🚀 go-pugleaf

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I wrote:

> The burden of proof is on those making the claim that such and such is "the
> meaning of  the universe".  Which purported meaning are you defending, and what
> is your evidence?

E.g. a few years back there was a good deal of noise about something called the
Anthropic
Principle, which some popular accounts held up as proof that the meaning of the
universe is
Life or Conciousness or some such. But it turned out  you can't predict anything
new with
the Anthropic Principle, so it died in physics rather quickly.  A related claim
that the constants
of nature had to be very precisely "tuned" or life could not have evolved has also
been exploded.

However,  news of  exploded claims of meaning and mystery spreads slowly, while
"news"
that  humans are miraculous and central to the cosmos, or have psychic powers, or
past lives,
or that prayer works etc. spreads quickly and is easily believed by many people;
it is what they
want to hear. In the population equilibrium that results, paranormal and religious
beliefs are
therefore pandemic, and skeptical beliefs are much more rare.

Citing the fact that "many persons are convinced" of these magical things is an
important data
point on human psychology, but not evidence of their reality. Many people are also
convinced
the government has extraterrestrials in pickle jars at Area 51  :-)

--
Alan McGowen

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I wrote:
<blockquote TYPE=CITE>The burden of proof is on those making the claim
that such and such is "the
<br>meaning of&nbsp; the universe".&nbsp; Which purported meaning are you
defending, and what is your evidence?</blockquote>
E.g. a few years back there was a good deal of noise about something called
the Anthropic
<br>Principle, which some popular accounts held up as proof that the meaning
of the universe is
<br>Life or Conciousness or some such. But it turned out&nbsp; you can't
predict anything new with
<br>the Anthropic Principle, so it died in physics rather quickly.&nbsp;
A related claim that the constants
<br>of nature had to be very precisely "tuned" or life could not have evolved
has also been exploded.
<p>However,&nbsp; news of&nbsp; exploded claims of meaning and mystery
spreads slowly, while "news"
<br>that&nbsp; humans are miraculous and central to the cosmos, or have
psychic powers, or past lives,
<br>or that prayer works etc. spreads quickly and is easily believed by
many people; it is what they
<br>want to hear. In the population equilibrium that results, paranormal
and religious beliefs are
<br>therefore pandemic, and skeptical beliefs are much more rare.
<p>Citing the fact that "many persons are convinced" of these magical things
is an important data
<br>point on human psychology, but not evidence of their reality. Many
people are also convinced
<br>the government has extraterrestrials in pickle jars at Area 51&nbsp;
:-)
<pre>--&nbsp;
Alan McGowen

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