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Why do Atheists not want to consider FineTuning ?

AV1611VET

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Would not be the first time religion has done that.
Perhaps someone could tell me where the bullseye is then?

Instead of telling me where it isn't all the time?
 
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Paulos23

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Perhaps someone could tell me where the bullseye is then?

Instead of telling me where it isn't all the time?

I don't know where the bulls eye is exactly, just the general direction.

Try following the evidence without expectation instead of having a desired goal. Or if you do have a desired goal, don't be to attached to it in case the evidence goes away from it.
 
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Davian

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Perhaps someone could tell me where the bullseye is then?

Instead of telling me where it isn't all the time?
There is no bullseye. Science observes where the arrow is; "fine tuning" claims that is where it was aimed.

 
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AV1611VET

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I don't know where the bulls eye is exactly, just the general direction.
Then I hope you'll excuse me if I take your antireligious stance with a grain of salt?

If you're just shotgunning into the dark, I'm not going to give you brownie points for accuracy.
 
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AV1611VET

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There is no bullseye.
Unless one magically appears when someone claims religion is like drawing the bullseye around the target, right?

Then "hunters" will suddenly appear and agree with them, won't they?
 
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Davian

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Unless one magically appears when someone claims religion is like drawing the bullseye around the target, right?
I do not know. I am not the purveyor of magic in these forums.
Then "hunters" will suddenly appear and agree with them, won't they?
How is the analogy not apt?
 
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Paulos23

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Then I hope you'll excuse me if I take your antireligious stance with a grain of salt?

If you're just shotgunning into the dark, I'm not going to give you brownie points for accuracy.

Not shotgunning, following evidence. I haven't even claimed to hit a bulls eye. That is what religion does without looking at where the other arrows went.
 
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AV1611VET

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First we would need to know there is a God and what it looks like.
Until you do, you don't mind if I take that puddle analogy with a grain of salt, do you?
 
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Gracchus

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In physics, some numbers just keep cropping up. Pi (π), for instance turns up in everything from cosmology to quantum mechanics. It is embedded in the speed of light because light is periodic, and in orbital mechanics and gravitation; so in most laws of physics, it is possible to re-arrange the equations in a way that π is on one side and a whole bunch of physical constants are on the other. Epsilon (ε) is another such number.

And ε^(ιθ) = cos θ + ι X sin θ, where ι (iota) is the square root of minus one. And of course if θ = π radians then ε^(ι π) -1 = 0, so none of those numbers can be anything but what they are. Thus physical constants are NOT independent, because they must be related to numerical constants that cannot, by definition, be changed. In short, it would seem that you cannot “fine tune” the physical constants because to change them, would introduce destabilizing factors into everything from cosmology to quantum mechanics, and the universe, as we know it, could not exist. (It might, I suppose, be possible to introduce harmonic values, but the math is a little complicated, and I will leave it to the religious folks to make those calculations.)

You can change many things, but there is no evidence that you can change the physical constants of the universe, because they are based on mathematical relationships that are necessarily true.

I find it amusing that Calvinists who think that souls are predestined to hell because of their god's “immutable nature”, often seem to think that the constants of the universe could be other than they are.

The “fine tuning” argument boils down to: Some things are as they have to be.

 
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Occams Barber

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Let’s break the Fine Tuning argument down to its basic components:

  1. If certain physical constants/laws were different, life would not exist

  2. Life exists

  3. Therefore there is a god
There are, at least, two reasons why this argument makes no sense.

(3) is a bald statement that the existence of life (2) is sufficient proof of gods’ existence. There is no reason (within this argument) to assume this is true. The existence of life does not axiomatically prove the existence of god. The argument fails.

There is however a bait and switch element in the argument. (1) implies that the odds of life existing are so astronomically huge that they are in the realm of impossibility. This argument is only interesting if you accept that the existence of life is proof of god. Whether the existence of life depends on a range of constants does not negate the need to prove that life itself is proof of god. Life does not prove god.

Secondly: argument (1) assumes that certain physical laws/constants could have a different value implying a situation where life may not exist. Multiverses aside - science is not aware of any other possible values for these constants. We have only one set of examples – the existing universe. Since we are not aware of any alternative values then the odds of any alternative values are zero. Logically the odds of life coming into existence are 1 or 100% or absolute. With no other known values for physical laws/constants, it is inevitable that life must exist because - it exists.
 
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AV1611VET

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Your challenge is not to accept it but to understand it.
I believe the puddle analogy is used to explain that Mother Nature chiseled mankind out of the gene pool, and that mankind will eventually go extinct thinking he was made in the image & likeness of God.

Correct?
 
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DogmaHunter

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I believe the puddle analogy is used to explain that Mother Nature chiseled mankind out of the gene pool, and that mankind will eventually go extinct thinking he was made in the image & likeness of God.

Correct?
Try again.
 
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