Monday, August 08, 2011

"There Is No Why"

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The Beatles had it all wrong when they twanged "Tell me why".

Why?

There is no why.
You're asking for a "why" when there is no "why", there is only an "is", but that leaves you as nothng particularlarly special in the universe, and that's why your ego clings to these myths. -- SDC
A really, really big bang starts everything off. Don't ask why. There is no why.

This big bang has embedded in it all the laws of mathematics, the laws of physics, the laws of logic, the laws of chemistry. Don't ask why. There is no why.

These physical laws are all exquisitely tuned, as it turns out, to support the emergence of biological life on earth, itself governed by yet more laws. Don't ask why. There is no why.

No mind behind the universe, but minds spring up out of dust. Don't ask why. There is no why.

No consciousness behind the universe, but self-consciousness emerges from dirt and water, stirred. Don't ask why. There is no why.

A dumb, purposeless process produces the exquisite emotion of love. From dirt. Don't ask why. There is no why.

A creature emerges with embedded moral sense, with strong convictions that there is good and evil, right and wrong in the midst of this senseless, mindless, purposeless swirling dirt of a universe. Don't ask why. There is no why.

A man arrives in Palestine circa 4 BC and claims to be God. His grave is empty. Don't ask why.

Evolution has given our inquiring minds the insatiable impulse to ask "why".

Why?

Don't ask.

This is the state of scientism, circa 2011.

As SDC likes to put it, there is NO EVIDENCE for a Creator.

Apart from, you know, everything that exists.

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18 comments:

SDC said...

You took a wrong left turn in Albuquergue, Richard; science has already answered the vast majority of these questions with a "how", and none of them require your imaginary invisible magic man in the sky to begin with. In fact, the only thing that REQUIRES your imaginary invisible magic man in the sky is the principle of anthropomorphic projection, which is the primitive desire of people like yourself to to assign an "intelligence" to anything that they don't understand. This is exactly why savages assumed that natural forces could be placated by sacrifices, which is exactly how your cult came into existence. As for the cult leader you mention at the end of your list, there is nothing particularly special about the claims made for this lunatic; "virgin birth"? Check. "Miracles"? Check. "Resurrection"? Check. In fact, the ONLY thing that made this cult stand out is the fact that when Constantine was shopping around for a new cult after he won a battle by having a pontoon bridge collapse under his main opponent for the job of emperor, he picked this one (but interestingly, wasn't "baptized" into it until his deathbed). Fairy tales and wishful thinking are a poor, poor substitute for actual knowledge, Richard, and it's a good thing that your myths are slowly being fed into the dust-bin of history, along with Mithraism and Zoroastrianism.

Joe said...

Do you suppose that we should clue in SDC about the difference between theory and fact? Big Bang is a THEORY. Evolution is a THEORY. In science terms THEORY means it is NOT PROVEN. A THEORY remains a THEORY only as long as it is not proven. Because it is impossible to prove Evolution or the Big Bang they both remain THEORIES.

You know in a lot of ways I feel sorry for SDC. His rabid hatred toward God has led him to lie about his own cult's practices and beliefs. Kinda sad. Kinda sad.

PatJ said...

Mr. Ball, you have effectively reduced debate to the level of my 4-year old son. “Why is the sky blue?”, because light refracts. “Why does light refract?” because the density of the atmosphere changes with depth. “Why doe the density change?” because gravity causes more gas to be concentrated near the surface. “Why?” because all objects are attracted to each other relative to their mass and the square root of their distance “Why?” because objects have mass. “Why?” because they are composed of baryons. “Why?”, well, hopefully we will know that once the LHC is fully operational. “Why?” Because the LHC device is the first thing we have built that can apply enough energy to massive particles to form a quark-gluon plasma, where baryons form. “Why?” Well, I don’t know…(insert Richard Ball: “A-HA! God Did it!”)

So you contend that an invisible, omnipotent, omniscient being created the universe and everything in it. My only question is: Why?

PatJ said...

Joe. Gravity is only a THEORY (to borrow your capitalization), but I don’t see a lot of creationists stepping out of third story windows…

SDC said...

You mean sort of like the THEORY of gravity, Joe? I hate to break it to you, but a "theory" that has as much evidence behind it as (for example) atomic theory, gravitational theory, tectonic theory, or anything similar is more of a LAW than a "theory", but scientists being a cautious bunch, they leave other possibilities open. I don't think we'll see things falling upwards anytime soon, but cosmology is in the same realm of certainty, and there is ZERO evidence for your myths. I can't "hate" your imaginary "god" any more than I can "hate" the "tooth fairy", but I CAN ask myself why someone like yourself is so desperate to avoid reality that you're happy to tell yourself lies.

Unknown said...

Folks. I think the big problem here is that WHY is often confused with HOW.

Science answers how.

Religion or philosophy deals with why.

Both schools get into trouble when they wade into the others scope.

Joe said...

"Gravity is only a THEORY" well actually the theory is about an observed phenomena not fully understood. Don't know about you but I haven't observed too many Big Bangs, Something from Nothing etc. Maybe for those of the cult Scientism can't see the difference between theorizing about observed phenomena and theorizing about theoretical phenomena but most normal people can.

BTW SDC is your moniker an abbreviation of Same Dumb Comments? After all you still haven't answered the question of how or why something comes from nothing yet you keep beaking off about having 'proof'.

SDC said...

So what makes you so confident that you're able to beak off about your imaginary invisible magic man in the sky, Joe? The same thing that every OTHER lunatic throughout history that has claimed to "talk to god" has, or something more? The science explains the evidence we have, and the evidence we have doesn't even START to point to your myths as any sort of a convincing explanation, so that leaves your cult's myths in exactly the same spot as any other cult's myths. I really shouldn't be too hard on you cultists, since you have been so thoroughly brainwashed that you really can't deal with reality, and you deal with every question you can't answer with "oh, um, I dunno, magic man in the sky musta done it?", but there's no more reason to take that "answer" seriously than there is to take "Ugh. Volcano god angry." seriously.

Joe said...

First of all Same Dumb Comments where is your proof or explanation?
Something comes from nothing for no good reason __________
Please fill in the blank.

Here you are again making the Same Dumb Comments. You have no proof! You don't believe me? Fine then do some experiments on your own! Test and see if what I say is true.

I want to do your experiments and so prove your allegations but you don't give me any experiments to conduct! You won't even tell me how close those two big buckets of nothing are to reaching singularity!

Science as opposed to scientism is all about replicable experimentation. I've conducted an experiment and achieved exactly the same result as millions of others. Kind of like dropping a rock in a 1 gravity environment and watching it accelerate at 9.8 m/sec/sec. I don't understand why but I and anyone else who tries it can count on it happening time after time after time.

On the other hand you and your intellectual kin have conducted exactly zero experiments to prove that Something come from Nothing for No Good Reason. What's more you and your intellectual kinfolk have no idea how to conduct an experiment to prove Something comes from Nothing for No Good Reason.

BallBounces said...

"So you contend that an invisible, omnipotent, omniscient being created the universe and everything in it. My only question is: Why?"

The answer may be found in the book of Revelation. Search on "created" and you'll get your answer.

PatJ said...

"The answer may be found in the book of Revelation. Search on "created" and you'll get your answer."

a predictable cop-out.

Reading your holy book is as empty of answers as claim scinece is. But you aren't asking SDC to provide you references to answer the "why" questions, you are sking him "why". Well I'm not asking for a reference (knowing it points out to an unreferenced book that is the to the only book you seem to read), I'm asking you "why"?

PatJ said...

"Gravity is only a THEORY" well actually the theory is about an observed phenomena not fully understood. "

Correct! Gravity is an observed phenomenon, and the theory we use to describe it in the “macro” world is Newton’s theory of universal gravitation, as modified by the Theory of General Relativity. Similarly, the evolution of species over time and the development of new species through gradual change is an observable phenomenon. To argue against it is to argue things don’t fall. The theory we use to explain that observed phenomenon is the “Darwinian” theory of evolution by natural selection. It happens to be the best theory we have, as it describes the observed phenomenon better than any other theory. Come up with a better theory, and we may have something to talk about.

SDC said...

What do you think particle accelerators are used for, Joe? Making ice for cocktail parties? They show how the elements of matter interact to form the universe, and those experiments are REPEATABLE, if you haven't noticed. Your cult hasn't got anything more than any used car salesman ("trust me, it was only driven once, by an invisible magic man in the sky") and without any evidence to support any of the lies in your little magic book. Even if science hadn't have progressed to the point where we could test the predictions of cosmology, that still wouldn't make your cult's lunatic pronouncements true by default, and this is really what you nuts can't understand.

Joe said...

"What do you think particle accelerators are used for, Joe? Making ice for cocktail parties? They show how the elements of matter interact to form the universe"

Yes Same Dumb Comments and your exact point is? You think that if you understand the rules laid down by Someone Else on matter created by Someone Else it proves that Someone Else doesn't exist? Now please try explain those two big buckets of nothing again. I'm beginning to think you have ADD.

BTW I would ask you to please go back and re-read all my posts and point out where I have ever denied the reactions of sub-atomic particles. You won't find any. Likewise your silly assumption that I believe we are the only created intelligence in the universe. I've never said such a thing. I don't know that Yahweh in His infinity didn't create other intelligent life. I don't know it. I can't prove it anymore than you can look at a blinking star light years away and assert that there is intelligent life on a planet that circles that star. My point has always been that you rely on 'science' to a degree that 'science' itself doesn't allow. Believing that what appears to be water on Mars 'proves' there is/was life on Mars is just one such example. Yes here on Earth when we find water we usually find life. BUT the mathematical chance (read impossible fluke) of life auto-generating on Earth being duplicated on Mars stretches credulity well beyond its breaking point.

Yes Same Dumb Comments your god is too small. To quote a Tim Rice line "You're (science) big on how and when but not so big on Why".

Anonymous said...

You haven't DEMONSTRATED this "something else", idiot, so it is no better than the myths of Zeus, Apollo, the Tooth Fairy, leprechauns, or interdimensional pixies. Pulling an imaginary answer out of your colon might make rubes like you feel like you're special, buit it has no relation to REALITY; "magic" isn't an answer, no matter how much you wish it was.
SDC

Kyle said...

The more I try to figure out the universe the less I truly understand.

I personally believe there is no *Why* to creation: Only a now.

While I do belive there are life forms higher then us that vibrate at a different rate of time to guide us there really is no *God*.

I am believing more and more we all create our own little realities but we allow them to get screwed up when it's in conflict with another which leads to tension because people refuse to communicate with each other about issues.

It's better to be harsh and point something out then it is to pretend an issue does not exist because tension will continue to build till you can no longer hide from the problem.


Some people are lucky in life and have helpers to guide them thru life easy while some are not and have to go thru the school of hard knocks. (I am one of them)

Kyle said...

My question is if there is a God how did he create himself? Or is God stuck in some kind of endless loop?

BallBounces said...

First, what makes you think that everything needs to be created? You are thinking like a created being surveying a created universe. Things that come into existence, e.g., the space-time universe, require a cause; things which always existed do not. Remember, time is a part of the space-time universe we inhabit; eternity is not. God is a different order of being -- eternal -- uncaused -- he is the ultimate "just is". In fact this is embedded in his self-revealed name. He is the "I Am". This fact is the foundation of all reality and the guarantor of e.g., the laws of logic, mathematics, and morality.

"... nothing intellectually compelling or challenging.. bald assertions coupled to superstition... woefully pathetic"