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These 163 comments are related to the topic:
DID EINSTEIN BELIEVE IN A GOD.

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Replies: 163
By:
Foinavon
When: 17 Jul 14 23:37
We all create a utilitarian version of reality in our brains necessary for survival and the avoidance of injury along with many other things. Many of these constructs we find aesthetically pleasing, some we don't.
No-one knows what lies behind the veneer, some invent a fantasy world, others measure and use logic to construct analogies to fit these findings, being ready to modify them as new observations are made. There is still a long way for science to go as Einstein clearly realised. The more popular of the fantasy worlds are stuck in the bronze age as they claim to already know all the answers.
By:
ebulGery
When: 17 Jul 14 23:39
Brassneck, you certainly have a point, I do not believe we do know the true nature of our Universe either

Why is the expansion of the universe speeding up when it should be slowing down
Where is the missing matter in the universe the big bang predicts, what on earth is dark matter or dark energy??????
That is just for starters

Unfortunately to know what happens at the end of the Universe , we need to live an awfully long time.
We also have to be exceptionally clever, very few of us are

If our species race relied on the brain of the average person, including myself
I have some doubt we would even have discovered fire yet

Some of the posts on this thread confirm thatSad
but gladly not allHappy
By:
ebulGery
When: 17 Jul 14 23:47
True Foinavon...in some ways including myself..I am still hoping to find that book of spells one day
to satisfy all my needs

Our brains actually hold contradictory beliefs, we use them when necessary, it aids our survival.
So I love animals, but still eat them, they are too tasty for their own goodSad...
so I switch to either of these contradictory beliefs when in suits me

...and I would so love to conjure up the devil, hooves, horns, goat's head the lotLaugh
By:
KeenLeader
When: 17 Jul 14 23:53
ebulGery


Darwin never believed in God. Einstein probably did not either
but I think he wanted to believe deep down, there is a need in us

and you surely cannot expect Einstein to disappoint a little girl
that would too cruel


- Not sure about that. Darwin certainly had issues with the bible and religion. But I dont think he ruled out the idea of God as creator. I think of him as agnostic similar perhaps so Einstein. Neither saw things as black or white but were open minded which of course made them great scientists in my view anyway.
By:
Foinavon
When: 17 Jul 14 23:55
Our minds are truly complicated ebul. Logic rarely enters into the equation in everyday circumstances
happy hunting with your spells Happy.
By:
ebulGery
When: 17 Jul 14 23:56
Laugh Foinavon
By:
ebulGery
When: 17 Jul 14 23:57
Agnostic
a person who believes that nothing is known or can be known of the existence or nature of God.

yes fits keen leader
By:
dewey
When: 17 Jul 14 23:57
Nutter thread...............................................
By:
Foinavon
When: 18 Jul 14 00:01
good evening Dewey, just passing through?Grin
By:
themightymac
When: 18 Jul 14 00:18
Your appearance dewey has definitely confirmed that it`s a nutter thread Laugh

Stick to idolising celebrities young lady Whoops
By:
themightymac
When: 18 Jul 14 00:20
I agree with Dobbo. Our only purpose in life is to procreate.
By:
erse2
When: 18 Jul 14 01:22
on a similar thread someone posted about the "the denial of death" book and I'd never heard of it, though the wiki entry for it makes loads of sense to me.

ultimately you can take solace in our own mortality and fellow people, or go out on a limb and look out for the answers. Whatever the answer may be, it's so astronomically distant and detached from our own sense of being... it likely wouldn't have a tangible effect on our own sense of life.

our lives are chance or deterministic? doesn't matter. created by an omnipotent being or race? doesn't matter. on a day to day basis you're still admiring a nice pair of chebs, tasty grub, the world cup and some interesting conversation. If there were infinite universes out there each acting out the minute quanta of differences in each individual moment, and you knew for sure those alternatives existed, it wouldn't have a huge bearing on our day to day life, IMO.

as one geezer said, the laws governing our universe might not have to accommodate physicists feeling happy about it.
By:
erse2
When: 18 Jul 14 01:24
also it's worth noting, einstein was a really smart f@cker... he clearly invested a lot of energy into it for the benefit of mankind.

if only the median for people was a lot closer to his ideas than some lazy arsed chucking out of ideas about the subject, like it was yet another episode of jeremy kyle. Wink
By:
themightymac
When: 18 Jul 14 01:46
I noticed Jeremy Kyle got zapped by bouncer in Magaluf with a taser the other day.

What more proof do you need that there is indeed a God LaughLaughLaugh
By:
ebulGery
When: 18 Jul 14 01:48
Laugh
By:
erse2
When: 18 Jul 14 01:51
Excited
By:
themightymac
When: 18 Jul 14 01:51
Laugh
By:
bix
When: 18 Jul 14 08:44
Trying to understand all of creation for man is like trying to drink soup with a knife and fork. We simply dont have the tools for the job. Our brain is very good at helping us survive it seems in order to reproduce but is incapable of understanding all other aspects of existence. I am told that infinity is something which goes on for ever but try as I might I really can't get my head round that. It is as if there is another dimension to which we do not have access.
The thought for the day is why does life have a compulsion to reproduce? Not how but WHY.
Perhaps cardiffc in his arrogant lack of wisdom could enlighten us.
By:
ebulGery
When: 18 Jul 14 10:09
The agnostic view
God must be unknowable

Infinity is a tricky and dangerous subject..it is an incredibly difficult concept for the human mind to grasp
It has driven a few mathematicians mad....including Gödel...Einstein's friend

Not that I understand a word of what Gödel says, my knowledge comes from documentaries and Wikipedia
By:
ebulGery
When: 18 Jul 14 10:09
bix
By:
ebulGery
When: 18 Jul 14 10:18
The thought for the day is why does life have a compulsion to reproduce? Not how but WHY.

Yes looking at some specimens of humanity on a daily basis, and post on here, I could ask that question bix?

Unfortunately that is the basic rule of life, otherwise how could it exist????????

As for answering why does life exist, like everybody else I have no idea?
We are free to speculate...there does even have to be a WHY..WHY is a human concept
Another one of those concepts our human minds find incredibly difficult to grasp...I am not sure we can.
By:
cardifffc
When: 18 Jul 14 11:22
this is the real thing..........not a dress rehearsal....................NAP
By:
Ampleforth
When: 18 Jul 14 11:32
If you do not believe in a god or some sort of 'super natural' , and think that everything is determined by strict laws of physics, then you take away everything that you hold dear about being a human or an individual.

If everything is down to chemical reactions, physical laws etc then that means that everything was predetermined from the moment of the big bang, EVERYTHING.

If the theory is correct, with  the correct knowledge and a computer powerful enough to track every particle, atom, electron etc etc , you could predict everything, every thought, everything. It means that every decision you make, you actually didn't, it is all down to the laws of the universe. You might think you are an individual with free thought, but if you do not believe in some sort of 'super natural', then you are just the product of the strict Laws of the Universe. You are not in control, you cannot control your future, your future is fixed.
Me, writing this now, was already destined to happen billions of years ago.

This theory will free you from all responsibility, as nothing can be your fault, it is just the laws of physics that make you do everything. If you don't believe in something 'else', then what are you?, who are you? just a walking chemical reaction with no purpose.

Intelligent design as mental as the theory is, is the only real option as far as I can see. That does not mean God, or any of the earths religions etc they are obviously products of mans fear and ignorance. It just means there is 'something else'......
By:
call me a taxi
When: 18 Jul 14 12:04
I regularly shagged a bird all night in the mid 70s heatwave.

She told me I was 'something else'

Whether I'm god or not, I have no idea.
By:
call me a taxi
When: 18 Jul 14 12:05
cardifffc
17 Jul 14 22:46   
owmy brains.......you have the right name............nap


Scientifically speaking, he doesn't, the brain feels no pain.
By:
ebulGery
When: 18 Jul 14 15:26
That depends if the something else was meant as a compliment or the reverse taxiLaugh

That is the deterministic theory of the Universe Ampleforth  which in fact could be true
Whether we want it or not is irrelevant.....either it is, or it is not

Of course the scope to calculate everything that will happen in the Universe from the big bang to the end of the Universe
is completely beyond our comprehension...so to all practical purposes we must act as if we have free will.

Of course if something happens outside our laws of physics that affects something(assuming we understand them all)
then we no longer have a deterministic universe, assuming we cannot predict this

An Intelligent design is one option, who in fact can make things happen which are not within the physical laws of our Universe

Although having things happen at random(truly random) could effect it as well. i.e. Matter or energy springing in and out of existence,
in some way we cannot predict would be another.

I should read up on it a bit Amplethorpe tbh

I have often thought the Universe is deterministic
At the moment, the results of a horse race are not even deterministic, at least to some of usSad
By:
Ampleforth
When: 18 Jul 14 15:50
so to all practical purposes we must act as if we have free will.

but there in lies the problem, because acting as if you have a free will, in a predetermined universe is actually you just doing that what was predetermined at the big bang and therefore there is no such thing as free will, so whats the point in acting as if there is....

I too think that the Universe is deterministic..... its depressing... Cry and yet I feel so special Cool

Confused
By:
cardifffc
When: 18 Jul 14 15:55
ample.........think your over complicating things..........we live we die.....nothing after.......
By:
cardifffc
When: 18 Jul 14 15:58
most non believers would like this not to be the end..........but sadly the evidence is overwhelming that we have one shot........buried in the ground..worm food or in a biscuit tin i"m afraid.............nap
By:
Ampleforth
When: 18 Jul 14 16:43
and we choose to use 'our shot' spending way too much time on a gambling forum.. its even more depressing CryCry
By:
cardifffc
When: 18 Jul 14 17:01
LaughLaugh
By:
Dobbo
When: 18 Jul 14 17:04
It doesn't make much difference if you spend your whole life watching tv or being a creative genius or achieving great things. Once its over you join the multi legions of the dead as an eternal foot soldier.
By:
Tony Broke
When: 18 Jul 14 17:36
and some of us, ampleforth, have longed to get to know this 'something else.' If we as human beings arent an accident, and intelligent design is at work, then it stands to reason that the intelligence behind our design, just may a spiritual being.
By:
Tony Broke
When: 18 Jul 14 17:38
..and then...assuming this spiritual being used intelligent designin order to create, there may have been a reason behind this creation. Or did this 'designer' create and then just sit back and think, 'feck it all, thats me now!'
By:
cardifffc
When: 18 Jul 14 18:44
god must have been very bored for 4.7 billion years...........what was he doing................reading a book.....
By:
call me a taxi
When: 18 Jul 14 19:28
he was playing leonard cohen records
By:
cardifffc
When: 18 Jul 14 21:21
LaughLaugh
By:
ebulGery
When: 18 Jul 14 21:36
but there in lies the problem, because acting as if you have a free will, in a predetermined universe is actually you just doing that what was predetermined at the big bang and therefore there is no such thing as free will, so whats the point in acting as if there is....

because we do not know for certain either way??

So it is perfectly acceptable to act as if life has a purpose, even if it has not, if that is what we are comfortable with.
I think our Human Mind needs a purpose, whether one exists or not. That in itself may be the purpose of us, to solve problems???

As I have grown older, I have realised that life may be deterministic, so to a degree we must enjoy the ride if we can.
Because often the best bits in life are the journey itself, not the destination, and we have to travel the journey anyway.

That does mean some people will look on life solely as some hedonistic paradise. We just live for the here and now.
But that can become can become dissatisfying in itself, and we find our lives lack purpose. We can make up small purposes
for ourselves... i.e.'I will decorate the lounge, etc'

I wish I had a bit more hedonism when I was young thoughSad

Also it is not possible to act as if we have no free will at all...if someone asks us
'do you want sugar with your tea or coffee', we do have to make a decision, or we would look silly, even if it is predetermined.

We are free to make our own decisions, and basically just hope we have some quality of life
whether it is deterministic or not

Ampleforth
By:
breadnbutter
When: 18 Jul 14 21:44
chit chat is full of acid casualties from the sixties imo
By:
brassneck
When: 18 Jul 14 22:21
if there is no god it means that everything started from nothing.even the big bang started from nothing.and the difficult question is ,how can something start from nothing.(he he,science says energy can not be created,so in that statement science laws break down,because the big bang created energy,and its science that tells us that all started with a big bang.confused?so am I,and I posted it,and I don't understand .Confused
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