Friday, April 21, 2017

Releasing the God hypothesis

Be aware: Free association....

The old stories contain many historical hypothesis. I call these historical because I do not like William James's name as dead hypothesis. They may be dead, but dead has the implication that is brutal toward those that believe those hypothesis. We still need to live with those believers until we can convince they of reality or one of us die off. So call me an apologist if you like, first I need to know what I believe, and until I communicate beliefs, I just am not sure. Even then, I may change my beliefs, or may not express them exactly. Impermanence of beliefs is something that I have.

I was told to believe, and tried but it was bullshit; became agnostic and tried to believe to get the benefits of living in a delusion. Life is tough and living in a delusion, if you can, has the benefit of not needing to stare into the abyss of reality. My parents were able to live like that; and I tell you there are advantages to being able to put reality out of your mind. Many things do not bother those who can live in their delusions. I both pity them and admire them. Conflicted. What?

I know there is no physical evidence of a god, and there are many hypothesis that suggest there is one. Purpose is often sighted, and is the how did it become this way if not designed and or constructed. These are human questions and the real answer is we do not know, or that we have reluctance to admit that we do not know. It is the creative sort of human that creates a story, a hypothesis that describes or prescribes the how of the artifacts existence, as if to answer a child's question with a story. This may be in fact, how the hypothesis came to be. "Because god did it, now go away and let me work in peace" was a refrain I recall hearing many times.

It is just easier to acknowledge the existence of a historical hypothesis, and move on rather than calling in a myth; the half truth is dependent on our point of view, and correct without being as offensive. Hypothesis can be replaced by better hypothesis rather than proven or not dis-proven. This can go back to Laplace and his no need of the god hypothesis in explaining the path of planets in retrograde or was it the Saturn wobble. And is that the same Laplace of Laplace transforms in mathematics? You bet. And if you did cover Laplace transforms, as in engineering school and do not still remember what they are, they are like nests in software, but without counters. In short, apply the transform, solve the equations, take the transform out and reduce to a simpler, cleaner and useful form. It make my head ache just thinking about them that I have not touched since University, and am now retired from active working. Oh well, in the end we all just die anyway. 

The thing about hypothesis are we can modify and make the old one a historical, and thereby ratchet toward reality and understanding. We new atheists are beyond the early adopters stage, on the cusp of rapid growth to the cash cow if it were a new product. It is all about turning reality into a money generating industry. This new atheistism is the next evolution of man, man's thinking moving toward rational thought, and away from the historical hypothesis that got us to this stage. The major dieoff required is coming. Will it be nuclear war, rise of carbon dioxide, methane, climate change, asteroid, supervolcano, superbug, ... any body's guess and when? It does not matter. In the end we all just die anyway.  
     

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