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shminux comments on Open thread for January 1-7, 2014 - Less Wrong
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Cosmologist and science popularizer Sean Carroll debates Christian apologist William Lane Craig on Feb 28. The topic is God and Cosmology. My prediction: while Sean Carroll is very good, I don't expect him to beat a professional (and a very successful) debater.
The word we'd need to better define is "beat".
Will WLC appear to win the debate? Likely. Will he appear to overwhelm his opponent? Likely. Will he succeed at framing the debate in a way that suits his position? Overwhelmingly likely.
The debate takes place in front of his home crowd (an Evangelical theological seminary). WLC will gallop his way to "victory" again, methinks.
If you predict that he'll win under every definition of "beat" that you suggest, why do you need your initial disclaimer that the definition matters?
Because he won't actually win anything, anymore than a rabbit actually disappears inside a top hat or a woman actually gets sawed in half and restored.
Debates are of limited value in this way: The correct argument can rather easily lose. WLC is a great example of why and how.
Other than status.
If he follows Chris Hallquist's advice of insisting on speaking first and gives a talk as good as this one with edits to suit Lane Craig, I predict it would go down pretty well.
However, I assign a low probability to this happening.