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The Brilliance of Pascal's Wager

Rational Agnostic

Well-Known Member
Today I realized that Pascal's Wager is truly a brilliant argument, and because of it, I have now decided to believe that Cthulhu exists. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the god Cthulhu, he is a powerful deity that resembles a human/octupus/dragon hybrid. His head contains a large number of tentacles surrounding his giant mouth. There are many religions around the world dedicated to his worship, including the official religion, Cthulhu's Witnesses. You can learn about him in the holy scriptures, "The Call of Cthulhu" as well as the song "Space Lord" by Monster Magnet which describes him as having been stuffed in your pocket for the last hundred days, and when he doesn't get his bath, he takes it out on the slaves. He commands you to "polish them rockets and swallow those pills and say 'Oh, Space Lord Mother****er **mod edit**.' He left his throne a million miles away, he drinks from your *** **mod edit**, and sings the blues every day

Anyway, obviously, this deity has tremendous power and fearsome strength. Believing in him is clearly the safe thing to do. If he doesn't exist and I believe in him and act as if he exists, I lose nothing. But, if I don't believe in him and it turns out he exists, he might punish me with his powerful tentacles and eat me, or perhaps send me to hell. The consequences of disbelief in Cthulhu could be infinitely bad, and there is at least a possibility that he exists. Thus, belief in Cthulhu is clearly rational.

 
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Altfish

Veteran Member
It is not brilliant, it is a false dichotomy.

It basically says that if Christians are right you go to heaven; if Christians are wrong then you've lost nothing. So why not be a Christian there's nothing to lose
But it ignores the thousands of other gods that may exist.

It also assumes that Christianity costs you nothing ... but it does - praying, devotion, attending church, tithing, etc is all wasted

It also assumes that you can choose to believe; so that then leads to your god not recognising false belief and being silly enough to buy into your phony belief


 

Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
It is not brilliant, it is a false dichotomy.

It basically says that if Christians are right you go to heaven; if Christians are wrong then you've lost nothing. So why not be a Christian there's nothing to lose
But it ignores the thousands of other gods that may exist.

It also assumes that Christianity costs you nothing ... but it does - praying, devotion, attending church, tithing, etc is all wasted

It also assumes that you can choose to believe; so that then leads to your god not recognising false belief and being silly enough to buy into your phony belief


I can imagine all the Christians now kicking themselves once they find out that it is Cthulhu who actually exists.

They should have been on the safe side. Now they must face the wrath of Cthulhu.
 

Heyo

Veteran Member
It is not brilliant, it is a false dichotomy.

It basically says that if Christians are right you go to heaven; if Christians are wrong then you've lost nothing. So why not be a Christian there's nothing to lose
But it ignores the thousands of other gods that may exist.

It also assumes that Christianity costs you nothing ... but it does - praying, devotion, attending church, tithing, etc is all wasted

It also assumes that you can choose to believe; so that then leads to your god not recognising false belief and being silly enough to buy into your phony belief


Whooosh!
 

Galateasdream

Active Member
I think the key issue with the wager is that it is predicated upon the idea that you can choose what to believe. And whilst I think the will has a role to play in how we end up forming our paradigms, I don't think we can just choose what to believe or not.

However, might the wager make a case for encouraging us to at least give religions an open minded investigation? Sort of like saying, check this out - if you agree with it then you get mega benefit, if it's not your cup of tea you've only lost a little time and effort? That seems a fair trade off, giving up maybe a few hours of thought, reading and chat on the off chance of 'winning' eternal bliss.

Also, might it also work in situations of fine balance - where the likelihood of two options seems about 50/50? So that the balanced agnostic who thinks theism and atheism are equally as likely might choose to favour theism as offering the greater cost-benefit ratio over atheism.

Maybe it can be thought of in terms of a willingness to favour cosmic optimism when faced with finely balanced uncertainties. If I'm genuinely split between two options that seem roughly equally plausible, but one is a far more optimistic and happy paradigm, then it seems I should lean that way as much as my will allows.
 

Wandering Monk

Well-Known Member
The 'Lunatic, Liar, Lord' argument put forward leaves out other possibilities. How about this one: Legend.

Only those who accept the Bible as true and inerrant believe that Jesus actually said all the he is supposed to have said.

You also seem to reject the possibility of 'lunatic.' Why?
 

Audie

Veteran Member
The 'Lunatic, Liar, Lord' argument put forward leaves out other possibilities. How about this one: Legend.

Only those who accept the Bible as true and inerrant believe that Jesus actually said all the he is supposed to have said.

You also seem to reject the possibility of 'lunatic.' Why?

It is usually just lunatic or liar.
Including "lord" would be a departure from
the usual strict either / of binary thinking of
fundamentalist thinking.
 

The Hammer

[REDACTED]
Premium Member
Today I realized that Pascal's Wager is truly a brilliant argument, and because of it, I have now decided to believe that Cthulhu exists. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the god Cthulhu, he is a powerful deity that resembles a human/octupus/dragon hybrid. His head contains a large number of tentacles surrounding his giant mouth. There are many religions around the world dedicated to his worship, including the official religion, Cthulhu's Witnesses. You can learn about him in the holy scriptures, "The Call of Cthulhu" as well as the song "Space Lord" by Monster Magnet which describes him as having been stuffed in your pocket for the last hundred days, and when he doesn't get his bath, he takes it out on the slaves. He commands you to "polish them rockets and swallow those pills and say 'Oh, Space Lord MotherF**ker.' He left his throne a million miles away, he drinks from your t*t, and sings the blues every day

Anyway, obviously, this deity has tremendous power and fearsome strength. Believing in him is clearly the safe thing to do. If he doesn't exist and I believe in him and act as if he exists, I lose nothing. But, if I don't believe in him and it turns out he exists, he might punish me with his powerful tentacles and eat me, or perhaps send me to hell. The consequences of disbelief in Cthulhu could be infinitely bad, and there is at least a possibility that he exists. Thus, belief in Cthulhu is clearly rational.


Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.
 

tas8831

Well-Known Member
It also assumes that Christianity costs you nothing ... but it does - praying, devotion, attending church, tithing, etc is all wasted
and depending on the sect/cult you get involved in, required groupthink, required political allegiance*, required social beliefs/practices, distancing yourself from friends and family, etc...

*Had neighbors many years ago that were hardcore fundies. Hardcore rightwing Republican-only fundies. We actually got along pretty well, strangely enough. Their parents all but demanded that they vote GOP at every election = they were very intrusive about it, almost psychotic. The wife's dad used to call her ever election day to 'remind her who to vote for.' The wife of the couple told us that one time she talked about not voting for a republican candidate and her father said something like 'If you ever want to set foot in this house again, you will forget you even thought about it'. The thing that really told me how sick these people were - on our neighbors' kid's 5th birthday, one of the grandparents got her a GOP elephant-head coffer mug so she "would know who to vote for"... A 5 year old...

*Unsurprisingly, my wife reconnected with the wife of that couple via FB a couple of years ago. The husband (who had been attending Baptist Seminary when we knew them) had an affair with the 15-year old friend of their daughter, and filed for divorce. The daughter actually sided with the cheating dad. Both families blamed the wife, even though the Baptist minister husband had the affair. The daughter later had a child out of wedlock at 16.
All still vote GOP.....
 

Wandering Monk

Well-Known Member
and depending on the sect/cult you get involved in, required groupthink, required political allegiance*, required social beliefs/practices, distancing yourself from friends and family, etc...

*Had neighbors many years ago that were hardcore fundies. Hardcore rightwing Republican-only fundies. We actually got along pretty well, strangely enough. Their parents all but demanded that they vote GOP at every election = they were very intrusive about it, almost psychotic. The wife's dad used to call her ever election day to 'remind her who to vote for.' The wife of the couple told us that one time she talked about not voting for a republican candidate and her father said something like 'If you ever want to set foot in this house again, you will forget you even thought about it'. The thing that really told me how sick these people were - on our neighbors' kid's 5th birthday, one of the grandparents got her a GOP elephant-head coffer mug so she "would know who to vote for"... A 5 year old...

*Unsurprisingly, my wife reconnected with the wife of that couple via FB a couple of years ago. The husband (who had been attending Baptist Seminary when we knew them) had an affair with the 15-year old friend of their daughter, and filed for divorce. The daughter actually sided with the cheating dad. Both families blamed the wife, even though the Baptist minister husband had the affair. The daughter later had a child out of wedlock at 16.
All still vote GOP.....

Why does politics have to pollute EVERY ****ing thread on this forum?>>
 

sun rise

The world is on fire
Premium Member
I don't agree with the Cthulhu worship. He's (It's? She's?) clearly limited. The FSM will hug me in her/his/its noodly tendrils and we'll soar over the futility grasping Cthulhu always keeping away from her/its/his grasp.
 

stvdv

Veteran Member: I Share (not Debate) my POV
It is not brilliant, it is a false dichotomy.
It basically says that if Christians are right you go to heaven; if Christians are wrong then you've lost nothing. So why not be a Christian there's nothing to lose
But it ignores the thousands of other gods that may exist.
It also assumes that Christianity costs you nothing ... but it does - praying, devotion, attending church, tithing, etc is all wasted
It also assumes that you can choose to believe; so that then leads to your god not recognising false belief and being silly enough to buy into your phony belief
I like the video, very clear and nicely done.

There are more options though:
*) "Fake it till you make it" principle. When you are 10 years old, you can't believe you will be able to fly an airplane. But you have Faith, that, when you study you will get your degree. During the 10 years of study, you get confirmations that you are on the right track (passing exams). But only when you pass your final exam, you will really know how to fly the plane.

Same with spiritual life. You start in Faith. On the road you get Spiritual experiences. When enlightened you will really know.
 

Shadow Wolf

Certified People sTabber
It is not brilliant, it is a false dichotomy.
Cthulhu doesn't care about your false dichotomy or Christians and atheist or who is right and who is wrong. In the end Cthulhu is 100% non-discriminatory, discriminate being something he proudly never does, as he'll devour the souls of princes and paupers, male and female, white and black, young and old, abled body and infirm, he devours them all the same.
 

PureX

Veteran Member
I think the key issue with the wager is that it is predicated upon the idea that you can choose what to believe. And whilst I think the will has a role to play in how we end up forming our paradigms, I don't think we can just choose what to believe or not.

However, might the wager make a case for encouraging us to at least give religions an open minded investigation? Sort of like saying, check this out - if you agree with it then you get mega benefit, if it's not your cup of tea you've only lost a little time and effort? That seems a fair trade off, giving up maybe a few hours of thought, reading and chat on the off chance of 'winning' eternal bliss.

Also, might it also work in situations of fine balance - where the likelihood of two options seems about 50/50? So that the balanced agnostic who thinks theism and atheism are equally as likely might choose to favour theism as offering the greater cost-benefit ratio over atheism.

Maybe it can be thought of in terms of a willingness to favour cosmic optimism when faced with finely balanced uncertainties. If I'm genuinely split between two options that seem roughly equally plausible, but one is a far more optimistic and happy paradigm, then it seems I should lean that way as much as my will allows.
Or even more importantly, one of these options enables me while the other option does not. Why close oneself off to positive possibilities based on a lack of knowledge? Why not take advantage of those possibilities so long as they remain possible? If choosing to trust in the existence of a benevolent deity helps a person to move forward in a positive way in their life, why reject that positive possibility based on "lack of proof"? That makes no sense to me. Lack of proof does not render a possibility impossible. So why not use that possibility to our advantage so long as it's there?
 

Milton Platt

Well-Known Member
Today I realized that Pascal's Wager is truly a brilliant argument, and because of it, I have now decided to believe that Cthulhu exists. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the god Cthulhu, he is a powerful deity that resembles a human/octupus/dragon hybrid. His head contains a large number of tentacles surrounding his giant mouth. There are many religions around the world dedicated to his worship, including the official religion, Cthulhu's Witnesses. You can learn about him in the holy scriptures, "The Call of Cthulhu" as well as the song "Space Lord" by Monster Magnet which describes him as having been stuffed in your pocket for the last hundred days, and when he doesn't get his bath, he takes it out on the slaves. He commands you to "polish them rockets and swallow those pills and say 'Oh, Space Lord Mother****er **mod edit**.' He left his throne a million miles away, he drinks from your *** **mod edit**, and sings the blues every day

Anyway, obviously, this deity has tremendous power and fearsome strength. Believing in him is clearly the safe thing to do. If he doesn't exist and I believe in him and act as if he exists, I lose nothing. But, if I don't believe in him and it turns out he exists, he might punish me with his powerful tentacles and eat me, or perhaps send me to hell. The consequences of disbelief in Cthulhu could be infinitely bad, and there is at least a possibility that he exists. Thus, belief in Cthulhu is clearly rational.


:tonguewink::tonguewink::tonguewink::tonguewink::tonguewink::tonguewink::tonguewink::tonguewink::tonguewink::tonguewink::tonguewink::tonguewink::tonguewink::tonguewink::tonguewink::tonguewink::tonguewink::tonguewink::tonguewink::tonguewink::tonguewink::tonguewink::tonguewink::tonguewink::tonguewink::tonguewink::tonguewink::tonguewink::tonguewink::tonguewink::tonguewink::tonguewink::tonguewink::tonguewink::tonguewink::tonguewink::tonguewink::tonguewink::tonguewink::tonguewink:

I feel the same way about the flying spaghetti monster
 
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