Part 2 of My Proof God does not Exist!

Nature vs. Intelligence – What's the confusion?
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Many atheist like to point out and argue the apparent un-intelligence of our universe, and indeed that is incredibly easy given the diversity and opportunistic nature of evolution.  The problem with this approach is that it misses the big point.  Embedded in the Creationist argument is the assumption that nature and god could be confused; that evolution and the acts of the creator some how look the same. That the forms they produce and the apparent methods they used would appear so close to each other that millions of scientist over the past 150 years of looking into where we come from would have missed those nuances in the physical record that would have proved there was a creator. Logically this makes no sense since there is nothing connecting the two realities except of course the need by the believer to fit their intelligent designer in to the constraints of the real world.

Part 1 of My Proof God does not Exist!

No Physical evidence of god and his domain.


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If there really was a god what would you expect? Well for one thing, I would have expected that science would have validated the existence of god and related supernatural phenomena by now.  Now don't take this as some pompous scientific hand waving. You don't have something that interacts with our bodies and minds and not have some obvious impact in the physical world at least at the molecular/atomic level.  The problem is that if god existed in the way most theist tend to imply, you would not expect it to be some weak subtle influence but something rather spectacular and widespread, at least as compared to our current understanding of subatomic particles and quantum mechanics.

My Random Meme of the Week #2

9/14/11 - Revised numbering system

Da Rules (a work in progress)
1. I hold no truths to be absolute and no absolutes to be true. (No Absolutes Rule)
2. I hold no truth to be self evident. (No Free Ride rule)
3. I hold no belief on anything for which we humans know nothing about. (No Making Shit up rule)
4. I hold no humans can truly know or even imagine anything infinite and reality seems to concur. (Nothing infinite matters Rule)
5. I hold no abstractions to be real except as they manifest their usefulness to the holder. (Usefulness of Abstractions Rule)
6. I hold no belief about others that I am not willing to apply to myself. (Play Fair Rule)
7. I hold no human like being is behind any aspect of our universe except our own actions. (Don't be Narcissistic rule)
8. I hold no delusion that humans are inherently logical. (Silly Humans rule)
9. I hold on to reality as tightly as I can. (Reality rules!)
10. I hold my pants up with a belt, most times. (Token Reality Rule)
11. Follow the evidence wherever it takes you (Prime directive)
12.Belief shapes Perception (Believing is Seeing)
13. Never be afraid to be wrong (but don't guess)
14. Be honest with yourself above all else.
15. Live within the bounds of human experience and not human imagination.
16. Define yourself by what you know and not what you don't know.
17. Hope for the best but be prepared for the worst.
18. Worry and anger do nothing to improve a situation
19. All things in moderation especially moderation (seek balance over the center).
20. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, when you don't know what else to do.
21. Almost nobody sees themselves as truly evil or completely wrong.
22. Conspiracy is much rarer than incompetence in explaining the human state.
23. You've got to save a lot a butt if you want to get away with murder

Additionally I use
1.Occam's Razor - when faced with competing hypothesis that are equal in other respects, selecting the one that makes the fewest new assumptions.
2. Sagan Standard - Extreme claims require extreme evidence

At one point this was a couple of pages but in trying to simplify my beliefs, I have tryed to keep it to whats important.

Atheism as a Religion

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This is a response to the youTube Videos: "Atheism is a Religion"...? by BionicDance  and An Atheist Calls Atheism a Religion by GrapplingIgnorance.

When people argue about whether atheism is a religion or not, they are almost always arguing against  2 different usage (definitions) of the word atheism/atheist in society.

First off there is the classic dictionary definitions ...  namely that atheism is the lack of a belief in god, the disbelief in God, and or the belief that god does not exist. As such it gives no other restrictions on the beliefs of atheists other than to say that they share a single belief about god. Religion or religious beliefs, on the other hand, is the set of beliefs and practices by which a person or group identify themselves or by others. Reality is atheism, theism, and agnosticism are really just a way we group or categorize a broader set of beliefs which can be typically sub divided into specific religions/religious beliefs. You would not claim that theism is a specific religion or religious belief.  Even deists in general usage  has a set of beliefs and share a common identity that defines itself as a religious belief. Under this definition atheism indeed cannot be a religion.

The second usage of atheists/atheism references the collection of people that call themselves atheist. People who use this definition tend to see atheism as more than just a group that shares a single belief but instead sees a community who share a whole suite of beliefs about skepticism, naturalism, science, and rational advocacy that dominate the popular atheist movement. While I have yet to see this usage in a dictionary, some atheists, most notably PZ Myers, do tend to advocate this usage.  Moreover many atheist will chastise other atheists who stray from orthodoxy of their "atheism" especially as it relates to tolerance and support in various forms of nonsense.  Depending on your definition of religion, you could easily argue that this group would constitute a religion or at least a set of religious beliefs in that they share a common set of beliefs, doctrine, and identity; and are loosely organized (all be it in a very decentralized manner) and have established and recognizable leaders and advocates.

The Anti-Pascal Counter Wager.

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If you believe that God exist and you're right, the odds are that you will not believe in  the right god so your life time of servitude and debasement to a god will mean nothing since your ancestors picked the wrong god and you will be punished with the rest of the non believers.

If you believe that God exist and you're wrong, then you have wasted your life subservient to a being your ancestors made up, and all the bull shit you put up with was for nothing.

If you believe that God does not exist  and you're right, then you are free to make the best of your life,  share what you learn in life, and pass it on to the next generation.

And if you believe that God does not exist and you're wrong, the odds are that you will have the same fate as all those who believed in the wrong god (which should be most of them) but at least you tried to do the best you can.

If it made any difference to god if we believed in him, then it would seem quite reasonable that those who believed wrong would share the same fate. If god wanted us to believe in him, then we would know who the right god is... since everyone does not share the same belief about god, then you probably believe in the wrong one.  In the end its a suckers bet to believe in god.

The Great Debate Debate

In The Long Debate and the Importance of Engaging with “Believers” on a Philosophical Level on JREF Matt Lowry talks about how his beliefs have changed over the years.

In the early days, I was often brash and overly dismissive of those who espoused various, for lack of a better term, woo-woo beliefs.  Over time I came to realize that I wasn’t really engaging in good skepticism but instead overt cynicism: I was simply adhering to a position and everything which didn’t automatically agree with that position got dumped into the proverbial dustbin.  I’ve spoken with a number of other skeptics who agree that this is how they used to behave as well; it was almost as if I was so proud of my newly acquired “skeptical badge” that I wanted to go around bashing everyone who didn’t think like me over the head with it. 

Now, from what I understand of human nature, we all do this sort of thing to a certain degree or another, but that fact doesn’t necessarily justify such behavior and it certainly doesn’t help to advance any sort of fruitful discussion.  

Funny how our different experiences cause us to change in different ways and so what one person considers the natural progression through life, can be completely opposite to another persons experience.

My Random Meme of the Week #3

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Do we anthropomorphize inherently?
Have you ever noticed that everything "metaphysical" or "supernatural" ultimately is about we humans.  Whether it be a an exaggeration of our abilities, a projection of ourselves as the cause for all things, or the insistence that everything is here to aid us. When we hear a strange noise, see something we don't understand, or feel something strange, it's just we humans  in another form or human like beings (ghosts, spirits, angles, daemon sprite).  When random events happen, good or bad, it must be because of some human like purpose or intent to reward or punish us (fates, destiny, Karma, luck) or because some human like being wanted it to happen (guardian angels, animal spirits, ancestors, demons, gods). When we look at our world an need to figure out how it works or how it got there, it can only be some super being with all the intelligence, purpose, emotions, and vanity of we humans that did it (God, universal consciousness, ).  When we look into the heavens and play connect the dots, those pattern we imagine must have meaning and be meant for us humans (astrology). When some one dies, we know humans are indestructible and they are going to a better (or worse) place (heaven, hell, afterlife, Hates, Valhalla, nirvana,) or they will start a new (reincarnation). And it goes on and on. But Why?

A Story of California Dreamin'

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I want to thank uvurob for his California Dreaming -- Acapella/Acoustic Mashup video which is a nice arrangement of various (mostly acoustic) covers of the Mamas and the Papas' California Dreaming spliced into one song. Sometimes its funny what will reveal some inner truth about yourself and explain some of our quirkyness.

Well California Dreaming by the Mamas and Papas is one of my all time favorite songs. I have fond memories of walking to Jr. high school and high school in San Leandro, CA on many a cold, overcast, gloomy day and California Dreaming was my inner theme music. I felt one with the song as if it capture some quintessential part of me.

My Random Meme of the Week #1

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You don't need Science to know that there are no gods. All you have to do is look around without assuming gods exist and you will see there is nothing in our reality that even suggests that there is a god. What science does, is remove that void of ignorance about the world around us, that we humans so readily fill with delusions of ourselves. So often, ignorance is that still water that mirrors our own reflection, projecting ourselves deep into that pool of ignorance, and making us believe that behind everything there is a creature that in so many ways looks like us. It's not God theists worship, It's themselves.

Welcome to the Simple Atheist Blog

I'm Ray Higgins, and I go by Big Atheist on youTube. This is my attempt to rant on my thoughts and interest in a semi periodic way and see if I can build some dialog.   As my Blog Description says, this blog will be a collection of "Music, Movies, Memes, and Mayhem from another Gnu Atheist". Mind you the Movies part is really just my own animation which I do very infrequently and the Mayhem piece ...well someday I'll get around to it. I suspect this blog mostly will center around Music and Memes. The Music will mostly focus around my quest for great covers, mash-ups, or odd new music I find on youTube and elsewhere, and maybe some thoughts on why we like the music we like. The main intent for this blog is to talk about the Memes!!! which include my atheism, the atheist/skeptical community, society at large, science, the meaning of life, the future, and speculate a little on how I think it works. And all this from the point of view of just anther militant Gnu Atheist. I'm hoping I will spur some interesting conversations and maybe occasionally give you a new perspective on our reality.