(March 21, 2016 at 7:31 pm)KevinM1 Wrote: Something that's really kind of funny is how a lot of theists still view science as this weirdly nefarious, clandestine, dishonest thing that is basically a stand-in for religion, just with a different name. It's not. That would be Scientology, which is a particularly despicable form of woo.
No, science is a process. An incredibly simple and logical one. Observe. Question. Hypothesize. Experiment. Apply the results to reality. Do they match the hypothesis? If so, is there anything else that the results show? If not, why not? Hypothesize. Experiment. Etc.
We don't have faith in science. Science isn't a deity. We understand and trust in the process, but still realize that it's only as sound as its weakest links - the humans engaging in it. That's why peer review is a necessary step. We also realize that the answers science provide are merely the best explanation given the evidence we currently possess. Science never produces absolutes, which is something that seems to confound those that don't understand it. It's never "That's just the way it is, period" but rather "According to observation, experimentation, a lot of math, and peer review, this is our best explanation."
But, when you have people who don't understand science, who view it through the lens of religion (binary), and who are more than willing to swallow wholesale what people who have a similar distrust of science say (climate change deniers, Higgs deniers, anti-vaxers, etc.), ignorance perpetuates itself under the guise of 'free thinking' and society itself suffers.
Yeah.. whateves.. see the above post.
