Comments on: Do You Believe in Magic?

By: Bodhidharma

Bodhidharma — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 16:53:04 +0000

If there is something like magic - there must be people who are very good at it, or? If you are worthy, don’t you think that they will find you?

Otherwise: of course there is no magic! All just mumbojumbo… :>

By: spyder

spyder — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 18:59:40 +0000

What, exactly, is the proof for the assumptions that make miracles improbable or impossible?

One word, short answer, complete thought: SEMIOTICS

By: Kevin Winters

Kevin Winters — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 13:53:33 +0000

spdyer: “Well, a person of a certain faith would leap up and scream miracle, while a reasoned and well-informed medical practitioner would describe it as a remission.”

And what about the “reasoned and well-informed medical practitioner” who believes in miracles? The practitioner cannot determine the exact causes of the caner’s remission and it is only by faith in the assumptions of science that one can dismiss it. What, exactly, is the proof for the assumptions that make miracles improbable or impossible? What experiment (or, if you will, set of experiments) finally laid bare the impossibility of belief in God? I would wager that it is the mere assumptions of many scientists that make that belief impossible, not any determinate data or experiment.

By: Stephen Uitti

Stephen Uitti — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 23:51:02 +0000

Quantum entanglement looks like magic. AFAIK, no one has any idea how it works.

By: Giles

Giles — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 17:52:07 +0000

“Magic” saidÂ : “If “magic” does not exist, where comes from this word?”

The word “magic” refers to a concept or to an idea, not necessarily to a reality or an object. Like the word “Unicorn”. We need words for things that do not exist.

By: magic

magic — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 13:30:40 +0000

If “magic” does not exist, where comes from this word?
…When the telephone was invented, there were many dark brained people who said it will be worthless.

By: greg

greg — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 12:58:32 +0000

Your religon bashing is far to religous for my liking.

What ever happed to tolerance? What is with amercain Science these days that they need to hit anyone with faith in some God?

Its not like that here in the EU.

By: Giles

Giles — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 06:59:58 +0000

I’m about to teach and then fly to D.C. […]

This looks like magic to meÂ !

By: Scott

Scott — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 02:28:56 +0000

I think science and a little magical thinking can be cool assets to enrich our lives.

By: Carl Brannen

Carl Brannen — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 00:41:32 +0000

That humans have a tendency to give magic explanations for random things is undoubted. However, this doesn’t go very far at proving that humans also invented God. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

One might reverse the microscope. Suppose several of my liver cells began wondering if they were part of a huge organism that had mysterious motivations that were beyond their understanding. I dare say that the more scientific liver cells would express disbelief in my existence, but would instead assume some sort of mechanical universe, too big to understand, but with no free will.

In short, if I assume that I have free will, it becomes impossible for me to refute the assumption that things much larger than me, i.e. the universe as a whole, also has free will. The free will of the universe would be expressed in modifications of the laws of physics as subtle for me to observe, as the subtle coincidences that my liver cells would have difficulty observing.

On the other hand, if I assume that I do not have free will, then why should I expect to increase my understanding of myself by studying physics. And if I assume that everyone else is just a bag of chemicals, then why shouldn’t I use them at my convenience.