All of joemarzen's Comments + Replies

A few months have passed since that comment, but maybe you should consider reading: http://lesswrong.com/lw/nz/arguing_by_definition/ and http://lesswrong.com/lw/ny/sneaking_in_connotations/

I think there are several problems with your statements; I'll try to address a few. In the interests of full disclosure, I'm an atheist myself, but I obviously can't speak for anyone other than myself. I don't know about "much", though some atheists are undeniably fundamentalist -- and some theists are, as well. However, this doesn't tell us anything about whether atheism (or theism) is actually true or not. I think this depends on which definition you're using; but something tells me it's different from mine. Neither do I, and neither do most atheists. In fact, most atheists don't discount the possibility of lots of other things existing, as well: Zeus, unicorns, a teapot in orbit of Saturn, leprechauns, FTL neutrinos, etc. But a possibility is not the same thing as probability; and we humans simply don't have the luxury in believing everything we can think of. We'd never get anywhere if we did that. So, atheists make the conscious choice to live their lives and think their thoughts as though that orbiting teapot did not, in fact, exist. Of course, once someone presents some evidence of its existence, we'd change our minds, and re-evaluate all of our beliefs to include the teapot (or gods, or leprechauns, or what have you). I suspect we understand more than you think -- there are whole books written on the subject, after all. But more importantly, a lack of understanding doesn't automatically make any alternative hypothesis any more likely. For example, I don't know with certainty how that suspicious puddle under my car got there, but "aliens !" or "demons !" are not the kinds of answers that instantly spring to mind. Sure, it could be. But is it ? If it is, then I'd like to see some evidence. Note that the scientific method has a whole mountain of evidence behind it; your computer, for example, is merely a tiny piece of it. I don't know, which god did you have in mind ? And do you have any evidence that we're all programs running on a giant computer, or drea

I would suggest you read the following two posts: http://lesswrong.com/lw/ih/absence_of_evidence_is_evidence_of_absence/ http://lesswrong.com/lw/mm/the_fallacy_of_gray/

For most part they would also do well to eschew evangelism.