Recently a creationist (factorandrew) put forth an old argument
that I had not heard in a while, but thought it worth repeating,
and subjecting to the universal shredder of creationist ideas,
LOGIC.
The argument goes as follows:
Evolutionists
(whatever those are, for the record then I am also an atomist, a gravityist, and a germist)
claim that life started by accident,
that humans are here today because of billions of years of accidents.
Everything about us is the product of accidents.
Our thoughts are the product of our brains,
and therefore are the product of an accident.
Therefore our thoughts cannot be trusted.
If you can't trust your thoughts, how can you trust anything you know?
Since science and logic are inventions of humans, derived from our thoughts,
they too can't be trusted.
Only knowledge given to us by god can be trusted.
Therefore, the bible is the only true source of knowledge.
Now for those of you who enjoy a good logical puzzle I suggest you pause this video
and see how many inconsistencies, fallacies, and flaws you can find in the previous argument.
So let's see what a little logic and reason can do to this argument.
First, if our thoughts can't be trusted, then there is no way we can trust the bible.
Reading is a product of the visual and language centers of our brains.
Understanding written words involves thoughts.
If our thoughts cannot be trusted, then we cannot trust what we read.
Therefore there is no reason to accept the word of the bible
over any other book or source of knowledge.
Second, can we really not trust something
merely because it is a product of an accident?
Of course not.
But the real phrase we should use here is not "product of an accident"
but "product of a random event" as the word accident implies mistake.
If you win the lottery, that is the product of a random event.
Are you going to deny that you won and refuse to claim the prize?
Weather is a dynamic and chaotic system.
If a tornado, hurricane, or giant hail stones are bearing down on you
are you going to deny they exist and refuse to take shelter?
Finally, many people on this planet are the result of accidents.
Is a person less trust worthy simply because their father's condom broke?
Third, are our brains really the product of a series of accidents?
And by that we should infer,
are our brains really the product of a series of random events?
natural selection is the complete opposite of random.
There is nothing accidental about the hawk with better vision catching more mice,
the giraffe with a longer neck eating more leaves,
or the fox in the arctic with a whiter coat being better able to surprise its prey,
and all having more energy to go on to produce more offspring.
There is nothing accidental about the bacteria with antibiotic resistance
surviving a round of antibiotics,
or the HIV virus with a mutation in the reverse transcriptase gene
surviving anti-retrovirals.
To claim evolution is an accident is to profess ones ignorance of the subject.
I suggest you watch a previous video of mine,
How Evolution REALLY Works, after you finish this video.
Fourth, and most important, can we really not trust our thoughts?
Well I propose a simple experiment to anyone who subscribes to this argument.
First, go find yourself a hammer.
Got one, good.
Now while it may look like a hammer, and feel like a hammer,
those are only thoughts, which you can't trust, so it probably isn't a hammer.
Now put your hand out on a table.
Don't worry, knowledge that you hand is on the table
is merely a thought which you obviously can't trust.
Now swing the hammer as hard as you can and hit your hand.
For those of you stupid enough to proceed with this experiment,
don't worry, that sensation you are feeling, pain,
it's just a thought in your head and you really can't trust it.
But I'm pretty sure the majority of you refused to play along.
Why? Simple.
You know as well as I that our thoughts are reliable, they can be trusted.
You didn't hit your hand with the hammer,
because you trusted your thoughts.
How hypocritical of you.
The consistency of our senses within and between individuals
is all anyone needs to know they can trust their thoughts.
But science has gone further.
In recording from neurons within brains
we can study what causes them to fire,
how they communicate,
what information they carry and transmit,
and how reliable they are.
Our thoughts are a product of the collective activity of our neurons,
and our neurons reliably transmit information about the world around us.
Therefore, our thoughts can be trusted.
I can already hear the rebuttal.
Well of course we can trust our thoughts
as our brains were designed by god.
Unfortunately, if we can trust our thoughts,
then there is no need to discard logic, reason, and science.
Sorry, but you can have it both ways.
The real question is how did our brains evolve?
Where do our thoughts come from?
That will be the subject of my next video "The Origin of Intelligence".
Until then I advise anyone who subscribes to this clearly flawed argument
to take a minute and let you thoughts do what they do bestů
Think about it.