[UA] "I believes in Science!"

[Epoch]

On Fri, 15 Jun 2001, Liam Astley wrote:

> From: "Greg Stolze" <holycrow at mindspring.com>
> Subject: [UA] "I believes in Science!"
> > Science can only, EVER, say "The current theory that best fits the
> observed
> > facts is [...]."  Fill in the blanks with whatever fits.  Evolution.
> > Heliocentrism.  Superstring theory.  And these current theories WORK --
> > they usually work fairly well even when they later turn out to be "wrong."
> 
> yep. which is why it's a process, not a belief system. like carl sagan said
> in, erm, james mcgraw's sig., while there is resistance to change science
> DOES change its paradigms when shown to be wrong. whereas religion can't be
> proven right or wrong, and so only changes due to vagaries of culture.

The fundamental axiom of science is "what is observed empirically serves
as a predictor for the future."  That's as unprovable as anything in
religion, and as much of a leap of faith.  It's also susceptible to
cultural whims in terms of how much we believe it -- it was /much/ less
accepted a few centuries ago.

Mike

--
"Like H.P. Lovecraft's dark and inbred Maine, only with grits!"
		- Greg Stolze


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