Jim
Nets of Wonder
Sometimes when I post about people misusing research reports in the same harmful ways that they use religious scriptures, people promoting and defending science beliefs respond by pointing out differences between science and religion, which I don’t see as relevant to what I’m saying. I’ve started wondering though, about how much and what kinds of differences there actually are, between research reports and religious scriptures. Here are some differences that I see:
- Imagining any aim or purpose behind anything that happens is is stigmatized in the sciences.
- Maybe as a consequence of that, research reports mostly use mechanistic models and metaphors, and sometimes get tangled up in trying to explain how things could happen randomly and accidentally.
- There usually isn’t any doubt about who are the authors of a research report, although actually there have been false claims sometimes.
- Research reports are mostly about what happens, and how it happens, as a result of what happens before that. Religious scriptures are mostly about how to live our lives, to bring out the best possibilities in people, in society and in the world around us.
It seems ironic to me for people to imagine the universe as being like a machine, and at the same time scoff at people for imagining that it was created by someone with some purpose in mind.
- Imagining any aim or purpose behind anything that happens is is stigmatized in the sciences.
- Maybe as a consequence of that, research reports mostly use mechanistic models and metaphors, and sometimes get tangled up in trying to explain how things could happen randomly and accidentally.
- There usually isn’t any doubt about who are the authors of a research report, although actually there have been false claims sometimes.
- Research reports are mostly about what happens, and how it happens, as a result of what happens before that. Religious scriptures are mostly about how to live our lives, to bring out the best possibilities in people, in society and in the world around us.
It seems ironic to me for people to imagine the universe as being like a machine, and at the same time scoff at people for imagining that it was created by someone with some purpose in mind.