What caused the Universe?

[HitchSlap]

you don't have to -
you have free will -
you get to choose

Or maybe we don't...

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/proceed-your-own-risk/201311/do-we-have-free-will

 

[HitchSlap]

what track are you going down?

The one that has evidence to support assertions, of course.

 

[victorinus]

Or maybe we don't...

is that your choice?

 

[victorinus]

The one that has evidence to support assertions, of course.

where has that taken you?

 

[AV1611VET]

where has that taken you?

Victorinus, is that a picture of a mite?

 

[HitchSlap]

where has that taken you?

Towards a more parsimonious understanding about the nature of reality, fortunately.

 

[HitchSlap]

is that your choice?

I think so.

 

[victorinus]

Victorinus, is that a picture of a mite?

no

 

[HitchSlap]

Victorinus, is that a picture of a mite?

Speaking of mites, what kind of person takes a widow's last one?

 

[victorinus]

Towards a more parsimonious understanding about the nature of reality, fortunately.

how does that feel?

 

[HitchSlap]

how does that feel?

Copacetic!

 

[AV1611VET]

Speaking of mites, what kind of person takes a widow's last one?

That "widow" lives in a mansion with her husband now.

 

[victorinus]

Copacetic!

so you are here because you want us to feel that good?

 

[HitchSlap]

That "widow" lives in a mansion with her husband now.

https://www.google.com/maps/@36.8464,-119.614704,8z

 

[HitchSlap]

so you are here because you want us to feel that good?

Your question makes no sense.

 

[Subduction Zone]

do you think the rock evolved into a tree and then into an ape?

No And I do not know of anyone that makes that claim. Perhaps you should review the science that you seem to hate and not understand.

 

[HitchSlap]

No And I do not know of anyone that makes that claim. Perhaps you should review the science that you seem to hate and not understand.

From the goo, to the zoo, to you!

Seems he's been smitten by Mr. Hovind.

 

[FrumiousBandersnatch]

name two

Eternal Inflation and Ekpyrotic Universe.

 

[FrumiousBandersnatch]

name one

The 'Big Bang'.

 

[FrumiousBandersnatch]

Well the same argument can be made concerning abiogenesis conjectures and that doesn't seem to cause any atheist problems whatsoever. Care to explain why that is?

Which abiogenesis conjectures, specifically? All the ones I'm aware of have plausible models.

IMHO this concept has far more basis in reality than the abiogenesis idea has since the abiogenesis idea hasn't been observed to occur in nature and can't be forced to happen in a laboratory.

I'm not sure what relevance abiogenesis has to this discussion, but it's not surprising abiogenesis hasn't been observed in nature, because the environmental conditions of early Earth were very different, and there is now abundant life to use up the required organic 'building blocks' and/or eat any simple replicators if they were able to develop in current conditions.

The whole process may not have been demonstrated yet in the lab, but almost all the steps thought to be necessary have been demonstrated.

A major problem is that we don't know the originating environment, so it's a mixture of informed guesswork and a process of elimination; many variations must be tried, each of which requires a number of assumptions that must be explored.

Yet people show absolutely no qualms in accepting it as almost irrefutable fact. Strange in a rather obvious sort of way!

We know there was a time where life as we know it was not possible because the environmental conditions precluded it, and we know that almost as soon as conditions to support life obtained, simple life appeared. It's a reasonable inference.

There is no useful comparison between abiogenesis research and fanciful speculations about the holographic principle.