Saturday, March 2, 2019

Decision on Blog Future

One of the suggestions I liked was to make another blog and link to it here. I did exactly that, and the first post is up on "Not in Heaven." If there are future posts relevant to academic biblical theory, I can also cross-post them to this blog.

Hopefully the opening post and the "about" page will give you a feel for some of the topics I'd like to discuss.

4 comments:

  1. Given your backround in physics, you'd probably want to check out a newly released video by a seemingly well-credentialed physicist who claims that not only is there no conflict between modern physics and the torah, but they actually go hand in hand.

    https://www.collive.com/show_news.rtx?id=54706&alias=physicist-starts-quantum-torah

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    Replies
    1. Mavin,
      I didn't watch the whole thing, just the first two examples. But that was enough to convince me that I need not watch any more.

      The first example was a comparison between quantum epistemology and the new moon. He argues that because you need witnesses for the new moon, it somehow relates to quantum uncertainty. He doesn't mention that two witnesses are the standard for any statement of fact in Jewish law. He also doesn't mention that as soon as the diaspora occurred, Jews stopped basing the new moon on witnesses and instead used the much more accurate calendars.

      The next argument is essentially, quantum mechanics includes events that are random, and so does Judaism! Whoopee? I stopped watching here because he lies in stating that Yom Kippur has to do with "lots" that is a false cognate with a Persian word. They have nothing to do with each other.

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    2. First a welcome back to KOW. @MAVIN - watched only a few minutes of video - it is not 'proving' Judaism. Rather trying to find QM within Judaism. The man may be sincere, but he is grasping at straws and is guilty of confirmation bias. In the collapse of wave function - you need only a single observer, and that can be a rock. Besides collapse of wave function is only one interpretation of QM. Besides it is like saying QM is in legal reasoning because we need witnesses. The "Lots" being used for making decisions is well attested in many ancient cultures and is nothing surprising or implying QM.

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    3. Sorry after those two items in the video I gave up on the video. Warning: Hucksters use QM to promote all sorts of nonsense, apparently it is making it's way into Judaism.

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