The "What if you're wrong?" answer
I was struck by the answer Richard Dawkins gave to the audience member question "What if you're wrong?" (many copies of this have been on Youtube for ages) being so quickly pecked at and unpicked by theists as not being an answer at all. Of course, "we" knew what he meant, but he obviously didn't pick the killer sound-bite sentence or two 'come back'.
So, what's an excellent winning quick-fire answer that could only be understood as an answer and doesn't require too much thinking time on the part of the person being answered?
(Apologies if this has been covered elsewhere, I couldn't find it if it was.)
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Timothy Van Uytfang on -
But still the truth, and nothing but the truth. ;)
I think that if the truth can be stated in a short answer that requires no further explanation for rational people, then it should be stated as short as possible.
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Permalink Reply by Loop Johnny on -
Emphasis on "rational people". It doesn't work in practical cases.
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Permalink Reply by Timothy Van Uytfang on
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Hmm...You have a point there, but hey, do any non-rational people deserve any attention or care?
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Permalink Reply by Julien on -
Do you think you're very rational when answering a "what if" question like you did?
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Permalink Reply by Timothy Van Uytfang on
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Actually, I do, since I'm pretty convinced that I am right.
Okay, I'll be honest. I have no idea what I'd say, because I have never been confronted with that question before.
But since I'm not really the kind of man who thinks he should still give evidence for things that are -logically speaking- obviously true, I would just give that answer and see what comes next.
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Permalink Reply by Julien on
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You're answering the question "What if you're wrong?" with "I'm not, you are." ?
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Permalink Reply by Timothy Van Uytfang on
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Oh, wait, did I write "you are?" sorry, I meant to say only "I'm not".
Must be tiredness taking over.
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Permalink Reply by Timothy Van Uytfang on
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Oh, hang on, I get what you're saying now. Gah, I'm so tired I can't even focus anymore!
Okay, here it goes, the good explanation, I'll try to make myself as clear as possible here. So don't shoot me if it's not really...well...understandable.
Okay, WHAT IF I'm wrong?
IF I'm wrong, I'll still be standing in front of "god" and I will know that I have enjoyed my life.
IF I'm wrong, and god tells me I'm a bad person, he must be out of his mind.
IF I'm wrong, and I get sent to hell, well, I guess I'll just do what humans have been doing for ages: adapt and overcome.
Hell ain't a bad place to be, Ethiopia is, Haiti is, Iraq is, America is. They're all bad places, but hell isn't one of them.
That's what I would say.
Sorry for my earlier (quite dumb and stupid) comments, but the exams are happening now and all this studying is kind of messing with my head...
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Permalink Reply by Edmond on -
If I am wrong I will call whatever monster that sits before me a cold hearted coward before trying to destroy it with my bare hands. They weren't worthy of us, not the other way around.
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Permalink Reply by Julien on
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They weren't worthy of us, not the other way around.
I really like this.
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Permalink Reply by Dan Jensen on -
My quick answer: "If I'm wrong, I'll admit it and move on."
If the question implies "what if you're wrong and burn in Hell?" My answer would be, "I resolved before I lost my faith that it would be better to burn in Hell than to grovel before such a demon as people call 'God'."
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Permalink Reply by Christopher England on -
I really like this.
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