Things You Can't Prove, But Believe

[Lord Mountbatten Reborn]

-Violent games don't make you violent. Seeing an action does not inform it.
This applies not only to violence, of course.
Again, hard to argue against for the lack of "proof".
Ain't no magic word out there explaining it all but you just know it's true. I hope.

Interestingly enough, when I went to watch the Avengers film, one of the people I was with upon leaving the cinema asked if, after watching the film, anyone else felt like just punching something. As the only one of the group who played a lot of violent video games (indeed, as far as I could tell, any), I had no inclination to do so and was furthermore surprised that anyone else would.

So yes, if anything the argument should be over how influential external factors are to the individual, in comparison to said individual's internal make-up. Of course, having something physical to blame is so much easier in the end.

 

[keinechance]

Humans - Chimpanzees -> 96% identical genes.

Humans - Mice -> 80% identical genes.

As for "unique" behavior:

http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Human_and_ape_behavior

http://www.jqjacobs.net/anthro/paleo/primates.html

Well obviously.
But do those animals speak multiple languages, or have cars?
Do they do art, or science?
No, and that's my point. We're so different in other ways than genes and common behaviour.

Do you have retractable claws?

Can you fly on your own power?

Can you carry 7 times your own weight?

Animals are so far advanced over us, that I don't believe...

Can any such animal take control of the planet? Have they made as much progress as we have over the past 2000+ years? What, besides survival, have they achieved exactly?

Though I believe mankind is far from the chosen unique people a lot seem to think it is, there is no harm in being proud of ourselves.

The earliest trace fossils of Bacteria on earth come from old exposed stromatalite reefs in north Western Australia. These have been dated at around 3.7 billion years old.

Thanks to genome sequencing, it is estimated that chimps and humans diverged from their common ancestor about 6 million years ago.

If humanity survives that long, you can talk about "controlling" the planet.

There is no harm in being proud of ourselves, but there is harm in believing that our recent success will ensure that it stayes that way.

 

[keinechance]

Well obviously.
But do those animals speak multiple languages, or have cars?
Do they do art, or science?
No, and that's my point. We're so different in other ways than genes and common behaviour.

Do you have retractable claws?

Can you fly on your own power?

Can you carry 7 times your own weight?

Animals are so far advanced over us, that I don't believe...

Having a natural survival ability is, in my opinion, totally different than being able to do all the things we do, just for the sake of it.
Animals can fly, swim, all sorts of wondrous things to defend themselves, but that's a part of their natural survival.

Art, science, philosophy, entertainment, are totally unnecessary for our survival, but we have them anyway.

Even with your argument that animals are more advanced than us, that still backs up my belief in some kind of creator/god due to how naturally incredible they are.

So now it's no longer us humans that are incredible, but all living beings that are incredible?

 

[Aerosteam]

-Violent games don't make you violent. Seeing an action does not inform it.
This applies not only to violence, of course.
Again, hard to argue against for the lack of "proof".
Ain't no magic word out there explaining it all but you just know it's true. I hope.

Isn't the proof for violence in video games not effecting violence in real life the lack of evidence for the opposite thing?

I think so.

 

[Captain Pirate]

Well obviously.
But do those animals speak multiple languages, or have cars?
Do they do art, or science?
No, and that's my point. We're so different in other ways than genes and common behaviour.

Do you have retractable claws?

Can you fly on your own power?

Can you carry 7 times your own weight?

Animals are so far advanced over us, that I don't believe...

Having a natural survival ability is, in my opinion, totally different than being able to do all the things we do, just for the sake of it.
Animals can fly, swim, all sorts of wondrous things to defend themselves, but that's a part of their natural survival.

Art, science, philosophy, entertainment, are totally unnecessary for our survival, but we have them anyway.

Even with your argument that animals are more advanced than us, that still backs up my belief in some kind of creator/god due to how naturally incredible they are.

So now it's no longer us humans that are incredible, but all living beings that are incredible?

Well, I never said other things weren't. I just said humans are my prime example.
This whole planet is incredible in my opinion.

 

[CrystalShadow]

Consciousness.

This is by far the worst one.

I know I'm experiencing something, but I can't prove it at all.

Furthermore, while I know i am experiencing something (it's a fact for me personally), that anyone else on the planet is also experiencing something is conjecture, inference and speculation.

I can't prove it, and nor do I have any way of knowing it other than assuming it to be true because the rest of you bear some physical resemblance to the thing I experience as being my own body.

Aren't the implications of the weakest form of Solipsism great? XD

I've seen a lot of people reject a philosophy out of hand if it resembles Solipsism, but the justification for that seems to be that if you accept a position based around Solipsism it becomes completely impossible to determine if anything really exists or not at all.

Thus, you run into a bit of a practical problem using it as a foundation for anything else.

 

[Tiger Sora]

Wire Gnomes. My own theory on why wires tangle up. Maybe not gnomes, but something.
I know it's not real, but I choose to believe in my own creation.

 

[Caliostro]

Nothing.

Generally speaking I don't believe in things that don't have any kind of backing. Why would I believe them then? Seems illogical.

 

[Erttheking]

That we will be on mars by the end if the century.....can't a man dream?!

 

[Relish in Chaos]

-I'm kind of a solipsist.
-God or any gods don't exist, and anyone who believes in God or a god are insane.
-Religion is fucking stupid and inherently harmful to anyone associated with it.
-Existence itself doesn't exist.
-There's no design to the universe, as existence itself is entirely random. If there is a design, it's a pretty abstract, arbitrary one.
-Good and evil doesn't exist, and morality is merely a societal construct.
-Karma doesn't exist, because you can try to be a fucking saint throughout your life and bad things still screw you over in life at every turn.
-However, reincarnation is a possibility, but not in the religious soul sense. I guess it's just like seeing things from a different perspective. Someone's gotta be that new baby, look through the eyes of it, or something like that.
-I have bad luck. I can't be bothered to explain why, and it's much more complex than you think.
-All sexuality is natural, and there's a very small minority of people that are 100% heterosexual.
-Almost all politicians are corrupt.
-Aliens exist.
-Time travel doesn?t and never will exist, because neither the past nor the future necessarily exists since the past has been and gone, while the future hasn?t even happened yet. If someone had travelled back in time to kill Hitler or something, we?d know about it, but no sign of anything like that.
-Humanity will eventually destroy itself, whether it be through global warming, resources running out, over-population or, heck, even the rise of the machines.
-I don?t entirely trust statistics, and believe that exams are stupid because you can?t reduce the sum of a person?s intelligence in one subject into one restricted little number or grade, in a one-time set of circumstances that can affect people in different ways (e.g. stress).

 

[Haagrum]

That stupid people have increasingly greater influence in the world, on the grounds that their vote is as valuable as anyone else's, that they are breeding more rapidly than people who spend a few years getting educated and working hard towards career-related goals, and that they are less likely to critically evaluate information rather than simply parrot it as truth.

Exhibit A: Glenn Beck being popular (at least, for a while).
Exhibit B: Rush Limbaugh still having listeners.
Exhibit C: The "national conversation" about the carbon pricing mechanism and the "Election Now!" slogans here in Australia.

 

[Lt._nefarious]

Aliens (but like the aliens from Star Wars or Mass Effect) and Shadow People who are like echoes from a parallel world...

 

[Scarim Coral]

That there are more good to the world than evil like murders, parent killing their babies, greed and etc. You know the types that make you lose your humanity over.
Ok this probably can be proven but I assuming if anyone want to prove this, he or she would had to compile a tally chat of all the good and bad activites daily to get a result.

 

[Hypno-Sheep]

I beleive in alien life forms from bacteria through to a fully developed species like humanity. We have only seen a tiny fragment of the universe and i think to discredit the existence of other life forms just because we cant see them or through religious reasoning is wrong.

I believe in the existence of a god like entity having created us. I have absolutely no reasoning for this belief, its just something i have always accepted as truth.

I also think that moments of deja vu are our brains having actually seen into the future and are subconsciously trying to warn us. These are warnings in my experiences anyway, like when I crashed my first car and injured my friend, or when i was held hostage at work. I think this is true because i remember reading a report about how humans only use around 5-10% of their actual brain power. Who knows what the other 95% is doing.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

Call me paranoid, but I believe big businesses like TV channel executives are trying to take over by manipulating our government so that they can call the shots.

That there are more good to the world than evil like murders, parent killing their babies, greed and etc. You know the types that make you lose your humanity over.
Ok this probably can be proven but I assuming if anyone want to prove this, he or she would had to compile a tally chat of all the good and bad activites daily to get a result.

I want to believe this, but it's hard for my paranoid mind sometimes...

 

[SidheKnight]

I can't prove it, but I'm pretty sure the US goverment knew about the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center beforehand, and let it happen anyway so they had an excuse to go to war and keep the military-industrial complex running.

There's a documentary movie about it IIRC.

 

[Terminate421]

God exists. I know he's there but I cannot prove it. Doesnt mean I am wrong at all.

Actually if you say "God exists and that's a fact", you do have to have some kind of proof.

Also, which god? Zeus? Hera? Poseidon? Or one of the less popular ones?

I'm catholic so the only name we have for God is, ironically enough, God.

I also believe Jesus died for our sins. etc. But I do not take the bible word for word, I respect others and follow the phrase "Hate the sin, love the sinner" (Thanks for at least being respectful, I so much as say the word Jesus and I am harassed for believing because "lolz u belive in GoD")

 

[keinechance]

Well obviously.
But do those animals speak multiple languages, or have cars?
Do they do art, or science?
No, and that's my point. We're so different in other ways than genes and common behaviour.

Do you have retractable claws?

Can you fly on your own power?

Can you carry 7 times your own weight?

Animals are so far advanced over us, that I don't believe...

Having a natural survival ability is, in my opinion, totally different than being able to do all the things we do, just for the sake of it.
Animals can fly, swim, all sorts of wondrous things to defend themselves, but that's a part of their natural survival.

Art, science, philosophy, entertainment, are totally unnecessary for our survival, but we have them anyway.

Even with your argument that animals are more advanced than us, that still backs up my belief in some kind of creator/god due to how naturally incredible they are.

So now it's no longer us humans that are incredible, but all living beings that are incredible?

Well, I never said other things weren't. I just said humans are my prime example.
This whole planet is incredible in my opinion.

It is.

But the reason I am having this discussion with you is your first post:

Some form of God.
Now, before you all have a rant at me, I said 'some form of'. Not "The Christian God" or any other one, but some kind of creator.
I just find it immensely hard to believe that we, humans, who have advanced beyond our primal instincts so much that we barely resemble our fellow animals, happened by accident.
The world is too awesome for me to just think it was all random.

What you are essentially saying is: " I believe a God exists, because the whole planet is too incredible to come about without some God."

You are essentially saying this incredible planet is your "proof" of a God.

And I object to your saying that this is "proof" of a God.

If you had said: "I believe in some form of God, even if I have no proof.", I wouldn't have bothered you with my posts.

 

[Tanakh]

I'm catholic so the only name we have for God is, ironically enough, God.

Lord, Jehovah, the creator come to mind. Actually let me look... yeah, there is an entire wikipedia article about the names for god in chistianity (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_God_in_Christianity) and for catholics in specific there are shitloads church approved names for Jesus (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09290a.htm) and since god is Jesus and Jesus is god, those are also names for god.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

SO MANY THINGS.

For example, I can't prove that certain authors wrote the books that they wrote. I can't prove that Africa exists (I've never been there or seen it, only ever photographs or recounts of it). I can't prove a whole lot of things from physics and chemistry. I can't even prove that my hair is brown by myself, for all I know I have screwed up vision and no-one has felt the need to point out that it isn't because I haven't asserted it to that point. But I accept and believe all these things to various degrees.

On a more serious note though, I believe that every action is the only possible reaction to the conditions that bring it about, and I can't prove that either.