You don't believe in science, you understand it (hell, Isaac, quote)
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When Copernicus figured out that the Earth orbits the sun, it wasn't something that was widely believed at first. But as other discoveries and findings confirmed his model people began to understand that it was correct. They didn't have to believe it, they just had to understand it. The earth had always orbited the sun, but we were too scientifically and technologically immature to realize it.
It's the same thing with evolution and the Big Bang, which today's historic discovery has confirmed in a huge way. We evolved and this universe began with an inflationary big bang regardless of whether you or your religion believes in that or not. Science isn't asking you to believe it - it is only showing you the best possible explanation for the evidence at hand, as researched and confirmed by researchers and scientists and students all over the world.
You can choose to follow the experimental path through the observable world that leads to a converging proof of evolution and the big bang in every scientific discipline and come to an understanding of it. You don't have to take anything at face value. You don't have to accept it just because some authority says that you have to. You can do the work yourself, you can see the research, you can follow the reasoning, you can challenge and question it. There is no dogma other than finding out where the evidence leads.
You believe in religions because you have to take their unprovable claims on faith. You understand science because all it presents to you is a model or theory that best fits the available, testable, provable facts.
Last edited by sean98125; 03-17-2014 at 03:16 PM..
And yet, so many who 'believe' in science really don't understand it.
I see so many people speak of scientific info as being hard-set facts. But in science there is a lot of theory. Theory based on evidence, and while all evidence points to something in an 'absolute' way, does not mean that it is totally correct.
And then there are the 'laws' and 'truths' in science. Any scientist will tell you that there are no absolutes in science. That the laws and truths are established only on what we have been able to study and test. Scientific laws and truths can and have changed.
Of course science has changed. The more information that we have available, the more accurate the models become. And as the models keep converging on the same point the true nature of reality comes into sharper focus.
And then there are the 'laws' and 'truths' in science. Any scientist will tell you that there are no absolutes in science. That the laws and truths are established only on what we have been able to study and test. Scientific laws and truths can and have changed.
Hello OwlKaMyst.
Certainly scientific hypotheses are changed all the time. Scientific "laws" are often refined, but rarely discarded wholesale because of the streangth of evidence required for a "theory" to be dubbed a "law." I do not know the criteria for a scientific "truth."
All of this notwithstanding, I'm not sure of the point you are making. Perhaps you are suggesting that some people prefer religion because the beliefs that it offers are more ridged and all-encompassing? While I can see the allure, this doesn't make them any more true.
How can science be right if it changes every week? Scientists of the 19th century believed in things that were later debunked by scientists of the 20 and 21st centuries. We can say with much certainty that 100 years into the future, some of today's theories will be considered obsolete and/or unacceptable.
Certainly scientific hypotheses are changed all the time. Scientific "laws" are often refined, but rarely discarded wholesale because of the streangth of evidence required for a "theory" to be dubbed a "law." I do not know the criteria for a scientific "truth."
All of this notwithstanding, I'm not sure of the point you are making. Perhaps you are suggesting that some people prefer religion because the beliefs that it offers are more ridged and all-encompassing? While I can see the allure, this doesn't make them any more true.
Thanks.
Hi Hyker.
Just to clarify: A scientific Theory, never becomes a Law. Laws describe observations while a Theory explains them.
Here's a good explanation of facts, Laws and Theories in science.
How can science be right if it changes every week? Scientists of the 19th century believed in things that were later debunked by scientists of the 20 and 21st centuries. We can say with much certainty that 100 years into the future, some of today's theories will be considered obsolete and/or unacceptable.
Can you give one example of an accepted - as-true scientific fact that has been debunked? I don't mean details like circular orbits being discovered to be elliptical or atoms being clouds rather that little solar systems or indeed evolution having a lot of branches rather than the simple direct branches envisaged by Darwin?
Those are refinements, additional information and even stronger confirmation that the basic discovery is right. That is what changes every week - the addition of better information about the detail. I know of nothing that has been debunked and I see no reason why atomic theory, Newton's and Einsteins' Laws of motion and relativity, circulation of the blood, the Heliocentric system and indeed evolution -theory will not be as valid 100 or 1,000 years in the future as they are now.
If you can, let's hear it. If you can't, accept that this 'science is always changing its mind/ getting things wrong' is an ignorant or dishonest attempt to discredit what science reliably knows in hopes to be able to wangle onto the table religious claims that science has pretty much disproven.
P.s there is a lot to ask about why this discussion is even necessary, but let's hear your answer first.
Last edited by TRANSPONDER; 03-18-2014 at 05:23 AM..
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