Maybe some people is prone to the magical thinking more than others. Maybe is physic, maybe it is cultural. Maybe it is really related to mental processes biochemically mediated. Maybe there is a kind of enzyme of the faith. I lack of it, of course. Anyhow, God bless you.
2014-12-27 14:03 GMT-05:00 Gillian Densmore <gil.densm...@gmail.com>: > Someone has to ask it: > > Anyone else read the thread tittle as What's the diagnosis for asthma? > > On Fri, Dec 26, 2014 at 5:57 PM, Nick Thompson <nickthomp...@earthlink.net > > wrote: > >> Glen thinks that atheists and theists are delusional. My claim is that >> agnostics are non-existent. From which it follows, I guess that all >> humans >> are delusional. >> >> I am ok with that. >> >> N >> >> Nicholas S. Thompson >> Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology >> Clark University >> http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/ >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Friam [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] On Behalf Of Marcus G. >> Daniels >> Sent: Friday, December 26, 2014 4:57 PM >> To: 'The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group' >> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] clinical diagnosis of [a]theism? >> >> Glen writes: >> >> ``Well, my specific problem is that I think atheists and theists are >> delusional. They think they know things they cannot know. So, if Nick's >> point is that the concept of "theist" (or "atheist") is too muddy to >> define >> validatable[*] tests for, then, as an agnostic, I would completely >> agree.'' >> >> Let's say I have a program and it does something that I don't expect. >> Someone says it is the witchcraft from a particular gal that works on the >> HVAC system. >> I ask "Is it because the computer got too hot? Did she fail to keep the >> air conditioning running properly?" They respond, "No, it's not the >> temperature, it's the witchcraft." I look in the index of the >> instruction >> set under W and under remote access protocols, interrupt mechanisms, etc. >> Nothing. I keep removing degrees of freedom from the code and >> environment >> and all of my suggestions are rejected by my peer as "Not an instance of >> witchcraft." I ask for suggestions on how to prove that witchcraft is at >> work and they just show me pictures of their witch suspects and give me a >> pamphlet on building big fires. Meanwhile, I discover a simple, >> mechanical, explanation for why the program isn't doing what I expect, fix >> it, and tell the growing mob of witch burners about what I discovered. >> (Of >> course, their explanation is that they were successful in intimidating the >> witch and she was forced to release me from her spell.) >> >> It should be possible to associate with any proposition a probability >> function that takes as arguments other routines that describe how to >> perform >> an experiment and the result of that experiment. The details of the >> experiment routines should be provided and should not include "call a >> friend" or reference anything that is already known or obvious. All >> functions and routines should be written down before doing the experiment. >> It should be possible that by sweeping over the space of unknowns >> (potential >> inputs) in the experiment routines to get some probabilities near zero and >> some near one. >> >> The refusal or inability to write these functions and routines is an >> indicator that the speaker is full of it and would rather talk about >> witches. >> When cornered on a question, can the believer justify or change their >> belief? >> >> Marcus >> >> >> ============================================================ >> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe >> http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >> >> >> ============================================================ >> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >> to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >> > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > -- Agrónomo, IT, Candidato a MSc en Desarrollo Sostenible y Medio Ambiente +57 3154531383
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