Life, As Outlined By The Bishop Of Atheism

[Khandro]

"In a universe of electrons and selfish genes, blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won't find any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice. The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference.”
― Richard Dawkins.

[andy-hughes]

Khandro - // Nice try Andy, wiggle, wiggle. //

I have no need to 'wiggle' - I'm not the one making the sweeping statements.

Still no evidence then? Just 'wiggling' - so no change there.

[naomi24]

Khandro, I’ll ask again. What is your counter-argument?

[douglas9401]

"The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference.”

We may care about the goings on in Ukraine but "we" are not the universe.

Seems obvious if you put down the book of ghost stories and take a breath.

[Radagast]

Whatever Dawkins' views on the origin of life may be, I don't think they constitute failing at biology.

[Atheist]

Khandro. You need to read read, read. Not just chosen sources who support your instinctive preferences. I've suggested how apparent design can arise from purely natural physical properties. If you believe there is a creator, then you do need to produce evidence in support of your belief.
I don't believe that there is no creator, I just haven't seen any evidence which suggests that a creator is necessary. You must have heard this before, but why is it more plausible to believe that there is a being which has come from nowhere, fully equiped to have created everything that we see? Why not accept what we see and try to understand it without waving a magic wand?

[Khandro]

naomi //Khandro, I’ll ask again. What is your counter-argument?//

I am bereft of 'argument' but I BELIEVE, like so many of the top brains of the day, for example professor of theoretical physics, Michio Kaku in an intelligent universe.

I can list many more, but I await A.H. to furnish me with a list of those who like him, believe that life is an accident, happy or otherwise.

[Radagast]

Was the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs an act of intelligence?

[andy-hughes]

Khandro - I am not going 'furnish' you with anything.

That would mean I led a sad existence preaching nonsense at strangers who don't care.

I have far better things to do with my time.

[Old_Geezer]

It would also be the same if designed such that folk were to be sent here and left to exerience physical existence left to their own devices, to be welcomed back whole & well on their return.

So now we need each view to provide testable predictions so we can decide between them.

[Old_Geezer]

Are good & evil not human concepts ?

[naomi24]

What, in your opinion, is the designer, khandro?

[Old_Geezer]

"Atoms and molecules obey the laws of physics and chemistry"

They sure do. However there are such things as emergent properies that are impossible or near impossible to predict looking at the detail prior to seeing something emerge.

Life serms to ge degined by a set of rules that don't seem out of place to have emerged from sufficiently complex materials.

[Peter Pedant]

What’s your counter-argument, khandro?

that Life is so complicated that it must have been Intelligent Design.

There are a few things / many things that have no intermediate steps ( perhaps evolving quickly) and there you are you see - it must be intelligent design
mammalian eye

honestly we have had all this before

[rowanwitch]

Good and evil will prove to irrelevant in the context of the life of the universe. Not even a blink in terms of space time. We are inconsequential, our Earth is a speck of space dust and our sun a fleeting sparkle. That life exists is a result of a long list of coincidences so from my standpoint of insignificance whatever I do is of no importance but I can choose to be kind while I am here because it just makes life a little easier.

[Peter Pedant]

That would mean I led a sad existence preaching nonsense at strangers who don't care.

that means you have stopped does it? excuse me - I hadnt noticed - ter daah !

[naomi24]

PP, my question was to khandro.

[rowanwitch]

Peter, sometimes I wish Uk homes were fitted with walls made of foam bricks so we could hang out years against them. Sometimes on here it's like getting a virtual concussion

[rowanwitch]

Bang our heads... Blooming autocorrect!!!!

[naomi24]

These discussions have always happened here so do get a bit repetitive for those easily bored by them. Khandro has posted multitudes of words from other people but, as far as I’m aware, has never actually stated his own personal belief - hence my question.

[Stableford]

Dawkin's is welcome to his banal pessism. The sort of unscientific and guff he churns out is for the gullible and faithless. Each to their own.