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The real difference

Engyo

Prince of Dorkness!
The article itself is fascinating, but the last paragraph for me defines the difference between religion and science:

"Like it or not;" that is the key phrase. The history of science is stacked high with ideas and discoveries nobody was expecting, or even wanted. From the discovery of the muon ("who ordered that?" asked physicist I.I. Rabi) to climate change (the ultimate inconvenient truth), we don't get to dictate to nature how it should behave. The greatest and strangest beauty of science is, in fact, this constant reminder of just how wrong we can be.

The Story Of Dark Energy, In A Nutshell : 13.7: Cosmos And Culture : NPR
 

Student of X

Paradigm Shifter
we don't get to dictate to nature how it should behave
Am I to assume that there is a peer-reviewed paper in a respectable science journal that can provide solid, replicable evidence to support this assertion?
 

Gjallarhorn

N'yog-Sothep
Am I to assume that there is a peer-reviewed paper in a respectable science journal that can provide solid, replicable evidence to support this assertion?
If all scientific evidence points to humans only being natural, then we are a subset of nature and are changed by nature, not vice versa.

It's not science. It's logic.
 

Engyo

Prince of Dorkness!
Am I to assume that there is a peer-reviewed paper in a respectable science journal that can provide solid, replicable evidence to support this assertion?
It might be helpful to actually read the article.

BTW, are you asserting that we DO get to dictate to nature how it should behave? Jsut curious.......
 

Student of X

Paradigm Shifter
It might be helpful to actually read the article.

BTW, are you asserting that we DO get to dictate to nature how it should behave? Jsut curious.......

I did read it.

Are you asserting that we DO get to dictate to the Divine how it should behave?

"We make-up religion, so we can give it a happy ending" seems to be what you are implying.
 
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Engyo

Prince of Dorkness!
I did read it.

Are you asserting that we DO get to dictate to the Divine how it should behave?

"We make-up religion so we can give it a happy ending" seems to be what you are implying.
I wasn't implying anything about religion per se. It just struck me that I've never heard a group of religionists say anything like what the scientists said - that they found something completely unexpected, and that the data took them in a completely different direction from their expectations; which then forced them to comletely rewrite their theory.
 

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
It just struck me that I've never heard a group of religionists say anything like what the scientists said - that they found something completely unexpected, and that the data took them in a completely different direction from their expectations; which then forced them to comletely rewrite their theory.

For the most part, I agree with you. Although I think many mystics might not have expected what they found. Other people though -- who might call themselves mystics, shoehorn their mystical experience into whatever religious box they grew up with. So, for instance, they interpret their mystical experience in, say, Christian terms.
 

Student of X

Paradigm Shifter
I wasn't implying anything about religion per se. It just struck me that I've never heard a group of religionists say anything like what the scientists said - that they found something completely unexpected, and that the data took them in a completely different direction from their expectations; which then forced them to comletely rewrite their theory.

Thats because its not the job of "religionists" to mythologize and disseminate new religious truths. It's the job of mystics. And as a mystic I can tell you that I have learned the hard way to expect the unexpected.
 

shawn001

Well-Known Member
While theories can be modified or even wrong, lots of them are correct as well. The fact we have discovered dark matter and dark energy and the begining of the universe and that we have evolved in such a short time span is in itself, truly amazing discoveries. Science is adavancing extremely rapidly and we gaining amazing knowledge on how it all works. In cosmology and astronomy new technologies are helping us discover amazing things.

I thought this was a good quote

"At some point a choice always has to be made. Science will follow that path until it dead ends or opens up new avenues of explanation. That's what discovery is all about."

Science Follows A Dark Path : 13.7: Cosmos And Culture : NPR
 
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