Rolling the dice for Dr. William Lane Craig

"Dr." William Lane Craig is a popular Christian apologist, who (in my humble opinion) makes numerous logical fallacies. Here I address one.

WLC debate:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zigL_UmgAl4

Evolution proves god:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUxm8dXLRpA

Dealing with Doubt:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYq-xNpokEs

Category:

Education

Tags:

• die
• dice
• probability
• probabilities
• chance
• predictions
• christian
• apologetics
• william
• lane
• craig

[rozeboosje]

Nick Gisburne did an excellent video about this once showing the HUGE difference between throwing all dice at once every time and hoping for them to come up all sixes, and throwing only the ones that didn't show sixes on each subsequent round. The latter is a MUCH better metaphor for evolution than the former and it leads to all sixes in surprisingly few rounds.

[askegg]

@rozeboosje Yes - that is an excellent video, however not quite the point of this video. Here I try to explain that the final results of a rule based system is equally probable as other results. Evolution has the rules you are referring to, so your point is complimentary.

[caralhoman]

There is another flaw with Craig's assumptions here.He presumes that the only possible outcome of evolution is this reality that we know.Well,THIS outcome is indeed little likely,but that is just ONE of the so many other possibilities

In other words,the chance of rolling 5 dice and getting 5 number twos is the same then getting 2 5 4 3 6 or any other sequence,EACH OF THESE SEQUENCES COULD BE A DIFFERENT MANIFESTATION OF EVOLUTION,so saying that one outcome is little likely does not mean much

[askegg]

@caralhoman That’s it exactly.

[tbeld]

Craig isn't comparing one possibility against all others. He is putting all possibilities into one of two groups and claiming one group is significantly larger than the other.

Also, having a meaningful outcome is significant. If you were playing cards with somebody who always dealt themselves a perfect hand, would you accept your probability argument thrown back at you?

[askegg]

@tbeld Not sure what you mean by your first statement - care to clarify?

As for the second - who is defining what is a “meaningful outcome”?

[CrazedCousinDougal]

Someone: "So, Dr Craig, what did you eat for breakfast this morning?"

Craig: "Sultana Bran."

Someone: "But there are so many cereals in the world. The probably that you would have had Sultana Bran is extremely low. So low, in fact, that it is close to zero. Therefore, I state that you DID NOT eat Sultana Bran."

Craig: "Yes I did!"

Someone: "I like Corn Flakes. I suggest to you that you actually ate Corn Flakes."

Craig: "Huh?"

Someone: "You must agree with me. I'm a breakfast philosopher!"

[askegg]

@JohananRaatz WLC believes god created the universe. While it may not fit the young earth creationism mould, it certainly is creationism.

[C0br4Br0s]

@rozeboosje thanks i enjoyed the video

[rozeboosje]

@C0br4Br0s It was a long time ago, and Nick has since removed it. But I reproduced the idea in a video using coins rather than dice: watch?v=2ftt24BvPdg

[C0br4Br0s]

@rozeboosje what is the video called i wana see it

[shockoflogic]

great video, sir.

[rozeboosje]

@askegg Exactly. It's an addition to your argument, not a critique of it. ;-)