Monday, February 20, 2012

Debunking Handbook and "Just Say No"

Here's something that all of us skeptics need to read: The Debunking Handbook (Go to the link, it's free!).

Dr. Peter Boghossian gave a fascinating and blunt lecture called "Jesus, The Easter Bunny, and Other Delusions: Just Say No!"

One atheist who I feel is not read enough is Prof. Quentin Smith. He's a philosopher who specializes in the philosophy of physics. His articles Why the Big Bang is No Help to Theists and Two Ways to Prove Atheism should be read by everyone with an interest in philosophy of religion, and his interviews over on Closer to Truth are fascinating.

Also, Ed Babinski has a fascinating post on the Golden Rule. I don't agree with his criticism of the rule, but the historical references that he cites are very interesting.

2 comments:

David Evans said...

I'm not convinced by Smith's Big Bang argument. For one thing, it dates from 1996. Since that time there have been great developments in brane cosmology and superstring theory. If it seemed obvious then that the Hawking theory was the only true one, it certainly doesn't now.

Also he says that since the theory assigns a probability of 95% to the formation of our universe, there is no room for God to act as creator. I don't see this. If I draw a card at random from a full deck the probability that it's not an ace is about 93%, assuming that no-one has forced the draw. But if someone has, all bets are off. No calculation can prove that no-one forced the draw.

AIGBusted said...

Hi David,

Yes, you are right that the Hawking model isn't the only one on the table today. However, the article is still useful for the other philosophical points that it makes regarding the Big Bang.