Do you believe in God?

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You are right. A huge assumption regarding an "infinite number of times" is made.

The Conditional probability theory is based on the "Central Limit Theorem", which assumes "the arithmetic mean of a sufficiently large number of iterates of independent random variables, each with a well-defined expected value and well-defined variance, will be approximately normally distributed, regardless of the underlying distribution"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_limit_theorem

As one my statistics professors said about conditional probability .... he asked us, what is the conditional probability of a coin flip on the 50th flip if the first 49 flips were 'heads'?

Conditional probability says, "is like 99% likely to be 'tails' , since we assume nature will approach a normal distribution based on the Central Limit Theorem.

However, his response was, "I wouldn't bet against it". Meaning, something seems fishy with the coin, and it seems like we are in fact NOT approaching a normal distribution.

So, the assumption in most of statistical "odds making", is the above mentioned assumptions in the Central Limit Theorem, that nature will approach a normal distribution given infinite iterations.

I believe in god(s), but don't subscribe to any organised religion.

Nope. I voted answer 3, although I tend to me more generally 3 open to 4. Humans need tofind meaning and give meaning a lot, which is understandable, we are nothing in the middle of all that. From that, I do believe we could explain everything if we only knew it (so, 3). However, it's hard to tell if things that were written didn't come from something (that can be explained by something else than fearful fantasy), so 3 open to 4. That's a general principle, can work for anything.

When academia was still a free marketplace of ideas, where participation used to be voluntary, both ideas were discussed contemporaneously and were tolerated. They were considered to be different interpretations of the same material facts.

For that matter, most everyone agrees to what they can see before their eyes.

Only 25% of professors are atheists, so I don't know what you're talking about.

^ define atheist. Richard Dawkins would not be in that 25% as he rightly says one cannot absolutely say there is no God. As he puts it he is agnostic about God in the same way he is agnostic about the tooth fairie, therefore by critical definition he is an agnostic.

Atheists are people that don't believe in God. Not just people that believe there is no God. Dawkins is an atheist.

I have no clue what the question means. It makes no sense to me.

What is meant by 'in'?

Do you mean 'inside'? This makes no sense.

42

All right....if "do you believe in God?" doesn't make sense to you,

I'll pose the question another way: Do you believe in the existence of God?

What do you mean by 'exist'?

What do you mean by "mean"?

Yes I believe.

Do you understand and or believe the definition of the word God.

Here is the Merriam Webster link to use if you desire.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/god


Side note. If no one has told you God loves you.
He does.

God loves you
(and me)

Last edited by drlaugh on 30 Jun 2016, 11:25 am, edited 1 time in total.

'Definition of', as in 'what is the definition of 'the existence of'?'.

I think the question 'do you believe in God?' is difficult to answer as:

1) What does it mean for something to exist
2) What is the definition of 'God'

Sorry I had something else on my clipboard for a musician friend.

Definition link

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/god

I also edited my earlier post.

Doors People are Strange was a Freudian slip.

I'm honestly rather surprised that the category I fit into (essentially being agnostic) is only in third place. A lot of people here either seem to insist that there is a god or that there isn't, when really no one knows for sure. I mean, I don't believe in the existence of any deities, at least not in the sense expressed by most religions, but I don't have any undeniable evidence backing this belief up. As well, the very nature of what makes a "god" is quite debatable. "God" could be a metaphysical being, or an alien figure, or even the programmer of a complex computer simulation.

I often ponder things like this, as well as the nature and existence of things like free will, predestination, luck, wormholes, alternate dimensions, parallel universes, alien life forms, the fabric of space-time, and even time itself. Philosophy is something that greatly fascinates me, and I feel like the breadth of what there is to know is far greater than we can possibly comprehend.