Concerning the Financing of "The Principle", And Other Matters…...

Many of our less-friendly objectors have made inquiries as to the financial aspects of our project.

I would never wish to preempt what promises to be an entertaining- even comedic!- quest on their part. ;-)

However, in a spirit of giving as good as we get, I reply:

There is a Pastry Pontiff,
I'm sure you know his name.

He rattles cups and rattles nerves
and genr'ly fans the flame

Of his great Inquisition
into a dang'rous bunch

The film they made cost almost
half enough to buy him lunch.

Public Challenge To Dave Armstrong Re: "The Principle"

UPDATE: Dave has declined.

Gee, who could have possibly seen *that* one coming?

http://socrates58.blogspot.com/2014/01/formal-science-education-of-rick-delano.html

Dave Armstrong has exposed my pathetic ignorance.

I am so ashamed.

I hang my head in abject shame, to have been so deftly exposed by a man whose own credentials are, we must certainly assume, impeccable.

Mr. Armstrong: While it is clear that you shall certainly wipe the floor, as one of your commenters has suggested, with such a woefully inadequate opponent as my unworthy self, I nonetheless hereby issue a public challenge to you:

I will debate you, at our expense, in a public format, on a resolution to be agreed upon in advance, which resolution might include any among the following:

1. RESOLVED that science documentaries ought to be only produced by scientists, or those with scientific credentials (which ones)?

2. RESOLVED that "The Principle" is a film which ought not be taken seriously, due to the lack of scientific credentials of its Producer

3. RESOLVED, that Catholic apologists ought not throw stones when they live in glass houses

Other resolutions are possible, and ought to be considered by us mutually.

Please get back to me, Dave.

This would be fun, even though you will doubtless find me easy pickings……

Forward Boldly: Interview with Rick DeLano, "The Principle"

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/forwardboldly/2014/01/12/forward-boldly-interview-with-rick-delano-the-principle

Viewing Link for :"The Principle" On "Mic'd Up", Wednesday January 8, 8pm Eastern

https://new.livestream.com/churchmilitanttv/events/2672345

Enjoy!

Discovery Institute on The Copernican Principle and the Multiverse

h/t once again to Velika Bluna….

One of the interesting ideas expressed in "The Principle" is that the multiverse is seen (by one its leading proponents) as the extension of the Copernican Principle to its logical conclusion.

Discovery Institute's Denyse O'Leary follows the multiverse to its logical conclusion.

"Logic and reason are likewise irrelevant. Consider the multiverse claim that there are "infinite copies of you and your loved ones leading lives, up until this moment, that are absolutely identical to yours." Mathematician George F. R. Ellis notes that, if so, the deep mysteries of nature are too absurd to be explicable and that the proposed nine types of multiverse in one scheme are "mutually exclusive." True, but in a multiverse, "inexplicable" is okay. "Absurd" and "mutually exclusive" are meaningless concepts. It is equally meaningless to assert that one event is more probable than another. As David Berlinski puts it, "Why is Newton's universal law of gravitation true? No need to ask. In another universe, it is not"(Devil's Delusion, p. 124).

You can, of course, make reason and logic your personal brand of nonsense if you wish. In that case, statements like this will annoy you: Earth's habitability rating has "taken a hit" because it is too close to "the warm edge" of our zone. Earth's habitability has a probability of 1, so how can its rating take a hit? Berlinski would likely say, no need to ask. In another universe it has not."

"A question arises: If, in the multiverse (especially the many worlds version) everything possible is true, why do cosmologists trash traditional Judeo-Christian beliefs? Because there is a critical catch: Anything may be true, including contradictory states, except serious dissent from the Copernican principle--the principle that Earth and our universe are nothing special. Physicist Rob Sheldon sums it up:

'Multiverse theory is designed for one purpose, and one purpose only, and that is to defend atheism. It makes no predictions, it gives no insight, it provides no control, it produces no technology, it advances no mathematics, it is a science in name only, because it is really metaphysics.'"

Some of these ideas are also addressed in previous posts here at Magisterial Fundies:

http://magisterialfundies.blogspot.com/2011/12/why-has-science-gone-crazy.html

http://magisterialfundies.blogspot.com/2012/07/consilience-welcome-to-post-scientific.html

It is time for a serious examination of this Copernican Principle; what is it, how did we accept it, what are its ultimate consequences for our science, our faith, our culture, our future?

"The Principle" is coming.

The timing couldn't have been better.

"The Principle" Live On Michael Voris' "Mic'd Up", Wednesday January 8, 8PM Eastern

We will be showing some clips from "The Principle", talking about the release plans, and taking questions via Twitter and email.

https://www.facebook.com/events/486231404829057/

Lawrence Krauss Goes Silent On Twitter, Won't Answer the Question......

See here for Part One.

Well, on strictly empirical grounds, we have a situation where Lawrence Krauss has alleged "The Principle" to be nonsense.

On examination, it turns out he has never seen it; he advances this on the basis of a trailer.

On further examination, he advances this on the basis that he was "used to sell something he does not believe in".

I think we can reasonably, if provisionally, conclude he is referring to the views of others in the film, particularly concerning the existence of God, with which views Dr. Krauss manifestly does not agree.

Obviously, I could give a hoot whether he is offended that we would include other viewpoints.

He doesn't get to edit our film, just interview for it.

There is another, more interesting possibility however, and were I a betting man, I should not neglect to keep this one in mind as the story develops.

Dr. Krauss is on public record concerning the implications of the CMB Axis.

We, probably alone among all documentary projects, actually interviewed him concerning these statements.

He perhaps might recall his answers, and, in light of Planck's results, find himself in a position not unlike that of a politician who, unable to retrieve the footage, is left with the option of attempting to discredit the source.

We'll see ;-)

One of the good things about "The Principle" is that we retain 35 hours of unedited raw footage of all of the interviews, and transcripts, and we are very prepared to respond to any and all allegations of impropriety or selective editing.

Boy howdy are we prepared.

I keep telling people: "The Principle" is the one movie you absolutely must see THIS year!