Alexiev wrote: ↑Mon Mar 11, 2024 11:47 pm
IN the 100 coin tosses there are a limited number of sequences that can occur. In fact there are 2 to the 100th power.
Yes, but only because coins have a limited number of sides...2. If coins had infinite sides, there would be no higher chance of any outcome at all.
The universe is a "coin flip" (if random) with infinite sides. Thus, any particular outcome is infinitely improbable...and we're back to the fundamental question, as to why we live in a particular, highly-ordered universe, rather than not existing at all, or having things any of the other infinite ways things could be.
The "usual way things are arranged" is NOT by some intelligence having arranged them.
Actually, it is.
If you have flowers growing in a field, they're not what we call "arranged." They're scattered. But if you have an "arrangement of flowers," it's because you got them at the florist.
If someone could predict a sequence, that would be evidence that there was some non-random pattern.
Exactly right.
And this universe is actually highly predictable, in particular senses of that word. For example, it corresponds to a big set of what we call 'scientific laws,' which enable us to predict with great regularity what sorts of outcomes will issue from our combination of variables. That's not to be expected from any random situation.
If you can predict the future, Nostradamus, then you might have a point. But you can't. If the Book of Revelations comes true, I'll change my mind.
Read the news. We're on the way.
Also, given a starting point, there are a limited number of possible outcomes.
No, that's only true if the possible variables are a restricted set. Otherwise, the possible outcomes are infinite.
If we toss the coin a million times, the chances of any given sequence occurring are extremely remote, but not infinitely remote.
But again, you're only talking about two variables: "heads" and "tails." There is an unlimited set of variables in was the universe could have been...or not been at all.
Also, the universe DID have to exist, because it exists.
That's a logical fallacy.
Yes, it exists, of course; but you're "assuming the consequent" again. You can't deduce from the mere fact that something exists that it came to exist randomly. It could exist because it was created.
So you and I are walking through a forest, and we come upon a piece of wood. It's exactly 8 feet long, 2 inches wide by 4 inches. It's smooth, perfectly rectangular, and has "Fred's Mill" stamped on it. Your argument would say we should believe that what we've discovered is a very unexpected kind of tree, that randomly grows in 8 foot rectangular shapes, adorned with mill stamps...
And your proof of your theory would be,
"Well, it exists."
The point is simple: we know how to recognize irreducible complexity, specification and design. We do it every day. We know full well that randomness does not produce such things. We can recognize a 2X4 in a whole forest of wood. Nobody would fail to see the sense of that. Therefore, the best explanation for an irreducibly complex, specifying and designed entity is...it was created by an intelligence of some kind.