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11 Oct 2024 11:10:28 EDT (-0400)
  Re: Getting Kenned Ham, without paying.  
From: Warp
Date: 16 Nov 2007 04:39:35
Message: <473d6557@news.povray.org>
There's nothing wrong with science, but IMO many scientists seem to be
way too arrogant and lack humility, even to the point of being unscientific.
The attitude of many scientists seems to be "since I can't think of any
other rational explanation, then this explanation must be the Truth, the
only Truth, and nothing but the Truth, and anyone who doubts that is nuts".
This is simply a logical fallacy and thus an unscientific attitude.

  Scientists don't seem to learn from past mistakes. For example in the
late 1800's the general attitude among scientists was that physics was
more or less complete, that we know everything there is to know about how
the universe works. Since there is no other rational explanation to explain
how the universe works than newtonian mechanics, then newtonian mechanics
must be the Truth, the only Truth and nothing but the Truth, and anyone
who doubts that is nuts and deserves ridicule. Since there's no other
rational explanation of how light travels in space than that there's a
medium called ether, then ether must be the Truth, the only Truth and
nothing but the Truth, and anyone doubting that is nuts and deserves
ridicule.
  Scientists assumed that they could simply extrapolate the physics of
everyday scale to the physics of the two extremes (atomic scales and
extremely large and fast scales), and that's ok. However, in a typically
arrogant attitude they don't only extrapolated that, but they stated that
it must be the only Truth, and that physics is complete. We know everything
there is to know.

  Then technology advanced, measurement instruments got better, and science
got a lesson in humility. Our knowledge of physics was far from complete.
What was once the Only Complete Truth resulted to be only a very narrow
and limited vision of the whole truth. Suddenly it was not the whole truth.
Very far from it.
  Many arrogant scientists struggled for decades, fighting against the new
evidence. They couldn't admit being wrong. They couldn't admit that perhaps
their Holy Truth was not so true after all. They ridiculed the new evidence,
they ridiculed the scientists who had a more open mind.
  Finally they had to submit and admit that perhaps physics was not complete
and that there might be something else to it than what they thought.

  Have scientists learnt anything from this episode? It doesn't seem so.
They are still arrogant, they still think they know the Truth, the only
Truth and nothing but the Truth, and simply because they can't think of
any other explanation. They think they can go back millions of years and
see what happened, and thus their theory must the the only Truth, and
anyone who doubts it is nuts and deserves ridicule. Over a hundred years
ago scientists assumed that they could simply deduce what happens at
atomic levels, extremely high speeds, etc, without actually "going there".
They were wrong. Nowadays scientists assume that they can simply deduce what
happened millions of years ago, without actually going there. But this must
be the Truth.

  History tends to repeat itself. People never learn from past mistakes.
People are arrogant and think they are omniscient and that they know the
Truth. Anyone who doubts that deserves ridicule.

-- 
                                                          - Warp


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