tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7845033387261056543.post3624847541347186787..comments2023-03-25T09:22:39.413-04:00Comments on The Silver Skeptic: First Cause: Part IZaqhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981240468406712287noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7845033387261056543.post-71237554133013611122012-03-28T15:42:37.184-04:002012-03-28T15:42:37.184-04:00@Kent: I'm delaying the physics and math stuff...@Kent: I'm delaying the physics and math stuff until next post because it's more technical.<br /><br />@Anonymous: Plank time is just a unit of time created from combining fundamental constants. It might represent some lower bound on temporal divisibility, but it might not. The problem is that we don't yet have a well-supported theory of quantum gravity, so we don't know what will happen when we quantize spacetime.Zaqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09981240468406712287noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7845033387261056543.post-63772502547126877102012-03-26T17:04:13.535-04:002012-03-26T17:04:13.535-04:00Great piece here, looking forward to part 2!
I re...Great piece here, looking forward to part 2!<br /><br />I readily admit I have but a layman's understanding of any sort of physics, but does Plank time present some issues for the idea of there being an infinite number of moments within a given period of time?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7845033387261056543.post-34649572804313066342012-03-26T15:22:23.859-04:002012-03-26T15:22:23.859-04:00Interesting. I've never actually heard the cou...Interesting. I've never actually heard the counting part of the argument Zaq. Usually I see the AFC formalized as:<br /><br />Premise 1: All events have a cause.<br />Premise 2: An infinite series of cause and effect is impossible.<br />Lemma 1: Therefore, the universe must have a cause.<br />Conclusion: That cause would be the first cause, and we call it God.<br /><br />I usually refute this slightly differently than you have. I point out that premise 1 is not true (citing atomic decay or subatomic particles popping into and out of existence as an example of uncaused events). Premise 2 is not vindicated (a serial universe could be possible, as could an infinite number of universes branching off one another). Lemma 1 only follows if the first 2 premises are sound (they aren't), and its not even clear if we can talk about a 'cause' of the universe in a meaningful way because we have trouble defining non-temporal cause and effect. Finally, the conclusion commits both the special pleading fallacy you noted, and jumps from "The universe had some cause" to "The universe has an uncaused cause that has the properties of my god (agency, omnipotence, benevolence, etc.)."Surramnoreply@blogger.com