In short it's a decision matrix that says believing in god is a better choice than not believing in god. Being an atheist I have to admit it's about the most convincing argument I've ever seen, largely because it's purely logical. Here is the short of it:
God exists------God does not exist Wager for God-------Gain all--------Satus quo Wager against God---Misery----------Status quo
The problem with Pascal's wager is that it assumes there is one and only one God, and that by not believing in him/her/it you are bound for Hell and by believing in him/her/it you are not bound for Hell.
Suppose there are two or more Gods and you believe, but you believe in the wrong one?
Also, how can you "make yourself believe" something? You believe based upon what information you have, nothing more, nothing less. Something either makes sense and is believable or it does not and is not.
So it seems that you should always wager for God, right? Not so fast:
------------------- God_is_Good ---- God_is_Evil Wager for God: ------ Gain all - Become Undead Minion? Wager against God: - Status quo ------ Misery
Basically only an Evil (or at least malicious) God is going to punish you for not believing in things which are unprovable (God having MADE you in the first place).
So, do you really want to accept that God is Evil? And if God is Evil, what exactly are you going to gain?
If god is however all powerful then simply wagering on him is not enought, misery ensues.
Perhaps wagering on him would put you slightly in his favor though?
I should have payed more attention in sunday school, brainwashing would have solved this dilema.
For simplicity let's call X, the proposition that: "A boulder will materialize out of thin air in exactly 1 second and will fall on your head crushing you to death" ---------------------True--------False Wager for X------Not crushed--status quo Wager against X----Crushed----status quo
Now, it is just as likely that a boulder will instantly materialize out of thin air and crush you in a grisly death, as God exists (well, it's actually probably more likely).
---------------------True--------False Wager for X------Not crushed--You look like a massive idiot because you are afraid of a giant boulder materializing from thin air and crushing you in a grisly death
I can't make myself believe something merely by *wanting* to believe it. People who *can* do that are not entirely sane.
And this is the biggest flaw in Pascal's Wager. Even if it succeeded at convincing me that I should want to believe in god (it has other flaws that make it fail to do that, but even if it did succeed at that...) then I'm still stuck with the fact that my mind can still differentiate between me wanting something to be true and me believing something to be true. They are not the same thi
"Mr. Watson, come here, I want you." -- Alexander Graham Bell
This immediately brought to mind Pascal's Wager (Score:3, Interesting)
God exists------God does not exist
Wager for God-------Gain all--------Satus quo
Wager against God---Misery----------Status quo
Read all about it here. [stanford.edu]
Please excuse the horrible formatting, I suck at html.
Re:This immediately brought to mind Pascal's Wager (Score:1)
Re:This immediately brought to mind Pascal's Wager (Score:4, Insightful)
Suppose there are two or more Gods and you believe, but you believe in the wrong one?
Also, how can you "make yourself believe" something? You believe based upon what information you have, nothing more, nothing less. Something either makes sense and is believable or it does not and is not.
Re:This immediately brought to mind Pascal's Wager (Score:2)
Thus concludes the lesson: God is Evil and wishes you to be an Idiot. Now donate to my campaign bitch.
Re:This immediately brought to mind Pascal's Wager (Score:2)
God is Stupid
Because he can be "tricked" by a simple 2x2 matrix calculation.
Me to god: h4r h4r n00b STFU
Re:This immediately brought to mind Pascal's Wager (Score:3, Funny)
------------------- God_is_Good ---- God_is_Evil
Wager for God: ------ Gain all - Become Undead Minion?
Wager against God: - Status quo ------ Misery
Basically only an Evil (or at least malicious) God is going to punish you for not believing in things which are unprovable (God having MADE you in the first place).
So, do you really want to accept that God is Evil? And if God is Evil, what exactly are you going to gain?
Re:This immediately brought to mind Pascal's Wager (Score:1)
Re:This immediately brought to mind Pascal's Wager (Score:3, Interesting)
For simplicity let's call X, the proposition that: "A boulder will materialize out of thin air in exactly 1 second and will fall on your head crushing you to death"
---------------------True--------False
Wager for X------Not crushed--status quo
Wager against X----Crushed----status quo
Now, it is just as likely that a boulder will instantly materialize out of thin air and crush you in a grisly death, as God exists (well, it's actually probably more likely).
So are you sitting around with
Re:This immediately brought to mind Pascal's Wager (Score:3, Funny)
---------------------True--------False
Wager for X------Not crushed--You look like a massive idiot because you are afraid of a giant boulder materializing from thin air and crushing you in a grisly death
Re:This immediately brought to mind Pascal's Wager (Score:3, Interesting)
I can't make myself believe something merely by *wanting* to believe it. People who *can* do that are not entirely sane.
And this is the biggest flaw in Pascal's Wager. Even if it succeeded at convincing me that I should want to believe in god (it has other flaws that make it fail to do that, but even if it did succeed at that...) then I'm still stuck with the fact that my mind can still differentiate between me wanting something to be true and me believing something to be true. They are not the same thi