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Forums - General - How many users on these boards actually support "The Theory of Evolution"?

Wind Shlavitor said:

"God doesn't exist" - Illogical (no certainty)
"God does exist" - Illogical (not certainty)
"There is a possibility that god exist" - Logical (possibility is what is not slashed out by counter-proof)
"There is a possibility that god doesn't exist" - Logical (Same as above)

 

This is why I'm agnostic.



The rEVOLution is not being televised

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Wind Shlavitor said:

Replace 'knowledge' with 'opinion'. Do you even understand the words you're using? Don't you understand basic logic?

Consider these statements:

"God doesn't exist" - Illogical (no certainty)
"God does exist" - Illogical (not certainty)
"There is a possibility that god exist" - Logical (possibility is what is not slashed out by counter-proof)
"There is a possibility that god doesn't exist" - Logical (Same as above)

 

Logic?  You are using a warped version of logic to justify belief in things that are not true.

Invisible dragons do not exist - logical

Invisible dragons do exist - illogical

 

Lets use some real logic:

 

Humpty Dumpty is a work of fiction.

Works of fiction do not exist.

Therefore, Hupty Dumpty does not exist.

 

The invisible dragon is made up.

Things that a are made up do not exist.

Therefore, the invisible dragon does not exist.



ManusJustus said:
Wind Shlavitor said:

Replace 'knowledge' with 'opinion'. Do you even understand the words you're using? Don't you understand basic logic?

Consider these statements:

"God doesn't exist" - Illogical (no certainty)
"God does exist" - Illogical (not certainty)
"There is a possibility that god exist" - Logical (possibility is what is not slashed out by counter-proof)
"There is a possibility that god doesn't exist" - Logical (Same as above)

 

Logic?  You are using a warped version of logic to justify belief in things that are not true.

Invisible dragons do not exist - logical

Invisible dragons do exist - illogical

 

Lets use some real logic:

 

Humpty Dumpty is a work of fiction.

Works of fiction do not exist.

Therefore, Hupty Dumpty does not exist.

 

The invisible dragon is made up.

Things that a are made up do not exist.

Therefore, the invisible dragon does not exist.

I'm a very logical person but I also understand that logic can be sent curveballs.  For instance....

 

Midnight is a cat.
Cats can see in the dark.
Therefore Midnight can see in the dark.

Unless Midnight is blind.

 

You should never use baseline logic as valid fact for the absence of proof.  Read a basic forensic science book and you'll get what I'm saying.  What you are suggesting is a level of plausibility.   The curveball factor I just demonstrated prevents absolutes from being certain in logical equatiosn such as those.



The rEVOLution is not being televised

Can I say I believe in both... and that they are both not mutually exclusive?



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Wind Shlavitor said:
Final-Fan said:

[...]
Why can't a causal system create consciousness?  This appears to me to be nothing more than an assumption you have made.
Assuming that consciousness (as separate from a complex system of action-reaction behaviors) exists in the first place, why can't evolution (as an action-reaction system of development of species through generations) create it?  Unless you deny that consciousness originates in our physical bodies, why is it completely impossible that genetic mutations could "press the magic button" to make our physical brains create consciousness? 

@ your new post:  "For the free will & experience part, because It seems too complex to try and explain feelings when we don't experience the same things..   or did I change my position on something else?"

This makes little sense to me.  Are you saying that your evidence that you have free will is a feeling that you have free will?  Or that your evidence is that you have feelings?  Or something else entirely? 

And what I was referring to in changing your position was
"Not unprovable, but subjectively provable."
"I didnt mean it was necessarily proven for me.  I don't believe one specific answer.  But It seems like a strong possibility because of evidence I can't present since it's subjective..."
If it can't be proven to other people, and you haven't proven it to yourself, then either your first statement was only a statement of opinion (not a claim that it was necessarily actually provable, since you'd have to have proven it to substantiate that claim), or you have changed your position. 

"Also, why can't a causal system create consciousness?"

Whether it originates in the body or not is irrelevent with what I'm saying... 

 You have to understand what causal processes can and cannot produce first.. and that's rather hard to pinpoint, so I'm not sure what to say... but I do know the kind that's assumed in evolution cannot produce concsiousness, because when you're talking causal, it's essentially like programming AI, and if you understand how computers interpret data, you know it's impossible for the computer or AI to ever be able to experience, no matter how much or what kind of programming or code is set up.

I don't know where my conciousness comes from, but I do know it's not purely causal, and so evolution either doesn't take into account such a thing, or evolution is not purely causal (which is not like how the Theory of evolution and many academic scientists assume it)

I'm not sure on what point I'd have to explain at this point, it does become harder and harder to detail many things ( which in part is due to my lack of either vocabulary or expertise, so if you want to consider not enough detailed statements invalid, then that's fine I guess)

First, you're assuming that AI consciousness is absolutely impossible, not just with today's tech but FOREVER, in principle.  That has not been proven. 

Second, you're taking an ANALOGY between computer programming and biological evolution and then saying that because we can't program consciousness then evolution can't create it.  That's faulty logic unless you intend to show that computer programming and evolution are SO similar that they must logically share that trait (whether consciousness is possible or not). 

Third, "you know" your consciousness is not causal in origin?  How did you come by this knowledge?  More feelings?  (Speaking of which, I don't see that you clarified that.)  I realize I'm getting caustic here, and I apologize, but this was just asserted with not even an attempt to justify.  It felt like you were simply handwaving. 

P.S.  Good to know that it doesn't matter about originating in the body; I was trying to rule out a mystical (non-physical) origin of consciousness, which obviously would be beyond evolution's grasp as it's beyond the body, as the cause of your objection. 



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ManusJustus said:

I just made up the monster from Mars, so with 100% certainity I can say that the monster will not bring myself or anyone else gold.  There is a Lepreachuan in my kitchen making scrambled eggs, I just made that up I am 100% certain that this is not true.

You will lead a very 'complicated' life if your actions in real life are a reflection your arguments, because the way you try to explain your point means that you can never reject anything.  Logical people are able to reject things that are not true, illogical people are unable to.  Thats the entire reason of logic, to be able to reason and make judgements about the world we live in.

I am actually a super intelligent bacterium from the planet Kobob that was sent here by King Couscous to cause you grief.  I am also using your computer to look at porn and illegally download music while you are away.  The only way you can get rid of me is if you put your computer in the washer, using hot water and bleach.  Please reject this idea.

EDIT:  Nevermind, there was a Leprachuan in my kitchen, and he makes a mean omlet.

 

 Stating "You will lead a very 'complicated' life if your actions in real life are a reflection your arguments" just after I said:

"Just because I don't reject it, doesn't mean I adopt it. Of course I woudln't use it in decision making unless there was something to back it up."

-makes me think that you're either a trolling or just aren't good with arguments. 

 

"Humpty Dumpty is a work of fiction.

Works of fiction do not exist.

Therefore, Hupty Dumpty does not exist."

- work of fiction may be based on real story. work of fiction may happen to be found true in the future by 'chance' as you would say, or by any form of evidence that proves it. therefore "Works of fiction do not exist" is invalid

 

"I haven't actually thought anything that stupid, but I am grateful when people point out that I am wrong about many things in life. 

Why would this not apply to someone's opinions on God, sea monsters, fairies, and other such 'supernatural' ideas?"

-Because we all have our own reasons and personal ideas, ideas, opinions and hunches aren't harmful on their own, they are what propels us forward. Nesting on one idea without considering other possibilities is what stops you from moving forward.

And again, just to re-tell you something obvious; stating something is false when you don't know if it's false, is illogical.

I have nothing more to say to you Manus. If you can't adhere to logic and really believe that it's 100% impossible for something made-up to be true after I even stated an example a couple posts back that totally proved that idea wrong, then I don't feel like arguing with you.



Final-Fan said:

First, you're assuming that AI consciousness is absolutely impossible, not just with today's tech but FOREVER, in principle.  That has not been proven. 

Second, you're taking an ANALOGY between computer programming and biological evolution and then saying that because we can't program consciousness then evolution can't create it.  That's faulty logic unless you intend to show that computer programming and evolution are SO similar that they must logically share that trait (whether consciousness is possible or not). 

Third, "you know" your consciousness is not causal in origin?  How did you come by this knowledge?  More feelings?  (Speaking of which, I don't see that you clarified that.)  I realize I'm getting caustic here, and I apologize, but this was just asserted with not even an attempt to justify.  It felt like you were simply handwaving. 

P.S.  Good to know that it doesn't matter about originating in the body; I was trying to rule out a mystical (non-physical) origin of consciousness, which obviously would be beyond evolution's grasp as it's beyond the body, as the cause of your objection. 

 

 That AI can create concsiousness is a myth. It's unfortunate that we have so many movies that portrait robots developping AI to the point of conciousness, from an educative standpoint. I think in the scientific community it's pretty accepted by most that AI cannot create conciousness. I don't know of Right-out proof that could convince you besides that as an ex-programmer, I do know that there is no command for making a computer experience, and that no amount of complex code can get to that point. It's the same thing on the hardware level. If I make a robot and kick it in the can, I can put sensors and it can detect the hits as well as the impact, but it will never 'experience' or feel the hits, and no hardware besides life already existant can do that (well, at least us).

I don't think evolution and computer programming are so similar, but again, Action-reaction evolution as assumed by the Theory of evolution IS.

 

"Third, "you know" your consciousness is not causal in origin?  How did you come by this knowledge?  More feelings?"

This is about non-feeling/non-experience vs feeling/experience, and not just 'more'.  I'll just give an example with bugs since they appear mechanical, but they may have a degree of conciousness, dunno. Hit a bug, and it probably doesn't feel pain, however it will detect the hit and impact, and will react to it. It doesn't need conciousness to do that, because we could build a robot without complex AI to do the same thing.

In this case(the robot at least) it's causal. But when you get hit, your body doesn't just detect it, does it? It actually relays it to your conciousness, the part that feels its sense of self, and you 'feel' pain(depending on your perception. Some people can feel other things depending on their perception, such as pleasure).

Going back to the sense of self. Do you feel like you're still you right now? The same self experiencing? Why are you still there? Why aren't you just processes that combine with your body to focus on survival? It becomes very abstract at this point, and that's where I was saying it's subjective, right? Because after understanding what causal can and can't do, you have to be able to understand your own conciousness and check with your own free will, to try and understand if it can be purely causal. And of course the human mind is weird, so I'm not gonna make myself think that it's 100% impossible for my conciousness to be causal, but from what I can tell, it seems very very unlikely that what I've studied about my own experiences and feelings can be causal, and so I bring a very strong inclination that it's not causal, and that the Theory of evolution cannot explain it.

Perhaps one day scientists will prove that inclination wrong, but there has been no valid theories as to the development of conciousness through evolution as of yet. Of course some have some ideas, but it always fails to be detailed and convincing at the same time, and usually doesn't try to go out from causal explanations. There are theories outside of causal from time to time by some scientists, but they usually get rejected pretty quickly, (It's pretty taboo to reject Darwin's Theory of evolution in academic science) I think I remember seeing one called quantum evolution... but I don't think it was that great anyway...

At the very least, since they haven't well covered that area, that area should stay a gray area and I think it's a shame that most claim that the Theory evolution accounts for it when it doesn't. We don't know or understand it yet, just like we don't understand quantum physics yet.

The theory of evolution is seen as 'complete' by most, when it's not, and that's what I don't like. There is always room for error, and for other factors, yet it's not seen that way by most, including many academic scientists.

 

Edit: I thought I might add, that quantum physics and randomness is, in a sense, taken into account for natural selection.. but as an action. Like Genetic drift, it's considered random; It's associated to possibilities of variances in the genes, but, beyond that, the 'random' element is not factored as something non-causal that could be influencing (or perhaps even guiding) or maybe even adding undetectable effects, since the effects are uncalculable, unpredictable, and we don't even understand the source.

We mustn't confuse Randomness with chance. Because chance just means there's a possibility that something can happen, but it's still calculable, whereas randomness is not calculable, and so there's no way to know what that randomness is. There is inherent randomness in quantum physics and since it's not understood or calculable, it's not just an element of chance that can be taken into account as just an undetermined action, because in theory, if it's not constant then it could be influence by any number of things, in other words, we don't know the extent of kinds of variances or effects that can pop up or if it's guided by something else or isnt; It's not simply action-reaction.



Wind Shlavitor said:

I have nothing more to say to you Manus. If you can't adhere to logic and really believe that it's 100% impossible for something made-up to be true after I even stated an example a couple posts back that totally proved that idea wrong, then I don't feel like arguing with you.

Thats fine, just please refrain from calling your belief in the invisible dragon that makes omlets as logical.



Viper1 said:

Midnight is a cat.
Cats can see in the dark.
Therefore Midnight can see in the dark.

Unless Midnight is blind.

 

You should never use baseline logic as valid fact for the absence of proof.  Read a basic forensic science book and you'll get what I'm saying.  What you are suggesting is a level of plausibility.   The curveball factor I just demonstrated prevents absolutes from being certain in logical equatiosn such as those.

The logic is not valid, so the conclusion you reached can be false even though both premises are true.  The statement would be valid if you said:

Midnight sees like a cat.

Cats see in the dark.

Midnight can see in the dark.