[jodrellblank]

Man: “God, please make this mountain disappear”

God: “Ok”

Man: “We measure that the mountain is gone, its mass-loss has measurably changed Earth’s orbit, weather patterns have changed, visually it’s not there anymore, we can walk though the space where it used to be.”

God: “Where is the mass of the mountain, and how did I make it disappear?”

Man: “God only knows! Pardon me; If I saw you do magic and can measure and test it, then that means it wasn’t magic. Internet people said so.”

God: “that doesn’t sound like a satisfying explanation”

Man: “it didn’t sound like a satisfying claim when it was just words on the internet either, but what can you do?”

God: “I’m God I can do anything”

Man: “can you make a boulder so heavy you can’t lift it?”

God: “yes”

Man: “how?”

God: “haven’t we just gone over showing you that I can do ‘impossible’ things, and you seeing them happen with your own eyes, and still refusing to accept?”

[defrost]

Any documented examples of these disappearing mountains?

We do have examples of billions upon billions of tonnes of iron being moved that have altered (slightly) the spin axis, also examples of ground water pumping at scales that have done the same .. but I'm unaware of any mountain sized objects that have vanished overnight.

[jodrellblank]

No, none. The point is not to claim that magic exists, but to to show the illogic in the claim “if magic exists then that makes it science”.

“Nothing happens unless it has an explanation within the laws of physics” is an assumption; if it was broken then it would be broken. The mountain would be inexplicably gone, not explicably gone.

[yencabulator]

I think what the comment tries to express is the well-trodden "if we can control magic then that makes it science", while the original conversation really was "what if God controls magic".

In that hypothetical, there could be testable proof of "a magic event occurred" without magic becoming part of science.

[defrost]

Sure, and I appreciate the science behind your blank nom de guerre.

That said, in the cut and thrust of conversation and or debate the example by dialogue isn't perhaps as clear cut a device as it may have seemed from your keyboard.

That might just be my reading <shrug>

[lazyasciiart]

It seems very clear to me, yes.

[mcswell]

The Appalachians haven't disappeared yet, but they're believed to be much smaller than they used to be.

Yes, I get your point...

[ToValueFunfetti]

God: "What is the mass of your consciousness? How is it formed? Where does it reside in space?"

Man: "Uhh..."

God: "How can you rectify quantum mechanics and relativity into a single coherent model? How does physics work, exactly?"

Man: "Well, you see, um. Hmm."

God: "And the Collatz Conjecture? Why does it always trend to 1?"

Man: "I'm obliged to say magic because I don't have a better answer?"

God: "Exactly. I did magic for all of those ones"