The Ongoogological Argument for the Existence of God
Google proves the existence of
God
Ongoogological Argument
Syllogism:
I - If Google does not know about something, it does not exist. If Google does know about something, it must exist.
II - Doing a Google search for God shows that Google knows about God
therefore
III - God must exist
Q.E.D.
Objections
One possible objection to the Ongoogological argument might be an opposition to the second half of proposition II. Just because Google does know about something doesn't mean that something actually exists. For instance, one can search for unicorns and get hits, but unicorns do not exist. Perhaps even better is the nigritude ultramarine experiment. However, in both cases, the Google results can tell you both that unicorns are legendary creatures and that nigritude ultramarine was a contest rather than a real topic.
Explanation
For those who may not get this, since you have to be both a philosophy geek and a computer geek, it is a send up of the Ontological Argument for God (more here as well). Ontology is the study of existence or being and it is a very difficult subject of philosophy. I only understand this argument partially, but I do know its an argument that has had considerable attention on both sides of the philosophical spectrum.
Ongoogology (pronounced on-goo-GAHL-oh-gee), therefore, is the study of existence based on Google's knowledge - the proposition that if Google doesn't know anything about a subject then that subject does not exist and we can therefore study the existence of a thing by searching in Google. It's my tongue-in-cheek formalization of what all of us software geeks know intimately - we'd all be lost without Google (there's nothing like finding a really cryptic error message and knowing its 3 days worth of work to figure it out, only to plug it into Google and have some forum post tell you the answer in 5 minutes).
And no, I'm not actually serious about this being an argument for God's existence (note that this was posted in the humor category). However, the Ontological Argument is one that should warrant your serious consideration.
I - If Google does not know about something, it does not exist. If Google does know about something, it must exist.
II - Doing a Google search for God shows that Google knows about God
therefore
III - God must exist
Q.E.D.
Objections
One possible objection to the Ongoogological argument might be an opposition to the second half of proposition II. Just because Google does know about something doesn't mean that something actually exists. For instance, one can search for unicorns and get hits, but unicorns do not exist. Perhaps even better is the nigritude ultramarine experiment. However, in both cases, the Google results can tell you both that unicorns are legendary creatures and that nigritude ultramarine was a contest rather than a real topic.
Explanation
For those who may not get this, since you have to be both a philosophy geek and a computer geek, it is a send up of the Ontological Argument for God (more here as well). Ontology is the study of existence or being and it is a very difficult subject of philosophy. I only understand this argument partially, but I do know its an argument that has had considerable attention on both sides of the philosophical spectrum.
Ongoogology (pronounced on-goo-GAHL-oh-gee), therefore, is the study of existence based on Google's knowledge - the proposition that if Google doesn't know anything about a subject then that subject does not exist and we can therefore study the existence of a thing by searching in Google. It's my tongue-in-cheek formalization of what all of us software geeks know intimately - we'd all be lost without Google (there's nothing like finding a really cryptic error message and knowing its 3 days worth of work to figure it out, only to plug it into Google and have some forum post tell you the answer in 5 minutes).
And no, I'm not actually serious about this being an argument for God's existence (note that this was posted in the humor category). However, the Ontological Argument is one that should warrant your serious consideration.
Posted: Tue - September 13, 2005 at 01:50 PM | | | | | | |
Quick Links
Calendar
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
Categories
Archives
XML/RSS Feed
Highlighted posts
Statistics
Total entries in this blog:
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Sep 15, 2005 09:41 AM
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Sep 15, 2005 09:41 AM
Search
The Tip Jar
Counter provided by
Brought to you by
