The New York Times discusses the latest iPhone trend: apps that provide talking points for the existence of God, pro and con.
In a dozen new phone applications, whether faith-based or faith-bashing, the prospective debater is given a primer on the basic rules of engagement — how to parry the circular argument, the false dichotomy, the ad hominem attack, the straw man — and then coached on all the likely flashpoints of contention….
Users can scroll from topic to topic to prepare themselves or, in the heat of a dispute, search for the point at hand — and the perfect retort.
I expect that, eventually, we’ll just let our phones argue the basic questions of existence among themselves, and then they’ll let us know what they’ve decided.
