QUANTUM WOO Peddler Meets a Skeptic and a Physicist | Matt Dillahunty & Aaron Adair

Original Episode Here:

In this call, Marcus claims that studying quantum physics led him to believe in God. When pressed for details by hosts Matt Dillahunty and Aaron Adair, Marcus struggles to articulate clear arguments, relying on fallacious reasoning. The discussion becomes increasingly heated as Matt points out flaws in Marcus' logic, leading to interruptions and threats to mute the caller. Marcus ultimately hangs up when challenged on the inconsistencies in his argument about life only coming from life. The hosts then break down the flaws in Marcus' reasoning and discuss current scientific understanding of abiogenesis and the relationship between quantum mechanics and consciousness.

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Jimmy Snow: @JimmySnow
Matt Dillahunty: @SansDeity
Katy Montgomerie: @KatyMontgomerie
Forrest Valkai: @RenegadeScienceTeacher
Dr. Ben: @FamilyDrBen
Aron Ra: @AronRa
Shannon Q: @ShannonQ
John Gleason: @godlessengineer
Erika: @GutsickGibbon
Paulogia: @paulogia
Alyssa Ljub: @AlyssaLjub
Eric: @skepticsandscoundrels
Dr. Aaron Adair
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[hardryv]

The infamous "I don't really get it, therefore god." But with an *_alleged_* atheist twist.

I don't believe he was actually an atheist... we don't tend to be so ham-handed in describing what we don't believe in (eg aren't convinced of).

The fact he didn't want you to speak makes it all the more amusing he was proclaiming "I am ready..."

[ExecutorElassus]

Like Stephen Colbert put it (by now over a decade ago, I think): "there _must_ be a god, because _I don't understand how things work_ ."

[dimitrioskalfakis]

it's so irritating when people attempt to misuse physics to support their fantasies especially when they are not trained in the field !

[askingbetterquestions]

“The stuff in my head is all true and could never ever be demonstrated.“ Cool…

[kevinshort]

Marcus was an Atheist for no good reason, now he is a Theist for no good reason.

Oh, he doesn't understand QM at all.
To be fair, I remember some Physicist saying if you think you understand QM, you don't understand QM.

[pappav]

Classic example of reaching conclusions from a strong confirmation bias, by gish galloping through multiple subjects and not understanding a single one of them.

[brianschlicher]

I love this, "he exists outside of this universe, " argument. It means the "god" these people believe in can't be observed. It means there is zero evidence for the existence of such a God.

The, "God exists outside of the universe, " argument immediately means there is no way to observe such a God or prove their existence.

[TypographyGuru]

He should be embarrassed! Almost all theists start out with childhood indoctrination and THEN use these bad arguments to justify what they already believe. He was already out and dove back in head first. That’s way worse and indefensible.

[FullFrontalNerdity-ez]

I'm not sure why people are so desperate to have gods. At this point, we could just admit we don't know exactly how the universe got here and go get a pizza. Just don't worry about it. We're workin' on it.

[sapphichazard]

I just wish that when Theists dip a toe into Quantum Physics and concluded it proves their God, instead of calling you, they would dip the rest of the way in and gain an understanding beyond that of High School conceptual physics intro week in what they are talking about.

[lukasmontenegro]

As a physicist working with quantum information theory, I need to point out a correction on Adair's explanation about CO2 and information. When Claude Shannon developed his information entropy equation, he was actually focused in communication theory. Hence, what he quantifies as "information", can actually be understood as "how many bits or how many information needs to be send in order to completely describe a physical system" or, in terms of storage, "how many bits of space are required to store this knowledge in a given memory". To say that a system gains information as the box containing CO2 is opened, is numerically correct, because the entropy of the system indeed increases. But it is not conceptually correct in terms of that conversation: the increase of Shannon's information means a non-zero amount of information will now need to be sent in order to account for the position of the particles of that gas, while before you already knew them, so the necessary information to be sent was zero. That said, there are obvious ways in which nature encodes and manipulates information without the need of a concious being. Sun light gets polarized by the surface of lakes and is properly selected by certain beetle's shells, for example, much in the same way you manipulate the polarization of photons in a lab to do information science.

[AvaEFF]

That “you’re not letting me finish.” Came out of NOWHERE.

[suburban-vampire]

"I studied the sciences, like really really got into them"

Well, I'M CONVINCED

[ChristianIce]

Is "quantum" now a magic word, like a spell in Harry Potter?

[paimei]

I hate to say it, but when a theist says they used to be an atheist without a cogent explanation of what made them a believer in magic, I tend to zone out and disbelieve everything else they say. Stop it, just state your beliefs without the dishonest extras, we can tell you were probably never an atheist by your lack of skepticism.

[mikefoster]

Classic example of a caller hiding behind a fuzzy narrative and going silent (through mistrust) at simple fair questions. Their fuzzy ideas are literally their safe space from inquiry.

[KirinDave]

It is so strange how people equate materialism with determinism when the information we have about the universe suggests that materialism can deliver outcomes indistinguishable from non-determinism.

[allendesomer]

I've been actively exploring the nature of reality and consciousness for 50 years. I'm perfectly, joyfully comfortable with materialistic explanations for everything.

Despite my training under an Indian guru, I feel more satisfied and liberated by the concept that human consciousness is an emergent property of our brains. Looking back at the many billions of years of slow development of systems that eventually resulted in "me" gives me shivers of awe-inspiring bliss.

To me, the ultimate transcendental source of reality is impersonal, and I'm thrilled by the subject.

No magic required.

[donnyh]

"it's all so complicated and sophisticated that it has to be god"
Yeah, great job. I'm rushing out to buy a crucifix and some really cheesy pictures with psalms on them.

[victorfinberg]

"i don't understand this, and THEREFORE THIS is the answer"

great. will now use this on all my physics exams.