Most of the scientific and critical thinkers that I know are more humble about current knowledge than thr religious people I've met. Also, just because you can't explain some of your experiences scientifically doesn't necessarily mean that nobody can.

#8 use of sophistry.

He's playing by the rules and playing to win. What's the problem?

You can guess what happens next...

He fixes the cable?

I am a fisherman. And I can confirm that I did, indeed, hook a 747 once. It got away.

A 14% productivity boost does not necessarily (or even likely) equate to a 14% reduction in starvation.

+1

It's at least disingenuous. Especially when most of B was due to C, D and E.

Supposing that happened to me. Hypothetically, of course. Is there a way to appeal?

Nicely put.

Your argument about speciation is merely your ignorance. Firstly, some closely related species do have an enormous spectrum, as you describe about dogs. It may be worth noting that some breeds of dogs could be classified as different species, since they cannot interbreed anymore. That's an aside. The main point is that your expectations are way off. When a populatiin lives together, they interbreed, and therefore exchange genes, and traits continue within the whole population. A branch occurs when a population is split, and the two populations can no longer interbreed. Then you should expect the populations to diverge, and this is exactly what happens. Note, this has actually been tested.

Nonsense. The only observations you have are your own. When someone tells you something, you're observing it.

An axiom isn't necessarily true. It's merely ASSUMED to be true for some purpose.

Normal and simple are very different things. Occams razor has nothing to do with normal or, indeed, other universes. The simplest explanation for what we perceive is that there is a reality that we can sense. Another explanation is only required if this one doesn't explain all the evidence.

In what way would my life be different if my brain were (or weren't) in a vat? If it's untestable then there isn't any useful difference. Any distinction at all some might say.