Thank you for this article. It is so refreshing to see a level-headed and sensibly epistemological take on the ever burgeoning buffet of sensational multiverse fare.
It's not that the multiverse is nonsense (it may or may not be I don't know)...its that it simply isn't science.
Out of curiosity - why was the above post flagged? It didn't violate any of the HN commenting rules. It didn't advocate for/against atheism/religion (this was explicitly stated), and it didn't state anything that was not factual.
Long story short - because it's deeply un-American.
Atheism is fundamentally at odds with the values and ideals of the founding fathers and the vision they had for America.
Remember this is a country that was born because "all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights".
The idea that all are created in God's image therefore all are equal - is a foundation for why our country exists in the first place. That's a fundamental gene in the American DNA.
Moreover the founding fathers were either A-devout Christians themselves or B-held considerable regard for the Christian religion.
Yes there's the odd quote about the shortcomings of organized religion, Jefferson's Bible, Ben Franklin's religious aloofness - however, the founding
fathers were overwhelmingly what most today would consider 'devout' Christians.
Take for example, the members of Constitutional Convention of 1787 (which authored the Constitution) - 96% were Protestant, %4 were Roman Catholic. A fair
portion of these were actually trained for ministry.
Or this quote (among many others) of George Washington -
"I am sure that never was a people, who had more reason to acknowledge a Divine interposition in their affairs, than those of the United States; and I should be pained to believe that they have forgotten that agency, which was so often manifested during our Revolution, or that they failed to consider the omnipotence of that God who is alone able to protect them."
...in which he literally outlines his abhorrence to the omission of God from the American consciousness...because of what God has done for it.
This is not to say atheism is 'wrong' or religion is 'right' or vice versa.
It's just to say that American and Christianity have been historically intertwined.
It should be self evident why atheism is considered a taboo here.
The point still stands: soldering-iron wielding neo-hippies having an orgy in the desert for a week isn't a model for society. It's more of an indication of boredom in a society blessed with extreme abundance, yet lacking a clear sense of purpose.
Actually its just the opposite - most folks who invoke 'the universe is a simulation' view this as a 'scientific' way of positing a creator of the universe that is not God. Rather it is a program being run on some fantastical computer.
It's not that the multiverse is nonsense (it may or may not be I don't know)...its that it simply isn't science.
S