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The Bible: Real, Fiction, or somewhere in between?

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Re: The Bible: Real, Fiction, or somewhere in between?

geezer said:
(wrong thread but) what would the odds be of hitting 1/50 on the first two of an eventual three tries? Or the 2nd and 3rd specifically of 4 tries but not the 1st or 4th? Do they change?
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Trying to hit two consecutive will not impact the odds at all, you're still looking for a single value on two instances. If you spread it out over four three or four tries, so consecutive hits don't matter, then your odds improve.
 
Re: The Bible: Real, Fiction, or somewhere in between?

Interesting trivia: Speaking of kickazz religious beliefs, did you know Jonathan Edwards was Aaron Burr's grandfather?
 
Re: The Bible: Real, Fiction, or somewhere in between?

After this we should argue for a while about which political party is all evil demon monkeys, and which one is pure as the wind-driven snow.
 
Re: The Bible: Real, Fiction, or somewhere in between?

geezer said:
(wrong thread but) what would the odds be of hitting 1/50 on the first two of an eventual three tries? Or the 2nd and 3rd specifically of 4 tries but not the 1st or 4th? Do they change?
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The question is a bit imprecise. Let's take the second case. If you are asking what are the odds of hitting the 1/50 on trial 2 and 3 regardless of 1 and 4, then it's just 2500 to 1. If you are asking what are the odds of hitting the 1/50 on trial 2 and 3 and NOT hitting it on 1 and 4, then it's 49/50 * 1/50 * 1/50 * 49/50 = 2603 to 1.
 
Re: The Bible: Real, Fiction, or somewhere in between?

burd said:
Interesting trivia: Speaking of kickazz religious beliefs, did you know Jonathan Edwards was Aaron Burr's grandfather?
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That's cool. I guess there were only about 10 powerful families so it shouldn't be that surprising. ;)
 
Re: The Bible: Real, Fiction, or somewhere in between?

geezer said:
After this we should argue for a while about which political party is all evil demon monkeys, and which one is pure as the wind-driven snow.
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I would vote for the Evil Demon Monkey party, provided their emblem was interesting.

(Photo from their convention.)
 
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Re: The Bible: Real, Fiction, or somewhere in between?

Kepler said:
If you are asking what are the odds of hitting the 1/50 on trial 2 and 3 and NOT hitting it on 1 and 4, then it's 49/50 * 1/50 * 1/50 * 49/50 = 2603 to 1.
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That's what I was wondering. To my "new math" way of thinking about math, the odds are still about the same (and "slim to none" is an actual value in my world)
 
jmh said:
This seems like as good a place as any to say: The Book of Mormon (that is to say, the musical, not the LDS scripture) is really funny.
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The first 20 minutes and last 20 minutes are really really good. The 80 in between reminded me of the parts of south park I tend to dislike.

I'll take Spamalot or Avenue Q over Book of Mormon for my Broadway comedies any day.
 
Re: The Bible: Real, Fiction, or somewhere in between?

unofan said:
I'll take Spamalot or Avenue Q over Book of Mormon for my Broadway comedies any day.
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I was really disappointed with Spamalot. Avenue Q is one of the best comedies I've ever seen.

I've only heard the Book of Mormon soundtrack but based on that I'd give it a go. Some of the stuff is lazy ("Orlando..."), but my god some of it is brutally on point ("Hasa diga eebowai")
 
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Re: The Bible: Real, Fiction, or somewhere in between?

FadeToBlack&Gold said:
There is no capital g "God" in pantheism. Pantheism says (more or less) that the all-encompassing power of the universe is divine, but does not manifest itself anthropomorphically like the "God" of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. So, it's not really the same thing.
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Spot on. I personally think there is not much of a difference between most iterations atheism, pantheism, and deism. Functionally and empirically, they are incredibly similar and differentiation tends to rely heavily on semantics.

I also have a personal policy where I try to let people choose whatever "label" they most identify from. There are many individuals who I personally think are atheists but define themselves differently and that is their right. Although I enjoy a good semantic argument (and defining terms is important), it can sometimes cloud an otherwise good discussion.

I personally identify as an agnostic atheist. Theologically, I lack a theistic belief (atheist) and philosophically I acknowledge the limitations of current knowledge (and general limitations of humans) so I identify broadly as agnostic. On the philosophical side, there are many other questions and viewpoints to further classify which is fun to explore.

jmh said:
This seems like as good a place as any to say: The Book of Mormon (that is to say, the musical, not the LDS scripture) is really funny.
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Solid show. I suggested taking most of my family to it and was regretting it at some points. However, even the old guard conservatives said they enjoyed it. Maybe they were hard of hearing and couldn't distinguish all of the language ;)
 
Re: The Bible: Real, Fiction, or somewhere in between?

WisconsinWildcard said:
Spot on. I personally think there is not much of a difference between most iterations atheism, pantheism, and deism. Functionally and empirically, they are incredibly similar and differentiation tends to rely heavily on semantics.

I also have a personal policy where I try to let people choose whatever "label" they most identify from. There are many individuals who I personally think are atheists but define themselves differently and that is their right. Although I enjoy a good semantic argument (and defining terms is important), it can sometimes cloud an otherwise good discussion.

I personally identify as an agnostic atheist. Theologically, I lack a theistic belief (atheist) and philosophically I acknowledge the limitations of current knowledge (and general limitations of humans) so I identify broadly as agnostic. On the philosophical side, there are many other questions and viewpoints to further classify which is fun to explore.
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Great post. I have quibbles with some of your terms... but that's your argument. :)

It's impossible to study and appreciate western philosophy without understanding a lot of very deep Christian tenets and historical debates. My favorite period of philosophy, Medieval, is incomprehensible without a deep knowledge of the Christian doctrines of the period. With contemplation comes respect, particularly since for my money the greatest history of western philosophy ever written is Coppleston's, written by a subtle, brilliant, sensitive, learned and deeply religious Jesuit for his Catholic seminary students.
 
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Re: The Bible: Real, Fiction, or somewhere in between?

Kepler said:
Great post. I have quibbles with some of your terms... but that's your argument. :)
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Yeah. I could have probably been more specific and precise but I wrote it off the cuff and have been spending a lot of time in the anatomy lab this week teaching so I am not sure how much the formaldehyde fumes are impacting me :confused:

My post probably read something like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z17sIJyQ3oY (One of my favorite videos, Leonard Mlodinow confronting Deepak Chopra during one of his talks after spewing nonsense about quantum mechanics)

I will let you choose who is Mlodinow ;)
 
Re: The Bible: Real, Fiction, or somewhere in between?

geezer said:
This book I'm reading now is more my style, in fact it's highly entertaining, and it's still the only sleep aid I need. Statistics would near kill my will to live.
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Well, technically that book is about probability theory, not statistics. ;)

I think probability theory in particular and mathematics in general suffer gravely from the way they are taught, particularly the way they are introduced to younger students. Outside of a Coronet Educational Film on sex, never has something so fascinating been approached in such a boring and misleading manner.
 
Re: The Bible: Real, Fiction, or somewhere in between?

Kepler said:
mathematics in general suffer gravely from the way they are taught, particularly the way they are introduced to younger students.
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You're right about that. I still have PTSD from "Algebra 2" 30-something years ago, and still don't understand how I passed 3 terms of calculus without retaining anything. I wake up with cold sweats from nightmares wherein numbers are substituted by random-looking greek letters. THE HORROR
 
Re: The Bible: Real, Fiction, or somewhere in between?

geezer said:
You're right about that. I still have PTSD from "Algebra 2" 30-something years ago, and still don't understand how I passed 3 terms of calculus without retaining anything. I wake up with cold sweats from nightmares wherein numbers are substituted by random-looking greek letters. THE HORROR
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I had amazing teachers in history and English and theater and even in opera, but I never had even a mediocre teacher in the two subjects I love the most, philosophy and mathematics. I don't know if I was just unlucky, or whether it's incredibly difficult to teach those subjects, but I swear I did a better job helping my daughter struggle valiantly through geometry and algebra than anybody who ever taught me math.
 
Re: The Bible: Real, Fiction, or somewhere in between?

Kepler said:
I had amazing teachers in history and English and theater and even in opera, but I never had even a mediocre teacher in the two subjects I love the most, philosophy and mathematics. I don't know if I was just unlucky, or whether it's incredibly difficult to teach those subjects, but I swear I did a better job helping my daughter struggle valiantly through geometry and algebra than anybody who ever taught me math.
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In retrospect, I had a truly wonderful teacher of remedial precalculus when I first got to MTU who saved my skin in this course area. Maybe the best teacher I've ever had. I looked her up, she's since taken a job for a bank that's too big to fail, which is a shame.
 
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