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Comment by Jim Balter (jim-balter) on Thermodynamics of Intelligence and Cognitive Enhancement · 2022-10-25T09:31:34.900Z · LW · GW

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2022/10/24/one-way-to-be-less-wrong-is-to-avoid-faulty-premises/

Comment by Jim Balter (jim-balter) on An Alien God · 2022-05-08T05:07:01.008Z · LW · GW

"evolution polemics"

There's a beam in your eye (and it's distorting your perception).

Comment by Jim Balter (jim-balter) on An Alien God · 2022-05-08T04:57:20.631Z · LW · GW

"I'm not sure you can assume that Odin isn't around."

It's an inference, not an assumption.

"no evidence for him is not proof that he doesn't exist"

Who said anything about proof?

We should teach epistemology in kindergarten.

Comment by Jim Balter (jim-balter) on An Alien God · 2022-05-08T04:55:45.860Z · LW · GW

"one has to keep in mind that evolution has no goal"

To what end must one keep this in mind?

"it is inherently neither positive nor negative. it simply occurs, for better or worse"

For whom?

"until death do us part"

Evolution operates on populations, not individuals.

Comment by Jim Balter (jim-balter) on An Alien God · 2022-05-08T04:48:46.710Z · LW · GW

"Since absolutely no one has ever come up with anything even approaching a plausible naturalistic explanation of the origin of life from non-life, the obvious truth is that the first DNA based bacterium (the simplest life form we know of) with it's staggeringly functionally complex digital code was created by a supernatural intelligence."

Even if your antecedent were correct (and it definitely isn't), this a textbook fallacy.

There's a danger in posting comments like that ... they make it clear that IDiots are arguing in bad faith.

Comment by Jim Balter (jim-balter) on An Alien God · 2022-05-08T04:43:49.457Z · LW · GW

"That's not evidence for evolution! "

It wasn't offered as such. It's simply an analogy that refutes a particular fallacious argument from the IDiots.

Comment by Jim Balter (jim-balter) on An Alien God · 2022-05-08T04:42:00.893Z · LW · GW

You're not merely not an expert ... you lack a fundamental understanding.

Comment by Jim Balter (jim-balter) on An Alien God · 2022-05-08T04:37:40.747Z · LW · GW

"I disagree with just about everything you said."

All the worse for you.

"We cannot just be evolved just randomly"

Indeed; evolution is not random.

"there has to be a creator"

Bzzzt! Wrong.

 

"there are no proven facts, and no evidence has been proven since charles darwin populized it in 1859"

Very very wrong.

Comment by Jim Balter (jim-balter) on An Alien God · 2022-05-08T04:35:47.671Z · LW · GW

"there are advantages to having the retina at the back"

Such invented reasons are irrelevant because they aren't why the eye is the way it is.

Comment by Jim Balter (jim-balter) on An Alien God · 2022-05-08T04:31:11.755Z · LW · GW

"But it can, if you consider a toaster to be an embodied meme. "

"it" is "evolutionary biology", not "evolution", so no, it can't. And saying that "evolution" can explain something is a category mistake.

Comment by Jim Balter (jim-balter) on An Alien God · 2022-05-08T04:28:52.633Z · LW · GW

So?

Comment by Jim Balter (jim-balter) on An Alien God · 2022-05-08T04:28:19.509Z · LW · GW

"Calling evolution uninteligent is foolish egocentrism. "

No, it's just a fact.

"It is our concept of intelligence that is deficient in not accommodating other minds so different from our own."

The concept of intelligence is about intelligence, not something else.

Comment by Jim Balter (jim-balter) on An Alien God · 2022-05-08T04:26:55.580Z · LW · GW

"that would follow the same sort of engineering logic as putting a fuse on a toaster"

Not really.

Comment by Jim Balter (jim-balter) on An Alien God · 2022-05-08T04:25:01.763Z · LW · GW

"What do you think about it?"

It's wrong.