Posted by njili on November 24, 1998 at 13:19:57:
In Reply to: feeling comfortable posted by rpcman on November 24, 1998 at 11:57:35:
I disregarded delusional thinking because being sane (hopefully) I don't think I'd be comfortable thinking of myself as a billionaire when I'm having trouble figuring how and when I can buy a new computer. And you're also right, with 50 points pro-something and 1 point anti-something, one would be a fool to accept the 1 pointer. As a matter of fact, doing so would make me downright uncomfortable. A better word for my 'comfortable' might be 'elegant'. Like the G.U.T. (Grand Unification Theory) people who believe there's an 'elegant' theory which will explain everything (or at least the forces of nature - gravitational, electromagnetic, strong nuclear and weak nuclear) and make them all one. The theory, it is hoped, will be 'elegant' (possess simplicity and beauty). Since, to me at least, elegance is subjective, (and after all 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder'), I believe in what I personally find to be elegant. With no real evidence either way, I find believing there's NO afterlife to be the more elegant choice. I find more elegance in believing that other intelligent life exists in our universe, than I find in believing the opposite. It goes a bit further than this ... I find the arguments put forward by the Premier of British Columbia to be more elegant than those put forward by the Governor of Alaska insofar at the salmon war is concerned (although war is definitely a misnomer)... Undoubtedly my nationality plays a large part in this, and I have watched each of them put forth his best arguments (and I really don't like the Premier of B.C. ... and ... I'm in the top percentile in my country when it comes to liking Americans (Hell! I'd vote for Union). If I were an American, I would, almost certainly, have found more elegance in the arguments of the Governor. How can sensible people of equal intelligence look at the same data and come to opposite conclusions, and (surprise, surprise!)with each thinking his province/state is right? There's more than data involved, and there's more than odds. There's a comfort element.