Science is just a Theory

[Baclava]

We will only advance as far as our Creators allow us...

[Stanchetalarooni]

1. We are all Creators to some degree, yes?

[Baclava]

2. If you mean babymakers...then yes...

But, is our ovum and sperm truly our own?

[billyskank]

3. Yes and no

really, nothing material belongs to us, because we will have to give it all up in the end. We are only looking after it (our material tabernacle) for a while.

[Droopy]

4. Creators as in gods?

Or creators as in alien life forms?

[Baclava]

8. There's a difference?

Hmmmm

[billyskank]

5. "Science" is actually a collection of theories, not just one

I put the word in quotes to indicate material science; physics and the like. I think this is what you meant. The strict definition of the word science is to mean knowledge.

[Baclava]

9. As Plato wrote, truth comes from reality.

Thus true knowledge of reality should correct the past errors of philosophy, physics and metaphysics.

Are we learning from the past...or re-creating false beliefs?

[billyskank]

11. The latter.

We are not learning from the past. We are endlessly repeating old mistakes. Take the contemporary capitalist ideology, which extols economic growth and consupmtion in the face of the reality of a finite world of diminishing resources. They deal with this with a leap of faith. Yes, faith; in the power of human ingenuity to overcome all obstacles in the ongoing pursuit of profit. Just as false a God as any of the false Gods that have been worshiped in the past.

[Baclava]

13. Yes - this business of gods is quite disturbing...

Unfortunately, Science has a poor history of addressing moral, ethical, aesthetic, social and metaphysical questions.

Thus, LSD.

[derby378]

6. Sorry, but that's BS

Science is a process, not a theory. The beauty is that anyone can utilize it.

Science can be used to produce theories, though. Some of those theories are pretty good. Some of them just suck outright. And many of them rest - well, the jury's still out. Which is fine.

Being the monotheist type, myself, I tend to think our Creator must take some pleasure in seeing how far we're able to push ourselves.

[Baclava]

7. Just play'in...

We create the world from our senses...which is an illusion.
True knowledge of reality has yet to be discovered.

[billyskank]

10. Quite right

Our knowledge of the world is all empirical knowledge, based on evidence provided to us by our limited senses.

This true knowledge of reality to which you refer can only come by ontological means. I think that many, if not most, people here will consider that mere piffle, although some of us are interested in acquiring such knowledge, if we can.

[Baclava]

12. Paradigm shifts

We are social animals, and rather herd-like in our beliefs and actions which are strongly held once formed. Thus the beliefs from the past greatly affect and limit our thinking.

Past myths become new science...

Scientific ideas that were once originally rejected because they fell outside the accepted paradigm...

Sun-centered solar system
Warm-bloodedness in dinosaurs
The germ-theory of disease
Continental drift.

When first proposed by Alfred Wegener, the idea of moving continents was vigorously rejected. Scientists were not ready to embrace a notion so contrary to the traditional teachings of their discipline.

[derby378]

14. This sounds a bit like Democritus

He affirmed that we perceive our surroundings through our senses, but our senses are limited and prone to error; thus we cannot have any absolute knowledge of reality itself. Or something like that.

[Baclava]

17. Scientific Minds are skeptical and open

...even when there are no Absolute Truths.

Still, humans are disturbingly unable to notice that which is normal (gravity) and how remarkable it is that we are stuck to the Earth, and that the Earth can orbit the Sun.

...and yet, gods are necessary to make these profound things happen?

[derby378]

23. Careful...

...when you assert that "there are no Absolute Truths," you have just stated an absolute - that absolutes do not exist.

Check out the Outlines of Pyrrhonism by Sextus Empiricus sometime. He expressed the same thought I just relayed to you.

[Guaranteed]

24. Didn't he really start the idea of chemistry, though?

That the universe is just a bunch of little particles falling through space?

[DrDebug]

15. Since we are evolving backwards nowadays?

Why does the 'creator' do that? Or is it that wrathful Old Testament God again...

[billyskank]

16. What rule states that we must move forward?

I am not seeing anyone or any external force pushing us ever forward. It is quite clear that, even if we are created by some superior being, we are being left to our own devices. Make progress or regress backwards, whatever we want to do, no-one looks like stopping us.

[Baclava]

21. We are The Sand Kings?

Petri dishes are notoriously hard to clean...

[Baclava]

20. De-evolving you mean?

Our minds are not pure and logical (as we sometimes like to imagine) but rather, fallible and emotional. Most people, including scientists, are not driven by truth, but rather by pleasure, pain and survival, thus their efforts are often directed towards money, food, shelter, fame, sex, etc., rather than to truth.

Why else would we still be using chemical rockets to explore space?

[leftofthedial]

18. gravity is just a theory

arithmetic is just a theory, so if I take a million dollars out of some fundy conman's collection plate, I really gave him a quarter of my paycheck.

[gizmo1979]

19. Horse wockey.

:crazy:

[Baclava]

22. Soma is great...

Soma is good...