I'm curious what others think of this debate and I'd like to be challenged in my evaluation of the arguments presented.
Context
Although I grew up Protestant and still lean toward belief in something transcendent, these days I find agnosticism to be the label which fits me best. As such, I've been diving further into philosophy of religion in search of answers to the questions which led here (or, if nothing else, to better understand those questions and why they're so difficult to answer).
Main idea
In approaching things like this debate, I try to be aware of any bias which remains from my Christian upbringing and maintain an open mind. With that said, I found Atkins' arguments for atheism and against theism to be poorly structured and unconvincing. Aside from the arguments regarding the resurrection, I found Craig's arguments quite compelling, especially in the face of Atkins' counter arguments, which hardly challenged my thoughts on the arguments at all.
Am I being swayed by my bias in criticizing Atkins' arguments, or were his arguments really that bad?
Additional thoughts
What, of Atkins' arguments or counter arguments, did you find particularly convincing? Perhaps I did not understand his arguments well enough to be persuaded by them.
How might you have attacked any of the debate's arguments differently than was done by either debater?
Lastly, any other thoughts?
Next up in the Shaastra Spotlight series, we have none other than Dr. Peter Atkins, Renowned Chemist & Prolific Author of several chemistry books speaking on “The Origin of Laws of Nature” who is set to take you up a nostalgic ride of our freshman year!
Dr. Peter Atkins was professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Oxford from 1965 until his retirement in 2007. He has published over 70 books including university-level textbooks and books on science for the general public worldwide. The best known of the former is his Physical Chemistry text, which is used throughout the world including our CY1001 course!
Catch his enthralling talk live only on Atthah & Shaastra IITM's YouTube channel on 25th February (Thursday) at 4:00 PM IST.
Link : https://youtu.be/kJCBvTdPfYw
#BeintheSpotlight
https://preview.redd.it/t276g6f6v9j61.jpg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8cbfcf724855bd92592fc89ab7d031bd16e5484c
Chemist Peter Atkins argues in his book Conjuring the Universe: The Origins of the Laws of Nature (video here) that the nothingness preceding the Big Bang had total symmetry (which seems fair to me, visually at least, since nothingness has no asymmetries) . And that by Noether's Theorem, this means that the Universe obeys laws of conservation (time-symmetry entails mass-energy conservation, translational symmetry entails linear momentum conservation, rotational symmetry entails angular momentum conservation).
And so, even today when we sum up the mass-energy of galaxies, it cancels out with gravity, resulting in 0 total mass-energy. When we sum up the momentum of galaxies, it results in 0.
So the Universe simply inherits the 0 mass-energy and momentum of the nothingness preceding the Big Bang. According to Atkins, "not much happened" during the Big Bang, so technically there is no "Why is there something rather than nothing?" question to ask at all since there has always been nothing.
Peter Atkins goes on to show how the various other laws of nature can be derived from the nothingness and various other anarchic considerations.
What do philosophers and physicists think about this theory?
Personally I find it plausible because it has high explanatory/unificatory power and simplicity. All we posit is nothingness, symmetry of that nothingness, and the Big Bang, and we get everything for free. No need to posit "god-given" laws of nature.
Episode 282 of The Clive Barker Podcast, Jose and Ryan are joined by Ed Martinez and Nina Arlene, with special returning guest, Peter Atkins! We come back to his life in Liverpool, growing up with Clive Barker, his amazing fiction, and of course, Hellraiser.
http://www.clivebarkercast.com/2020/10/25/282-halloween-the-return-of-pete-atkins/
https://preview.redd.it/555s1r0q0dv51.jpg?width=1450&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2c81bfe584509c1d641f6ed5e1d8b018b518fad5
Lots of people here always get interested whenever a scientist is on. The recent Brian Greene episode had a lot of people asking the "big questions" we all ask and wonder about at some point and demanding real, satisfying answers that make sense and are rooted in reason. "Woo" answers suck.
And I don't just include the physics of the Big Bang, I also mean those even further "prior" questions that people usually tell us to STFU about, like "why is there something rather than nothing? How could nothingness bootstrap itself into somethingness?" or "Why 3 dimension?"
These are questions that, when I ask them, some fake smartypants will go ThAt'S a MeAnIngLEsS qUeStIoN loL because they don't know the answer.
Both Creation and Creation Revisited are incredibly well written as well as just fucking mind blowing at offering real, plausible, satisfying scientific approaches towards these questions. There is zero "woo". In fact I'd say there is massively negative woo. These books are like a woo vaccine. The fact that he can give such pointed, precise and satisfying answers in such a simple way that even my dumb ass can understand it, is amazing.
So yeah just check em out. Please tell me some good recommendations for similar books too if you know some good ones.
Physical Chemistry Thermodynamics, Structure, and Change 10th Edition ISBN 1429290196 9781429290197 [ Solutions Manual & PDF Peter Atkins, Julio de Paula ]
If you are interested in the Instructor Solutions Manual and/or the eBook (pdf)
Send email to: markrainsun"@"gmail(dot)com to ORDER
Use Ctrl+F to search your own ebook title
Computer Architecture: Pipelined And Parallel Processor Design ISBN-13: 978-0867202045 [ Solutions Manual & PDF Michael J. Flynn ]
Fractal Geometry: Mathematical Foundations and Applications 2nd Edition ISBN 13: 9780470848623 [ Solutions Manual & PDF Falconer, Kenneth J. ]
Microelectronics Circuit Analysis and Design 4th Edition 2009 [ Solutions Manual & PDF Donald A. Neamen ] ISBN 0073380644 9780073380643
Calculus, Single + Multivariable 6th Edition ISBN-13: 978-1118547854 [ Solutions Manual & PDF Deborah Hughes-Hallett, Andrew M. Gleason, William G. McCallum, Daniel E. Flath, Patti Frazer Lock, Sheldon P. Gordon, David O. Lomen ]
Trigonometry: A Unit Circle Approach, 8th ISBN 13: 9780132392792 [ Solutions Manual & PDF Michael Sullivan ]
Introduction to Modern Statistical Mechanics ISBN: 0195042778 / 9780195042771 [ Solutions Manual & PDF David Chandler, David Wu ]
Mechanical Measurements 6th Edition ISBN-13: 978-0201847659 [ Solutions Manual & PDF Thomas G. Beckwith, Roy D. Marangoni, John H. Lienhard V ]
Engineering Mechanics Statics 6th Edition ISBN-13: 978-0471739326 [ Solutions Manual & PDF J. L. Meriam, L. G. Kraige ]
Chemistry, 2nd edition ISBN 13: 9780073375649 [ Solutions Manual & PDF Burdge, Julia ]
Electrical Engineering: Principles and Applications 4th Edition ISBN-13: 978-0131989221 [ Solutions Manual & PDF Allan R. Hambley ]
An Introduction to the Finite Element Method, 3rd Edition ISBN-13: 978-0070607415 [ Solutions Manual & PDF Reddy, J N ]
Computer Science Illuminated 4th Edition ASIN: B008CM9CH0 [ Solutions Manual & PDF Nell Dale, John Lewis ]
MATLAB: An Introduction with Applications 5th Edition ISBN: 9781118629864 [ Solutions Manual & PDF Amos Gilat ]
Advanced Industrial Economics ISBN-13 9780631217565 [ Solutions Manual & PDF Stephen Martin ]
University Calculus : Early Transcendentals 3rd Edition [ Solutions Manual & PDF Joel R. Hass; ] ISBN: 0321999584 / 9780321999580
The Dynamics of Heat Edition ISBN: 0387948694 / 9780387948690 [ Solutions Manual & PDF Hans U.
... keep reading on reddit ➡