Saturday, November 9, 2013

#785: Samuel Hunt


Samuel Hunt is most famous for proving the existence of God during his student years at Western Kentucky University. His thesis? “If God spoke everything into existence as the Genesis record proposes, then we should be able to scientifically prove that the construction of everything in the universe begins with a) the Holy Spirit (magnetic field); b) Light (an electric field); and c) that Light can be created by a sonic influence or sound,” which should at least indicate that some serious bullshit is going to follow. And it does. Hunt claims to provide a mathematical proof that the world was created by God’s words – of course, he doesn’t actually give you the proof unless you pay for it (or buy his book) – by committing some of the worst category mistakes and non-sequiturs since, well, since last time one of a numerous bunch of crackpots tried to do the same thing, which is probably not that long ago. The outline of the idea is firmly dealt with here (conclusion: if anything he said made sense from a mathematical/scientific point of view, it would be self-defeating).

Of course, such “proofs” are dime a dozen, and Hunt’s version wouldn’t even have made a slight impact were it not for the fact that it was picked up by WND, in their “Evolution watch” section under the headline “Student proves God!” – though that doesn’t really show anything new sinc most of us were already plenty aware that WND does not have any intellectual standards whatsoever.

Diagnosis: Attention-seeking stock crackpot who wants you to buy his book. You can safely pass it over.

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