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An Empirical Theory Of God

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Wiccan_Child

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Unless there's some physical mechanism to explain the physical connection between God and man, it's not much of theory.
Nor is pointing to the superficial similarities between large-scale structure in the universe and the human brain. Both involve electricity. What else?

Inert? What makes you *assume* that it's inert? Are the current carrying chemicals in my brain "inert"?
I said "otherwise inert", meaning that there's no unknown or 'mystical' properties involved.

What makes you think that the only relevant circuitry is "light years away"? Is the sun light years away?
Are you saying the Sun is God? At least then you'd have historical precedent.

The point was to demonstrate that externally generated EM fields can and do have a direct empirical effect on human experiences.
External EM fields can obviously influence the human mind because the human mind is at least partially created by electromagnetic interactions in the brain. Did that point really need stating?

Why do you lack belief in God again?
Because I see no evidence for God's existence. But I do not restrict my search to what I see in a lab - I'm smart enough to know that not all evidence is accrued in white-walled rooms.

I never suggested otherwise.
On the contrary, you make repeated references to using just laboratory science, daring people to even hint that there might be any useful science to be gained by looking upwards at the sky.

All a telescope shows you are photons. How you "interpret" them is another issue entirely.
Inflation predicts a uniform distribution of photons. We see a uniform distribution of photons. That's called a 'successful prediction'.

I'm getting tired now so I am going to stop here for now. I'm going to ask you to provide us with some empirical justification for either dark energy or inflation *without* pointing to the sky.
Then I refuse, since the evidence for both comes from pointing out instruments at the sky and analysing the accrued data. Unlike you, I don't stubbornly refuse to acknowledge the wealth of information gained from looking up. Unlike you, I don't have a fetish for laboratory physics to the dogged exclusion of all else. I'm happy to debate the science, but first you need to be open to the empirical research.

I can easily show an empirical connection between EM fields and plasma acceleration *without* pointing to the sky. *THAT* is an empirical justification for the claim that EM fields can accelerate plasma. Can you do that with "dark energy"? Pointing at the sky and claiming "Godflation did it and then promptly died" is not a "scientific explanation", is an "act of pure faith" on the part of the "believer". Inflation is not only impotent in the lab today, but it will continue to be impotent on Earth forever and ever. Ditto for "dark energy". If that isn't a pure "act of faith" in the "unseen" (in the lab), what is?
Ironically, it's exactly what you're just did: "it will continue to be impotent on Earth forever and ever". Dogmatically declaring that inflation and dark matter will never be empirically demonstrated is a textbook example of faith in the unseen.
 
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Upisoft

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The idea is that there could be this means to communicate/transport/think as you're describing, this but it would be on a scale imperceptible to humans -- which is why we'd never know.
I don't think that God needs "thinking" process. As He is omniscient, He has no need to think up an answer. The answer is already known to Him. Instant communication/transportation is required only because the requirement of omnipresence.
 
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Michael

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Nor is pointing to the superficial similarities between large-scale structure in the universe and the human brain. Both involve electricity. What else?

Um, you don't even have *that* much to work with since you cannot show *any* similarities between "inflation" and any other known vector or scalar field found in nature! The fact I can show *any* correlation at all is head and shoulders better than you can do with "dark" stuff.

I said "otherwise inert", meaning that there's no unknown or 'mystical' properties involved.
I don't consider awareness to be particularly "mystical", so I suppose we actually agree on that point.

Are you saying the Sun is God? At least then you'd have historical precedent.
No, I'm saying the sun is a *part of* God, as is the Earth, the moon, everything we observe. Suffice to say however that the sun is the single largest energy source and circuit concentration in this solar system. The only thing that might rival it in terms of shear circuitry would be the combined total of living things on planet earth.

External EM fields can obviously influence the human mind because the human mind is at least partially created by electromagnetic interactions in the brain. Did that point really need stating?
What it demonstrates is a possible empirical *cause* of human experiences that are in fact "external" to the human brain. Yes, I think that did eventually need to be demonstrated in a lab. It may not have been possible for instance to trigger anything particularly "spiritual' in terms of the persons response to external EM input. Those experiments demonstrate that it's definitely possible to trigger such things in the human psyche via an external EM input.

Because I see no evidence for God's existence. But I do not restrict my search to what I see in a lab - I'm smart enough to know that not all evidence is accrued in white-walled rooms.
All you actually observe in your telescope are photons. What you do with that information is entirely up to you. If you intend to point at the sky and claim "God energy did it", don't you think it would be prudent to make sure "God energy" isn't a figment of your imagination in terms of empirical physical cause/effect relationships between photons and "God energy"? So what if you can postdict a fit to a photon pattern with 'God energy'? Does that demonstrate "God energy" did it?

On the contrary, you make repeated references to using just laboratory science, daring people to even hint that there might be any useful science to be gained by looking upwards at the sky.
Are you actually "open" to the possibility of looking upwards at the sky and finding 'awareness' at a macroscopic level? If not, why not? Looking up at the sky is fine by me. If you intend however to claim that things in the sky are not made of the same things as the things of the Earth, I will expect you to empirically demonstrate your case. Awareness exists here on Earth. I have no reason to believe it cannot exist 'out there in space'.

Inflation predicts a uniform distribution of photons.
No, "inflation" does not empirically 'predict' anything. Your 'dogma' related to the inflation sky deity *postdicted* uniform distribution of SOME kinds of photons. Woop-de-do. You cannot get your dead sky deity to create, emit, distribute, or otherwise do anything to any kind of photon at any wavelength in the lab. It's all an 'act of faith' in Guth's postdicted, 'supernatural' "dogma".

We see a uniform distribution of photons. That's called a 'successful prediction'.
Those photons had already been observed *before* Guth dreamed up his inflation sky genie. That is called a POSTDICTED FIT. FYI, there were actual "predictions' about a background emission related to light emissions and interaction with dust in space, long before it was actually 'observed'. In fact those particular predictions were orders of magnitude 'closer' to the actual observations than early BB predictions.

Then I refuse, since the evidence for both comes from pointing out instruments at the sky and analysing the accrued data. Unlike you, I don't stubbornly refuse to acknowledge the wealth of information gained from looking up.
I don't condemn the mainstream for 'looking up'. I condemn them for claiming that everything 'up' is nothing like 'here' in terms of elemental composition, matter types, energy types, ect, etc. The data simply suggests "redshift happens". It says nothing about the "cause" of the redshift. Since you can't actually demonstrate any empirical connection between the observation of redshifted photons and inflation or dark energy deities, it's all about "dogma" related to "faith in the unseen'.

Unlike you, I don't have a fetish for laboratory physics to the dogged exclusion of all else. I'm happy to debate the science, but first you need to be open to the empirical research.
I'd really like to know why you "lack belief" in God, and what you consider 'empirical' in terms of the "empirical cause" of photons and redshifted photons in particular.

Ironically, it's exactly what you're just did: "it will continue to be impotent on Earth forever and ever". Dogmatically declaring that inflation and dark matter will never be empirically demonstrated is a textbook example of faith in the unseen.
You cannot possibly be 'blaming me' for *THEIR* dogma? Guth is the one that "killed off" inflation thereby making it impotent on Earth forever and ever. The mainsteam is the one that *assures* me that 'dark energy' has so little effect on objects on Earth that it's impossible to detect it. I can't be responsible for the outcome of *their* claims. The fact they are "impotent on Earth today" seems to be an actual "design characteristic" so that their metaphysical dogma can never be empirically overturned.
 
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Michael

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I don't think that God needs "thinking" process. As He is omniscient, He has no need to think up an answer. The answer is already known to Him. Instant communication/transportation is required only because the requirement of omnipresence.

That actually may be exactly correct. In terms of quantum physics, the universe itself is inseparably interconnected. Assuming the universe is "aware", it's possible it's already aware of your thoughts as they occur. What further "processing" might be required is anyone's guess.
 
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Michael

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Inflation predicts that, in the early stages of the Big Bang (up to about 15 minutes, I believe), the universe largely homogeneous, and was in thermal equilibrium. That's one of the things inflation says. And, lo and behold, we find a largely homogeneous universe in thermal equilibrium. Moreover, this homogeneity is far less 'cherry picked' than a general "Step 1, presume a homogeneous universe". In other words, inflation explains the homogeneity of the universe.

I'll pick at the parts of the rest of your post from yesterday as I get time today. I'll skip the redundant stuff, but there are a few things we need to 'set straight' about the scientific record and the order of things.

Inflation does not "predict" anything in the way the EM field allows us to 'predict' things in the lab. EM fields have a physical, empirical effect on things in the real world. We can "create" them, 'control' them, "test" their properties on various materials, etc, etc. If I have doubts about EM fields, I can personally do that work myself and see it have a real and tangible effect right here on Earth, right now.

Inflation is a "dogma" that was created by a single individual. It was without any sort of scientific precedent. It was unlike any other "natural' field in nature. It has no empirical effect on anything.

Guth never 'predicted' squat with his inflation friend. He POSTDICTED a 'fit' to 'known observations'. Had he not done that, it would have been meaningless gibberish. Inflation does not now, nor apparently will it *ever* have any effect on any photons in any lab on Earth. I will never be able to "test" any of Guth's *outrageously unsupported claims*. I will never be able to demonstrate any cause/effect links between photons and inflation in a controlled experiment to verify any of his claims. I simply have to "have faith' that Guth's dead sky deity had the supernatural properties he claimed. I can't experimentally verify any of it!

See any empirical difference between an EU based "prediction" and "make believe math with sky entities galore"?
 
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sandwiches

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In terms of the physical inputs to awareness, and the physical outputs of awareness, perhaps that is true, perhaps there is a "speed limit" associated with inputs and outputs to consciousness. In terms of the speed of "awareness" itself however, I have no idea if any speed limits even apply.

Consciousness and awareness are processes resulting from the activities of electrons moving in our brains. They have a speed limit. Thus, awareness and consciousness have speed limits.
 
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Michael

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Consciousness and awareness are processes resulting from the activities of electrons moving in our brains.

Does a single cell animal have a "brain"? Are they "aware' of their surroundings in your opinion?
 
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sandwiches

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Does a single cell animal have a "brain"? Are they "aware' of their surroundings in your opinion?

If we're talking about merely being able to "react to the environment," I would say yes. But this is where it gets funky. Awareness isn't a black and white state. It's a continuum. For instance, while you and I are probably in agreement that a dog or a human are aware, what would we say about a virus? It is protein and DNA or RNA, basically. Yet, they react to coming into contact with cells. Are they aware? What about if we go even simpler, to a gas. They expand, diffuse, and then even mix in with other compounds. Are they aware? They seem to react to other molecules and such. What about fire or other chemical reactions?

Now, if you're talking about 'awareness' as in 'consciousness' or "having an understanding and knowledge of the environment or the consciousness itself." It narrows things a bit more and I would say that bacteria are not aware in that sense.

Having said all that, either type of awareness above is limited by the speed of light.
 
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Wiccan_Child

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No, I'm saying the sun is a *part of* God, as is the Earth, the moon, everything we observe. Suffice to say however that the sun is the single largest energy source and circuit concentration in this solar system. The only thing that might rival it in terms of shear circuitry would be the combined total of living things on planet earth.
What solar circuitry are you referring to?

What it demonstrates is a possible empirical *cause* of human experiences that are in fact "external" to the human brain. Yes, I think that did eventually need to be demonstrated in a lab. It may not have been possible for instance to trigger anything particularly "spiritual' in terms of the persons response to external EM input. Those experiments demonstrate that it's definitely possible to trigger such things in the human psyche via an external EM input.
And from that result, you conclude... what? That electrical phenomena in space are therefore the inner working's of a physical divine brain?

All you actually observe in your telescope are photons. What you do with that information is entirely up to you. If you intend to point at the sky and claim "God energy did it", don't you think it would be prudent to make sure "God energy" isn't a figment of your imagination in terms of empirical physical cause/effect relationships between photons and "God energy"? So what if you can postdict a fit to a photon pattern with 'God energy'? Does that demonstrate "God energy" did it?
Yes. A good theory explains the data. The sheer fact that the data was accrued before a given hypothesis was proposed, doesn't mean that said hypothesis isn't the best we have. Take evolution, for instance: since Darwin proposed his idea, data we had hitherto accrued suddenly became evidence for evolution. That's just how science works.

Are you actually "open" to the possibility of looking upwards at the sky and finding 'awareness' at a macroscopic level? If not, why not? Looking up at the sky is fine by me. If you intend however to claim that things in the sky are not made of the same things as the things of the Earth, I will expect you to empirically demonstrate your case. Awareness exists here on Earth. I have no reason to believe it cannot exist 'out there in space'.
But neither do you have any reason to believe it does. The sheer existence of electromagnetism proves nothing. It's an interesting idea, but nothing more.

No, "inflation" does not empirically 'predict' anything. Your 'dogma' related to the inflation sky deity *postdicted* uniform distribution of SOME kinds of photons. Woop-de-do. You cannot get your dead sky deity to create, emit, distribute, or otherwise do anything to any kind of photon at any wavelength in the lab. It's all an 'act of faith' in Guth's postdicted, 'supernatural' "dogma".

Those photons had already been observed *before* Guth dreamed up his inflation sky genie. That is called a POSTDICTED FIT.
Guth devised the idea of inflation in the late seventies, and proposed it in the early eighties. COBE and WMAP completed their surveys in 1992 and 2003, respectively. You might want to check your dates.

Moreover, since both COBE and WMAP could have blown inflation out of the water (by, for instance, showing large-scale heterogeneity), they constitute large and accurate falsification tests - in other words, inflation made a prediction, and that prediction came true.

FYI, there were actual "predictions' about a background emission related to light emissions and interaction with dust in space, long before it was actually 'observed'. In fact those particular predictions were orders of magnitude 'closer' to the actual observations than early BB predictions.
Source?

I don't condemn the mainstream for 'looking up'. I condemn them for claiming that everything 'up' is nothing like 'here' in terms of elemental composition, matter types, energy types, ect, etc. The data simply suggests "redshift happens". It says nothing about the "cause" of the redshift. Since you can't actually demonstrate any empirical connection between the observation of redshifted photons and inflation or dark energy deities, it's all about "dogma" related to "faith in the unseen'.
Nonsense. Galactic rotation curves and redshift, coupled with general relativity, allow us to probe the distribution of mass in the universe. We come up with a deficit. The evidence shows that there is more mass out there than can be account for directly using optics - that is, not every iota of mass is directly absorbing or emitting photons. Whatever this mass is, it's 'dark'. Hence the name, 'dark matter'.

It is entirely conceivable, and indeed positively expected, that there exist things in this universe which we don't yet understand. The evidence thus far shows that there is more mass than we expect. The current mainstream theory is dark matter. Like it or lump it, that's what the evidence shows.

I'd really like to know why you "lack belief" in God, and what you consider 'empirical' in terms of the "empirical cause" of photons and redshifted photons in particular.
I already told you why I don't believe in God: I see no evidence for his existence.

You cannot possibly be 'blaming me' for *THEIR* dogma? Guth is the one that "killed off" inflation thereby making it impotent on Earth forever and ever. The mainsteam is the one that *assures* me that 'dark energy' has so little effect on objects on Earth that it's impossible to detect it. I can't be responsible for the outcome of *their* claims. The fact they are "impotent on Earth today" seems to be an actual "design characteristic" so that their metaphysical dogma can never be empirically overturned.
Nonesense. I'm condemning you for making the a priori assumption that dark matter and inflation are false.

I'll pick at the parts of the rest of your post from yesterday as I get time today. I'll skip the redundant stuff, but there are a few things we need to 'set straight' about the scientific record and the order of things.

Inflation does not "predict" anything in the way the EM field allows us to 'predict' things in the lab. EM fields have a physical, empirical effect on things in the real world. We can "create" them, 'control' them, "test" their properties on various materials, etc, etc. If I have doubts about EM fields, I can personally do that work myself and see it have a real and tangible effect right here on Earth, right now.
Wonderful. Your point? The ease of studying electrodynamics relative to studying, say, stellar dynamics does not detract from the latter.

Inflation is a "dogma" that was created by a single individual. It was without any sort of scientific precedent. It was unlike any other "natural' field in nature. It has no empirical effect on anything.
It is a proposed explanation of a set of phenomena. That, and that alone, is qualifies it as a scientific hypothesis.

Guth never 'predicted' squat with his inflation friend. He POSTDICTED a 'fit' to 'known observations'. Had he not done that, it would have been meaningless gibberish. Inflation does not now, nor apparently will it *ever* have any effect on any photons in any lab on Earth. I will never be able to "test" any of Guth's *outrageously unsupported claims*. I will never be able to demonstrate any cause/effect links between photons and inflation in a controlled experiment to verify any of his claims. I simply have to "have faith' that Guth's dead sky deity had the supernatural properties he claimed. I can't experimentally verify any of it!

See any empirical difference between an EU based "prediction" and "make believe math with sky entities galore"?
Yes: you use civil language for the former, and spit vitriol for the latter. That belies your prejudices and biases, and hardly makes one inclined to talk to you. If you want a civil discussion, try not to be so emotional and hysterical.
 
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Delphiki

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I don't think that God needs "thinking" process.

Then that's why you're not a pantheist :p ... well at least in the way that I was.

As He is omniscient, He has no need to think up an answer. The answer is already known to Him.
The "thought process" would actually be more like an "intent". A deliberation to make things happen the way they are. Or, in the deistic sense, possibly only "performing" the big bang to merely make a 4-dimensional space/time aspect of itself. It wouldn't be there to find answers for anything.

Instant communication/transportation is required only because the requirement of omnipresence.
Right. I can't speak for all pantheists, but as an ex-pantheist (sort of), this is kind of how it would work. Problem is, such an instant mode of communication would be imperceptible by humans or any other inhabitants of the universe. That being the case, I'm actually agnostic. The only way I fit the definition of "pantheist" anymore is just how I would define a "one and only god" if there was one.
 
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Michael

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Then that's why you're not a pantheist :p ... well at least in the way that I was.

The "thought process" would actually be more like an "intent". A deliberation to make things happen the way they are. Or, in the deistic sense, possibly only "performing" the big bang to merely make a 4-dimensional space/time aspect of itself. It wouldn't be there to find answers for anything.

Right. I can't speak for all pantheists, but as an ex-pantheist (sort of), this is kind of how it would work. Problem is, such an instant mode of communication would be imperceptible by humans or any other inhabitants of the universe. That being the case, I'm actually agnostic. The only way I fit the definition of "pantheist" anymore is just how I would define a "one and only god" if there was one.

IMO you're definitely on the right track but you (somewhat) underestimate the power and importance of 'feelings', and underestimate the capacity of an 'intelligence' that could literally be hundreds of trillions (or more) years old. I have a "feeling" you're on the right track however with the preference of pantheism. I'm even more convinced of it's merits after studying PC/EU theory including Birkeland's work and Alfven's work and Bruce's work.

Many of my own personal experiences make a lot more sense now that I've abandoned my "faith" in "unseen dark" stuff and fully embraced empirical physics in terms of cosmology theory preferences. Once I embraced PC/EU theory it became very difficult for me to ignore pantheism any longer. It certainly makes a lot more empirical sense than any sort of mainstream cosmology theory that is 96 percent "faith in the unseen".
 
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Michael

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If we're talking about merely being able to "react to the environment," I would say yes. But this is where it gets funky. Awareness isn't a black and white state. It's a continuum.

On most of the primary points, we seem to be in full agreement. Your use of term "continuum" in reference to awareness is an important and IMO very "correct" use of terminology. That "continuum" of awareness may not be as "limited" as you imagine, because it may not have "mass" at all, therefore no real "limits" as we understand them. Most "Christians" believe that God is omnipresent in terms of "awareness" which would suggest that such a macroscopic awareness would necessarily need to be a more localized phenomenon.

Having said all that, either type of awareness above is limited by the speed of light.

I assume this is based on a belief that for information to travel in the awareness continuum, the flow of electrons becomes the limiting factor? Suppose most of that flow and "processing" occurs *inside* rather than outside this solar system?
 
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Michael

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What solar circuitry are you referring to?

I forgot how long winded you and I can be. :) Bear with me a bit today.

[0908.0813] Generation of large scale electric fields in coronal flare circuits

Every coronal loop that is visible in the solar atmosphere in an ordinary SDO image is technically a "circuit".

http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/assets/img/latest/latest_1024_0211.mpg

Those are just the "visible" circuits we can observe in the atmosphere, not to mention the ones inside that generate the sun's magnetic field. The circuits come in all shapes and sizes and the sun even electromagnetically interact with the heliosphere (more circuitry).

And from that result, you conclude... what? That electrical phenomena in space are therefore the inner working's of a physical divine brain?
It's an empirical possibility and that's more than I can say for Guth's supernatural inflation deity.

Yes. A good theory explains the data. The sheer fact that the data was accrued before a given hypothesis was proposed, doesn't mean that said hypothesis isn't the best we have. Take evolution, for instance: since Darwin proposed his idea, data we had hitherto accrued suddenly became evidence for evolution. That's just how science works.
I understand that. Likewise Birkeland's work and Alfven's work and Bruce's work all support a 'circuit' oriented view of the universe. Whether it's "aware" or not, it's definitely "electrical" in nature, and their work demonstrates that point.

But neither do you have any reason to believe it does.
Sure I do. I have my own personal experience of God to explain. I have atheists that report meeting something they call "God" during near death experiences to explain. I have the testimonies of perhaps millions of other human beings to explain. I have *lots* of logical reasons to believe the idea has scientific merit.

The sheer existence of electromagnetism proves nothing. It's an interesting idea, but nothing more.
It proves that it's 'empirically possible'. That's a lot more than can be said for Guth's impotent inflation god.

Guth devised the idea of inflation in the late seventies, and proposed it in the early eighties. COBE and WMAP completed their surveys in 1992 and 2003, respectively. You might want to check your dates.
You might want to actually read his paper for yourself some day. He makes it quite clear he already knew that it was pretty evenly distributed based on earlier studies. The later programs just confirmed what he already "knew", or already "assumed" before he developed the theory.

Moreover, since both COBE and WMAP could have blown inflation out of the water (by, for instance, showing large-scale heterogeneity), they constitute large and accurate falsification tests - in other words, inflation made a prediction, and that prediction came true.
He did *not* make a "prediction"! The only way he could have been wrong is if the information he had been given was wrong from the start. It's not altogether clear that the universe is even all that homogenous in the first place! In fact the "holes" they found seem to require "dark energy" (another ad hoc buddy) to "explain". There are "dark flows" that also defy the concepts Guth put forth. These are all pretty much ignored and/or simply swept under the carpet, typically by evoking more ad hoc properties of invisible sky gods. Here's one such example:

http://news.discovery.com/space/dark-flow-universe.html
Here is another:
http://www.space.com/4271-huge-hole-universe.html

I have to stop here for now. I'll pick up where I left off in the next message.
 
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Upisoft

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Then that's why you're not a pantheist :p ... well at least in the way that I was.

The "thought process" would actually be more like an "intent". A deliberation to make things happen the way they are. Or, in the deistic sense, possibly only "performing" the big bang to merely make a 4-dimensional space/time aspect of itself. It wouldn't be there to find answers for anything.
"Intent" would be specific type of knowledge. It is merely the difference between two states: current state and "desired" state. Anyway I have trouble to imagine how that will work for omnipresent (meaning everywhere in spacetime) deity. But most definitions God is immutable. For such being everything in spacetime is static, thus it cannot have "intent" about our world, unless the whole spacetime(i.e. itself) is changed. So, pantheistic God that has "intent" is mutable. Of course, such change is unobservable by us.

That being the case, I'm actually agnostic. The only way I fit the definition of "pantheist" anymore is just how I would define a "one and only god" if there was one.
Ha! Agnostic heretic. You dare to define God!!!!!:D
 
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Michael

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"Intent" would be specific type of knowledge. It is merely the difference between two states: current state and "desired" state. Anyway I have trouble to imagine how that will work for omnipresent (meaning everywhere in spacetime) deity. But most definitions God is immutable. For such being everything in spacetime is static, thus it cannot have "intent" about our world, unless the whole spacetime(i.e. itself) is changed.

I think your last assumption is the one you might look at. "Some" of spacetime might have to change, but not necessarily all of it. IMO a lot of the basic 'processing' would have to occur on a "local" basis.

So, pantheistic God that has "intent" is mutable. Of course, such change is unobservable by us.

The sun has very predictable energy cycles that occur every 11 years. It's atmosphere experiences significant changes over time which we can observe. Certainly the energy flow itself is "observable" in a pet scan or in space, even if "awareness" isn't visible.

Ha! Agnostic heretic. You dare to define God!!!!!:D

LOL! That was funny!
 
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Michael

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Michael

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I already told you why I don't believe in God: I see no evidence for his existence.

Nonesense. I'm condemning you for making the a priori assumption that dark matter and inflation are false.

I think these two statements are interesting when one follows the other like that. :) What constitutes "evidence" in your opinion?

I don't see any empirical evidence of Guth's inflation god either. I see nothing that suggests he didn't just "make it up" in fact. It certainly had no scientific precedent of any sort. It's therefore quite likely that it's a figment of one individual's creative imagination.

It is a proposed explanation of a set of phenomena. That, and that alone, is qualifies it as a scientific hypothesis.
Then that alone makes pantheism an equally valid scientific hypothesis. Not only does it explain many of the same phenomenon, it does so without the need for metaphysical constructs and it's core tenets work in the lab!

Yes: you use civil language for the former, and spit vitriol for the latter. That belies your prejudices and biases, and hardly makes one inclined to talk to you. If you want a civil discussion, try not to be so emotional and hysterical.
There is probably some justification there about "civil discussion" and my unnecessary use of loaded language. I do hear you on that point.
 
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Michael

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Nonsense. Galactic rotation curves and redshift, coupled with general relativity, allow us to probe the distribution of mass in thttp://www.physorg.com/news169924281.htmlhe universe. We come up with a deficit. The evidence shows that there is more mass out there than can be account for directly using optics - that is, not every iota of mass is directly absorbing or emitting photons. Whatever this mass is, it's 'dark'. Hence the name, 'dark matter'.

Whatever mass has gone 'missing', you actually have no empirical evidence that any of it exists in an "exotic" form of matter. In fact recent observations make it quite clear that the mainstream simply UNDERESTIMATED the amount of "normal" matter in a galaxy because they grossly underestimated the amount of 'dust' and therefore loss of light. Apparently they also grossly underestimated the number of small stars compared to large stars we can actually 'observe'.

News and Events | University of St Andrews
Galaxies Demand a Stellar Recount

It is entirely conceivable, and indeed positively expected, that there exist things in this universe which we don't yet understand. The evidence thus far shows that there is more mass than we expect. The current mainstream theory is dark matter. Like it or lump it, that's what the evidence shows.
What evidence? All you know from such information is that the mainstream *GROSSLY* underestimates the amount of mass in a given galaxy. None of that information *insists* that the problem is related to exotic materials. In fact recent observations (last three years) suggest just the opposite is true, yet the mainstream has NOT revised their figures! Why not?
 
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Wiccan_Child

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I forgot how long winded you and I can be. :) Bear with me a bit today.

[0908.0813] Generation of large scale electric fields in coronal flare circuits

Every coronal loop that is visible in the solar atmosphere in an ordinary SDO image is technically a "circuit".

http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/assets/img/latest/latest_1024_0211.mpg

Those are just the "visible" circuits we can observe in the atmosphere, not to mention the ones inside that generate the sun's magnetic field. The circuits come in all shapes and sizes and the sun even electromagnetically interact with the heliosphere (more circuitry).
'Circuitry' seems to imply something more akin to electronics than sporadic and (by all appearances) wholly non-concious plasma sparks. Are you saying that a solar flare is on par with neurological synapses? That they create conciousness?

It's an empirical possibility and that's more than I can say for Guth's supernatural inflation deity.
It's certainly a possibility, but I've yet to see any evidence.

I understand that. Likewise Birkeland's work and Alfven's work and Bruce's work all support a 'circuit' oriented view of the universe. Whether it's "aware" or not, it's definitely "electrical" in nature, and their work demonstrates that point.
Perhaps, but you seem to be implying that it substantiates pantheism - how? If there's no evidence to suggest that the electrical phenomena in space and in stars are concious, how can pantheism be any more credible than it was before?

Sure I do. I have my own personal experience of God to explain. I have atheists that report meeting something they call "God" during near death experiences to explain. I have the testimonies of perhaps millions of other human beings to explain. I have *lots* of logical reasons to believe the idea has scientific merit.
They're hardly logical reasons. Millions of people believing something hardly makes it true - you yourself pointed out the fallacy of an argumentum ad populum.

It proves that it's 'empirically possible'. That's a lot more than can be said for Guth's impotent inflation god.
Why is inflation impossible?

You might want to actually read his paper for yourself some day. He makes it quite clear he already knew that it was pretty evenly distributed based on earlier studies. The later programs just confirmed what he already "knew", or already "assumed" before he developed the theory.
If that is indeed the case, so what? Later programs still verify his theory, the evidence still bears it out. We've had 30 years to perform experiments that test inflation, and none have been able to disprove it.

Question: in your opinion, what experiment would disprove inflation?

He did *not* make a "prediction"! The only way he could have been wrong is if the information he had been given was wrong from the start. It's not altogether clear that the universe is even all that homogenous in the first place! In fact the "holes" they found seem to require "dark energy" (another ad hoc buddy) to "explain". There are "dark flows" that also defy the concepts Guth put forth. These are all pretty much ignored and/or simply swept under the carpet, typically by evoking more ad hoc properties of invisible sky gods. Here's one such example:

Mysterious 'Dark Flow' May Be Tug of Other Universe : Discovery News
Here is another:
Huge Hole Found in the Universe | Space.com
Dark matter and energy are placeholders to mass and energy which appears to exert a gravitational pull, yet doesn't interact with photons directly. Dark matter could be made up of a large number of wholly unrelated things. We don't, at present, know what it is (or they are), we just know what some of their properties are.
I also find it ironic that you, an apparent Christian, use terms like 'invisible sky gods' in a derogatory way.
 
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sandwiches

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On most of the primary points, we seem to be in full agreement. Your use of term "continuum" in reference to awareness is an important and IMO very "correct" use of terminology. That "continuum" of awareness may not be as "limited" as you imagine, because it may not have "mass" at all, therefore no real "limits" as we understand them. Most "Christians" believe that God is omnipresent in terms of "awareness" which would suggest that such a macroscopic awareness would necessarily need to be a more localized phenomenon.

I assume this is based on a belief that for information to travel in the awareness continuum, the flow of electrons becomes the limiting factor? Suppose most of that flow and "processing" occurs *inside* rather than outside this solar system?

The limiting factor is the transport of information, yes. It's possible that the entirety of 'mental' processing happens within this planetary system but how does that work with the rest of the plasma in the universe? Does that mean that it takes thousands or millions of years for one part of its brain to receive information from another?
 
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