Are you an atheist?

[Pauldohert]

Agreed.

Resurrection, however, must have much lower odds, bordering on the negligible (unless those coming back are already buried, so don't get seen).

Agreed on the face of it yes.

Though maybe we could be overlooking possibilities like Alisa has done?

 

[Pauldohert]

Actually, if there is an after life the odds are virtually 100% that no one is coming back because it is an after life......another place, another time etc.

Agreed as above - but it was the probability of this afterlife existing we were talking about.

 

[Alc]

Agreed on the face of it yes.

Though maybe we could be overlooking possibilities like Alisa has done?

So as the basic check for my resurrection software:

If (the people coming back are indistinguishable from the living AND nobody was aware of the fact they died) Then
       Plausible
ElseIf (They came back, but nobody saw them come back) Then
       Plausible
Else
       Implausible
End If

I'm ready to amend, if other situations exist.

 

[Pauldohert]

Maybe you need something else in there to cover Jesus?

 

[oumahexi]

Nah, he will probably just strike your computer again . . .

Please don't tempt fate

 

[oumahexi]

If you can prove to me that there is no after life then that would not change my views on superbeings. If there was an after life then that would indicate to me that there are several levels of superbeings since the one that kicked off the universe would be unlikely to be fiddling about with humans.

Ah, that would explain the seven heavens and the heirarchy of the Angelic realms

 

[Alc]

Maybe you need something else in there to cover Jesus?

How about...

If (the people coming back are indistinguishable from the living AND nobody was aware of the fact they died) Then
       Plausible
ElseIf (They came back, but nobody saw them come back) Then
       Plausible
ElseIf (Claims to be the Son of God) Then
    If (willing to accept the existence of God) Then
           Plausible
    else
           Implausible
    end if
Else
       Implausible
End If

 

[oumahexi]

I bet you have never seen anybody come back from being buried dead in the ground for 100 years either.

Presumably noone has ever been buried dead in the ground for 100 years then? Or its at least very unlikely?

Perhaps it was Steve King who actually wrote the book of Revelations then?

I'm not convinced about your argument - nobody comes back from being buried dead for a 100 years, you've just never met my in-laws

 

[Mike375]

Agreed as above - but it was the probability of this afterlife existing we were talking about.

I realise that but what I am saying is that a lack of visits from people now dead amounts to virtually zero evidence that there is no after life

 

[Pauldohert]

3 plausables and 2 implausables. I wonder what Alisa will make of that?

 

[Pauldohert]

I realise that but what I am saying is that a lack of visits from people now dead amounts to virtually zero evidence that there is no after life

No vists back tells us nothing of the existence of an afterlife with no return journey. Thats what I am saying, is that what you mean.

 

[oumahexi]

Lets assume for the sake of argument that there is not an afterlife: Would anyone ever come back if this were true? No. Now lets assume that there is an afterlife. Would anyone ever come back if this were true? Maybe. Now given that no-one has ever come back, the odds are in favor of the first possibility, not the second. Get it?

Those who believe in reincarnation believe that a new born baby may remember its past life, but with each day the memories wane. It could be the same idea when we die, maybe we are "born" into the afterlife and all our memories of this life slowly fade away. It could be that spirits that we see are people on the other side dabbling in their form of past life regression

 

[Mike375]

No vists back tells us nothing of the existence of an afterlife with no return journey. Thats what I am saying, is that what you mean.

I think so

If there is an after life then it is not logical to expect visits from people now dead.

 

[sandy6078]

I'm not convinced about your argument - nobody comes back from being buried dead for a 100 years, you've just never met my in-laws

I was once asked how I got along with my in-laws. I responded I get along with them nicely since they have died

 

[Rich]

Those who believe in reincarnation believe that a new born baby may remember its past life, but with each day the memories wane.

That's the closest man gets to re-incarnation, his spirit etc live on in his offspring, thanks to genes etc

 

[Alisa]

I think you are both wrong on the odds: The odds are not 50-50 in favor of there being an afterlife (or a god, or a superbeing, or ressurection). The odds are 99-1 against for the simple fact that there is no evidence that any of these things exist.

Think about it this way. What are the odds of there being a heffalump? Are they 50-50? Sure, it is possible that there is an animal called a heffalump, and it lives in a remote forest or in the ocean or on mars and we just haven't discovered it. But allowing for the possibility that it exists does not move the odds to 50-50, it moves them to 99-1. The odds are 99% against it actually existing because no-one has ever seen one, but we allow the 1% chance that they exist because you just never know.

 

[Rich]

I think you are both wrong on the odds: The odds are not 50-50 in favor of there being an afterlife (or a god, or a superbeing, or ressurection). The odds are 99-1 against for the simple fact that there is no evidence that any of these things exist.

Shouldn't that actually be appr.7Billion to 1, although the 1 is highly contentious?

 

[Alc]

I think you are both wrong on the odds: The odds are not 50-50 in favor of there being an afterlife (or a god, or a superbeing, or ressurection). The odds are 99-1 against for the simple fact that there is no evidence that any of these things exist.

Think about it this way. What are the odds of there being a heffalump? Are they 50-50? Sure, it is possible that there is an animal called a heffalump, and it lives in a remote forest or in the ocean or on mars and we just haven't discovered it. But allowing for the possibility that it exists does not move the odds to 50-50, it moves them to 99-1. The odds are 99% against it actually existing because no-one has ever seen one, but we allow the 1% chance that they exist because you just never know.

I understand that it's rather unlikely.

Look at it another way, you flip a coin and it comes down heads.
You flip it 10,000 times and it comes down heads every time.
You flip it consistently every day for 100 years and it comes down heads every time.

Does that mean that the odds that it will land as tails are 99,999-1?
No, because it still reverts to 50/50 on each toss.

Do people who die go to an afterlife? They may or may not: 50/50.
Since there is no way to prove or disprove it's existence - even if we assume that everyone goes there - why should the odds against it increase?

 

[Alisa]

I understand that it's rather unlikely.

Look at it another way, you flip a coin and it comes down heads.
You flip it 10,000 times and it comes down heads every time.
You flip it consistently every day for 100 years and it comes down heads every time.

Does that mean that the odds that it will land as tails are 99,999-1?
No, because it still reverts to 50/50 on each toss.

Do people who die go to an afterlife? They may or may not: 50/50.
Since there is no way to prove or disprove it's existence - even if we assume that everyone goes there - why should the odds against it increase?

The odds of getting one or the other of two possible results cannot be compared to the odds of whether something exists or not.

With any particular THING (animal, vegetable, mineral, or god) which we do not know to exist, meaning we have never seen it, we have never found it's footprints or droppings, and we have never observed it's influence on any events, the baseline assumption is that it does NOT exist, period. Otherwise we would go around saying, well, I think there is a 50-50 chance that dragons exist, and I think there is a 50-50 chance that the monster in my closet exists, and I think there is a 50-50 chance that I will fly through the sky tonight, and so on. Are any of the those reasonable statements of the actual odds? No, they are not, and that is why it is also not reasonable to state that the odds of there being a god or an afterlife or a superbeing are 50-50.

 

[Alisa]

Shouldn't that actually be appr.7Billion to 1, although the 1 is highly contentious?

7 billion percent?