[ExI] Fwd: Pascal's wager

[Ben]

On 01/05/2021 23:04, Spike commented:
> Perhaps you know of Pascal’s Wager, where the philosopher (who 
> discovered a whole buttload of cool math (and so is forever on my list 
> of people who can do no wrong)) expounded on how humans make a 
> win-draw bet on the existence of god.  If they choose to believe and 
> are right, then good.  If they choose to believe and are wrong, then 
> nothing happens, so what the “hell” difference does it make?  It’s a 
> win-draw bet, ja?

Nein.

It's a non-starter, because first, which god do you choose to believe 
in? Choosing the wrong one could be just as disastrous as choosing none, 
if there were a god or gods. And considering how many gods we've 
invented over the millennia (a LOT), the odds are overwhelmingly in 
favour of choosing the wrong one.

Additionally, being a believer almost always comes along with 
restrictive rules on how you should live your life, so depending on 
which religion you bet on, you could lose a lot in the way of enjoyable, 
educational and otherwise positive experiences, and gain a lot in the 
way of miserable, guilty and fearful ones. Not to mention being an 
active contributor to holding back human development generally (this 
applies whether gods exist or not).

But I'm sure most of us on this list know this already.

-- 
Ben Zaiboc