12 I don't believe in believe. << Prev Next >>
by: ColonelZen	IP: 111.21	rated: 0-0	posted: 2007-11-23 19:01:16
Posted on http://thebrights.net forums.       FWIW if anyone else wants to think about this, it's my usual reply to "Do you believe in God" type questions (and the literal truth):     "I don't' believe in "believe".     ... other than as a mundane statement about personal knowledge or an ability to make a prediction (I "beleve" the sun will rise tomorrow).     I've spent a lot of time thinking about thinking, naturally focused upon how I think, and concluded that beyond material prediction as used in the "God question" it doesn't really "mean" anything. (Yes "mean" means something, but considerably less than the load it is sometimes used to carry).     I "beleve" in electrons simply means that I've experienced physical phenomena for which electrons and their associated properties described by physics will predict my future physical experiences (I was a physics major in college before going broke - my personal experience with electrons is a bit closer than most). I "beleve" in neutrinos only to the extent that I trust (partially upon personal experience in my case) - and predict - that the scientists describing them and their properties will more accurately describe other physical phenomena than another explanation.     My few "spiritual" experiences in life are so vague and subjective that the "God" hypothesis provides no predictive powers and little correllational referents, except that people whom I (from experience) know to be batty as a long abandoned barn will tell me that this is God saying this and that (and often quite different and mutually exclusive things from different people).     In short, "I don't believe in 'believe" ... but I "believe" in "not believe". Which means I predict you cannot make an accurate verifiable prediction based upon "belief" which is not immediate knowledge or mundane prediction - which when pushed becomes a tautology, demonstrating the thesis.     -- TWZ