How authentic are forums like these actually? With the rise of AI chatbots, internet interaction feels more fake than ever before. Why should I post here my opinions and thoughts, share articles etc. when probably most of you are just chatbots?

  • pjhenry1216@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    That’s not the inverse of Pascal’s Wager. “If p then q” has an inverse of “if not q then not p”. Plus you need to take into account the premises of the argument. There’s definitely a premise that if there is a god there is only one god. It doesn’t hold up otherwise. So the inverse of “if there is a god, then living this way gets me a good afterlife” is “if I dont get an afterlife, there is no god.” Which is still just fine. So there’s no real logical fallacy. The only subjective component the cost of living such a way. If it costs you nothing, then the argument states you should definitely act as if there is a god. If it costs a lot, then it becomes less obvious. The Wager is based off the idea that you don’t lose much by acting in accordance with the required lifestyle. It does ignore the concept that if there is a god, said god would likely have access to your thoughts and make it all moot.

    That being said, I’m still an atheist. But my point is that if I don’t know its a robot, I get the same result. Malicious actors can deploy bots, but there are also just as many malicious actors acting as trolls. So worrying about future unhappiness isn’t worth it in my opinion.

      • pjhenry1216@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        Again, it’s not belief in something else. It’s not believing in God. Belief in “not-God” or “anti-God” is logically a different concept entirely. It’s simply belief versus not believing. The major flaw is that it only works if there’s only one God and it’s the God that aligns with whatever belief system you’re claiming said God wants you to follow. If you use the premise of “if there is a god, it’s the Christian god”, and the premise “it costs very little to live a life according to God”, then the two loses are “I acted as if there was a god, lost a little bit of leisure, but no payoff” vs “I acted as if there was no god and now I’m doomed to eternal damnation.” The problem isn’t the logic. It’s the premises that are fallacious.

        • hoodatninja@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          Ok I’m going to sort of lay this out because I know what you’re referring to but it’s a distinct counter argument that’s different from the one I’m bringing up.

          We have no proof of god therefore we have 4 options:

          1. If god is not real and you don’t believe in him, you don’t get eternal happiness.
          2. If god is not real and you do believe in him, you don’t get eternal happiness.
          3. If god is real and you don’t believe in him, you don’t get eternal happiness.
          4. If god is real and you do believe in him, you get eternal happiness.

          Ergo, since only one outcome leads to eternal happiness - which is infinitely better than any other option - you should go with option 4.

          However, conversely one can say (because we have no proof/evidence and are going with theoreticals and a mathematical approach):

          1. If there is no anti-God, and you bet God Exists, you get nothing.
          2. If there is an anti God and you bet God does exist, you get nothing
          3. If there is no anti-God, and you bet No God, you get nothing
          4. If there is an anti-God and you bet No God, then you get eternal bliss

          Ergo, since only one outcome leads to eternal happiness - which is infinitely better than any other option - you should go with option 4.

          • pjhenry1216@kbin.social
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            1 year ago

            Except that isn’t a converse. It’s relying on the false premise of another god. The inverse of god existing is God not existing. You’re just making up a new proof that isn’t the converse, inverse, or contrapositive. You’re literally just saying what happens if there’s a different god.

            Pascal’s wager suffers from faulty premise, not logical inconsistency. You’re just doing a whole bunch of nonsense and extra work to say the same thing.

            • hoodatninja@kbin.social
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              1 year ago

              I think it’s still not clicking: “god” and “not god” are equally valid assertions. The whole point is to disprove the absurd logic of Pascal’s wager. You have no reason to believe any starting point any more than the other, thus the end results reflect any starting point you can come up with.

              • pjhenry1216@kbin.social
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                1 year ago

                Yes, but your “not god” is simply a different deity. So it’s a different proof. We’re back to the faulty premise.

                “God X” and “God Y” are equally valid assertions which violates the premise. I don’t care that you call it “anti-God” since you’re making it equivalent to a god and able to offer eternal rewards. Your entire logical argument is absurd. Pascal’s wager is famously known for suffering from false premise of finite loss and infinite reward. All of the absurdity of the wager comes from the premises which you continually ignore.

                • hoodatninja@kbin.social
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                  1 year ago

                  Yes it is a faulty premise that’s the point! I guess I wasn’t clear there. It’s designed to point out the issue with the logic by saying “this works for you because you already believe there is God, but the argument does not prove God, and I can just throw in anything in its place and it is equally valid to demonstrate that. Therefore, it is not a good argument.“

                  • pjhenry1216@kbin.social
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                    1 year ago

                    Faulty premise isn’t a logical fallacy though. That’s my whole problem here. False premise doesn’t mean the logic is invalid. This is an important concept in formal logic. The argument is fine. The foundation is not. You’re just now agreeing with what I originally said.