Friday, December 25, 2009

Missing Marble's Mystery

A box labeled - "MARBLE THE GREAT INSIDE" is examined. There was no sound on shaking it. It was opened - no marble could be seen.


......
1.


1.1. That the box exists attests to the fact that Marble created it, so there must be Marble inside as declared by the label.

1.2. Ears are not reliable. There must be Marble inside.

1.3. Eyes are not reliable. There must be Marble inside.

1.4. Why would someone lie about Marble? I might find it, if I search "properly". There must be Marble inside.

1.5. If I don't say Marble is great or eat chocolates now, Marble might eat me after killing me. Why take chance?

1.6. If I say, Marble is great, it might give me chocolates after killing me. Why not take chance?

1.7. Marble is Great!

...This was Marbleism.


......
2.


2.1. There is no sound on shaking the box. There is no marble inside.

2.2. I couldn't see a marble on opening the box. There is no marble inside.

2.3. It's possible to write anything on the label. If I want, I can erase and write "SPOON THE GREAT INSIDE". It doesn't mean there has to be a spoon inside.

2.4. What's written on the label is false.

2.5. I'll try to grow chocolates and eat them to my heart's content before I die.

2.6. To find anything, I use exactly the same method to as I used to find the marble.

2.7. While it is possible for a marble, or for that matter even a spoon to be inside a box, there is no marble in the box given to me.

...This was Amarbleism.


......
3.


3.1. Absence of sound on shaking the box doesn't totally rule out the possibility that there could be Marble inside.

3.2. Not being able to see the Marble despite being able to see the box doesn't rule out the possibility that there could be Marble inside.

3.3. People can write things on a label - they can either be true or false.

3.4. Had the label talked of a spoon inside the box, I wouldn't have taken any time to conclude that it was false. But Marble is to be accorded special status.

3.5. I'm not sure if there is Marble inside or not.

3.6. Not sure if Marble will get angry if I grow and eat chocolates while alive. :(

...This was Agnosticism.

8 comments:

  1. Dearest Bullosopher,

    Thee losteth thy marbles?

    Why searcheth for them in a labelethed box?

    Look within thy heart, and thee shalt findeth thy marbles. If not there, look underneath thy belly. If thee still not findeth them there, how shalt thee produce Bulloprogenysophers?!!! :-SS

    Arrghmen!

    ReplyDelete
  2. From as far as I figure it out, it's very nice and novel (for me) attempt at explaining Theism, Atheism and Agnosticism. At first, it got me confused as to where it was leading, but then, yeah... Enjoyed reading it.

    Looking exclusively at three of them, I would go with Agnosticism. What say?

    ReplyDelete
  3. @ My Lord:

    Sir/Lord/Your Highness,

    Could I please have the option of surrogate father?

    Also, a more pressing need is of a Bullosophress - if the rules framed Your Divinity mandate that bulloprogenysophers can be produced only by crossing between two opposite sexes.

    I bow to Thee.

    @ Darshan:

    Even looking at the entire scenario, I go with the position of atheism. It has the greatest intellectualy honesty.

    Imagine, you pay 50 paise for a match box. You shake it, no sound. You open it, no matches. Will you buy the shopkeeper's argument that matches can be invisible, etc? No, you won't.

    Then, why make such exquisite allowances only to the issue of God?

    If we take off from my comment on your blog, it is not impossible for dragons to exist - not at all. In fact, I can almost think of scientific mechanisms by which such organisms could produce fire, and even survive because of evolutionary advantage. But how would you answer the question - Do you believe dragons exist?

    Same is the case with existence of God. While, it is not impossible for the God to exist, there is no reason to believe God exists.

    Those who argue for faith as the basis of belief, are under (intellectual) obligation to clarify, why reserve this kind of faith despite lack of evidence and despite philosophical arguments to the contrary, ONLY in dealing with the question of existence of God?

    Why not employ the same faith when being handed over an empty matchbox?

    If someone directly/indirectly states they choose to believe in the existence of God only because it makes them feel good about it, then I appreciate their honesty, but the moment they start charting moral dictates for OTHERS on how to lead life, then they overstep their intellectualy territory.

    Also, if only 'feeling good' were to become the basis of what to believe as truth, then the word "TRUTH" itself would lose meaning.

    Additionally, what will then prevent one race to lay higher claim on natural resources than others, citing their "liking" the 'truth' (of their purported superiority) as the reason?

    I hope, I have been able to adequately justify my position, though I guess, you must have already known about it. :)

    Thanks a lot! TC.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Ketan,

    How did I miss this one? Too good to miss. What would be my position on this called?

    Cheers

    ReplyDelete
  5. Saimukundhan,

    I guess, your position would be apamarbleism!

    But I really do not know, if you never wondered in life, whether God exists or not! And if you did, what feeling you ended up with would be your position. :)

    Thanks! TC.

    ReplyDelete
  6. marbles marbles everywhere, no time to play
    I think that would best describe my stance :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. @ smitzy:

    I guess, that would describe even Saimukundhan's stance, and to an extent, even mine, except that I try to warn a few passersby that marbles could explode!!!

    I liked your way of saying: "Balls to marbles"!

    By the way, you could be described as an apatheist (click).

    Thanks and take care!

    ReplyDelete
  8. When I shook the box above my neck, I heard a sound. It could be of marbles. Or not. May be it is a spoon. But there is no label. Now say 'God' is the creator. Then he doesn't want a credit of having created my box. Maybe he is modest. But then he also created sycophants. So 'God' lost his marbles. Now he lost his marbles because he didn't keep the box meant for them. He threw it & it landed with Ketan. So that is the mystery of the empty marble box. Case closed.
    - Sherlockian deduction

    ReplyDelete

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