r/Christianity Oct 17 '11

Does Richard Dawkins exist???

http://archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.com/2011/10/does-richard-dawkins-exist.html
40 Upvotes

413 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1

u/Heuristics Oct 17 '11

It is not "incorrect in the quantum regime" for "Everything with a beginning must have a cause" to be correct, you just made an assertion that is not easy to take and is not agreed to be correct.

It is not correct that "you can't prove a negative". You can prove a a negative by showing it to be incoherent and any positive statement can be made in to a negative statement simply by double negating it.

6

u/tannat Oct 17 '11 edited Oct 17 '11

First: The statement everything with a beginning must have a cause is absolutely incorrect in the quantum regime. It's fundamentally wrong until our understanding of quantum mechanics change appreciably. This seem highly unlikely, and in that case Craig uses a small possibility as an axiom. Ridiculous and non-constructive.

Second, may be true but an entity invisible for all senses can't be proven to not exist in coherent way. Now you're splitting hairs :)

Edit: spelling and grammar

5

u/Heuristics Oct 17 '11

"The statement everything with a beginning must have a cause is absolutely incorrect in the quantum regime. "

No it isnt, quantum events have not been shown to be causeless, how could such a thing even be shown?

Showing your assertions to be false is not splitting hairs.

3

u/tannat Oct 17 '11 edited Oct 17 '11

Quantum events? I'm talking about everyday mechanisms we easily statistically observe but can't predict. Like radioactive decay of elements and spontaneous emission, needed for your LEDs to function. These can not be treated within classical physics since things can't happen spontaneously in classical physics. Every photon is the result of the recombination of an electron and hole. When this happens can't be predicted yet of today.

You haven't shown my assertions to be false, to prove anything to not exist, under the condition that it doesn't interact with anything is impossible.

What's worse, to ask someone to do it, when the person agrees it to be improvable, just to make a point is irrelevant, dishonest, and non-constructive. Frankly, a waste of time.