Reddit reviews The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself
We found 10 Reddit comments about The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
E P Dutton
My basic approach is summarized here: Physicists Should Stop Saying Silly Things About Philosophy. http://www.preposterousuniverse.com/blog/2014/06/23/physicists-should-stop-saying-silly-things-about-philosophy/
But yes, there's also my awesome new book! I talk about philosophy a lot there, but I don't dive explicitly into the "here is why philosophy is useful" debates. If its usefulness isn't obvious by the time you've finished reading the book, I've failed.
http://www.amazon.com/Big-Picture-Origins-Meaning-Universe/dp/0525954821/smcarroll-20
Puno je knjiga za preporučiti, ali evo jedne koja me nedavno oduševila: https://www.amazon.fr/Big-Picture-Origins-Meaning-Universe/dp/0525954821
As others have said, of course we can't know with 100% certainty that there is no God. But to paraphrase the apocryphal words of Laplace, I have no need for that hypothesis. The idea of God does nothing to explain the universe beyond what we already can explain with physics alone, and in fact adding God to the explanation introduces more questions than answers (beginning with the question of why there are so many incompatible interpretations of who/what god is).
There are lots of great atheist thinkers who have filled the void you describe; I recommend familiarizing yourself with some of that work. I'm finishing up Sean Carroll's excellent book The Big Picture, and I can heartily recommend it as a great place to start building a worldview compatible with reality.
ETA: I just read a relevant paragraph from Carroll's book that might help with your void:
>Say you love somebody genuinely and fiercely, and lets say you also believe in a higher spiritual power, and think of your love as a manifestation of that greater spiritual force. But you're also an honest Bayesian, willing to update your credences in light of the evidence. Somehow, over the course of time, you accumulate a decisive amount of new information that shifts your planet of belief from spiritual to naturalist. You've lost what you thought was the source of your love. Do you lose the love itself? Are you now obligated to think that the love you felt is now somehow illegitimate? No. Your love is still there, as pure and true as ever. How you would explain your feelings in terms of an underlying ontological vocabulary has changed, but you're still in love. Water doesn't stop being wet when you learn it's a compound of hydrogen and oxygen. The same goes for purpose, meaning, and our sense of right and wrong. If you are moved to help those less fortunate than you, it doesn't matter whether you're motivated by a belief that it's God's will or by a personal conviction that it's the right thing to do. Your values are no less "real" either way.
A couple resources come to mind:
A descent selection so far from the other comments. I'll throw in a few, as well:
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Some of the above is specifically related to atheism, while others I've used to help shape and inform my understanding and my worldview. Out of the entire list, the Carl Sagan book and the Sean Carroll book rank highest, for me, in level of importance. Those books didn't just change what I think, they changed how I think, and I am forever indebted to them.
The Big Picture by Sean Carroll
>Have, have you do your PhD thesis on anything? That skipped many many many steps lol.
No sir. I do not have a PHd. You went to college. Presumably, you have a Masters, at the very least. I never went to college.
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>**This is my most important response here. So you're saying it was a product of chance. Great. Let's roll with that because I think that will be easier for now.
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>Is chance purely random or preordained. Are the two mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive?
This question is too deep & I too unequipped to answer. I would recommend Sean Carrol's The Big Picture.
But of course we both know you're not gonna read it.
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>You seem to have all the answers so give me your best here.**
I never made such a claim. You're confusing me for a religious person. Those are the people who have "all the answers".
As an atheist, all I have is a bunch of I-don't-know(s). If you want certainty, go get a religion. Any religion. Doesn't matter. They're all pretty certain.
The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself - Sean Carroll
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0525954821/
He has a new one releasing next week called The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself. The table of contents alone is impressive LOL.
The book is by Sean Carroll and it is called The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself. Amazon link.