From a previous thread
>>The laws of logic are based on reality. A spaniel is a dog. Dogs are not cats. Therefore a spaniel is not a cat.<<
His response
How do you know that a spaniel will not be a cat 5 seconds from now? How do you know that it won’t be a typewriter?
60 comments
Actually that's an interesting point. We don't know that a dog will continue to exist in 5 seconds. Just because the sun has risen every other morning doesn't mean that it definitely will tomorrow, just that we have reason to think it probably will.
Science doesn't apply 100% certainty to any proposition for that very reason. That's why we label everything as a "theory" rather than demanding that all our pronouncements be determined infallible.
-Frank
Induction. We think a spaniel won't magically become a typewriter because it never has and we have no reason to.
Magic, however, seems to shape the whole fundie world view...
Inductive reasoning. There's nothing to say it can't happen, but since this is from past experience highly unlikely we live our lives as though it won't, because otherwise we'd have to consider all those possibilities and would probably end up paralyzed by indecisiveness.
"How do you know that a spaniel will not be a cat 5 seconds from now? How do you know that it won’t be a typewriter?"
I have to admit, if this were true life would certainly be more interesting. It's still stupid though.
How do you know that it won’t be a typewriter?
According to quantum physics, I suppose there's an incredibly small but non-zero chance it could be. What, beyond troll-baiting sophistry, is the point of the question?
We don't, but since such a thing has never been observed, and would in fact violate several of the laws of physics as we understand them, I'd say that the probability of it happening is so small that it might as well be zero.
How do you know that a spaniel will not be a cat 5 seconds from now? How do you know that it won’t be a typewriter?
If you hire David Copperfield, he can turn the spaniel into a typewriter for you.
Sye tenb is trying to show that the problem of induction is "solved" by appealing to God.
The only problem is, like every other problem that positing God supposedly "solves", it doesn't really solve anything.
It just appeals to the brute fact argument "Goddidit" as the supposed answer.
Hmm, that spaniel to typewriter transition must be reversible. So just think, if you had an infinite number of monkeys typing on typewriters all at once, in any given second, an infinite number of those typewriters are turning into spaniels! They're probably pretty pissed, too. I can just imagine the chaos.
raise keyboard above head.
Bring keyboard back down with not inconsiderable force on sye tenb's head in the vague hope of gaining some peace from the unending, and insulting, stupidity that these people vomit forth under the guise of debate.
Consider whether a jury would convict, or allow justifiable homicide.
What, beyond troll-baiting sophistry, is the point of the question?
There is no point beyond troll-baiting sophistry.
If its any help, my dog once turned into a driveway.
Hey, my car did that too!
"How do you know that a spaniel will not be a cat 5 seconds from now? How do you know that it won’t be a typewriter?"
Indeed, such things happen all the time. Why, just yesterday, I drove home from work and turned into a driveway.
Sadly, the laws of logic are NOT based on reality. They are formal systems. The several types of (valid) logical system are as unrelated to reality as plane geometry is to the surface of the Earth.
Because there is no mechanism for thus to happen, and it's never observed to have happened.
INDUCTIVE LOGIC, BITCHES!
How do you know that a spaniel will not be a cat 5 seconds from now? How do you know that it won’t be a typewriter?
The goddess Discordia told me She doesn't perform lame tricks like that, that's how.
Only God can turn a cat into a typewriter in five seconds. So why doesn't he, just to prove he can? Maybe because even he is awestruck by the stupidity of your remark or, somewhat more probably, because he doesn't exist?
You know, I've seen some stupefyingly idiotic remarks about evolution but this really does just about win the Gold Medal. So much so that I would have to think, Poe.
"How do you know that a spaniel will not be a cat 5 seconds from now? How do you know that it won’t be a typewriter?"
image image
X3 =^_^=
No sye tenb, you are the typewriters, said Laptop Cat and Sanada.
And then sye tenb was a John Bull Printing Set:
http://squirrelbasket.wordpress.com/2010/04/21/toys-of-the-trade-john-bull-outfit-and-lilliput-typewriter/
--EDIT--
@Typweriter
"Woof"
A sick joke, I know, but is relevant in this case:
Q: How do you turn a cat into a dog?
A: Set it on fire, and it goes 'WOOF!'
In the same way that you can turn a duck into a soul singer: Put it in a microwave oven, until it's Bill Withers.
...I'll get my coat.
X3
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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