Deep thoughts

A little outside the purview here. hah

This is a fascinating website I stumbled across: The Philosopher's Magazine

I did the two of the quizzes. Must come back to do the rest....

Do-It-Yourself Deity
The Metaphysical Engineers Report
Our modelling is designed to answer two questions about the conception of God which you offered.

(1) Is the conception of God consistent with itself?
(2) Is the conception of God consistent with the universe that we live in?

The first question asks whether the conception makes sense. For example, a triangle with four sides is a conception which is not consistent with itself, since a triangle has three sides. A triangle with four sides is, in fact, a four-sided three-sided object, which is simply a contradiction in terms. In this sense, the conception is not consistent with itself.

If a conception is consistent with itself, this does not necessarily mean that it refers to something which actually exists. For example, the idea of a six hundred foot monster that lives in liquid steel is not inconsistent. But such a creature does not exist in our world. The second question therefore asks whether your conception of God is consistent with the universe as we understand it.

The metaphysical engineers should explain that any problems they report may reveal one of two things. Some problems may simply reflect their inability to resolve apparent problems. In this sense, the difficulties are a product of their lack of knowledge or understanding. Others may be deeper problems, so fundamental that no amount of increased understanding can resolve them. It is for you to decide which problems fall into which category.

The Report [I checked all the boxes.]

Plausibility Quotient = 0.2

The metaphysical engineers have determined that your conception of God has a plausibility quotient (PQ) of 0.2. A PQ of 1.0 means that as far as the metaphysical engineers can determine your conception of God is internally consistent and consistent with the universe that we live in. A PQ of 0.0 means that it is neither internally consistent nor consistent with our universe. More than likely, your PQ score will be somewhere between these two figures. But remember that this is your PQ score as determined by the metaphysical engineers. The editors of TPM have no control over their deliberations, so don't blame us!

[There are a whole lot more that I didn't copy that deals with each 'definition' of God.]

That is the end of the metaphysical engineers' report. As we said at the beginning, we are not sure that the problems they identify are insuperable. But we do hope that by thinking about them you may come to understand what you mean by God more deeply, and perhaps even revise your former beliefs.

[My take is that of course these problems are insuperable. I have thought about them. In fact, I find it funny that some of them could even be considered insuperable!]

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Battleground God - Will your beliefs about God and religion survive on our intellectual battlefield? Now's your chance to find out!

Battleground Analysis
Congratulations!

You have been awarded the TPM service medal! This is our third highest award for outstanding service on the intellectual battleground.

The fact that you have progressed through this activity without suffering many hits and biting only one bullet suggests that whilst there are inconsistencies in your beliefs about God, on the whole they are well thought-out.

The direct hits you suffered occurred because some of your answers implied logical contradictions. The bitten bullet occurred because you responded in a way that required that you held a view that most people would have found strange, incredible or unpalatable. At the bottom of this page, we have reproduced the analyses of your direct hits and bitten bullet.

The fact that you did not suffer many hits and only bit one bullet means that you qualify for our third highest award. Well done!

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How did you do compared to other people?

• 244807 people have completed this activity to date.
• You suffered 2 direct hits and bit 1 bullet. This compares with the average player of this
  activity to date who takes 1.39 hits and bites 1.11 bullets.
• 38.49% of the people who have completed this activity have, like you, been awarded the TPM Service Medal.
• 7.50% of the people who have completed this activity emerged unscathed with the TPM Medal of Honour.
• 45.90% of the people who have completed this activity took very little damage and were awarded the TPM Medal of Distinction.