[ExI] Science or Scientism?

[John Clark]

On Thu, Nov 8, 2018 at 11:37 AM SR Ballard <sen.otaku at gmail.com> wrote:

*> I don’t mean to nitpick, but I actually feel like you didn’t understand
> what I was trying to explain. I’m trying to say that there is something
> “less” than the Abrahamic idea of God (the all-knowing, all-mighty
> creator/judge) *
>

But the Abrahamic concept of a all-knowing all-mighty creator/judge is very
very common in our culture and so we need a word for it, and we have one,
"God". The concept of something less than that is also common and there is
a word for that too, two of them actually, superhero and supervillain.

*> A god would not have to fit the Abrahamic view in order to be a god,*
>

I think it does, or at least it should. If somebody insists on using the
word "God" when they mean something far less than God they must realize
they are almost certainly going to be misunderstood, and the only reason I
can think of they would do that is although they have abandoned the idea of
God they just can't abandon the 3 character ASCII sequence G-O-D.

*> You can envision a being, with a still-limited intelligence and power,
> however being still smarter and more powerful than yourself, can’t you?*
>

Yes, I can envision Lex Luthor.


> > *I’m sure you could find a human who would fit that criteria actually.*
>

I have no doubt, but I wouldn't call that human God, there are plenty of
other words in the English language I could use that would not cause
misunderstanding the instant I made a comment about this very smart human.

John K Clark




>
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