Jump to content
Science Forums

Impossibilities


sciman55

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 41
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

To juggle with 25 balls for half an hour

 

to know that you are the smartest being ever existed

 

to prove the inexistence of a god

 

to fly (without LSD and friends)

 

to say something that can be interpreted in only one way

 

Hope all this impossibilities help for a start and welcome to the forum!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

To be your own biological father...

/QUOTE]

 

Robert Heinlein wrote a short story I believe called "All You Zombies" that was released in Expanded Universe. It was about a time traveling hermaphrodite that impregnated him/herself. The child then disapeared soon after it was born. Taken by the "father" and returned to the orphanage back in time to become the mother....

 

A bit like the snake eating its tail.....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In a deterministic universe, free will is an impossibility.
As I have mentioned in another post, determinism does not preclude free will. If you presume that the Big Bang began the universe with all information load and that subsequent events are a result of that information load, this is determinism.

 

1) If you think the Big Bang was a natural event that did not involve a Creator, there would be no possibility of free will. This is Naturalism.

 

2) If you think a Creator set the Big Bang in play, and reserved some elements of humanity as separate (such as free will) you are a theist of some sort.

 

Either case is a postulate.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sure. I am a #2- although I don't know if it's humanity that's seperate alone, or life in general. But to say free will exists is either a claim to supernatural forces (i.e. God) or it's an impossibility.
Agreed.

 

It is also worth noting that free will is not the only casualty of Naturalism. Naturalism would also preclude beauty, morality and creativity. These perceptions would only be delusions that somehow advantage us in the selection process. Love itself would either be an additional delusion, or a derivitave delusion of one of the others.

 

For some people, this is a little at odds with experience.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Stable parental care is advantageous to the offspring. Love facilitates this (although not always).

 

Morality is useful in a social setting. All social animals have a hierarchy and a sytem to maintain order. A moral system does this.

 

Creativity exists, IMO, in two forms. You have ingenuity; creative problem solving. This is what propelled humans to the hugly adaptable creatures that we are. The other is artistic creativity. This exists as an exercise to stimulate and advance the vital ingenuity. Just as soccer is not a theological constuct (although some would argue) it is an excercise (as may sports are) that train physical and mental development.

 

These are not perfect systems and even more so in our ever changing society and must be examined in a naturalistic view as opposed to how they are applied today.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...

×
×
  • Create New...