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A number of the discussions here lately have made me think of this topic. Where a sizable share of our population openly mocks science, and seem to have adopted political ideology as a prism of reality. I think this is a very dangerous trend. Science is not perfect, but it is far closer to objective reality than religion or politics. How do we find common ground in objective reality when literally every single topic has become a "he said, she said" argument?
I think it boils down to confirmation bias. Anti-science people believe what they feel in their gut or that they "just know." Evidence to the contrary, scientific or not, is dismissed. Essentially, they believe what they want to believe.
On the other hand, intellectually curious people are able to look at an issue more objectively, and to gather evidence and make a judgment, even when that evidence contradicts a previously-held belief.
I think it boils down to confirmation bias. Anti-science people believe what they feel in their gut or that they "just know." Evidence to the contrary, scientific or not, is dismissed. Essentially, they believe what they want to believe.
On the other hand, intellectually curious people are able to look at an issue more objectively, and to gather evidence and make a judgment, even when that evidence contradicts a previously-held belief.
I think this is basically it. I cannot fathom why someone would want to avoid learning something new at all costs. And to learn something new, you often need to toss something old, or at least modify it.
But I wonder why we were able to move past this for most of the last century, yet now we seem to be regressing? Partisan media?
The wonderful thing about science is that you can argue against it.
A hypothesis: Global warming is not happening.
This can be tested, and tested against. Your peers, other people who are educated in the discussion of global climates, look over your data and either agree and support your conclusion, or disagree, and work to disprove it.
Nonsense is saying, "well all of the people in Washington are good people, just trying to do their best"
I enjoyed most of that article. However, when I started reading that the scientific community invented global warming to intimidate the public, it came over as another conspiracy theory. Like the one about Jews being Neanderthals who are intent upon taking back over the Earth. Entertaining, but a bit loony, and probably nonsense.
I think the massive body of evidence of climate change and green house gas effects is simply too large to fake. A contrarian is just fine, but it seems like the Weekly Standard and other political magazines cherry pick what they publish to make such perspectives seem authoritative. Who knows, we might that global warming is not as bad as some say, but it is not a global conspiracy. That just seems silly. But thanks for sharing anyway.
Look, I don't think religion is necessarily in opposition to science. Despite what many believe, Christianity hasn't really been opposed to science. If you really go over the course of history, most scientists were Christians. And in most cases, science didn't diminish their faith. Even the ones who weren't Christians, were at least deists or otherwise believed in some higher power.
With that said, I think certain people do put way too much faith in science. A lot of people really do believe that science can prove everything. And especially, that science has proven religion wrong.
Neither of these things are actually true.
If you don't know what I mean, all you need to do is read some Descartes.
With that said, I think certain people do put way too much faith in science. A lot of people really do believe that science can prove everything. And especially, that science has proven religion wrong.
People don't have faith in science, faith is belief without proof, they have evidence that science is real because it has been proven to be. No one has said science can prove everything, or that it has proven religion to be wrong. Claims that have been made have been proven to be false certainly, like the Earth is at the center of the universe and that disease is caused by bad spirits.
You are answering questions no one has asked, and assertions no one has made. I know some people are threatened by science because their faith is often on such shakey ground even the mention of science gets them riled up to defend themselves. It's not science's fault, or those that understand it, when people think that observation and recording of the natural world challenges their beliefs. These people need to go back and strengthen their faith, not demand everyone else stop investigation or speaking of it.
People don't have faith in science, faith is belief without proof, they have evidence that science is real because it has been proven to be. No one has said science can prove everything, or that it has proven religion to be wrong. Claims that have been made have been proven to be false certainly, like the Earth is at the center of the universe and that disease is caused by bad spirits.
What I mean is that. A lot of people believe every word that any scientist asserts to be true, on the basis that it must be true because a scientist said it(IE Al Gore and his crew). When in many cases, Science can end up being wrong, they can be incapable or proving their hypothesis(regardless of how logical the hypothesis seems), or they can at least be significantly "off".
I'm not trying to argue that religion isn't full of crap. What I'm saying is that, I get tired of these atheist-types who hate religion with a passion, and want to proclaim that science has disproven the existence of a god. When it just isn't true.
Lastly, I don't believe that Christianity actively works against science in any real sense. I understand people want to argue that science stagnated during the Medieval period because of Christianity. But it isn't really true. Just like Christianity isn't really standing in the way of science today.
Before you rant about stem cells, keep in mind, abortion is not a purely religious issue. Abortion is a moral, ethical, political, and scientific problem.
Look, I don't think religion is necessarily in opposition to science. Despite what many believe, Christianity hasn't really been opposed to science. If you really go over the course of history, most scientists were Christians. And in most cases, science didn't diminish their faith. Even the ones who weren't Christians, were at least deists or otherwise believed in some higher power.
With that said, I think certain people do put way too much faith in science. A lot of people really do believe that science can prove everything. And especially, that science has proven religion wrong.
Neither of these things are actually true.
If you don't know what I mean, all you need to do is read some Descartes.
I won't argue that it's possible to be religious and scientifically literate. But saying most scientists were Christians is sort of irrelevant. Actually, it is irrelevant. Most scientific innovation (early on) was happening in Europe, and since the Church rules over Europe, the people were going to be Christian.
As far as opposing, depends. Sure, you can take the philosophy of Christianity and still be scientifically literate. You can believe in whatever god you want and be scientifically literate. You can't however deny evolution or think the Earth was created in 6 days and be scientifically literate. We have evidence that makes it clear, the Earth was not made in 6 days and is 4.3 billion years old.
Science has not set a goal to prove everything. Those who believe science will prove everything are not true scientific thinkers. According to any scientist, we will always be looking for answers. Even if we do actually know everything, we would have no way of knowing we know everything and would continues searching for things. It's the nature of science; to expand knowledge and have infinite curiosity.
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