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What does Atheism mean?

What does atheism mean

  • Total voters
    24
Dezaad said:
There is exceedingly strong evidence that a stork didn't drop me off at the front door. So, yes, I know this for sure.
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I don't know... you seem pretty committed to your Santa evidence....
 
Dezaad said:
There are so many factors which may be necessary for life, which may or may not have been present together at the right times on Mars. I just don't think you can say the evidence is strong at all that the conditions were there to support abiogenisis. Not to mention the fact that we don't even know precisely what the conditions were on Earth that supported it. This evidence is very weak on Mars.
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I think you are missing the point.. All that is needed for life as we know it is two things.. Water and energy.. Which could also be light.. Life has found a way to survive in a plethora of conditions..

Arsenic Life

Life can exist on astroids, comets, moons, just about anywhere there is water.. You really should research this.. Life is not this big complicated thing that requires a lot to survive..

Organisms that thrive in Arctic sea ice - Krembs, Deming
 
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Dooble said:
Thank you. Balance has been restored to the Political Universe :)
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Jokes aside. I suppose I don't exclude anything 'for sure'. I guess I think certain things have a vanishingly small possibility. But, in the end, the things we think are impossible, and the things that we think are vanishingly unlikely, and the things that we think are highly unlikely, and the things that we think are are unlikely... They are all treated almost identically the same by us on a practical level. And there is only a slight bit of difference between how we treat things with no evidence either way, and those things which have varying degrees of evidence against them.

The ONLY things of this sort that people treat significantly differently are things which tickle their fancy. Gods (no evidence whatsoever, no way to calculate a likelihood). Intelligent life in outer space (no evidence whatsoever, precious little on which to calculate a likelihood). Scandalous Tabloid Rumors (No evidence whatsoever, or only a very small amount). Things of that nature. I think we need to be cautious any time we would be delighted if something were true.
 
Dezaad said:
The ONLY things of this sort that people treat significantly differently are things which tickle their fancy. Gods (no evidence whatsoever, no way to calculate a likelihood). Intelligent life in outer space (no evidence whatsoever, precious little on which to calculate a likelihood). Scandalous Tabloid Rumors (No evidence whatsoever, or only a very small amount). Things of that nature. I think we need to be cautious any time we would be delighted if something were true.
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Intelligent life I feel is a different issue.. Does it exist?? Obviously I haven't the slightest clue.. Do I believe it exists?? Well.. Let's just say that if it exists on just 1% of the planets that can support life, that is still billions of worlds with intelligent life.. I think it is much more likely that it does exist, than doesn't exist.. I think there is 0% chance that our planet is the only planet with intelligent life.. It is all a numbers game..
 
DemonMyst said:
Intelligent life I feel is a different issue.. Does it exist?? Obviously I haven't the slightest clue.. Do I believe it exists?? Well.. Let's just say that if it exists on just 1% of the planets that can support life, that is still billions of worlds with intelligent life.. I think it is much more likely that it does exist, than doesn't exist.. I think there is 0% chance that our planet is the only planet with intelligent life.. It is all a numbers game..
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What I see here is equivocation. First I see you saying you have no clue. Then immediately following I see you saying you do have a clue. I think you were right in your first assessment. We don't have a clue.

When I don't have a clue, I withhold belief. By definition when I withhold belief, I don't believe.
 
Dezaad said:
What I see here is equivocation. First I see you saying you have no clue. Then immediately following I see you saying you do have a clue. I think you were right in your first assessment. We don't have a clue.

When I don't have a clue, I withhold belief. By definition when I withhold belief, I don't believe.
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No.. I think you are misunderstanding.. Saying that I think something is statistically possible doesn't mean I know anything.. Do I know that there is intelligent life out there?? No.. But I do believe that it is statistically impossible to say their isn't...

Let's also not forget that just because we don't have evidence of something doesn't mean it isn't possible.. You keep forgetting that own planet is evidence.. If intelligent life can develope here, it can develope somewhere else as well.. I think it would be rediculous to say otherwise.. So, like I said... Just because we don't have specific evidence for something, doesn't mean it can't be true..

Life developed on this planet, then it is entirely possible that it developed on other planets in the universe.. Life here is evidence that it is possible.. That is all you need to believe it is true.. Just because we don't know for sure is actually irrelevent..

We don't know if there is or was life on Mars.. But it is entirely possible that there was or is.. The conditions for life did and do exist on Mars, and life did evolve on this planet so it is a fact to say that it could evolve else where on other planets.. Even out in the universe...

What is rediculous is to say that life evolved here on this planet and nowhere else.. You may as well believe in Santa..
 
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Anagram said:
The belief that there are no Gods or the belief in any gods. I've seen it being used both ways here, and it tends to end up derailing topics and making them needlessly confusing. Of course, dictionary.com has it listed both ways. I think it would be helpful if we could come to some forumwide conclusion on how to use the word.

Personally, I've always used it inclusively, meaning the lack of belief in any God.
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Neither? Both of the poll options say the same thing... or maybe that's just me.
 
DemonMyst said:
No.. I think you are misunderstanding.. Saying that I think something is statistically possible doesn't mean I know anything.. Do I know that there is intelligent life out there?? No.. But I do believe that it is statistically impossible to say their isn't...

Let's also not forget that just because we don't have evidence of something doesn't mean it isn't possible.. You keep forgetting that own planet is evidence.. If intelligent life can develope here, it can develope somewhere else as well.. I think it would be rediculous to say otherwise.. So, like I said... Just because we don't have specific evidence for something, doesn't mean it can't be true..

Life developed on this planet, then it is entirely possible that it developed on other planets in the universe.. Life here is evidence that it is possible.. That is all you need to believe it is true.. Just because we don't know for sure is actually irrelevent..

We don't know if there is or was life on Mars.. But it is entirely possible that there was or is.. The conditions for life did and do exist on Mars, and life did evolve on this planet so it is a fact to say that it could evolve else where on other planets.. Even out in the universe...

What is rediculous is to say that life evolved here on this planet and nowhere else.. You may as well believe in Santa..
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I keep causing a misunderstanding, and I am not sure how I am doing it. I thought I had made it clear that I consider belief in something to be ridiculous in the absence of evidence but that I don't think that absence of evidence excludes the possibility.

So I am not forgetting that our own planet is evidence, and I am not excluding the possibility that intelligent life exists somewhere else, in fact I quite believe it is possible, but I think it would be ridiculous to believe in intelligent life elsewhere at this time.

Hope this clears up the misunderstanding.
 
I would like to clear something up that has occurred to me. "Believe in X" means to agree with the statement "X exists". Whenever you cannot say "X exists", you also cannot say "I believe in X". The meaning of these phrases are logically entwined.
 
DemonMyst said:
To say it is rediculous to believe in something is saying it is impossible... Especially when you include it in a list with santa and god.. Seriously dude.. Come on now.. We all know what you were implying and so do you..



Come on.. Look at that list.. We all know what you were saying.. All life needs to exist on Mars is water.. There is water on Mars.. So believing that life is there is not rediculous.. It is a highly probable fact.. We do not know for sure, but seriously..

Liquid water on Mars - NASA

Mar's south pole contains frozen water

It is only a matter of time before we find definitive proof that lifer either existed or still does exist on Mars.. To believe otherwise is rediculous..
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Finally a thread that got sidetracked into something fun.

Back in the day when I was taking an astronomy course the big thing was Europa and discussing ideas on feasible ways to get under its surface to look for life. That was before there was actual published evidence of frozen water on the poles of Mars. All of the possibilities, it's too bad we don't have the funds to really get 'out there' and look.

Anyway, I'm a trekkie so I had to comment. :cool:
 
LoopyPaladin said:
Neither? Both of the poll options say the same thing... or maybe that's just me.
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I agree. It's essentially the same thing people are just tripping over the phrasing of it.
 
Monserrat said:
I agree. It's essentially the same thing people are just tripping over the phrasing of it.
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Yeah, I'm on the same train of thought.

The belief in no God(s) and the lack of belief in any God(s) means essentially the same thing, but in different words, though I can understand where some people would think that they're different.

To me, being an Atheist is the belief that no God(s) exist, plain and simple as that. A lot of people will confuse Atheism and Agnosticism; Agnosticism being the belief that there is a deity (or multiple, for that matter), but it is uncertain as to what that deity is.
 
I actively reject the idea that there is a god, so simply not believing in it is not an accurate description for my ideals.
 
Dezaad said:
What I see here is equivocation. First I see you saying you have no clue. Then immediately following I see you saying you do have a clue. I think you were right in your first assessment. We don't have a clue.

When I don't have a clue, I withhold belief. By definition when I withhold belief, I don't believe.
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Right, but there is a difference between withholding belief about something for which there is no evidence, and speculating about something that you have a reasonable basis to be possible or true based upon scientific and logical evidence. There is a phenomenal amount of circumstantial evidence to indicate that there should be extraterrestrial life, from the simple to the complex. In reality it would probably be the greatest piece of evidence you could discover that would cause many to question our position in the Universe and the possibility of God if you could determine that no extraterrestrial life existed in the known Universe. It would lead to some fantastically difficult questions.
 
From what I can tell, the theists (and deists) are trying to define atheism to fit their meager attempts at equivocation. That's sad; funny, but sad.

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