Pascal's wager and climate change

A new version of one of my older videos. Similarities between pascal's wager (the astoundingly incompetent argument for why people should believe in god out of fear) and the arguments for anthropogenic climate change (the astoundingly incompetent argument for why people should believe that CO2 will wipe out human civilization).

Category:

Education

Tags:

• climate
• change
• pascals
• wager
• zombies
• hulk
• hogan
• carbon
• dioxide
• CO2
• god
• religion

[th3g1vr]

danni@ "If you give up on the concept of liberty, you may as well kill yourself."

I guess you're not familiar with various movements supporting this notion, i.e. communism. For the record, I personally believe freewill to exist only as an illusion, and for me, that gives me all the more reason to live. Question: How can a person conditioned to live the way they do be free? Is there anything you believe in that wasn't influenced by other people's beliefs & ideas? I don't you can honestly say so.

[dannidandannikins]

@th3g1vr Excuse me, Marx explicitly cited determinism - economic historicism and class consciousness - in forming his political ideology so if you want to accuse me of being akin to a communist then you ought to get your facts right first.

" Is there anything you believe in that wasn't influenced by other people's beliefs & ideas?"

have had many teachers and so on but that doesn't alter the fact that I am conscious and have the free will to reject or accept what I am taught.

[th3g1vr]

@dannidandannikins first off, philosophy does not deal with "facts"-- when I say communism, I am referring to my interpretation of it, which is as good as any, regardless of whether you agree.

secondly, I'm not talking about Marxism, but about communism-in-the-real-world, e.g. China. Do you think the Chinese people have anything that *reasonably* resembles liberty? what I was referring to as far as freewill: even if you are "free", the self upon which that freedom is based was conditioned.

[dannidandannikins]

@th3g1vr " first off, philosophy does not deal with "facts""

Is that a fact? If yes then it contradicts your entire conception of what philosophy is; if not then I don't see why I should bother giving it any consideration. You are attempting to smuggle in metaphysical subjectivism, which is as contemptible an endeavor as any I can think of and an explicit rejection of logic as the standard of philosophical discourse. I won't pretend to debate anything with you while you deny objective reality.

[Gothguy47]

FINALLY! SOMEONE WHO SAW PASCAL'S WAGER WRITTEN ALL OVER THAT RIDICULOUS VIDEO!

[RevDevilin]

I've just watched the original vid, and thought Pascal's wager while watching, so looked for it in the vid responses and here you are ;-) well done a good use of critical thinking skills

[dannidandannikins]

@th3g1vr I don't care if your college professor thinks you use grammar well. The objective fact is that your comment was, at the very least, unclear.

btw, I can't be bolloxed to argue anything with someone who thinks that "[objective reality] should exist only so far as it is useful; to say that objective reality is the only reality is to deny the merits of more open-ended thinking." since such a person is claiming a merit to meaningless subjective assertion... you're blocked for being stupid.

[th3g1vr]

@dannidandannikins ad hominem. What does my grammar (which BTW is A+ according to my college professor) have to do with the price of tea in China?

[th3g1vr]

@dannidandannikins I am not saying that you are wrong. I am saying that you are wrong for thinking that I am wrong. As a subjectivist I do not deny objective reality existing, but I think it should exist only so far as it is useful; to say that objective reality is the only reality is to deny the merits of more open-ended thinking. If Subjective = Potential, and Objective = actual, then the maximum amount of potential would be a balance between these two; this merits a degree of Subjectivism.

[GorterPoss]

I am willing to give you 5$ for membership in the Church of Dan. Thanks for posting this. Pascal's wager crossed my mind when I saw the original video you are responding to. I am glad you took the time to make these points.

[dannidandannikins]

@th3g1vr The words you used equated my statement with communism; if that was your intent then I have refuted it by contrasting my statement with those of Marx; if that was not your intent then I will gently suggest that you research English grammar before commenting again.