Atheists are Fools!

Many Christians like to quote the following passage to atheists…

The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; There is no one who does good.

David Mills, author of Atheist Universe, said he likes to answer by quoting the following scripture…

Whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

I guess King David is in hell while Jeffrey Dahmer is playing harp on a cloud in heaven!

Top 100 April Fool’s Day Jokes

Number 7: Alabama Changes the Value of Pi
The April 1998 issue of the New Mexicans for Science and Reason newsletter contained an article claiming that the Alabama state legislature had voted to change the value of the mathematical constant pi from 3.14159 to the ‘Biblical value’ of 3.0. Before long the article had made its way onto the internet, and then it rapidly made its way around the world, forwarded by people in their email. It only became apparent how far the article had spread when the Alabama legislature began receiving hundreds of calls from people protesting the legislation. The original article, which was intended as a parody of legislative attempts to circumscribe the teaching of evolution, was written by a physicist named Mark Boslough.

Number 10: Planetary Alignment Decreases Gravity
In 1976 the British astronomer Patrick Moore announced on BBC Radio 2 that at 9:47 AM a once-in-a-lifetime astronomical event was going to occur that listeners could experience in their very own homes. The planet Pluto would pass behind Jupiter, temporarily causing a gravitational alignment that would counteract and lessen the Earth’s own gravity. Moore told his listeners that if they jumped in the air at the exact moment that this planetary alignment occurred, they would experience a strange floating sensation. When 9:47 AM arrived, BBC2 began to receive hundreds of phone calls from listeners claiming to have felt the sensation. One woman even reported that she and her eleven friends had risen from their chairs and floated around the room.

An encoded prediction:

[tr][td]

$;Fn#z2i}euCt?Aw>v?.gy_v$MFt}=g]==avymlw~CO -#cktyA
<$FWckV)m5NCo_v#Um^AAj2eeMFlQ+^AA+&-6%k\uC!\CY)mZY)
],vPvF*AAnNg"Ngyv+MyAc)v$QAwAAnNgs<F3u+|U g&-#|_=LF
. kW;C=avHav8Ef6%k\uC+)E6%k>O++z+:{=yevnvF%MFbNC34g
"2AN*+lwiL\g[.FM{hr?Ac)v(cvnvF,"+*_igTvW\=X>g")E\av
nvFW?f?{hr?Ac)v8!{<MF* -X\ on_N*+*AAifv0yAx|C20~

[/td][/tr]

I’ll reveal what it says when it is fulfilled, together with the decoding scheme. The reader is, of course, encouraged to try breaking the code.

Oh, and this is definitely the correct subforum and thread for it.

'Luthon64

Based on the complexity of the code and with prior knowledge of your mathematical and logical abilities, I seriously doubt that this is a straight forward substitution code.

I’m sure even the FBI will battle to break it.

At least give us some indication what to watch out for. For instance, is it world news related?

Sentinel, I think you are right. I’ve spent 3 fun but fruitless hours on the 'Luthon Prophecy yesterday, and am also convinced the solution involves finding 5 digit prime factors or something similar. :wink:

For what its worth, it contains around 76 different characters, so I agree, its not a simple substitution cipher.

Mintaka

Oh no, the context is entirely local – almost parochially so as it involves the forum directly. The code is a bit more than a substitution cipher but it isn’t anywhere near as complex as RSA or AES. It involves some elementary modular arithmetic. More than that I will not say on the matter, except to add that if my prediction has failed to eventuate within a year from now, I’ll spill the proverbial beans.

'Luthon64

On second thoughts, I’ll also add that the code’s symbol set consists of 95 characters, as follows:

[tr][td]

0123456789 ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTU
VWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz~
`!@#$%^&*()_+-={}[]|\:;<>,.?/"'

[/td][/tr]

Note that there is a space between “9” and “A,” and that it is one of the 95 symbols.

'Luthon64

Only three months left to crack the code…

There is no empirically verifiable evidence that that code is the result of any intelligence. That code can be explained to have emerged via evolutionary processes. It is therefore quite useless as a predicting tool because evolution is directionless and purposeless. Anyone trying to ascribe meaning to that code is a fool. ;D

That code can be explained to have emerged via evolutionary processes.

Ah, but what, then, is the code’s function? :wink:

Mintaka

No evidence for God therefore no need to believe that God exists.
No evidence for a function therefore no need to believe that a function exists.

I guess you can see how a certain kind of “logic” can stunt progress ;).

Hey, who’d’ve thought TellyMecchie has a sense of humor! Up to now there’s been no empirically verifiable evidence for it.

The Luthon Prophecy

Not long to go until the encoded prediction is revealed.


[url=http://www.7is7.com/otto/countdown.html?year=2010&month=7&date=8&hrs=16&ts=24&min=52&sec=56&tz=120&lang=en&show=Wdhms&mode=r&cdir=down&bgcolor=%23CCFFFF&fgcolor=%23000000&title=Mefiante%27s%20encoded%20prediction%20to%20be%20revealed%20on...]Select this link to view the countdown![/url]

Okay, okay. Just can’t wait, can you? :wink:

Since there’s less than two weeks left and no sign that my prediction was accurate or will become so in the time that remains, a description of the decoding process follows. Applying it will reveal the encoded message for the benefit of those too impatient to wait another fortnight.

[ol]- The base character set consists of the 95 characters given here. In the order in which they are listed, each character is numbered according to its position starting at zero. Thus, for example, the character “8” has the value 8, the character “J” has the value 20 and the character “j” has the value 46.

  • Starting from the beginning of the encoded message, the characters are arranged in sequential groups of three where each such group represents a base-95 integer. For example, the three-character sequence “L8r” represents the decimal number 22×952+8×95+54 = 199,364 because “L” ≡ 22, “8” ≡ 8 and “r” ≡ 54. (Do you see the parallel with representation in base 10? The base-10 symbol triplet “739” translates as 7×102+3×10+9 = 7×100+3×10+9 = 700+30+9 = 739. Also, “L8r” is just an example; it doesn’t occur in the encrypted message.)

  • Each triplet value is then subjected to the modular transform x’ ← (12,347×x+509,099) mod 953 = (12,347×x+509,099) mod 857,375. You’ll need at most 11-digit accuracy for this, which any halfway decent calculator or spreadsheet will provide. Also, this all looks quite scary but isn’t really, so don’t let your eyes glaze over just yet. The “mod a” operation indicates “remainder after division by a.” So, if x = 199,364, then the transformed value x’ ← (12,347×199,364+509,099) mod 857,375 = 2,462,056,407 mod 857,375 = 532,782 because 2,462,056,407 leaves a remainder of 532,782 when divided by 857,375. (Question for the reader: Why is the modulus or radix equal to 953 = 857,375?)

  • The result of the modular transform is always an integer that can be expressed in base 95, as described in part 2 above, and the result of the modular transform so expressed in base 95 gives the original triplet of characters. Continuing with our sample value, 532,782 = 59×952+3×95+22 → “w3L” because 59 ≡ “w”, 3 ≡ “3” and 22 ≡ “L”. Thus, “L8r” decodes to “w3L”. This process is applied to each of the successive triplets so as to decode the entire message.[/ol]

Bonus question for the reader: Parts 1, 2 and 4 described above deal with the mechanics of translating between our ordinary decimal (base 10) system of numeration and one in base 95 (because we have 95 symbols, each of which can be thought of as a digit). The trick occurs in part 3 with the application of the modular transform that effectively decodes the message. The bonus question is what, exactly, must we do to encode a message for the above process to work? (Hint: “Brute search” is not the correct answer. There is a direct, explicit, precise and efficient encoding process that does not involve guessing.) Another bonus question for the reader: What restriction(s), if any, apply to our modular transform so that it should be fully reversible?

In closing, this isn’t all just for the fun of numerical obscurantism. The techniques presented illustrate some basic key concepts of information theory, cryptography, number theory and group theory – or at least hint strongly at them – even despite my prognostication being off the mark.

'Luthon64

I’ll need a year to figure this one out! I Should have paid more attention in class.

Now where is my scientific calculator…?

Okay, no takers then. The prediction reads:

User “Mechanist.” has a Creationist and Intelligent Design agenda that they’re not telling anyone about. When this is pointed out, this person will argue against it having anything to do with the recent spate of messages posted in the forum - things that they’ve posted before elsewhere on the Internet.

'Luthon64

Okay, no takers then
Not for lack of trying :D At least we now know what sent this guy running.

http://universal-tool.blogspot.com/2010/04/alan-turing-marathon-london-olympics.html

Nice one Luthon. Till the very end I somehow believed it had something to do with the world cup and Paul the Octopus!

Mintaka

The really cool thing about the bible is that you can twist it’s meanings in any direction you want to go. Crazy part is that people are still willing to blindly accept whatever twisted version is being taught them. Guess that is why they are referred to as sheep.

when I was still a member of the NG Kerk, the dominee visited me and admonished me etc and then read a piece from the Bible which says you should be like sheep following the shepherd (Jesus)…jisses I stripped big time and told him that this is a denial of man’s capacity to think and I reject that notion with distaste… he never returned.

Just on the original topic I recalled reading this awesome rebuttal and went looking for it: 8 fallacies in one verse!

sauce

MINI-FAQ: Psalms 14:1

The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that does good.” (Psalms 14:1)

ad hominem fallacy: An argument is discounted based on attacking the character of the person making the argument. (“He is wrong when he says there is no God, because he is a fool.”)

strawman fallacy: Arguing against a position by creating a different, weaker, or irrelevant position and refuting that position instead of the original. (“There is no God” misrepresents “There isn’t sufficient evidence that God exists.”)

circular reasoning: The truth of the conclusion is assumed in order to justify the premises. (“The fool says there is no God, because anyone who says there is no God is a fool.”)

begging the question: The argument creates a secondary proposition that is related to the primary proposition, which requires a similar argument that is missing. (The existence of God is assumed, while addressing propositions of whether God exists.)

fallacy of inconsistency: The argument is inconsistent with other arguments within the same context.
In the Christian context, Jesus commands against the invective in Psalms 14:1, warning that “whoever says ‘You fool!’ shall be liable to the hell of fire” in Matthew 5:22.

special pleading: The inappropriate attribution of emotive functions to objects that do not have that capability. (Hearts are not capable of “knowing” or of feeling emotions.)

redundancy: Psalm 53 is identical to Psalm 14.

questionable premise: It is obviously not the case that all atheists do nothing but bad deeds. This premise is invalidated by a single example of an atheist doing a single charitable act.