eli5: Carl Sagan’s absence of evidence

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Big fan of Carl Sagan, he was like a father figure to me, I’m partially molded by him.
That said, something he used to say all the time really baffled me, still does:
“Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence”
He said this when talking about aliens.
However: Sagan was a famous non believer.
How does this aphorism reconcile with the existence or non existence of a god?
If “absence of evidence is not evidence of absence” does that apply to a god as well?
Is there a god even though there is no evidence of him/her/it?

In: 95

147 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

because mysticism and science don’t exist.

there’s nothing mystical at all about the idea of aliens existing. *we* exist and the universe is enormous. it’s very very logical to surmise we aren’t alone.

on the other hand, there’s no logic whatsoever in saying that just because we can’t see a mystical being it could still exist. nothing in science and in our observations can even remotely be extended to draw the conclusion that a conscious entity could exist which could not only influence but even create a whole universe, as well as give attention to us or even a select group of us specifically. such lines of thinking have no place in scientific discussion

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