Things that annoy me: Creationism.
The assorted scientific 'creation myths' aren't the same as the other myths through history. They're a level higher in truth. They fit into a larger whole. They're just truer, dammit! Okay, think about it this way: In the past there have been loads of explanations for what the Earth is 'really' like: It's flat; it sits on turtles; it's a bubble inside solid rock. But then comes along this idea that they Earth is roughly a sphere and it orbits the Sun, &c. This isn't just another story - we can go up in space, look down and see that the Earth really is a sphere. Just because loads of people throughout history and prehistory have believed something else it doesn't make them right. Ditto evolution and creationism.
Evolution isn't just evolution, it's part of a whole package of science which stretches from cause and effect to, well, how hairless apes came from fish. This one aspect of science: It's complete. Is it just another belief system like religion? No it isn't. There's trust involved in this facet of science; I trust other scientists to ensure the whole hangs together. But this isn't faith. The only reason I couldn't personally verify the whole of science is because I won't live for a million years. Could I verify the existence of God or the resurection of Christ if I lived for a million or a billion years? No, and that's the difference between faith and trust.
Science is more than equations and explaining what happens. It's about predicting. It's about saying what won't happen, or what might not happen. It's about how systems work. And it's about how to judge itself; how to compare explanations, how to prove, how to disprove. From looking at the systems at work around us today it simply wouldn't make sense if evolution hadn't happened. And from the same argument creationism isn't scientific. Where are the predictions it can make? If creationism was part of science we couldn't even predict the path of a ball through the air because there are no limits on supernatural interference. Creationship explains everything, and nothing. There is nothing that could possibly be that could shake creationism, and that means it's not a theory, it's not science; it's faith.
In the end science gives you a world view. Could there be a God? I guess so. Could the universe have been created 10000 years ago? I guess so. But isn't the fact that I don't believe in a God a kind of faith in itself? No. It's for the same reasons I believe that pigs don't fly. I see the world through scientific eyes; it makes sense. Systems are systems wherever they are and ultimately the universe is a collection of systems and nothing more. There can't be exceptions and there's no room for faith in my life.
Luckily, Gödel's theorem hasn't intruded on my mathematically consistant universe yet. Ask me again then.
Things that annoy me: Creationism.
The assorted scientific 'creation myths' aren't the same as the other myths through history. They're a level higher in truth. They fit into a larger whole. They're just truer, dammit! Okay, think about it this way: In the past there have been loads of explanations for what the Earth is 'really' like: It's flat; it sits on turtles; it's a bubble inside solid rock. But then comes along this idea that they Earth is roughly a sphere and it orbits the Sun, &c. This isn't just another story - we can go up in space, look down and see that the Earth really is a sphere. Just because loads of people throughout history and prehistory have believed something else it doesn't make them right. Ditto evolution and creationism.
Evolution isn't just evolution, it's part of a whole package of science which stretches from cause and effect to, well, how hairless apes came from fish. This one aspect of science: It's complete. Is it just another belief system like religion? No it isn't. There's trust involved in this facet of science; I trust other scientists to ensure the whole hangs together. But this isn't faith. The only reason I couldn't personally verify the whole of science is because I won't live for a million years. Could I verify the existence of God or the resurection of Christ if I lived for a million or a billion years? No, and that's the difference between faith and trust.
Science is more than equations and explaining what happens. It's about predicting. It's about saying what won't happen, or what might not happen. It's about how systems work. And it's about how to judge itself; how to compare explanations, how to prove, how to disprove. From looking at the systems at work around us today it simply wouldn't make sense if evolution hadn't happened. And from the same argument creationism isn't scientific. Where are the predictions it can make? If creationism was part of science we couldn't even predict the path of a ball through the air because there are no limits on supernatural interference. Creationship explains everything, and nothing. There is nothing that could possibly be that could shake creationism, and that means it's not a theory, it's not science; it's faith.
In the end science gives you a world view. Could there be a God? I guess so. Could the universe have been created 10000 years ago? I guess so. But isn't the fact that I don't believe in a God a kind of faith in itself? No. It's for the same reasons I believe that pigs don't fly. I see the world through scientific eyes; it makes sense. Systems are systems wherever they are and ultimately the universe is a collection of systems and nothing more. There can't be exceptions and there's no room for faith in my life.
Luckily, Gödel's theorem hasn't intruded on my mathematically consistant universe yet. Ask me again then.