Not sure if this will go anywhere, but who the fuck cares.

Scenario 1 - gold
Either an absolutely massive supply of gold is discovered or, better yet, somebody discovers a way to synthetically create an exact replica, with the difference between the real thing and the synthetic is undetectable.

Discuss either this scenario, or pose your own.

Not sure if this will go anywhere, but who the fuck cares.

Scenario 1 - god
Fixed. :)

Scenario 2 - Cancer
Somebody's got the cure, but is reserving treatments for only the very weathiest of the wealthy.

Not sure if this will go anywhere, but who the fuck cares.

Scenario 1 - gold
Either an absolutely massive supply of gold is discovered or, better yet, somebody discovers a way to synthetically create an exact replica, with the difference between the real thing and the synthetic is undetectable.

Discuss either this scenario, or pose your own.
I imagine that a crack team led by the vatican, Bruce Willis and Danny Aiello would save us all.

The mere existence of such a team could also cause chaos to ensue.

Scenario 1 - god

That's actually a good one.

If someone, somehow, was able to indisputably prove the existence of God.

Probably impossible to "indisputably prove" such a thing (for several reasons), but hey.

Scenario 4 - out of coffee



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjALX90wrA0

That's actually a good one.

If someone, somehow, was able to indisputably prove the existence of God.

Probably impossible to "indisputably prove" such a thing (for several reasons), but hey.

Fair warning: This will be the first and last time I ever get deeply into the philosophy behind God on this board.

As far as I can tell, no one can prove God exists because no one has ever defined what God is supposed to be. If you never define what it is that you're supposed to be proving, no evidence will ever suffice. Evidence for what, exactly?

To logically establish the existence of something, it must have criteria that can be matched by evidence. Location, color, mass, energy, shape, etc. But "God" has never been given any of these characteristics. To give God these characteristics, theologians say, would be to limit an unlimited entity. They are right that all characteristics define limitations. To call something "blue" is to define the limit of visible EM frequencies the object absorbs. To call something "20 feet by 40 feet" is to define the dimensional boundaries that the object does not exceed.

As such, God, an infinite being, has no location, color, mass, energy, shape, etc., any of the characteristics that any evidence could possibly match. "Limitless" is not a characteristic, because all characteristics are limits. "Kind" or "benevolent" are not characteristics either, because those do not say anything about the entity which personifies these words. In fact, when it comes right down to it, all the words that people use to describe "God" are also words that describe "nothingness": no limits, no location, no mass, no energy, no appearance.

In discourse, people frequently get into farcical disagreements about God, because each party believes that he or she knows what the other party means when the other party says the word "God," but this is clearly not the case. As such the proper logical approach (that is, in the Socratic dialectical sense) to any discussion of God is to halt any discussion immediately when the word appears, and require the speaker to provide some meaningful definition of the word. Those who utilize this advice would do well to make themselves comfortable and provide for basic necessities as the request has not been satisfactorily met in the twenty-five centuries since it was first made.

Dude, Swami, I've always felt the same exact way. Just not as intelligently.

I think that if He appeared as a guest on Maury, that would be pretty convincing.

You ARE the Father!

You ARE the Father!

Okay, that was incredible, Mxy.

Is it OK if I report that post as being too awesome for my eyes?

I imagine that a crack team led by the vatican, Bruce Willis and Danny Aiello would save us all.

Nice.