Rug Burn Junky on 23/3/2006 at 22:47
Quote Posted by Stitch
And neither does your self-proclaimed scientist friend, if he or she would refuse to aknowledge data that conflicted with longstanding hypotheses.
That's not necessarily true.
Let's be honest here: even without knowing what was being discussed, I have no problem assuming that it's goofy enough that a scientist would say "Look Darth, what you're describing is so outlandish and counter to things that we know to be true that if I were to observe it, it could only be explained by error or trickery on someone's part."
I'm not saying a true scientist wouldn't explore plausible possibilities, just that I think we all know that there are better ways to explain that particular conversation than questioning the "scientist's" credentials. ;)
Vigil on 23/3/2006 at 22:51
Quote Posted by fett
Vigil, unless you have a spewing penis to add to this discussion, stay the hell out.
<img src="http://www.washboardabs.net/stuff/hurfburfscience.jpg" alt="" title="More like how do they know where they're coming am i rite" />
Let me know when I can start openly mocking people's strategies of argumentation again.
Thx.
fett on 23/3/2006 at 22:59
I think the spewing penis' (penii?) will do fine. In the end it all has the same effect.
SubJeff on 23/3/2006 at 23:01
Quote Posted by Rug Burn Junky
I have no problem assuming that it's goofy enough that a scientist would say "Look Darth, what you're describing is so outlandish and counter to things that we know to be true that if I were to observe it, it could only be explained by error or trickery on someone's part."
Dude, the guy is a Jedi. I'm sure he suggested something totally non-goofy but supernatural. Like midcholrians.
SD on 23/3/2006 at 23:04
Quote Posted by Subjective Effect
midcholrians.
Midichlorians.
Scots Taffer on 23/3/2006 at 23:12
Just to say, spirituality and faith can be used to support ignorance and stupidity but in my experience those people are inclined to not want to think too much about the world anyway.
Let's put it this way, I don't walk around saying: well sheeeit, <strike>snakes on a plane</strike> God's plan.
Rug Burn Junky on 23/3/2006 at 23:50
Me thinks peeps is focusing too much on "ignorance" as a pejorative as opposed to the saying in which I used it.
The context is that religion is a stress reducer because it enables the attitude of "I'm not going to lay awake worrying about the ultimate cause of the universe because I already know that it's god."
The corresponding secular "I'm not going to worry about the ultimate cause of the universe, because I'm able to accept the fact that I won't ever know." is equally ignorant of the true cause or meaning of life, but it just handles that "ignorance" in a different fashion.
Both however, are ways of handling the existential angst that stems from a need to answer that question. Each deny the necessity: one by saying it's already been answered, the other by saying it doesn't matter.
Agent Monkeysee on 24/3/2006 at 00:06
Quote Posted by DarthMRN
How would the atheists, scientists and the vast masses who hold scientific research and contemporary logic above all else react if suddenly it was revealed that the most fundamental scientific facts were fundamentally wrong and every theory and fact based upon them (which is to say, just about all of them, right?) had entirely different reasons for behaving the way they do?
Likely, it would be total chaos. Everything would fall apart, and fear and insecurity would become world-wide epidemics. The faithful would be swept away with the rest, of course, but my guess is they would cope better than the irreligious.
What? Why would that happen?
edit: oh goddammit how'd I miss the second page. I swear IE is lying to me.
anyway my question still stands, largely because something akin to Darth's hypothetical has happened in the past. Relativity and QM come to mind; both fundamentally revolutionized our understanding of How Things Work and far from unraveling the scientific and the secular they were the prime movers because
that's what science does.
You could make an argument that the Copernican Revolution and the scientific movements of the Enlightenment were even greater usurpings of What We Thought We Knew because they collectively dethroned the two pillars of authority behind Western civilization: Aristotle and the Bible. Again it didn't result in massive chaos and madness; it helped kick-start the Modern Age.
Scots Taffer on 24/3/2006 at 00:42
Quote Posted by Agent Monkeysee
edit: oh goddammit how'd I miss the second page. I swear IE is lying to me.
Are you like me and relegated to IE when at work? I swear it makes me want to cry sometimes. :(
Agent Monkeysee on 24/3/2006 at 00:43
I use IE at home too because I'm sticking it to the resistance.
