Astro Cat

At least any kind of God that most of us wouldn’t consider a monster.

I don’t think you’re properly conceptualizing what a toy world is, though. In a toy world there are no physical dangers for pain to alert you to. The ...

I’m unsure how to respond to this. Possible world/modal semantics is certainly useful for talking about the capabilities of an omnipotent/omniscient b...

Though if God acts in the interest of Himself and not for us in general, I’d argue that isn’t what we intuitively grasp as benevolence. This would sim...

A guidance system isn’t required if there is no danger. So physical suffering still demands an explanation on the 3-omni sort of theism.

In the world that exists as it exists, this can be bad because pain does serve the purpose of letting us know something is wrong: we wouldn't get the ...

Sure, it makes lots of sense in evolutionary terms. I think we understand that we feel pain when we touch something hot as a way to quickly learn not ...

Interesting: so you propose that Divine Hiddenness isn't only a question (e.g., it is typically presented as a question: why, if there is a God, does ...

You're right, I did only consider one horn of Euthyphro. Though as you note, the PoE isn't really a problem on Divine Command Theory since by definiti...

Yes, as an ex-Christian I've long harbored these sorts of reservations about the concept of Heaven: wouldn't it be boring? I think there's enough ther...

As a physics grad student I'm going to need you to put a trigger warning on this please. :lol:

Let us say that I create The Matrix and populate The Matrix with real people with actual consciousness. The rules that govern what happens when an obj...

I do mean physical suffering (as opposed to, say, emotional suffering), I should have probably made that more clear. Physical suffering is governed by...

I'll admit I'm lazy any day of the week :lol:

What is meant by "but everything entails necessary truths" here? I don't think that omniscience implies that "everything" is a necessary truth; if the...

I assume the reason this is different from OP is because the round earth isn't a person that desires people to know it's a round earth, isn't omnipote...

We call it "high noon" because of the high star formation rates, but there's still plenty of quenching especially at the "nearer" z (but that's the po...

Are you folks in astro? I'm graduating with an MS in astro in a matter of weeks (though starting PhD bridge... probably in the fall, I'm taking spring...

This. Also, let's dispel the notion that black holes are "holes," they are clumps of degenerate matter that have overcome degenerate pressures. Once r...

Well, in a sense, but I think there must have been propositions that God could not have created: for instance, that A = A for any A. God would have to...

Sorry, have been away for a bit since the semester has officially kicked off. I'm doing physics on the astro side.

The main argument for living in a simulation is that simulated worlds would also simulate worlds such that a vast majority of worlds that exist would ...

Thanks for your welcomes! Well, I will try to keep the science a little more sane around here then (I know how it goes, I've been posting on a couple ...

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind! Also, this post is testing whether I understand the quotation system -- so nevermind it if it doesn't come out correct...

I'm in the US and I'm looking to get married some day (I am a lesbian). However, I have sometimes felt like marriage should be a personal affair for m...

Hi, I'm new to the forum. I'm a physics grad student, and some of my first research was to assist in constraining the dark energy using Type 1a supern...