’d appreciate it.
Aside from that, I think you are using “god” to mean any of the gods discussed by any popular religion. By this definition, I’d probably agree with you.
I was using the word “god” in a much more general sense… not sure I can define it though, probably something similar to: any “being” that is omnipotent and omniscient, or maybe: any “being” that created reality as we know it. In either definition, there is not really a reason to expect got to make itself obvious to us on any timescale that we consider reasonable. There is no reason to believe that we are special enough that we’d get that kind of treatment.
There is no reason to propose such a being—privileging the hypothesis is when you consider a hypothesis before any evidence has forced you to raise that hypothesis to the level of consideration.
Unless you have a mountain of evidence (and I’m guessing it’ll have to be cosmological to support a god that hasn’t visibly intervened in the world) already driving you to argue that there might be a god, don’t bother proposing the possibility.
http://friendlyatheist.com/2008/02/29/complete-the-atheist-joke-1/
My initial response was to chuckle, but when my analytical capacities kicked in a moment later I was disappointed.
If his initial assumptions was that he was walking into a bar, does that make him atheist in this metaphor? Substitute “walked into a bar” by “believed there is a god”, the thing I assume it is a metaphor of. You will see it makes no sense.
Many atheists were formerly theists.
Still, I suppose it might have been better as “A scientist walked into what he thought was a bar, but seeing no bartender, barstools, or drinks, he revised his initial assumption and decided he only walked into a room.”
I think it makes sense, as a poke at atheists.
Think about it this way. You walk into a bar, and you see no bartender. In your mind, you say “anything that is a bar will have a bartender. No bar tender, not a bar.” Of course, the best thing to do before revising your assumptions is to wait for a bar tender. Maybe he/she is in the bathroom.
Similarly, if you claim there is no evidence of god that I’ve seen in my lifetime, you are using the wrong measure. Why should god (if there is one) make itself obvious during the short period that is a human lifetime.
This is almost an “irrationality quote” instead of a rationality quote, but still enlightening.
I was with you up until the “similarly”. After that you start privileging the hypothesis—you should expect a god to make itself obvious during a human lifetime, by any description of a god ever proposed in history.
I’m not sure I see how I”m privileging the hypothesis. Not saying that I’m not, but if you can explain how I’d appreciate it.
Aside from that, I think you are using “god” to mean any of the gods discussed by any popular religion. By this definition, I’d probably agree with you.
I was using the word “god” in a much more general sense… not sure I can define it though, probably something similar to: any “being” that is omnipotent and omniscient, or maybe: any “being” that created reality as we know it. In either definition, there is not really a reason to expect got to make itself obvious to us on any timescale that we consider reasonable. There is no reason to believe that we are special enough that we’d get that kind of treatment.
There is no reason to propose such a being—privileging the hypothesis is when you consider a hypothesis before any evidence has forced you to raise that hypothesis to the level of consideration.
Unless you have a mountain of evidence (and I’m guessing it’ll have to be cosmological to support a god that hasn’t visibly intervened in the world) already driving you to argue that there might be a god, don’t bother proposing the possibility.
Ah, I see what you are saying. Thanks for the explanation. And you are indeed correct.