Agnostic.com

30 31

Scientific evidence is great and all but I think its also important for everone to back up and remember that its OK to admit we don't know everything and that doesnt mean God did it.

MsAl 8 May 9
Share

Enjoy being online again!

Welcome to the community of good people who base their values on evidence and appreciate civil discourse - the social network you will enjoy.

Create your free account

30 comments

Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.

7

I guess what I was trying to get at is science is about curiosity, not knowing it all. I keep seeing it used by smug people to self validate and its tiresome.

MsAl Level 8 May 9, 2019
7

We don't know everything, and can't be certain about anything, IS a scientific statement.

As is “I was wrong.”

Yes but one that I think I don't see much. At least not in public conversation about science, scientists themselves probably say it all the time.

@MsAl they do. i watch the science channel a lot and they DO say it all the time.

g

6

I firmly believe that all supernatural/paranormal/magic is just science that isn't understood.

Just think; if a scientist from this time somehow showed up even 100 years ago, people would either think that they were the devil or that they knew magic.

Exactly. Today’s metaphysics is tomorrow’s mainstream.

5

I just did a Google search on "scientific proof". Almost every response was a link to an article about how science does not find proof and people are misusing the term. literally the only one that claimed scientific proof was the one claiming "scientific proof that your cat hates you".
[google.com]

MsAl Level 8 May 9, 2019
5

Science owes it's existence to the human mind and ability to reason. It is popularly but, I believe, erroneously accepted that science validates good thinking. It is backwards because thinking is what evaluates, reasons and defines what is good science.

Altogether too many people in our time view science as a process entirely dependent on 'experts' and consensus therefrom for validity. Though far more dependable than myths, science is often flawed in both it's conclusions, mostly self-corrected, and in varying definitions of what is and isn't sound practice. It doesn't deserve, even for all of the gifts it has bestowed, to be considered even temporarily infallible.

5

The basis of the philosophy of science is that there are things we don't know, coupled with a systematic process for figuring it out based on what we do and do not know. There is this misconception that enters the publics mind sometime in middle school that science knows everything, the reality is the opposite. Science knows nothing that can't be rigorously proven.

Religion on the other hand starts with the assumption that we know everything, and then proposes some set of circumstance that justifies that assumption. The accuracy of these assumptions is irrelevant so long as it makes people comfortable and behave in a productive manner. People don't like to admit that they don't know something, and will carry a lie to their entire lives just to say that they do.

4

Right on! Every answers we get can bring us dozens of other questions and it's great. How could we pretend to know everything about an endless universe?!

4

Science works for me - even if I don't understand it... that's why we have scientists?

You can't research everything, so some things have to be accepted based on how much you trust the associated people and organizations. I give reputable academic and scientific organizations a fairly high degree of trust, and most political organizations a fairly low degree, and of course, Fox=Trump=Republicans=0.

4

We have to draw our conclusions from the evidence we have.

3

It has been scientifically proven that what I don't know is essentially infinitely greater than what I do know.

Science finds evidence not proof.

@MsAl Fine. It has been hypothesized that what I don't know is essentially infinitely greater than what I do know.

3

Good point. Saying that God did it is just saying that you don’t know.

2

I have never met anyone who thinks we know everything. Or even enough.
Most smart people I'm aware of keep saying the more we learn, the more questions we encounter.

2

But that is why religion - and gods (yes, plural) - came into being in the first place. We humans did not yet have the answers to the situations in our ancient lives. We - in the absence of scientific proof - created gods and goddesses to whom we attributed the phenomenons we now understand via science. Yes, it is alright to admit that we do not know the answers to everything. But we definitely need to understand that no god or goddess "did" or "created" these situations. We might not know the answers YET, but there IS a scientific explanation.

2

The very definition of AGNOSTICISM. 😆

2

Back up? Why?

Not from the scientific reserch, that's very important. To many people think they know it all so they don't question their info or make an attempt to understand what it means or how much we don't know about stuff.

1

I don't know is a great answer. Plonking a god in the gap in the knowledge is foolhardy and lazy.

1

I think that this comment comes from observing the misuse of science. Look at the scientific method and how it is used and defined. It's all about making observations that make you wonder what's going on. Then formulating a hypothesis for what is happening. Next, looking for evidence that supports or does not your hypothesis (doing experiments). Then modifying your hypothesis according the evidence. After large amounts of evidence a theory is formulated. Science is all about not knowing everything and trying to figure it out.

It does come from the misuse of science by people trying to prove their agenda on the internet. Thats what my post was origonally refering to.

I do think that even scientists sometimes mislead or use vauge but real results to back up their agenda or profit. It is important to remember to question science and to ask where the science is coming from and who paid for it, and how many studies back it up.

1

We do not know everything. This first applies to religions. Next we get into science with ideas of a multiverse, Schroeder's cat, and various other improbabilities that they want to make probable. I like to stick with the science we know and have working models of. Let's not just make things up. I was once told that the idea of a "brain in a vat" was around in Plato's day. Really? Were they reading books with that idea or watching weird movies? I doubt. Knowledge evolves along with ideas.

1

Science works on the assumption it's already wrong. However, as best as it can figure this is how it works but hopes somebody will come up with a better simpler way to explain it.

Religion is fiction on how it all works because people don't like to say "How does it work? Beats the fuck out of me." Religion works on the "let me tell you a story" approach.

1

Um yeah. Science doesn’t have to “prove” that there is no god for that to be true.

1

i have no proof that the tooth fairy doesn't exist but i still know, not think maybe, not speculate, but KNOW she doesn't, which is a bummer because she's owed me a quarter for a half dozen decades, and the interest on that would pay off our mortgage. we don't know everything but that doesn't mean we don't know anything!

g

1

What about the scientists who believe?

Different thing than what I was getting at, but I think many people call themselves religious purely for social reasons. I've never been chill enough to just let things like that be.

1

I most certainly don't know everything , but I do believe in common sense .

0

God didn't do any of it, because he doesn't exist. The big bang set everything into motion for what we have today. Only mentally ill and gulliable people believe god did something.

Religion is a social construct. Calling people mentally ill and gullible who live differently than you is not an intelligent position. Some people just want to have healthy social lives and community with the people around them. Sorry but if you really think that all religious people are mentally ill or gullible you are displaying those very attributes in yourself.

The Big Bang explains nothing. You might as well attribute reality to God.

0

It's easy really, science is fact. FACT is Far As Can Tell.
And the word that seems to be missing from all these responses is Theory. And a theory only last as long as it takes for someone to disprove and we refine the theory.
But one theory that has lasted through the ages, is. The man who knows most knows he knows nothing at all.

People are confused about what it means for something to be a theory in science, as if it were just someone's crazy idea, instead of an explanation that's been substantiated over time using the scientific method and real-world experiments. Theories of gravitation, relativity, evolution, etc. have been tested and proven repeatedly. It's possible that additional ideas may arise that extend these theories but will not destroy them unless they also destroy a substantial portion of our understanding of basic physics.

Science is not fact. Sience is curiosity. math is fact. There are some things that have very stong evidence repeated from many repeated studies. Our und s rstanding of even these changes all the time as we learn more. Many things we consider unquestionably answered end up being completely wrong. Im not questioning the importance of science. Im just annoyed with people who misrepresent it.

Write Comment
You can include a link to this post in your posts and comments by including the text q:344082
Agnostic does not evaluate or guarantee the accuracy of any content. Read full disclaimer.