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Infinite Regress: The Adventure Quiz

Discussion on things related to LW, WotM, Ray Comfort, Kirk Cameron, and Tony Miano

Infinite Regress: The Adventure Quiz

Postby Quasar » Mon Jan 05, 2009 1:33 am

Ray did a little posting on the formation of the sun. It includes a purdy little Gunther diagram of infinte regress:

Image

So, inspired by the infinite regress problem, and by the good person test, lets do a little multiple-choise-adventure exam shall we? If you encounter any errors or stuff, let me know so's I can fix it. 8-)


1: Where did Ray Comfort come from?
a) Well, when a mommy and a daddy love each other very much... [Go to 2]
b) The father race planted him on earth to start the apocalypse. [Go to 3]
c) Goddidit. [Go to 18]


2: Where did the human species, of which his parents are members, come from?
a) They evolved from a common ancestor with apes roughly 3 million years ago. [Go to 4]
b) The Old Ones genetically engineered humanity to be their slaves. [Go to 5]
c) Goddidit. [Go to 18]


3: Where did the aliens come from?
a) They evolved on their own planet from an original replicator. [Go to 6]
b) They were gentically engineered by even more advanced aliens. [Go to 3]
c) Goddidit. [Go to 18]


4: Where did apes and mammals (and all other lifeforms) come from?
a) They are descended from the original replicator. [Go to 6]
b) They are Intelligently Designed by the Intelligent Designer [Go to 3, or to 18]
c) Goddidit. [Go to 18]


5: Where did the Old Ones come from?
a) Outer space! [Go to 3]
b) What does it matter? They're coming back and when they do we're all screwed! F*ckin' screwed! [Go To 15]
c) DarkGodsdidit. [Go to 18]


6: Where did the original replicator come from?
a) Probably one of the many pathways of abiogenesis discovered by science. [Go to 7]
b) I don't know. [Go to A1]
c) Goddidit. [Go to 18]


7: Where did the planet on which abiogenesis occured come from?
a) It formed from the proto-planetry disc shortly after the star ignited, then cooled to the point when the specific chemical reactions required for abiogenesis were possible. [Go to 8]
b) It was constucted to discover the question to Life, the Universe and Everything. [Go to 9]
c) Micedidit. [Go to 18]


8: Where did the star come from?
a) A 'dense spot' in a large nebula fell in on itself due to gravity, and the sheer amount of matter eventually ignited the fusion reactions that power the star. [Go to 10]
b) Who cares? This is boring. I'm leaving. [Go to 11]
c) Goddidit. [Go to 18]


9: Where did the mice come from?
a) They evolved on their own pan-dimensional planet from an original replicator. [Go to 6]
b) They were gentically engineered by even more advanced pan-dimensional aliens. [Go to 3]
c) Goddidit. [Go to 18]


10: Where did the nebula, and indeed all the matter in the universe, come from?
a) The Big Bang: the universe expanded from a singularity, cooling and condensing into hydrogen and helium. Heavier elements came from the death of early stars. [go to 12]
b) It was was sneezed out of the nose of the Great Green Arkleseizure. [go to 13]
c) Goddidit. [Go to 18]


11: YOU SHALL NOT PASS!
a) [Eat the f*cking wizard and leave]
b) Return to previous question. [Go back to whichever question you came from]
c) Gandalfdidit. [Go to 18]


12: Where did the singularity come from?
a) One option is that it was the result of a 'big crunch' event in a previous universe. [Go to 14]
b) The Dean of Unseen University caused it by wiggling his fingers in an area of pure nothing. [Go to 17]
c) I don't know. [Go to A1]
d) Goddidit. [Go to 18]


13: Where did the Great Green Arkleseizure come from?
a) Well, when a mommy and daddy Arkleseizure love each other very much... [Go to 15]
b) I don't know. [Go to A1]
c) Goddidit. [Go to 18]


14: Where did that universe come from?
a) It's own big bang/expansion-from-a-singularity-event. [Go to 12]
b) An Infinite Regress of Big Bang and Big Crunch events [Go to A2]
c) I don't know. [Go to A1]
d) Goddidit. [Go to 18]


15: You're not taking this seriously anymore, are you?
a) Are you? [Go to 16]
b) Eh, this is boring anyway. I'm leaving. [Go to 11]
c) Goddidit. [Go to 18]


16: Hell no! Now go back and answer the question!
a) Fine, sheesh. [Go back to whichever question you came from]
b) Not until I see some stupidity. [Go to 11]
c) Goddidit. [Go to 18]


17: Where did the Dean come from?
a) I already know that this is going to loop around to the Big Bang in the Discworld universe, so lets just go straight there, 'kay? [Go to 12]
b) Well, when a mommy and daddy love each other very much... [Go to 2]
c) Goddidit! [Go to 18]


18: Where did God come from?
a) God is eternal. [Go to 19]
b) I don't know. [Go to A1]
c) Goddidit, alright! Stop questioning my theology!!! [Go to 18]


19: If something can be eternal, then why is infinite regress a problem?
a) It isn't. [Go to A2]
c) [If you have a different answer to this, please respond]






A1: You don't know.
This is the only way to be intellectually honest and still leave room for a creator. Quite simply, we don't know what caused Life, the Universe and Everything. If someone wants to believe it's some sort of God, or indeed anything else, they can go right ahead: but that's just a belief based on a vain wish to have an answer. In truth, nobody knows for certain, and the evidence is deficient enough that we may never know.


A2: Infinite Regress is valid.
Therefore, Occams Razor would suggest that the universe exists in an eternal, looping state. This requires the fewest assumptions: unlike God we do not have to assume that the universe exists: we know it does. In this scenario, there was no creation event, and thus no creator. In addition, an infinite regress would necessitate a closed system, which would deny the possibility of an external being interfering with the universe.


Edit 1: Changed a bad [Go to #] direction
Edit 2: Fixed a typo in A1
Last edited by Quasar on Tue Jan 06, 2009 2:54 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Infinite Regress: The Adventure Quiz

Postby IntellectualNinja » Mon Jan 05, 2009 2:12 am

I like this. If I write a little application in PHP that presents these questions and directs the person where to go, would wearesmrt host it?
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Re: Infinite Regress: The Adventure Quiz

Postby Whateverman » Mon Jan 05, 2009 5:03 pm

Great idea! I'll forward this to our Web Masta...
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Re: Infinite Regress: The Adventure Quiz

Postby ExPatMatt » Mon Jan 05, 2009 5:17 pm

Pure genius. Give yourself a Gold Star.
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Re: Infinite Regress: The Adventure Quiz

Postby Whateverman » Mon Jan 05, 2009 5:29 pm

Incidentally, I had a lot of fun playing with this too, Quasar. Cheers
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Re: Infinite Regress: The Adventure Quiz

Postby alphgeek » Tue Jan 06, 2009 2:36 am

This reminds me of Sye's "Proof that God Exists". Except now with with added intellectual rigour.
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Re: Infinite Regress: The Adventure Quiz

Postby MacGyverJr » Tue Jan 06, 2009 3:36 am

ninja, if you write it, I'll post it, I was thinking Python rather than PHP if only because it would allow me to brush up on my Python, and familiarize myself with the changes in P3K. But PHP works fine for me.

As a side note (and this is open to all) I had another Raytractor that WAS going to assist me with building and maintaining this site and the future growth. That individual has bailed on me and I haven't heard back from them in a while (though I still see them post at Ray's so I assume they are ok). If ANYONE is interested in being an admin for wearesmrt, please PM me or email me via my profile.
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Re: Infinite Regress: The Adventure Quiz

Postby theShaggy » Tue Jan 06, 2009 2:47 pm

alphgeek wrote:This reminds me of Sye's "Proof that God Exists". Except now with with added intellectual rigour.


I'm figuring you could easily make a parody design ;-)
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Re: Infinite Regress: The Adventure Quiz

Postby ExPatMatt » Tue Jan 06, 2009 3:11 pm

MacGyverJr wrote:ninja, if you write it, I'll post it, I was thinking Python rather than PHP if only because it would allow me to brush up on my Python, and familiarize myself with the changes in P3K. But PHP works fine for me.

As a side note (and this is open to all) I had another Raytractor that WAS going to assist me with building and maintaining this site and the future growth. That individual has bailed on me and I haven't heard back from them in a while (though I still see them post at Ray's so I assume they are ok). If ANYONE is interested in being an admin for wearesmrt, please PM me or email me via my profile.


I would offer my services if it wasn't for the fact that I have absolutely no idea how these compooter things work. If you need additional Mods at any point (I think I've only seen a Mod hat on once so far), then let me know though.
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Re: Infinite Regress: The Adventure Quiz

Postby Vagon » Wed Jan 07, 2009 2:07 am

Im stuck on 3 :(
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