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Suppose I had a unicorn wandering around. Maybe it's on another planet and only visits ours with rainbows (along with leprechauns of course) maybe it is underground. Maybe it is in a forest and only appears to tender young virgins. Maybe it is invisible, or traveling so fast that humans cannot see it, but at any given moment, the wind could be the aftershock of one zooming by. Perhaps it even appears to normal people as just a white horse.
The skeptic says they haven't seen it so it doesn't exist. But as I pointed out, you can't search everywhere at once. Oh yes I can, I have satellites aimed at the earth (because I'm a creep and like to spy on people). Mmm, okay, but to find it, you would need to look everywhere at once. Suppose it's hiding underground? It wouldn't matter, I have a unicorn homing drone. Only it seems to be getting a false reading here, there is nothing but empty air. I'm gonna need to fix it. But as I pointed out, it being a creature outside our mundane laws, and could conceivably be invisible, or disguise itself. No way, I've searched Everywhere, and all I've found is this beautiful meadow with white horses.
The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence. With the absence of evidence, we can decide that it is inconclusive results, but this does not equal a disproof. And as I pointed out, a person might actually find the object in question and yet have mental filters where they literally wouldn't know what they are seeing. Essentially, you cannot prove that something does not exist, everywhere, without having to be everywhere at once. If with a team. Even then, the best you could come up with is maybe not.
How then can we prove something exists? Well, but the results of its actions. If every time unicorns cry, we have proof that there might have been a unicorn. The same is true if unicorns jumping about causes earthquakes. San Andreas fault would be filled with invisible horses.
And yes, I'm aware that it is irrational to believe that something can cry and cause rain, especially when we have reasonable scientific causes.
But that's the point. How are we certain that one explanation for an event is right while another is wrong? What determines reasonable cause?
(Imitates neighing sounds while laughing hysterically)
What are you going to do with the unicorn if you actually find it, call a press conference, make a YouTube video, appear on national TV with your unicorn and prove that yes it exist?
What happens next? You just keep it for a few years till you get bored of it, or till you die and part ways with it? Is that it?
The question is, what's the point and goal of finding the unicorn?
2 good points here and relevant to atheism even if not aimed at it.
(1) The 'They didn't believe the Wright brothers' evangelical package incorporating 'Have you looked everywhere in the universe?'
(2) The 'what is the meaning of life?' evangelical package incorporating 'atheism =nilihilsm".
The first fallacy is that we should believe unsubstantiated claims on the grounds that some later turned out to be true. Well, some turned out to be false - like Cold Fusion. So it is RIGHT that we reject claims and hypotheses until validated and it was RIGHT that those we now know are true were not believed until they were validated.
The other point is that a god may exist somewhere in the universe. So what? It is a god that exists here and interacts with us that we are concerned about.
This particular evangelical package is either cruddy logic or deliberately deceptive and, as usual, I am never sure which.
The other point is related to the question of a god not only here but interacting with us. Because a deist god might as well be at the other end of the universe. It is of no relevance to us. Which is why I am always wondering why selling us a sorta god or Deist -god is so important. It makes no difference to us.
The other one does, whether it is claimed to be needful for morality, or offers an afterlife, without which life has no meaning or that it makes us all feel better and so enhances our lives.
These fail as our human morality evaluates God' doings, rather than God giving it to us. And an afterlife could be in the hands of another god and that eventually ends up as in no particular god's hands, so life is better lived as though this was the only one we had (the 'Reverse Pascal') because there is really no good evidence for an afterlife and it isn't anything to worry about anyway.
Finally the fact is that we make our own meanings up about life. It is actually better for us that we do so, rather than we have some plan dictated to us from above. The question of whether we need religion true or not is still a good one. But the bottom line is that the truth is important, and you cannot buy it with soup kitchens.
That is the right question. Not whether said thing exists or not.
Hmmmm. Assuming I found it, calling the press would ensure it was caged and tamed.
...No wonder it's hiding. It's not hiding from the atheists. It's hiding from the mainstream religions.
I'd tell my closest friends, to show them I wanted them to be a part of this. I'd make them swear to secrecy. Then I'd ride that pony, going somewhere together. Ultimately we'd part ways, because it wants to be wild and free and I'm likely to stay put. But I'd be changed by the experience.
In response to the second post, I suppose it's like this. Suppose I've seen a unicorn, and I tell the news to my friends. Alit of them are like I don't believe you. Sure fine. This is like mainstream atheism or agnostic.
But then there is also the "friend" who isn't content to let me believe whatever crazy nonsense I want. They tell random people that I've gone crazy, try to commit me, or try to talk me out of it.
Fact: if you've had a sort of spiritual moment, like astral projection, some people will tell you it was oxygen loss. Okay maybe you don't have to believe, but I saw a unicorn. That sort of thing.
Last edited by bulmabriefs144; 10-25-2015 at 06:56 AM..
If you had, or were a Unicorn, there would be some self-important man with a giant gun to kill you. The man with the giant gun would pay millions to have you mounted and stuffed.
You would join all of his other trophies.
The man would cry foul when people objected.
Not my fault, he would say.
I did not know, he would say.
You are hurting me, because all I did was stuff and mount a Unicorn, he would say.
When the dust settles, and dust always settles, he would smile because he had a big gun, and paid millions of dollars to have you stuffed.
The quest of finding God is to find guidance in your life, bring a balance in your day to day living, and believe that you will meet your creature after this life ends.
This is a very personal matter and we make this choice based on free will. There is no obligation on anyone to believe in God or not.
Finding a unicorn will perhaps end up in a headache where u will throw in the white towel after being unable to keep up with its high maintenance. Or your death will result in separation with your unicorn.
The very first line in the OP is wrong - Finding a unicorn is not like finding God.
The intention between the two quests is completely different.
What are you going to do with the unicorn if you actually find it, call a press conference, make a YouTube video, appear on national TV with your unicorn and prove that yes it exist?
What happens next? You just keep it for a few years till you get bored of it, or till you die and part ways with it? Is that it?
The question is, what's the point and goal of finding the unicorn?
It's merely a Rhino....
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