Author Archives: Thrasymachus

About Thrasymachus

Thrasymachus is a medical student in the UK.

God, Evil, and Appearances: A Dialogue

by Thrasymachus Posted on 2013/03/19

[Published in THINK (2013; issue 12, pp 9-23)] ADAM: Consider this: Neil and Kazumi Puttick, and their son Sam were, by all accounts, an idyllic family. One friend said: ‘If you could bottle up a perfect marriage, theirs would be … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Philosophy of Religion | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Why you shouldn’t believe the Resurrection happened

by Thrasymachus Posted on 2013/02/13

The 12th (and final) part in “20 Atheist answers to questions they supposedly can’t.” What accounts for the empty tomb, resurrection appearances and growth of the church? Short answer: We shouldn’t be that confident of these facts, but in any … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy of Religion, pseudo-scholarly, Religion | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Unfriendly AI cannot be the Great Filter

by Thrasymachus Posted on 2012/12/22

[Slightly odd topic, originally posted on LessWrong.] Introduction The Great Filter is the idea that although there is lots of matter, we observe no “expanding, lasting life”, like space-faring intelligences. So there is some filter through which almost all matter … Continue reading →

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In defence of the Genetic Fallacy

by Thrasymachus Posted on 2012/11/28

Many objections to religious belief take the form of ‘debunking arguments’. On these views, religious belief is a manifestation of class oppression, or psycho-sexual disfunction, of some evolution-inspired psychological glitch (agency detection) or similar. An objector might want to nail … Continue reading →

Posted in Note, Philosophy of Religion | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Atheist Prayer Experiment, Week 5: Why Atheists should hope there is a God.

by Thrasymachus Posted on 2012/11/28

We’ve seen so far that Mawson’s recommendation that atheists should pray are along the right lines: so long as you don’t think prayer is too likely to lead to self delusion, and the costs for the added information are smaller … Continue reading →

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Atheist Prayer Experiment, Week 4: What if there’s no answer?

by Thrasymachus Posted on 2012/11/01

[Belated updates as I've been working in A&E.] Nothing much happened this week. So, instead, lets talk about divine hiddenness: It is implied by the rationale for doing the ‘prayer experiment’ that although a ‘positive result’ has value (“Oh, God … Continue reading →

Posted in Myself, News, Religion | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

How many lives does a doctor save?

by Thrasymachus Posted on 2012/10/28

[This is cross posted on 80,000 hours: 1 2 3. Particular credit to Ben Todd for basically writing the third section.] Doctors have a pretty solid reputation as do-gooders. There are regular news stories about how advances in medical science … Continue reading →

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Atheist Prayer Experiment, week 3: Why should atheists bother praying, anyway?

by Thrasymachus Posted on 2012/10/21

Personal update: I have been finding praying pretty difficult in the last week or so. It has been hard keep my mind on prayer rather than wandering elsewhere after the initial mental recitation. Similarly, I have generally failed to keep … Continue reading →

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