From the archives : Science
I was browsing through some of the tadfad archives (available on the right-hand column) and found this gem I wrote a year ago:
Science is one of the few places one can find Truth. It is not based on conjecture, opinion, hearsay, myth, or faith. Science is not politics. Science is not journalism. Science is certainly not religion. Science is built exclusively on truths that combine to make Truth.
I think everything I wrote a year ago is equally apropos today. Fortunately, the anti-science Bush administration is on its way out. The next president will have enormous challenges that will require a strong understanding and appreciation for science. Will s/he understand?
Enjoy the associated image as well:
Filed under climate change, culture, politics : Comments (2) : Dec 2nd, 2007 by tadfad
December 3rd, 2007 at 5:50 pm
Be careful to dismiss faith altogether. Without faith you may never be happy in any relationship. To a degree faith is the same as trust. You place your faith in a person to not F’ you over. You place your faith in a significant other to not cheat on you. There are many things in life that you will never really know the answers to or the outcome of, it is here that faith is required.
December 3rd, 2007 at 9:11 pm
Ryan, good comments. I don’t mean to dismiss faith altogether–as you pointed out, faith plays an important role in a healthy society. My critique is the inappropriate use of faith in place of science.
Take the example of Galileo and the solar system. Because the thinkers of his day were focused only on faith and not science, his (accurate) description of the solar system was treated as heresy and he was jailed.
A more modern example is evolution–there are still people who refuse the scientific fact of evolution because it conflicts with their fundamentalist interpretation of a creation story.
In both examples, faith is employed at the expense of science, reason, and ultimately Truth.