Tonamel on 23/3/2006 at 21:12
If there was a revelation so radical as to claim that some other well-known science is wrong, there wouldn't be a renaissance OR a dark age. It'd get branded as pseudoscience and laughed off the stage. And that's if the person who presented it is lucky. Just ask Galileo "Earth revolves around the sun" Galilei.
SubJeff on 23/3/2006 at 21:16
"every" scientist eh? And how many is that? No, people who just happen to have science degrees do not count.
Wyclef on 23/3/2006 at 21:28
Quote:
Religion is but one way to get there. For the more simpleminded and insecure, saying "God'll take care of me, and however it works out is God's plan" can even be empowering and a good thing.
Quite so. I generally don't even reveal my atheism to non-secular acquaintances -- even close friends -- let alone try to disabuse them of religious belief. Not everyone is immediately capable of sustaining the sort of philosophical inquiry that secularity demands, and the danger is that the disbeliever will sink into despair or, more probably, lapse into the passive hedonism that is all too compatible with mass consumer society. While a distorted image of philosophy, religion still calls us to more than the immediate satisfaction of appetities.
It might even be that most people are ultimately, and not just immediately, incapable of rational inquiry, in which case myth and religion are permanent and necessary features of human society. It seems like this is a strand of Platonic thought which appears most notably in Strauss (whatever you think of him.)
DarthMRN on 23/3/2006 at 21:41
@Rug burn Junky & Stitch:
Thanks for proving my point. And as far as my stupidity goes, I guess it takes a lot of intellect to always think inside the box, eh guys?
Even so, my views are not the matter of debate here. We've been through that chapter before. I am just saying scientifically interested/educated people generally meet me with the frame of mind to suit a religious fanatic, however good their reasons may be. If 'real' scientists would consider a totally new view of science a rennaissance, than I am happy to concede my error. My poor judgment was then based upon bad impressions left by amateurish wannabes who think they know it all.
Printer's Devil on 23/3/2006 at 21:44
Quote Posted by Sypha Nadon
...Still, I'm kinda hoping that one day the stars will be right and Great Cthulhu will rise from the ocean depths to reclaim the planet. You non-believers will be fucked then.;)
Unless you happen to be one of those inbred human-amphibian hybrids Lovecraft wrote about, you'll be tossed into Cthulu's insatiable maw along with the Christians and their bibles.
Rug Burn Junky on 23/3/2006 at 21:44
Quote Posted by DarthMRN
I am just saying scientifically interested/educated people generally meet me with the frame of mind to suit a religious fanatic, however good their reasons may be.
Oh, I'm sure their reasons are pretty damn good. The conclusions you currently fail to draw from that are your own to discover in due time.
Sadly the world is made for those not cursed with self awareness.
Vigil on 23/3/2006 at 21:52
Quote Posted by Rug Burn Junky
Sadly the world is made for those not cursed with self awareness.
olol thanks for proving my point RBJ
wait I mean look in the mirror
wait I mean um
oh yeah scientists are close-minded fanatics because they treat stupid claims with no scientific proof to back them up with contempt
<small>whew did you see what I did there guys</small>
fett on 23/3/2006 at 22:09
Vigil, unless you have a spewing penis to add to this discussion, stay the hell out.
SubJeff on 23/3/2006 at 22:14
The thing is Darth, most scientists I've spoken to - and this was when I was working at the Institute of Psychiatry in London ((
http://www.iop.kcl.ac.uk/)) - are vehement believers in the supernatural in some form or another. It seemed to me that their research was instrumental in this. Wasn't Newton religious, and didn't he believe the rules that govern our universe too elegant to be not have been be design or something.
Stitch on 23/3/2006 at 22:39
Quote Posted by DarthMRN
@Rug burn Junky & Stitch:
Thanks for proving my point. And as far as my stupidity goes, I guess it takes a lot of intellect to always think inside the box, eh guys?
Actually, I didn't prove your point at all. I didn't even call you stupid except to refer to your question as goofy.
The problem here is your hypothetical question shows a complete misunderstanding of the way science works. Not because you bring up the possibility that some scientific theories may be incorrect, which really isn't all that controversial. No, the problem is you don't understand the scientific method.
And neither does your self-proclaimed scientist friend, if he or she would refuse to aknowledge data that conflicted with longstanding hypotheses.
This isn't about "thinking outside the box." There's plenty of room in science for questioning widely accepted theories if the evidence is there.
You can take your foot out of your mouth now.
