Surely the silliest thing that humans can do is to think they can know the future, see the future, even predict the future and write the prediction down . It is of course that power which the common citizen would like to possess second only to winning the lottery. The two abilities are of course linked and to destroy these dreams will be hard.
Yet it is these tactics that religions use and we have been drawn in to this fantasy. It is unfortunate that some predictions SEEM to come true. An opportunist will work backwards and link an unexpected event - a volcanic eruption , plague, epidemic to a cause that he/she has talked about previously.
WHAT IF we were able to predict with the fullest possible certainty that an epidemic would happen ? Would people start believing in the SCIENCE that enables it THEN? Well I will NOT personally predict, but we now have an opportunity to observe a big test of science in the coming months. The prediction of scientists based on real happenings was not about whether a pandemic would happen. They knew it would happen but the uncertainty remained as to when it would happen. That bit has come true. Do you now believe that science can defeat the virus?
Our big trouble was of course that the politicians did not believe the scientists and one big example of non-belief was more influential that all the rest together.
Science can be really simple if you believe in it.
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Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.“As far as the future is concerned, we should not seek to prophesy but simply try to act in a way that is morally right and responsible. This means we have a duty to learn to see the present correctly, not through the tinted spectacles of an ideology. We can learn from reality what it is possible to achieve. But if we see reality through the lens of one of those three ideological conceptions of history, we violate our duty to learn.
The future is open, and we have a responsibility to do our best to make the future still better than the present. But this responsibility presupposes freedom. In a despotic system we are slaves, and slaves are not fully responsible for what they do. This brings me to my final main thesis.
Political freedom – freedom from despotism – is the most important of all political values. And we must always be prepared to struggle for political freedom. It can always be lost. We should never sit back and assume that our freedom is secure.”
Karl Popper, 'All Life is Problem Solving'.
Mcflewster
Level 8
Apr 4, 2021
0
Of course details of the future cannot be predicted but general trends can be forecast quite accurately, For example several people, including Bill gates forecast the current epidemic and the onset of climate change has been forecast for over 100 years. The problem is that we are more comfortable living in a state of denial.
Moravian
Level 8
Mar 30, 2021
3
Surely the pandemic has shaken our state of comfort? Some new approach to science education is needed that has more trust in scientists who are only the messengers. in order to get better science YOU have to produce some science with the same conclusion but from a different angle
@Mcflewster Let's hope so but is climate change really being taken seriously. Sectarian wars are common,toxic nationalism is becoming more common and rampant consumerism abounds.
A ship gets stuck in the Suez canal and the world almost grinds to a halt. Crazy.
The religious predictions SEEM to come true, but not really. Numbers in your hand or head are the mark of the beast. It all changes yearly.This thing or person is not the real event coming, but only a TYPE of that which has been predicted. Yes, it's in the bible. A ridiculous book of many smaller books that never said anything about people outside of the middle east, and yet modern Americans are in with others all caught up in believing the book predicted something for their country. Up until 12 years ago I was as gullible as the rest of them.
DenoPenno
Level 9
Mar 29, 2021
0
Science can be really simple if you believe in it. Isn't this a bit contradictory?
AmmaRE007
Level 7
Mar 29, 2021
1
Yes, it is. More explicitly, it is the incompatibility between having an evidence-based world view and the acceptance of claims for which there is no supporting evidence.
To a degree yes it is simple. Religion says. "We have been given all the truth we need as a privilege, because we are chosen." And science says. "We are not given truth, therefore we need to work hard and carefully to get anywhere near it." At the bottom, simple really.
I am afraid that one actually have to produce some original science that other people WANT to read to verify that statement. Take something simple in your life that you wish to change and put science methodology into operation. Our education systems OUGHT to be able to get anyone around 10 yeas old to do this, but up to now science teaching has mostly been about "OTHER PEOPLES' SCIENCE".
In my thoroughly cynical view, the population in general and politicians in particular have an extremely poor understanding of science. In particular, they have no comprehension of probability and statistics.
anglophone
Level 9
Mar 29, 2021
4
Any future that anyone could predict with certainty would surely not be by the very definition something to look forward to as it would already be known, therefore, it would be an endless of round of boredom.
Certainty in the human realm is only possible when to or more people make and keep agreements. However, as Friedrich Nietzsche said: "Man is the only animal with the capacity to make promises and he has an even greater capacity to break them."
The main problem with uncertainty is that the gap in information or knowledge is often filled with an unfounded belief because it is too uncomfortable for many people to endure uncertainty. The problem with belief is that it closes the door to reason.
ASTRALMAX
Level 8
Mar 29, 2021
1
I THINK that you have got to something very important here but I don't quite have the ability to prove it.
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