Probability Question / Proof Needed (a toughie!)

[Schmitty 87]

So I just got back from Thailand after a two month stay. A few things off the top of my head...

I was talking with a couple of Americans, and one of them was planning on getting a flying spaghetti monster tattoo upon arrival back in the US. For those that are unaware, the spaghetti monster logo is an expression of atheism, as the existence of God is seen as analogous to the existence of a flying spaghetti monster. My feelings about that aside, I felt that the tattoo would look terrible, so, in an effort to dissuade her, I simply noted that theists would perhaps not agree with her contention that the existence of God and the flying spaghetti monster could be equally considered. Though I forget the wording, she essentially replied that there's no proof for God and that basic logic proves the aptness of the spaghetti monster analogy. Her friend added that the probability of God existing was rather low and, again, that there was no proof.

Damn. Proof. I sure don't have it. As the desire for proof proof proof is commonly considered intellectual advancement (I agree), it is certain that believers should be careful when taking Biblical (or whatever) stories as historical fact. At the same time however, all the talk about proof made me eager for another set of proofs. One, for instance, would be a proof of the correctness of the probability model used to judge theists. Maybe a proof that the chance of a quarter landing heads is 1 out of 2. Sure, flip the coin a few billion times and report back to me, but for any given trial, how do we know the true probability? Yeah, it's based on observation, but how do we know that we're seeing the right things? I too operate under the assumption that the flip of a coin is a fair shake each and every time (though maybe that's why I'm down so much damn money flipping), but I'm open to the possibility that there could be more out there, even absent proof. To me I think it's wild enough that when I jump I come back down to the ground. I currently spend my time thinking about that and thanking the universe that I do in fact come back down, though my basketball game would surely improve if I had a bit more control over it.

When people talk about their personal relationship with God, I often smirk to myself and think "Ya well why hasn't He come and talked to me?" Well, I imagine that I just have a different set of observations, and if not even that, I certainly have different interpretations of the same observations.

So I guess ship the proof! If anyone has it a PM would be greatly appreciated. Hopefully it's not too long or complicated. Everytime I read SMP I get pissed off and frustrated that if I try to get into an argument with luckyme or MidGe or whoever else I'll assuredly end up feeling like a fool (either that, or just more pissed) and going back to contemplating gravity, so I likely won't post again, but ideally I'd like something enjoyable to read tomorrow, whatever it is. Enlighten me brothers!

PS gibbons are really cool. they look sorta like humans except they have super long arms and are incredibly good at gymnastics (no offense to the olympic team of any human nation).