the little green elephant problem?

Question

right now, behind your head, there is a little green elephant, you can not touch him much like a ghost, he can not be seen in reflections, and if you turn to see him, he moves exactly with your head always remaining behind, you can only see your green elephant no one elses, and no photos hes shy! but you can never really be sure he is there or not, can you disprove this though, intellectually? with out telling me this is Hogwash, its the same with god, we can't disprove him, but there is no evidence either

Answer 1

Yep.
I posted the same question about the Green Fairies.
The Green Fairies make the plants grow and flowers bloom. The proof? Flowers bloom and plants grow don't they? That's proof enough!
(slippery slope arguments are all the same)

Answer 2

I can say that there is no reason to believe in a green elephant. There's a reason this sort of example is often used to illustrate the absurdity of the "incredible shrinking god."

What would have caused the green elephant? Clearly, it didn't pop out of nowhere, so it must have evolved from something. But evolution only happens on physical populations, not ghosts. So maybe it was created. But that assumes a new type of metaphysical entity (a god) for which we *also* have no evidence, and which tends to be incoherent and really just more of an intellectual problem than a solution. In order for one ghost to exist, we have to imagine more ghosts, and pretty soon the universe is full of crazy things. Therefore, the ghost elephant is not a very parsimonious solution.

Besides, why would it look like an elephant?

And how could it be that only I could see it? If it can be seen, then it must be emitting photons, but how could those photons only reach the receptors on my eyes, not other people's? That creates a false distinction of "personhood," which was another of Descartes's errors. (Note the D'Amasio reference here.)

If the elephant were merely to broadcast signals into my brain, well, how does it see my brain, and how does it know where to send signals to make a realistic picture appear in my head? Here, the elephant fails when coming up agains the combinatorial explosion of data necessary to sustain an interactive illusion (like an elephant), especially considering the sheer complexity of the brain.



Above all, there is a much simpler solution. If you see an elephant, then you probably need to lay off the bottle for a while.


Ghost elephants are about as likely as gods--not very.

Answer 3

My father, grandfather & father-in-law are all colorblind, some to extremes. My oldest would not identify proper colors at age three either, and all the colors he seemed to have trouble with were the ones naturally occurring to the color-blind as similar. Red, orange, green, brown and purples. Unfortunately in the test for such issues the participant usually needs to understand letters, shapes and numbers- in the test these items are disguised in one color beneath another color. Those of us who can differentiate between the colors have no problem seeing the number or shape, but those who have color blindness generally see more of the same color. There is a test available for children, where the objects are familiar, such as a house, a dog etc. This test usually isn't suggested until kindergarten or older. Until then we all just have our theories. When my son started preschool they worked very hard with him and he gets nearly all the colors correct, but every so often he will say, "oh the purple one!" when it is actually blue etc. Work with him daily on colors, simply, don't push it. As my dad said, he was made to think something was wrong with him, he sees very little color at all. If it runs in the family the odds are much higher, if not then you may have nothing to worry about. Good Luck!

Answer 4

You are trying to make a point, I'm just not sure of what it is. As a Christian I have to agree, I can't come up with enough evidence, seeing how it's a matter of faith. I just know if you seek on your own you'll find out why so many take validity in Christianity and God.

Answer 5

Did that little green elephant leave instruction that he does exist? Say, maybe a book written by a bunch of different men from different areas and dispensations in the world?
Just wondering.....

Answer 6

This is similar to the invisible dragon in your garage. I believe Carl Sagan wrote that essay many years ago. It didn't seem to convert many god botherers though. Reason and logic elude some people.

Answer 7

That's why the word faith is important.
Can you prove evolution, not what you've read, but actually gone out and tested, dug up seen evidence?
I'm not trying to say one way or the other what anyone should believe or not believe, but I am saying don't knock anyones beliefs.

Answer 8

i asked my sister that's right here. she said that it wasn't there. considering we're family she would be able to see it if it was there. it's not the same with god, you are an idiot for thinking anyone will believe this and not include anything about the flying spaghetti monster

Answer 9

Look around everywhere, there is a lot of evidence of God. Gravity is proof of God. Gravity cannot be explained scientifically, but it is there

Answer 10

Don't be ridiculous.

He lives in the laundry room and hides when you open the door. I have proof because this is where my socks go missing because he eats them.